The Rage (Forgotten Realms: The Year of the Rogue Dragons, Book 1) [Mass Market Paperback]

Richard Lee Byers (Author)

Book Description

Series: The Year of Rogue Dragons | Publication Date: April 6, 2004

Renegade dragon hunter Dorn hates dragons with a passion few can believe, let alone match. He has devoted his entire life - a life spent in the twisted body of a half-golem - to killing every dragon he can find.

You might feel the same way if one of them had killed your entire family in front of your eyes, bitten you in half, and left you for dead.

Killing one dragon at a time is hard enough, but when the irresistible impluse to slip into feral madness begins to overcome ont one, but every dragon all across Faerûn, civilization's only hope may lie in the last alliance Dorn and his fellow dragon hunters would ever accept.

No matter what happens, the next year is going to be a difficult one for Dorn, and for Faerûn itself. The Year of Rogue Dragons has come...

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Richard Lee Byers is the author of over 15 novels, including the Forgotten Realms novels The Shattered Mask, The Black Bouquet, and R.A. Salvatore's War of the Spider Queen, Book I: Dissolution.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Wizards of the Coast; First Thus edition (April 6, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786931876
• ISBN-13: 978-0786931873
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 0.9 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #894,535 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Richard Lee Byers is the author of over thirty fantasy and horror novels, including a number set in the Forgotten Realms universe. A resident of the Tampa Bay area, the setting for many of his horror stories, he spends much of his free time fencing and playing poker. Friend him on Facebook, Follow him on Twitter, and read his blog on Livejournal.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Reads like a gaming manual, January 4, 2005

By 

benn333 (Dublin, Ireland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rage (Forgotten Realms: The Year of the Rogue Dragons, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

I'd picked it up for two reasons:
1) I enjoyed Byers' War of the Spider Queen title
2) The premise of the series intrigued me

I was a bit disappointed in the end, mainly due to the writing style. Each action taken by a character seems to be prefaced by what almost happened, or what would have happened had the circumstances been slightly different. Being familiar with D20 rules I can understand that Byers is trying to explain the various spells/feats/skills in whole as he moves the story forward. However, I'd expect this sort of detail to work better in a gaming manual than a novel. (You can almost see Byers writing this book, throwing dice to decide the outcome of each scene.) I found the writing style confusing at times, and often had to reread a paragraph or two to figure out what had just happened. In the end, the writing broke my suspension of disbelief.

I don't see myself reading the rest of this series.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great read - impressive protagonist!, July 19, 2004

By 

J. Stoner "Plants and Books" (Parkville, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rage (Forgotten Realms: The Year of the Rogue Dragons, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

I almost gave this book three stars because at first I had a hard time sticking to this book. After finishing it I believe it was not because of the quality and content of the book, but more so just distractions in my real life. Anyway, that said, again after finishing I determined that this book is really good.

The ending makes up for the slower beginning - the book does drag slightly from up until the middle of the book, but not enough to get frustrated or upset at the book because it is still filled with action and interesting and surprising characters. I won't say what the surprises are but they are, for a lack of better word, interesting.

One thing I really loved about this book, especially compared to other Forgotten Realms books was the sheer quantity of races, character classes, and monster types. I had never read about many of the creatures in this book before and was pleased that this book incorporated things that are only briefly mentioned in other FR books. I will also leave those as a surprise to the reader as to not spoil the fun.

Finally, the main character, Dorn, is a beast of a man. I can't tell if I truely like him or if I just like the idea of him being this huge ugly half-golem man. He brings on the pain with his half iron body and he is just so interesting. However, I dislike his sexual tension with another of the characters just because it seems so cheesy and will be trying to make a moral point later in the series.

Finally, I believe this series will be above average overall, with stunning cover art that I heard will be able to put together to make a four part mural when lined up with the other two books and the anthology for "The Year of the Rogue Dragons."

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Good start to this trilogy, August 14, 2005

By 

Andrew Gray "Beezer Review" (Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rage (Forgotten Realms: The Year of the Rogue Dragons, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

Richard Byers was tapped for this Realms Shaking Event (RSE) trilogy. For those of you who don't know a RSE is an event told in a book or series of books that will change the Forgotten Realms for ever. Wizards of the Coast doesn't usually tell the reader's when a RSE is occuring it keeps things 'interesting'.

This trilogy of books has a very interesting premise in that the most powerful mortal creatures in the Realms, Dragons, can't control this rage that happens and they don't know when it's coming.

This is definitally and action packed book, and most likely trilogy. Byers does a very good job of helping the reader get inside the various dragon's heads and know what it 'feels' like to experience the rage. He moves between scenes effectively and with little thought of "What just happened."

However, I have one complaint with this trilogy thus far. I would have liked more information on the various types of Dragons that seem to be appearing aside from the traditional dragons. It seems like every 20-30 pages a new type of dragon emerges that I have never heard of. I am not a gamer I only read the novels set in the realms and have no idea what some of these dragons are.

Other than that this is a very well written book and sure to be an interesting trilogy.