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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gerard, Sheriff of Solace!, January 26, 2006
This review is from: Saving Solace (Dragonlance: Champions, Vol. 1) (Mass Market Paperback)
I got this book and left it on my desk for a few days (was finishing a different book series). Once I started reading this I couldnt put it down, read through it in less than a day.
The story centers itself around Gerard uth Mondar who was one of the main characters in the Weis/Hickman War of the Souls trilogy. Here we find Gerard has just quit the Knighthood and has a falling out with his father over it. At the same Palin Majere summons him to Solace to be the new sheriff, the old one had recently been murdered. So Gerard has to deal with the normal day to day job of Sherrifing Solace while trying to figure out who murdered the previous sheriff as well as a mysterious accident that happens at the new temple to Mishakel.
All in all a very enjoyable dragonlance novel with Kender, Gnomish inventions (and explosions!). But of course no novel based in Solace would be complete without Otik's Spiced Potato's (they make quite a few appearences).
Get this book today! 5*****
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very enjoyable, February 8, 2006
This review is from: Saving Solace (Dragonlance: Champions, Vol. 1) (Mass Market Paperback)
I very rarely read fantasy novels, mostly because I find a lot of fantasy novels (and, in fact, all genre fiction) to be horribly written. Every now and then, though, I will page through a Dragonlance book at the bookstore and wonder if I really want to get myself all tied up in this world. I'd managed to resist, but I was compelled to pick this book up when I saw the author's name. Since I had taken a creative writing class from Douglas Clark at UNM, I knew I had to give it a spin, and I found the first few pages well-written and interesting enough to fork over $7 (and change).
I was pleasantly surprised by this book, but I fear that part of that might have to do with the fact that this wasn't really the type of fantasy novel I've dreaded in the past. In fact, reading this novel, it's almost like a Western thrown into a land where humans happen to co-exist with dragons and other strange beasts. The story of the new sheriff arriving in town to investigate the murder of the former sheriff has to have been done a few times in Western and mystery stories, but Clark writes with what appears to the reader to be outright enjoyment, and it carries over to the reading of the book.
My only minor complaint is that at some points I felt lost. This, however, can't be blamed on the author so much as it's just impossible to define everything just for the handful of new Dragonlance readers without boring the crap out of the legions of faithful readers. I did wonder just what the hell a kender was for a while, but alas, I think I understood everything just fine.
Congrats on the first book. I'll look forward to reading more.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fun enjoyable book, February 6, 2006
This review is from: Saving Solace (Dragonlance: Champions, Vol. 1) (Mass Market Paperback)
Saving Solace by Douglas Clark is the first book in a series of stand alone novels in the Champions series. I believe this is Mr. Clark's first novel in the Dragonlance universe and he proves to be a quick study of all things Dragonlance.
The plot of this book is pretty straight forward and has few twists and turns. The book starts off with the town of Solace discovering a murder, who happens to be their sheriff. Palin Majere the town mayor sends for the only man he thinks can take over the sheriff's job, Gerard uth Mondar. The book centers of Gerard quest to find out who murdered the sheriff. Of course along the way there are some hurdles he has to get across, but in typical fashion, in the end everything is resolved in a nice tight package. If you are a fan of Dragonlance books, which I am, this book has everything you have come to expect from one. Some Dragonlance books written in the past few years have started deviating from the style that makes Dragonlance so popular; well have no fear here, Mr. Clark writes a traditional Dragonlance book here, and writes it well I may add.
Some of the characters in this book are carry-overs from the War of Souls trilogy. Gerard, Palin, Laura, and a few others. This gives Clark a chance to jump right into the story as the characters have already been developed. However, the one complaint about this book is that there is very little true character development. In fact, I would even venture to say that the Gerard that is written about in Saving Solace doesn't resemble the Gerard written about the War of Souls. In WoS Gerard is a gruff, quiet, introspective soldier. Ye in this book he dances, cracks jokes and does things that he never did before. A minor continuity problem from book to book is all.
In you are looking for a traditional Dragonlance book that is a light easy read, have no fear and jump into this one. If, however, you are looking for a deep plot with lots of character development, you may be disappointed by this one. Yet, in the end scheme of things I would recommend this book to most fantasy genre fans. I enjoyed this book and it is good to see that the Dragonlance setting is getting back to what I know and loved about it before. Well done Mr. Clark!
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