Customer Reviews

Stronghold (Dragon Star, Book 1)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I'm a huge fan of Melanie Rawn. I think that she is able to create a fascinating world, complex and realistic characters, interesting stories.

There are a few warnings that I have though for others who are debating her books.

1. Yes, this book is the first book of the SECOND series concering the same realm and people. I have read a lot of criticism that this should really be the fourth book, and I disagree. There are many authors who break their series up. It's not uncommon. It is confusing to pick it up in the middle, but I think that the series itself should be two trilogies, not one never ending series. (ahem, jordan and goodkind, would you mind ENDING your stories already?) There are a number of series that I started on and realized that it was the second or third series concering different people. Many of the Valdemar series, the Deryni novels, the Fey, to name a few. The first series was about the internal struggles of the people and the desert's quest for enough power to provide stability. The second is about an invading force.

2. Melanie Rawn focuses a lot on her characters and descriptions of "sunrunning" and other things of that nature. Many may find this to be boring or simply too much. I obviously don't, but to each their own. Just a warning. In this novel, there is a description of two people, their love and romance and stuff like that. Then they are killed. Some found that to be pointless and meaningless. It didn't advance the plot a great deal and it does slow things down. I found it to make the story more tragic. It conveys that there are so many people who will be lost, that we will never "know" and also how pointless and tragic war is. I think it adds depth to the story. Still waters run deep. So, if you don't like extra info that isn't necessarily critical to the plot, you might become irritated with any of these novels.

Those are my warnings.

Here is what I loved about the book. Many have criticize Rohan as being "too perfect." Like Rhapsody, in Haydon's series, I sort of think that his greatest strength is his greatest weakness. This book sort of showcases that in the situations of this book, he is far from perfect. His strengths in the pervios books, become weaknesses in these books because in his own way, he deals with things too narrowly. He likes to internalize all conflicts, but it just doesn't work here. He has had a lot of years of success with his way of dealing with things, and perhaps just can't change at his age. He also becomes somewhat bitter and tempermental. Understandable of course.

Pol--definitely the "flawed" hero. His development is well done.

Meiglan. What a surprise. She really developed and realistically. Did she become a roaring lion like Sioned? She stayed iwthin character, yet grew. I loved it. You start Nope. see it a little in this book, and it just gets better.

Andry. One of my favorites. His development into a fanatic is pretty complete by now, but there are still a few surprises left in him.

I'll shut up now, but overall, I loved this book. Overall, if you want to watch a lifetime of character development, then read Rawn. She is probably one of hte best I've ever written in creating people that you "grow" with.

I almost regretted picking up this book by the time I reached the last pages. It was totally emotionally wrenching, especially if you had followed the series since Dragon Prince, book one of the first series. Rawn has brought the plot to a deeper dimension, that makes the "crises" of the first series seem minor. She had brought us from the micro level of that world, with succession disputes and politics, to the macro level, where war could mean complete destruction of what the characters had known for all their lives... their heritage, the dragons, their species.

The plot developments were extremely engaging, and as destruction looms over the land, you find yourself cheering or despairing with each character in the face of such insurmountable challenges. Rohan's and Sioned's strength, passion and loyalty is admirable, but they have their weaknesses too, that you have grown to know so well (if you followed the first series) that your heart goes out to them when they are defeated at each turn, by obstacles big or small.

The new characters introduced here were engaging on their own, but what struck me most is the reality that Melanie Rawn injects into her stories. Mortality is very real, and it tears at your heartstrings to see the characters fall in battle, or in sickness. It is not just the bad guys who die, but the good guys and the innocent ones too.

I cried at the last few pages of the book, and it felt as if I was crying for a friend whom I had known for a long time. And amidst these losses, you will come to admire and love Sioned for her strength of character, and cheer for her as if she's the last champion who can change the fate of the world.

This book is truly unforgettable. An Excellent Epic!

I've read the complete series. Rawn draws you into each scene, crafting the pages in the book as some would sculpt. I laughed, I cried and I will always be a Rawn fan.

I think that Stronghold was a good book,I hope that Melanie Rawn will grace our shelves with many more! In my opinion, the Dragon Prince trilogy was better, but both series were excellent. Rohan and Sioned are still alive to me, and I cried out in pain when the High Prince was taken from Sioned. Sorry for any one who hasnt read it, you are missing a lot.

This book returns to the World of sunrunners explored in the Rawn's "The Dragon Prince" trilogy. If you haven't read those first three books, this book will not make sense to you. It makes no effort at recapping previous events, and should be considered Book 4.

Rawn is a political fantasy author, and my opinion of this book was that she had so many subplots and hidden motivations going on between the different ruling characters, she lost track of them. Naming conventions for characters (similar sounding) can also confuse.

The complexity is richly epic if you care about the characters, but oddly, my favorite characters of Rohan and Sioned weren't given a big role. I hate the way Rawn draws Pol, their son, and the new characters didn't resonate with me.

I'd recommend buying the first book "Dragon Prince" if you are new to Rawn; that one was brilliant. If you love Rawn already, buy it -- you'll likely love this too.

Personally, I've read dozens of fantasy books I've thought were better (anything by Jim Butcher, Terry Brooks, or Terry Goodkind). However to be fair to Rawn, buy the "Dragon Prince" before you check out those gentlemen. It really was a good novel.

The Dragon Prince series, which gave birth to the Dragon Star series, is far superior to its predecessor. Reason? Like the novels, the son can not hold a candle to the father.
While Rohan and Sioned, the protagonists binding the first three boks together, captivated and enchanted readers, Pol simply does not hold the following series together. There is a bit too much tragedy for any reader to swallow in such large chunks. Pol's personality, while interestingly different from his father's, is SO determined to be different that he's a tad hard to believe. Many favorite characters seem to drown him out; newer characters never quite develop.
Readers of the first series should follow up with the second. The books aren't precisely bad. They are, however, a bit disappointing. It all feels like Rawn is trying too hard to be different in the next installment.

Melanie Rawn has created many fascinating characters in this book and in the previous Dragon Prince series, and she weaves the story around them masterfully. It's not often that when reading a book you can almost put yourself in a characters position, but she does an incredible job. I'd hate to admit it, but I cried for quite awhile at the end of this one.

So why the 4/5 instead of a gun ho 5 stars? Well, this should have been book 4 in the Dragon Prince series, even though she's laying the backdrop for a couple more novels yet. If you haven't read the first trilogy, you won't react or understand the characters as well. The first trilogy should be listed as required reading.

There are hardly enough words to describe the talent of this woman. She ingeniously drew her characters along, new and old ones, to wrap both serious together in an incredible style. She leaves you bouncing and hopping from foot to foot while you wait to get to the next one, but unwilling to finish her last book as you wish for the story to never end.

That is, that's how it was for me. *Smiles*

Indeed, there are some characters that seem to have no impact on the storyline. But those who see those characters that way have no insight into the amazing storyline of this book. Each person, and each scene, no matter how inconsequential it may seem, lend to the book's overall lessons and the lives of the characters. Melanie Rawn, also, is an author that has no problem (seemingly) killing of her main character; in this way as well she is an incredible author, for doing such unexpected things, expecially after getting attatched to them, wrenches the reader's heart in sorrow.

And that is the whole point to reading a book--getting drawn in so strongly that you feel as if you are the character at the moment, and you feel as they do, and those feelings change as the book goes on.

Overall, her storyline, character growth, and the in depth information she creates for this knew world is amazing and one of the best. If you are in the mood for an emotionally wrenching storybook that lasts longer than most, or just in for a good read--I highly reccomend this book!

I picked up the Dragon Star series at a library book sale knowing I was coming in mid-story, so to speak, having not read the preceding trilogy but I didn't mind. A good author should be able to bring a new reader along without requiring them to read all previous books. Some of my favorite books have been discovered that way. This one was a tough one to start with though, and only my determination to finish got me through the first part of the book enough to start enjoying it. To begin with you must learn the geography, which plays a central roll in the story line, but a simple map is included. Although it lacks several key details mentioned in the book. Next, it's the character names which, in typical fantasy fashion, are all reminiscent of the product of random name generators in computer games. Made harder by the fact many characters are named after other characters with only slight spelling differences, which though that makes sense in the context of the story it makes it harder to keep track of characters. You know you're in trouble when a book not only has a character index but a Genealogy tree in the appendix. All of this is standard fair for any fictional work which creates it's own universe. What makes this lengthy tome (578 pages) a difficult read out of the starting blocks is that the author employs the device of writing the story from the perspective of different characters. BUT, she doesn't confine herself to writing through the eyes of 1, or 2, or 3, or 4, or 5,6,7,8,or even 9 characters but an almost endless stream. After a mere 2 or 3 pages the poor reader is ripped from one new character to the next without reference to any previous character. You're now in a new location, (consult map) with a new person (consult index) with a different station in society or a user of magic that hasn't been explained fully yet (a little exposition would be nice there for new readers). Its as if the author was purposefully trying to yank the reader out of setting by making them completely lost just when they have their bearings. I felt like the author was a hopped up ADD with her finger on the channel button of the remote flipping channels every 3 seconds. After a while I had enough of the pieces to form an idea of what was going on and who was who, at least as far as the main characters are concerned, about that time the plot took a major turn which added to confusion but at least at this point the characters shared my confusion because they didn't know what was going on either. A few other criticisms I have is that like a lot of fantasies based in a utopian caste system its unrealistic how everyone is happy in their station except the antagonists. Of course the upper tier people are happy (except the overly ambitious) but even the lower class have a blissful acceptance of their station and willingly serve their masters while getting gratification at their work, similar to the happy negro slave character. Its a minor point though. The main characters can be a bit angst ridden and overly introspective at times as well.

Having said all that; it speaks well of the author that having slogged through beginning enough to grasp the setting and become familiar with the central characters I was entertained by the story and she is very descriptive and imaginative in creating her world despite her jarring, leap-frog narrative style. I don't know what the original series was like but can't think she could have gained such a following by making it so hard for the initial reader to be drawn into the series. I'm sure this is an enjoyable addition to the initiated but hard on those new to the land of the High Prince. I probably will read the next two books but doubt I'll get the original trilogy.

The Michael Whelan cover art is a plus.

This is one of my favorite fantasy series. Each book can be read as a complete story, but it makes more sense to read the whole set. Melanie Rawn captures the imagination right from the start. I always have a hard time putting down the Dragon Star and Dragon Prince books. If you enjoy fantasy, you will enjoy Stronghold.