Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Mediocre, but not terrible., March 6, 2003
I think some people are having a knee jerk reaction to this book's sub-par quality. After having been treated to the near brilliance of Weis and Hickman for so many years, many readers are upset that this direct continuation of the storyline had such a drop in quality. The story is still enjoyable, but it is not presented in as eloquent a fashion as was the case in previous books.Now, I don't know if Ms. Rabe has written any books before this, but it seems like a first book. A lot of the dialogue is awkward and there are places where the prose is very stilted. These kinds of shortcomings, however, do not call for one star or even two. I've read books that were much worse. Books with no plot, impenetrable prose, and even dialogue that sounded like the two people were having different conversations with each other at the same time. Essentially what I am saying is that, while the presentation of the story was lacking, it is still enjoyable, especially for Dragonlance fans. This book continues the story where it left off at the end of Dragons of Summer Flame. We see old friends and meet new characters. The beginning of the book then skims over the next twenty years as the land changes with the withdrawal of the gods. I hope that there are other books in the series that flesh this period of time out, but it's not really necessary for the story that Ms. Rabe is telling here. And as far as the reviewers who complained about kenders and dwarves not behaving as they should, don't they think that different members of those races will have completely different personalities? I know humans do. Anyway, if you're a fan of the Dragonlance saga, this is a must read for the continuing story. From what I have heard, if you jump straight to Weis & Hickman's War of Souls trilogy, you'll be missing out on a lot. Just don't go into this book expecting the same level of writing as those two and you should be okay.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Decline, November 13, 2000
So the decline of the Dragonlance Saga continues! After the highs of the Chronicles and the Legends, and the somewhat legendary "Legend of Huma", the world of Krynn has never really recovered. There are still many entertaining books in the series, don't get me wrong, but "The Dawning of a New Age" is a book that should never have left the clutches of Weis and Hickman. Jean Rabe clearly struggles to make sense of the huge plot changes made in "Dragons of Summer Flame" (a brief return to former glories). The characters are badly underveloped and one can hardly imagine a "Meetings Sextext" series being developed for these characters. The plot is desperatley lacking in any ideas and the book is too quick in finding answers to how magic was suddenly re-discovered. Palin is the only character with any sort of depth to them, and thats a character who came from older books. Wheres the characters like Tanis and Raistlin i ask? The only good things are the fight scenes, but even these are un-realistic. Dhamon is able to take on about 10 Knights of Takhisis at once but the energy of the telling is endearing. Steer well clear of this cliched rubbish and get the new Weis and Hickman book which should be considered as the real follow up to "Dragons of Summer Flame". Hopefully the glory of Dragonlance will return with this book. Why did Weis and Hickman ever give such an important book over to any one else? Its spectacuarly awful!
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Dawning of a New Age, June 8, 2002
Come on people..Think what Rabe had to do here. She had to dive into a Dragonlance world that had never been written about. One that was a suprise to most Dragonlance readers, but still, this had to happen sometime. This book is a great addition to the Dragonlance world. Not only does it have enough action and adventure to keep it exciting, but the story that goes with it is interesting to say the least.Jean's characters are a little shallow, but what can you expect? This is a trilogy, there is a lot more time to expand on the little things that drive the characters. Keep in mind that Rabe had to start this new age and lead the pack into the new sets of books that were bound to follow them. Her destroying the Tower of High Sorcery in Palthanas was needed to move the story forward. It might be a spot that Dragonlance readers have been reading about since the start of their Dragonlance experience, but still...it was needed. All in all this book is an enjoying read. Rabe's writing style is a little difficult to get used to, but it is still enjoying enough to keep turning the pages of the book. This book keeps on the legacy of Dragonlance and while it was difficult for Rabe to start a world from almost scratch, she has my respect for turning it into something that could be worked with.
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by Margaret Weis
by Margaret Weis
by Margaret Weis
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