Sanctuary : Elven Exiles Volume 1 [Mass Market Paperback]

Sanctuary is the latest novel by Thompson and Cook set in the Dragonlance world. Before you go any farther, if you are considering reading this book there are two books that I think you need to read before you read this one. The first is The Puppet King by Doug Niles and the second is The Lioness by Nancy Berberick. These two books set the stage for this new trilogy.

This book follows the exiled elves as they try to cope with being exiles from their land as they try to forge lives for themselves in a land they are not used to. Admittedly, I am not a big fan of elves, however, Thompson and Cook have proven to me that they can weave a tale worthy of reading. If you have yet to read the Ergoth Trilogy, I highly suggest you do so. Some of the best Dragonlance work out there today.

On to Sanctuary.

Being this is the first book in the trilogy, it has what one would expect. There is a lot of background information setting up the story and the major players of the story. The background information also allows the reader to have a pretty good idea of what has happened thus far, but if you don't read the two books I mentioned above first, you will lose the true scope of what has happened. If you don't, you will be able to understand this book, but it won't be as enjoyable for you.

The plot is pretty straight forward in that the elves are trying to find a new homeland to call their own while at the same time trying to keep their race alive and flourishing. However, what looks on the surface as a straight-forward plot, soon turns into several small subplots each with the potential to affect the main plot. The authors proved they could do this type of plot with the Ergoth trilogy, and once again they prove apt at doing so here. There are several plots running through this story that at times the reader may `misplace' a character only to have them appear and shock you with what they are doing.

When I first learned that the book would center on the elf king Gil and his wife The Lioness, I was a little apprehensive that these characters had been written by other author and how would that affect the characters continuity. Those fears were quickly resolved as the authors made these characters their own, without `stepping on the toes of the previous authors'. Since the characters had been written about before, the character development is a little slow. This book is obviously story line driven. However, by the end of the book I can see a lot of potential for the next two books to begin to focus more heavily on the characters. That's not to say that there was no character development, just not as much as in stand alone novels or novels that are more character driven.

The authors prove that they were n fact the right people to tap for this story line. Just by reading the first book I can tell this story line will have some dynamic consequences all across the land of Krynn, Thompson and Cook were certainly the right couple to do this trilogy.

As always it's time for my recommendation. As I said in the opening if you haven't read those other two books I may hold off on this one. If you have read those other two, have no fear of jumping right into this one. This is a very good book to what may prove to be a Krynn shattering trilogy. I didn't like this book as much as the Ergoth Trilogy, but I loved the Ergoth trilogy so that is a high level to live up to. Never-the-less, I say read this book if you are a fan of the Dragonlance world. You won't be disappointed.

I'm not one to write negative reviews for books. First of all, I think if you are smart, talented, and lucky enough to get published then you deserve some credit. However, I have to give this book 2 stars for a few reasons:
1. It doesn't follow the Dragonlance world too well. I am a huge fan of Weiss & Hickman as well as some of the other authors, all who seem to study the actions of the various races and characteristics of the physics of that universe, which shows in their writing. There is an absense of that in this book.
2. It is way too narrative. I don't feel like I'm in the story with the characters. I feel like the author is sitting in the room telling me what happened to the elves. When I read a book, especially a Dragonlance novel, I expect to be in the story, as if I were there.
3. It takes til about page 130 before you see any real action. Prior to this there is nothing that really grabs you. I have stuck it out because I want to know the ending of the story (therefore I bought all 3 books and am hoping they get better).

This had the potential for more stars, but I am somewhat dissapointed. I wish they (Wizards of the Coast) would give their editors a bit more freedom to tell the authors how to write - again, I don't like to say that and I am a huge Dragonlance fan. Should you read this book? Probably NOT if you are NOT a fan. Stick with the more "core" novels of the story line if you are just getting into this genre.

Sanctuary is the first in the Elven Exiles trilogy. I bought this trilogy because I had previously read the War of Souls trilogy and always wondered what happened to the elves. At the end of the last book from the War of Souls, the story with the elves was left very open ended. I had liked the elven characters, especially Gilthas. Although I was a bit skeptical about reading a Dragonlance book not by Margaret Weis or Tracy Hickman (I had not had the best of luck before), I enjoyed this book. The characters seemed true to those found in the War of Souls trilogy (as far as I remember) and were still interesting. The writing style wasn't the greatest, but it was still overall an enjoyable read. I would recommend it to any Dragonlance fans and I look forward to reading the other two books in this trilogy.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 9 reviews  3.3 out of 5 stars