Customer Reviews

Winterheim (Dragonlance: Icewall Trilogy, Vol. 3)

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

 

 

Winterheim, the epic conclusion to Douglas Niles latest trilogy, maintains Niles reputation for consistently enjoyable, thorough and well-written fantasy novels. Throughout the trilogy, Niles has explored a previously untapped region of the Dragonlance world: Icereach.

This last book serves to tie together the fates of the very engaging main characters: Moreen Bayguard, Strongwind Whalebone, Bruni, and Grimwar Bane. This trilogy, and specifically this book, is refreshing from other fantasy titles in that, awe-inspiring magic and all-powerful characters are not to be found. Instead, every character is mortal with his or her own set of trials and tribulations. Every fight is a real struggle and every action comes with it's own emotional turmoil and consequences. For example, the supposed enemy of the novel, Grimwar, is torn by his own personal feelings towards the humans and his duty as the leader of the ogres, natural enemies of the humans.

The book moves along at a brisk clip; the plot nevers gets stale or bogged down, as the perspective of the narrative changes from character to character quite frequently.

The ending is relatively satisfying albeit a brief abrupt. Every character and his or her story ends in an appropriate manner. Overall, it is a peaceful conclusion to a dark and warlike age in Icereach. This book is heartily recommended to any fantasy fans.

On a side note, it would be helpful if you read the first two books in the trilogy before you read Winterheim. It is not necessary, but you would better understand the characters, setting and plot.

With Strongwind Whalebone imprisoned in Winterheim, the mountain fortress of the ogres, Moreen Bayguard and her people mount an attempt to save his life. The strongest aspect of "Winterheim" has to be the character development. Characters such as Bruni the large Arktos woman, Mouse the Arktos warrior, and even Grimwar Bane the ogre king grow. The relationship between Moreen and Kerrick evolves and even a certain elusive kender makes an appearance or two. There are also a few new characters added to the mix. While it's certainly not the greatest book, it does make a worthy conclusion to the series. I definitely enjoyed reading it, but I have to admit the ending kind of annoyed me. (A tad too convenient and sappy for my tastes.) Douglas Niles once again proves his writing prowess and I sincerely hope that this isn't the last of his Dragonlance novels.

This is an excellent finish to a really entertaining trilogy. Fans of fantasty fiction who have no prior exposure to the Dragonlance world can still enjoy these books (the first two are The Messenger and The Golden Orb).

This book basically ends to tale of the characters introduced at the beginning of the trilogy. There are plenty of epic battles, narrow escapes, and character development. A couple of nagging questions (e.g. is Coraltop the kender real?) that are finally answered.

The only qualm I have with this book is that the ending seems a bit rushed and a little too convenient. But it is not at all unbelievable, and the epilogue is very nice.

Overall, a very good novel, but when taken in conjunction with the other parts of the trilogy, it is really excellent.

ull like this book, its the 2nd best of the 3 in the series( The Messenger is by far the Best). good ending, u must read it

Overall this was a very good and pleasing ending to a fairly interesting trilogy. The thing that appeals to me so much is the fact that this trilogy is the only series that I have read that adresses the people of Icereach entirely. Sure some books have little bits and peices about things from Icereach but this trilogy is unprecedented on its coverage of the subject.

The final installment into the series, Winterheim, is a good conclusion. I definitely enjoyed the two aspects of the book that eventually connected to each other. One being the involvement of Strongwind Whalebone in the activities of Winter and the other being Moreen's rescue attempt for Strongwind. The conflict bewteen the ogre king and his wife is also a good dynamic of this novel.

The characters in the book were very well represented and believeable. Kerrick, Moreen, Grimwar, and Strongwind all bring different aspects of personality to this book that is all to uncommon in some of the more recent DL books. I also quite enjoyed of all three gods in this book, especially Koraltop Netfisher. I have to admit I was wondering if he was going to be a Fizban esque character in the end.

My only gripe, and reason for giving this 4 stars is that, although very interesting and pleasing, the end is just a little to convient and easy. True I liked it but then looking back on it, I realized the whole afair was kinda ubsurd. The epilogue was nice and kinda wrapped up all the loose ends that were left at the end.

Douglas Niles completes the telling of the Icewall Trilogy story. There is a brave (or crazy) rescue attempt made by the Arktos and Highlanders that brings them into the heart of the Ogre Kingdom. Another good book filled with difficult choices and fast paced action - and a slave revolt! See also: The Messenger and The Golden Orb.

While Winterheim gives the reader more suspense than the first book (The Messenger), I'd recommend avoiding this entire trilogy. I'll go a step further and advise fans of Dragonlance to "test drive" anything newly written by Douglas Niles before buying it. When fantasy writing lacks creativity, what's the point of reading it? And when an author starts producing works that are just plain badly written, how can you read them?