The Radiant Dragon [Paperback]

Now on the asteroids of Garden, Teldin Moore finds that he is still not safe. More opponents are out to get the Cloak of the First Pilot, and the burgeoning Second Unhuman War is likely to swallow him up. Teldin can never be sure who around him is friend and who is foe, and it appears that it is not even possible to what is what. Now it is up to Teldin Moore to learn what he can of the legendary ship, the Spelljammer, and figure out just where it is.

This is the fourth in the Cloakmaster Cycle (after Beyond The Moons, Into the Void and The Maelstrom's Eye), the books that laid the groundwork for AD&D's most fascinating campaign - Spelljammer. This book has a lot of great action and adventure, with even more creatures and interesting places being introduced.

Now, compared with the earlier books in the Cycle, this one does seem a bit out of focus. When you get done with the climactic battle, you ask yourself what the book added to the Cycle, and you realize that it does not add much. Teldin Moore makes and loses more friends, gets betrayed (yes, again!), fights opponents, and survives. But, so what? It's really just a rehash of themes established in earlier books, and characters added and lost to no seeming purpose.

But, that said, I did find this to be a very exciting book. I really love the Spelljammer setting, and the story does have a lot of excitement and action. If you like Spelljammer, then you will no doubt like this book, as I did.

I bought this book cause i was hooked on the series and i needed to know how it ends, i am still looking for the last two books. This book was better than the first 3.

...when even a kobold knows that a bionoid never withdraws from a fight of his own accord."

Radiant Dragon is the fourth book in the Cloakmaster Cycle series, which consists of six (6) books in total. Picking up from where the Maelstrom's Eye left off, the book continues to shed light on Teldin Moore and his ongoing quest to find out more about the magical cloak he carries a.k.a. "The Cloak of the First Pilot" and eventually be free of it.
Teldin continues to change both physically and mentally; the mustache is gone, he is more cynical etc
Ability-wise, he is maturing, becoming more and more experienced and able as a fighter as well as in learning the secrets of the cloak and thus better able at controlling and handling its immense power. He is now able to see through the Spelljammer's eyes and polymorph into a Radiant Dragon that can tow ships to safety.
The book also provides more information on the Probe's rescuing of Teldin from the pirates off of Krynn, and the Reigar race to which the fallen she-captain from Beyond the Moons belonged. In addition, on page 86 we learn that Estriss is LN in gaming terms: "Teldin nodded, appreciating the illithid's evenhandedness. This was more like the Estriss he thought he knew: a being who possessed a strong moral code and a philosophical nature."

The plot as a whole is excellent! The book is so incredibly well written that the reader feels that they have been transported to another plane of existence and are actually present among the characters, seeing what they see, feeling what they feel, sensing what they sense. Moreover, Elaine Cunningham does a great job of presenting the distinct culture and civilization of the space faring peoples, especially the elves, the bionoids, and the dracons. She has done a great deal of research in order to provide such an accurate and lucid description of these people.
Arcane, Beholders, Elves, Drow, Illithids, Orcs, Scro, space battles, intrigue, betrayal, and swordfights are all about.
In addition, there are several new and interesting races/creatures introduced, such as the Radiant Dragons, the Bionoids, the Dracons, the Lakshu, the terrible Witchlight Marauders, and the Insectares, that really do spice things up.
Finally, it is truly wonderful to be provided with so much more information regarding the Spelljamming world.

On the negative side, there is this ongoing "return from the land of the dead" theme. First, there's Gomja who comes back in the previous book, now it's Estriss' turn; the dead should stay dead, unless of course powerful magic is involved such as Raise Dead or Resurrection spells-in both cases, however, neither applies. What's next? Are we expected to see Aelfred back in The Broken Sphere, and Sylvie returning in the sixth and last book of the series??? Moreover, the excuse for the mind flayer's survival found on page 67 states that "Illithids require less air than humans, and I survived in the void long enough to be rescued by this group from Falx." Hmmm...

Secondly, Teldin gets "charmed," yet AGAIN, (!!!) this time by "Raven"/Pearl and he remains so for most of the book.

Thirdly, ENOUGH with the mole/spy thing, and ENOUGH with the "I trusted you and you betrayed me" thing! In short, all this repetition is becoming very tiring!!!

Fourthly, Teldin must have a Wisdom score of less than 3 and be a complete moron if he got on a strange and foreign mystery ship that he knew nothing about, especially when he is told that ONLY elves are supposed to fly it, and at the same time two dracons, who he barely knows, are claiming it as their own. Not to mention that even if elves did run the ship, his common sense should remind him that based on his previous and quite unpleasant experience with spelljamming elves he should flee on first sight, rather than go on board one of their vessels. Hmmm...

Finally, the deaths of both Grimnosh and Ubiznik took place as if both were mere novices, first level characters. A more dramatic set of duels could have been used.

Nevertheless, Elaine Cunningham does a FANTASTIC job of conveying the sheer evil and horror of the Witchlight Marauders especially after reading: "Once the supply of elven flesh is depleted, the creature and its inevitable offspring will turn on each other."

In conclusion, Elaine Cunningham establishes a GREAT cliffhanger for The Broken Sphere, the next book in the series.

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