The Stone and the Maiden (House of Pandragore) [Hardcover]

Dennis Jones (Author)

Book Description

Series: House of the Pandragore/Dennis Jones, Bk 1 | Publication Date: August 3, 1999

A royal heiress and a young soldier embark on a desperate mission to rescue their land, after a master of the dreaded Black Craft finds a way to break the ban on the force known as Deep Magic and seize its terrible power for his own.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The Stone and the Maiden has all the elements of a great fairy tale--a corrupt king, an evil wizard, a conniving stepsister, and, of course, a beautiful princess and a handsome soldier. Author Dennis Jones weaves an intricately threaded story around these classic characters in this action-packed tale.

The Ascendancy is rotting from the inside out. Archates, incompetent Dynast, is fearful and easily manipulated, willing to sacrifice his kingdom, his people, and even his own daughters to preserve himself. The barbarian Tathars are on the march, taking advantage of the Dynast's cowardice and slowly crushing the Ascendancy. Evil Erkai the Chain aids the Tathars with his forbidden Black Craft--the magic of death. In the middle of this desperate situation, the luminessa Mandine, uncertain heir to the Ascendancy throne, experiences a vision in which the God and Goddess instruct her to find the Signata, enigmatic tool of Deep Magic. If she succeeds, Erkai and the Tathars can be defeated. If not, the universe will be threatened by unspeakable evil. To make matters worse, Mandine's stepsister Theatana has designs on the throne and is willing to torture, kill, and dabble in the Black Craft to get it.

But never fear, our plucky heroine doesn't have to go it alone. She's got the able strength of hunky Key Brander at her side, not to mention the assistance of the mysterious forest-folk, the hemandri, and their familiars, the small dragon-like pandragore. This first fantasy novel is a terrific quest adventure and a romantic fantasy all rolled up into a delightful package--beginning Dennis Jones's House of the Pandragore series in high style--plus the complicated setup promises many sequels. --Therese Littleton

From Publishers Weekly

Despite its conventionality, Jones's fantasy debut follows a story line sufficiently compelling to carry most readers to its end. The brave and beautiful Mandine Descaris, heiress to the royal throne of the Ascendancy, faces the Tathars, a horde of barbaric horsemen who are ravaging her country. Leading the Tathars is the sorcerer Erkai the Chain, master of a dreaded form of magic: the Black Craft. In company with the valorous and virtuous captain Key Mec Brander (her eventual consort), Mandine seeks a magical talisman, the Signata, that can defeat Erkai. But the Signata has appeared only three times in the past 4000 years, so finding it promises to be a long, arduous quest. Mandine's half-sister, Theatana, meanwhile allies herself with the ambitious Lord Bardas and does her best to deceive Mandine and take the throne of the Ascendancy for herself. Jones's prose is graceful and his pacing brisk. His principal characters lack original, nuanced personalities, however, and the medieval setting never blossoms into a fully imagined, unique world. Nonetheless, the author's persuasive plot should keep most fantasy readers engaged. (Aug.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Harper Voyager; 1st edition (August 3, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380978016
• ISBN-13: 978-0380978014
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,978,720 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Bland and Predictable, October 20, 2000

By 

Ed Gantt (Lehi, Utah) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Stone and the Maiden (House of Pandragore) (Hardcover)

Although several reviewers here have stated that this book isan imaginative and compelling read, I have to disagree. While therewere a few moments scattered about here and there where the storybecame somewhat engaging, for the most part this novel was bland andpredictable. The characters were (for the most part) one-dimensionaland difficult to distinguish from one another, the plot the essence offormulaic, and the romantic interplay between Mandine and Key was flatand dry and routine. Likewise, the world lacked any real depth ortexture, seemingly little more than a loose collection of workingnotes without any substantive development or coherent vision. Whilecertainly not the worst novel I've read (indeed, its not even in thetop ten), this one is nonetheless pretty dull fare. If you can get itcheap, suffer from insomnia, and have nothing else to read, you mightconsider picking this one up. If not, however, I would suggest youget your hands on something by George R. R. Martin, J. V. Jones, orKate Elliot.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pleasant, but empty., February 2, 2000

By 

Fosky Bob "human" (Vacaville, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Stone and the Maiden (House of Pandragore) (Hardcover)

Dennis Jones debut as a fantasy writer is pleasant enough but lacks substance. The story is familiar, two people must work together to battle an ultimate evil and save the world from darkness. During their quest they realize they love each other (which the reader has realized from chapter 2) and also realize the man who thought he was minor royalty is actually descended from a powerful leader.

The plot isn't much. Jones does create an intriguing world. I especially like the 'hemandra' creatures. Wait for this to come out in paperback, and only read it if you have to read all fantasy books.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars why bother?, January 30, 2001

By 

mitchell brown (denver, colorado United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Stone and the Maiden (House of Pandragore) (Hardcover)

i cannot recommend this book at all, except as an example of what the genre has sunk to. the characters are trite, the story is absolutely uninteresting. jones basically decided he needed to make a quick buck and decided to exploit the heroic fantasy genre. there's no dramatic or narrative tension driving this story forward at all. you can all but see the numbers in the template (and it wasn't a good one) he followed to write this book. i'm dismayed (but not surprised) that eos has the audacity to publish a second book in the series. no wonder heroic fantasy continues to have a bad name. (i gave this book one star because the format wouldn't allow me to give it none.)