Customer Reviews

The Ruin (Forgotten Realms: Year of Rogue Dragons, Book 3)

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The Ruin by Richard Lee Byers is the third and final book, in The Year of the Rogue Dragon trilogy. The first two books are The Rage and the Rite. This book follows the characters through their final trials of trying to stop the evil wizard Sammaster and finally putting an end to the dragon rage that is happening all over the world.

The plot of this book is fairly well thought out. The plot carries over from the last book, The Rite, rather well and keeps the over arching plot moving. However, there are very few side stories that would have added more depth to this book. It's pretty much what you see is what you get. While the main plot line is tight and succinct I was still left disappointed. After all this is the third book to a trilogy, it should be the best book; it should anchor everything else that has come before it. Yes, Byers ties up the vast majority of loose ends, and leaves a few for possible books in the future, but at the end everything seemed too nice and tidy. Think of it this way, dragons all over the face of the planet have been raging for a year, yet at the end it is made to seem that everything in fine and are few long-term consequences.

The characters in this book were rather disappointing to me as well. Simply put, I could have cared less about the characters for a couple of reasons. Number one, there is no reason more characters should have died through this entire series. I mean come on, they were fighting at times HOARDS of dragons, yet got only a little banged up from time to time. I do not like characters that are all powerful and you have no doubt they will survive. To me the characters were rather two-dimensional and lacked any real depth. At times there seemed to be little reason they did what they did, other than the author knew where the plot needed to go and forced the characters to make those decisions. Like I said before, I simply cared very little for the characters, you could have inserted any character into these roles and it would have been the same story to me.

Don't take me wrong, this is not a bad book, I just expected much more for the conclusion of this trilogy. The plot is good, but there are more things about this book that I was disappointed in than I liked. If you have read the first two books in this trilogy, than you need to read this for no better reason that to finish the story. If you are a fan of Realms novels than you may like this trilogy as well. However, if you are looking to get into the fantasy genre I would read this one much later. All in all.... A disappointing conclusion to this trilogy.

This conclusion to the Year of Rogue Dragons trilogy was hamstrung from the every beginning with the lackluster plot and tone set by its predecessors. As the first two books in the series didn't exactly blow us away, I cannot say that The Ruin singlehandedly ruined the series, but it definitely left MUCH more to be desired. The Ruin made me so disinterested that only my status as a hardcore Forgotten Realms fan enabled me to truck through this book after several weeks and several sittings. This once promising story is so devoid of any excitement, richness and character, I couldn't care less, with the exception of Pavel the priest, what happened to each and every personage. I could think of a lot of things, a rock for example, I could better empathize with. The author just seemed to randomly generate a band of 7 wildly dissimilar yet completely bland adventurers (a half-golem, song dragon, human priest, winged elf, halfing, ice dwarf, and a pseudodragon) and have them quest AND survive against humorously impossible odds. There is zero connection to them and the Forgotten Realms universe; the author might've well as written "abracadabra" and then have 7 adventurers appear out of nowhere to do battle with dragons. Cursory and transparent attempts were made at character development such as the love affair between the Dorn the half-golem and the Kara the song dragon (!?!?) but it is painfully obvious that this was nothing more than a page filler until the next gigantic battle. The redeeming qualities? It is a grandiose journey through a large breath of Faerun that includes Sammaster and Iyraclea and has plenty of varied and frenetic action albeit ill-conceived.

Needless to say, I expected more out of the talented Mr. Byers.

"The Ruin" is the last novel in the "Year of the Rogue Dragons" trilogy by Richard Lee Byers. The trilogy was a disappointment so far, and this book follows that trend.

I won't berate much about this book, since it generally follows the line of previous installments. Very action oriented, with no intrigue, mystery or realmslore whatsoever. There are fewer battles in this one, to be honest, but even that is way too much for my liking. The novel culminates, of course, with a 60 page battle on the end. I didn't expect anything less.

The series as a whole, as I said, is a very weak piece of FR literature. What you won't find in these books is details about Cult of the Dragon, any intrigue or plot twists. You'll get only plenty, and I mean PLENTY, of dead dragons, of all kinds and colors. I'm a gamer, and I confess I've never heard of half of the dragons that appear in this books. I just can't imagine how hard and confusing would reading of these novels be for someone who doesn't play the game. At moments I had a feeling that this trilogy is nothing more that a huge advertisement for some WotC D&D supplements. The problem with the battles in this book, besides their sheer quantity, is their repetitiveness. You've read one, you've read them all. I had a feeling the author was in serious creative crisis while writing these books.

All in all, a bad set of novels. A grand idea that went awfully bad. If you like your books with much muscle and no brains, then this is the trilogy for you. Otherwise, avoid it. If you want some nice dragon stories, check out the two anthologies published alongside this trilogy, Realms of the Dragons II: A Forgotten Realms Anthologyand Realms of the Dragons (Forgotten Realms Anthology). Some very good stories in both of those books.

Like a previous review said this book was very poorly written for the quality of author Mr. Byers is. I was looking forward to this book for quite some time and I have to say I'm very disappointed. The plot was fine but the tone of the story was so....lackluster I guess... that I couldn't stay interested in it for more than a few sentences. I must say that I am a die hard Forgotten Realms fan and that's the only thing that enabled me to finish this book. The very talented Richard Lee Byers usually does superb work but this one was left wanting. Frankly, the characters sucked, the tone of the story and the way it was told sucked and it really could have been told better.

I put this on par with those horribly written excuses for literature that come from the Eberron line. This is the first Forgotten Realms book that has left me really disappointed in quite a few years (since the Pools of Darkness line). As much as I love the realms I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone and that kind of makes me sad because I've recommended the realms to hundreds of readers who've instantly fallen in love.

The Ruin by Richard Lee Byers- This is the final book in The Year of Rogue Dragons trilogy. The first book is titled The Rage and the second book is titled The Rite. The Ruin is set in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting of Dungeons and Dragons. Richard Lee Byers has written a number of books, mostly focused on the horror genre; Deathward, Fright Line, The Vampire's Apprentice, Dark Fortune, Dead Time, The Tale of Terrible Toys, and The Children of Gaia and Uktena: Werewolf, 5. His also contributed a number of stories to other series including; three Nightmare Club novels (Joyride, Warlock Games, and Party Til You Drop), four World of Darkness novels (Caravan of Shadows, Netherworld: Vampire, On a Darkling Plane, and Wraith: The Ebon Mask), a X-Men based novel titled Soul Killer, and a Warhammer based novel titled The Enemy Within. His also written a trilogy for the Scarred Lands called Dead God trilogy (Forsaken, Forsworn, and Forbidden). He has written a number of Forgotten Realms novels as well; a novel and a short story in the Sembia: Gateway to the Realms series (the short story is found in the first book of the series, The Halls of Stormweather, and wrote the third book, The Shattered Mask), wrote the first novel in R. A. Salvatore's War of the Spider Queen series called Dissolution, a novel in The Rogues series called The Black Bouquet, a book in The Priests series called Queen of the Depths, The Haunted Lands trilogy (Unclean, Undead, and Unholy) and he is working on finishing The Brotherhood of the Griffon trilogy (The Captive Flame, Whisper of Venom, and The Spectral Blaze). He has also contributed a vast amount of short stories to various anthologies. The Ruin was released in May 2006 and published by Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

As the rage of dragons continues on, the hunters may have found the breakthrough that they need. The group, consisting of a priest of Lathander named Pavel, a halfling thief named Will, the arctic dwarf ranger named Raryn, the avariel (flying elf) bladesinger named Taegan, a faerie dragon named Jivex, a song dragon bard named Kara, and the leader, a half-golem named Dorn, set out toward the frozen north. Their travels lead them to a place called The Great Glacier, where the arctic dwarf Raryn's home was before leaving and because of he's knowledge of the region, he is able to navigate the wasteland with ease. After a chance encounter with his old clan of dwarves, the group relax. But treachery is afoot, and before they know it, the hunters are taken to the self-proclaimed Ice Queen of the Great Glacier. Seeing the value the hunters could process and wishing to out-think the lich Sammaster, she tries to coerce Pavel into telling her all they know about the lich's plans. However, he proves to strong to break. During this, their vampiric smoke drake ally, Brimstone, sets off to find where his companions have disappeared to. After finding a group of white dragons led by a dracolich named Zethrindor, Brimstone learns that his allies may have been taken to the Ice Queen. The white dragons are tasked to serve the Ice Queen by Sammaster, were sent out to overtake the country of Sossal, something they don't like and agree with Brimstone that the Ice Queen can be a threat to their wishes to become dracolichs. During this, the Ice Queen agrees to help the hunters search for a ruin that could hold the key to the rage. As the group find the site they believed to be linked to the rage, the white dragons strike. Has the group found the cure for the rage or is it too late to stop the destruction?

Criticisms:
1) Minor Characters. The biggest flaw that The Ruin has is the minor characters. They just weren't interesting enough for me to care about them. They came across as poorly placed and almost useless at times. For example, the white dragons are off trying to conquer Sossal and we meet some of the defenders of the place. They aren't memorable and while they do play a part in the story, they come across as through they should be something more. It was almost like they were meant to have a bigger role. Yet, things just happened to that are supposed to make you like them, but they happen so suddenly and vanish so quickly, that you just don't care. It felt like some of the minor characters were supposed to be more, but were just rushed and forgotten. Also, even the bigger minor characters (the Ice Queen, for example) seem to be wasted. She does come across as a generally interesting character, yet what happens is that you really never get to delve any further than her surface. It could be that the story was deviating too far from the main plot, or something but it seemed like there should have just been more to these characters.
2) Impact. I still don't see any real impact this story made to the world. The whole rage of dragons never really came across as something dire and deadly. In fact, the dragons themselves seem amazingly weak and not threatening. When a world-changing event happens, you kind of expect it to be world-changing. Instead, it felt like nothing changed, other than a few deaths. It felt like it didn't matter to the world at large. The events really didn't have the impact that was meant for it.
3) Dodging. This is something that really bothered me throughout the trilogy, the amount of dodging the characters did. I couldn't count how many times Will ran under a dragon, poked it a few times with his sword, and rolled out-of-the-way when the dragon belly slams, or stomps down. It seems like this happened, every single time that Will attacked. With the others, they nimbly avoid bites, a tail whipping around, parry claws (which is amazing, seeing as dragons are huge and can crush a person easily), and stopping attacks. In fact, it only seemed like Kara was the only character to actually show terrible wounds. This really stopped my suspension of disbelief and cause me to question these characters abilities. They come across as god-like beings, with their dodging and blocking. It just doesn't work when your fighting a huge dragon to come away almost unharmed and still alive.

Praises:
1) Action. The Ruin was a very exciting read, mostly due to it being full of action scenes and battles. The action itself is really well written and very easy to follow, aside from a few instances. Every chapter contained an exciting and fast paced battle, making the story a very quick read. However, the best part of The Ruin is at the end, when we get a gigantic battle that is filled with tension. This battle really put me on the edge of my seat, wondering what is going to happen and who will survive. Overall, the action is really well written and very exciting.
2) Dorn. Dorn does come across as a better character than in the previous two books. However, he still isn't perfect. At least this time, his self-loathing and attitude is understandable, but it still did get on my nerves easily. Aside from one painfully stupid scene involving Kara and him at the end of the novel, he really works to his strengths here. His bitter attitude of his condition and how he considers himself a freak finally do come across as deep and sad. It could have been because of the event he goes through, but even so, it was well executed. Finally, we get a reason as to why Dorn is so full of self hate and he actually becomes a decent and likable character.

Side Notes:
1) Inconsistencies. This really bothered me, albeit it was just one little scene in the whole novel. However, Taegan and Jivex never met or seen Chatulio from The Rite. Yet, Jivex was able to capture a perfect image of him during a fight. How?
2) Dragons. Once again, there are way too many dragons! Is there an endless supply of these things hiding in someone's closet or basement? Where do they keep coming from and why aren't the detailed and described better?
3) Cover Art. The cover art for The Ruin is actually really good. The green dragon staring at the people in the tower as they cower in fear is eye catching and interesting. The background is forgettable and doesn't really add much to the cover. However, that green dragon is just menacingly gorgeous and creepy looking.

Overall: 2/5
Final Thoughts:
The Ruin isn't the way you want to end a trilogy. The plot does pick up from the previous book and a lot of loose ends were tied up in the end, but it doesn't seem quite right. It was action packed with fighting and battles that made it a very quick read. The battles were well written and did keep me to edge of my seat, but it still felt like something was missing. At least Dorn's character was actually decent this time! But still that sense of something missing was there. What's the something? Well, the impact of the world-changing event wasn't there. Not once did I feel like the world was in danger or even changed because of that. It didn't even feel like it was all that important in the long run. It also didn't help that minor characters only seemed to be there to move the story along when they were obviously meant for a bigger role. Finally, if this series was supposed to be as big and world-changing as it was supposed to be, why was it that there were so few major character deaths? It just didn't have the impact that The Ruin was shooting for. Overall, would I recommend The Ruin? No, unless you've started this series and want to see how it ends.

Hey what can I say; I like books about dragons. I like Byers writing style as well, so this book/ series just did it for me.

i liked this story it was very well written
it was exciting the villans were memorable
avery good read