Realms of the Dragons II: The Year of Rogue Dragons (Forgotten Realms Anthology) [Mass Market Paperback]

Philip Athans (Editor)

Book Description

Release date: May 3, 2005

An all-new anthology showcasing dragons of the FORGOTTEN REALMS
world and featuring new authors.

This anthology features a range of stories by authors new to the Forgotten Realms setting writing about dragons. It fleshes out many details from Richard Lee Byers’s Year of Rogue Dragons trilogy and features art work by award winning artist Matt Stawicki.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Wizards of the Coast; First Thus edition (May 3, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786938080
• ISBN-13: 978-0786938087
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,331,393 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A short, good set of short stories February 22, 2007

By Neso

Format:Mass Market Paperback

I'll try and review each story in short.

1. Faerie Ire by Erin Tettensor. A cute story rich in humor and with some very witty writing. Some may consider it childish, but that was author's intention. Entertaining. ****

2. The Woman Who Drew Dragons by Rosemary Jones. A very nice idea, but a bit drawn out. Could have been shorter. ***

3. The Hunting Game by Eric Scott De Bie. One of two stories I was looking forward to. De Bie shows all of his storytelling talent in this story, but I got the feeling he wanted to tell too much in 30 pages. Had the substance for a whole novel, really. Imaginative, but hasted. ***

4. The Road Home by Harley Stroh. A very good short story, with all the elements a short story should have. Very interesting characters. ****

5. How Burlmarr Saved the Unseen Protector by Kameron Franklin. The second one I was looking forward for. I just loved "Maiden of Pain". The story features one of Realms' iconic dragons. Again, we have an interesting idea and good writing, but very hasted realization. Could have used additional 20 pages. ***

6. A Tall Tale by J.L. Collins. Naďve and pretty boring. Probably the worst of the lot. *

7. The Book Dragon by Jim Pitrat. Concise and vivid. Interesting characters, although not so dragon-oriented as the rest of the stories. ****

8. Freedom's Promise by Ed Gentry. The crown story of the book. Magical, philosophical, tragic. Simply great. *****

9. Possessions by James P. Davis. Another great story. Bloody and mystical, with one totally unpredictable twist. *****

10. Queen of the Mountain by Jaleigh Johnson. A story of human determination. As some other stories in the book, could have used a couple more pages to flesh it out.... ***

11. The Strength of the Jester, by Murray J.D. Leeder. Nothing special, although it has a nice, philosophical note to it. The only story directly dealing with the Rage. Too much combat, though. ***

All in all, this is a selection of average short stories, with two shining exceptions, and very few bad stories. I will give it four stars, although I must warn you that you will actually get only 240 pages of stories. The rest are excerpts from other books, used only to pump up the page count. They really could have included another story or two. A classic WotC robbery. Read more ›

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Good hint on new authors July 3, 2005

By Mark Nelson

Format:Mass Market Paperback

Although the stories are enjoyable in themselves and a good summer afternoon read, I appreciated this anthology most because it gave me good hints of the writing styles of several new Forgotten Realms authors. I dislike buying books based on the cover art and/or back cover blurb, so it is helpful to read reasonable samples (in the form of short stories) of authors previously unknown to me. I now know whose future novels to look for (and in a couple instances who to avoid).

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars not as good... April 10, 2006

By Levi Miles

Format:Mass Market Paperback

The first Realms of the Dargons was awesome. This one was not so awesome. The new authors still have to capture the main ideas of the dragons. Over all an enjoyable book. I liked the first story about the faire-drake.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars More original than most July 19, 2005

By Josie Wells

Format:Mass Market Paperback

I thought this anthology had way more original stories than most of the others in the past. Not all of them were great, but that is an anthology for you and a few stand out. The dragons were quite different than I expected and some of the stories used them as the main character. Plus I laughed out loud a few times in the funnier stories especially near the beginning.

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Scraping the barrel. June 24, 2005

By Orcish Archer

Format:Mass Market Paperback

The pervading feeling I got from this collection of short stories was that it was everything that was "left over" or "didn't make the cut" from Realms of the Dragons, Volume One.

None of the short stories were engaging by any stretch of the imagination. Some, like "Freedom's Promise" possess interesting plots, but are written in a manner that ruins the whole effect. (Freedom's Promise was 100% predictable and does not deviate at all from what you would expect it to be).

To further support the "left overs" theory, the last thirty pages of this novel are excerpts from other novels; single-chapter snippets that serve only to fill printing space.

Unless you're a die-hard fan of the series, avoid this one.