Customer Reviews

Theros Ironfeld (Dragonlance Warriors, Vol. 4)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The first time I saw this book, I thought it was a boring one to read, but when my friend told me to read this one, I was finally convince that it was really a great. Find out the life of Theros when he was young until he got old being a great Master Smith in the history of Krynn. Theros is also a true devotee of Sargas, and almost gave his life to honor him. I'll make sure you will never regret this, and you will never waste your time reading this!! .

To those familiar with the classic Dragonlance, Theros Ironfeld would be no stranger - the weaponsmith with the silverarm, the second in Krynn's history to forge the legendary dragonlances.

As his story was not well-detailed in the Chronicles series, DL fans would rightly expect the tale of how he got his silver arm and skills to forge the weapons that turned the tide against the Dark Queen's dragon armies. These fans would be disappointed.

The book Theros Ironfeld dealt with the protagonist as a boy volunteering to join the minotaurs when the latter raided his coastal village home. It depicted a lonely boy whose mother died and was unloved by his father, yearning to find a place for himself in the world.

There was a lot of promise in the beginning for the boy who won personal recognition from the god of the minotaur Sargas for his sense of honor. From the minotaurs, Theros learned the skills of a weapons and arms maker, equipping him for his destiny.

However, the story went downhill from there. Freed from slavery by the minotaurs for his personal honor and loyalty, Theros went knocking around Ansalon, from Sanction all the way to Solace over many many years. A few things of interest happened, I would leave the readers to discover those for themselves, which are supposed to shape the mind and character of Theros.

However, while the events were exciting, they were not lived to the potential and frankly, quite anti-climatic. Encounters which began with promising sparks simply fizzled out as Theros turned his back on the road less travelled and seemed bent on shutting himself personally from the world, concerning himself with nothing else but setting up a forge and dooming himself to a mundane life.

Readers would have thought that Theros' personal contacts with the minotaurs, Solamnic Knights and Baron Dargon Moorgoth would play significant roles later in his life but nothing doing, Don Perrin seemed to be intent on just planting the seeds which readers would never see to bloom.

The ending was rather abrupt, Sargas behaved in a rather uncharacteristic manner which would leave DL fans disappointed at the quickness the author chose to end the book.

BTW, Theros was never a gladiator under the minotaurs, nor was he ever a soldier nor chose to follow Paladine. Then again, his story in this book seemed different from those in DL gamebooks too.

Following Theros from his time as a slave on a minotaur ship through the bowels of Krynn is actually one of the greatest journeys there is! This book was spectacular, well-written with just the perfect amount of plot twists. Follow Theros as he learns to become a metalsmith until the unfortunate day that a Draconian removes his right arm. Every Dragonlance fan knows what happens next, but find out what happened before!

The strength of the first Dragonlance trilogy is the incredible richness, complexity, and personality of the characters, not just the main characters of Tanis, Raistlin, Caramon, Tasslehoff, etc. but the minor ones as well. Theros Ironfeld is one of those minor characters, about whom upon first introduction, with his bald head, bulging muscles, silver arm, and code of honor, the reader immediately wants to know more.

Don Perrin crafts a fascinating back story that is part historical fiction with his description of medieval battle forging, part morality play with Theros's journey into discovering true honor, and part fantasy story with just the right touch of magic and minotaurs.

Considering the often immense drop off in quality of narrative and characterization between the Weis and Hickman authored Dragonlance books and many other authors within the franchise, I was pleasantly surprised to find such a quick, enjoyable, entertaining read in what was the 15th series within the world of Krynn

I was very dissapointed with this book, the reason i thought it would be so exciting is how they would tell how theros got his silver arm, and how he got around the making the legendary dragonlances. The book never got around to this large detail in theros's life, the author wrote too much about the low parts of theros's life instead of getting to the meat of his life. I was looking for a sequel to show me what happened to the rest of his life. i think that margeret weiss and tracy hickman should get around to writing a proper biography of Theros Ironfeld.

They should have started the Warrior's series off with this book, and built upon it. This was an extremely exciting book to read. Following the life of Theros is captivating. This was one of my favorite DL books.

I reccommend this book to anyone who likes good fantasy writing