Customer Reviews

Death of a Dragon

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The most realistic look at war and rulership that can be found in any Forgotten Realms book. If you're looking for lighthearted fare where all the good guys live, look elsewhere.

If you're looking for an excellent story with characters you can care about, look here.

I've read entire stories where an author has failed to do what Greenwood and Denning manage to do in only a few sentences: Make an individual character, even a short lived one, come alive. And that makes their ends all the more tragic. The soldiers dying in the field aren't generic redshirted security officers being beamed down to die like fodder. They're good hearted, often humorous lads, who you hate to see go.

So good. One of the best FR books I've read. A must read.

Though it's presumably the third book in the Cormyr Saga, Death of the Dragon is more the continuation of events that begin in Beyond the High Road. I didn't much like that story, but taken in whole the pair of novels is excellent. These two books should really be one, and probably would be if they weren't so long. A lot of things that didn't make much sense in High Road are cleared up, for example- what made the ghazneths and what exactly is their purpose other than wreaking wanton carnage and destruction. You also learn what exactly happened to Vangerdahast, which was a bit perplexing at the end of High Road. There's a lot of orc-killing in Death of the Dragon (hard to do Forgotten Realms without at least some of that!) and visceral battle. While the plot isn't precisely ingenious, it is exciting and generally fun to follow.

As a matter of fact, Death of the Dragon is great reading- I couldn't put it down... at least for the first 375 pages. I seriously urge readers to STOP there! It is odd, really, since I've found that usually fantasy novels either stay strong all the way through or start weak and end strong. In Death of the Dragon, it starts strong, stays strong, and concludes with a whimper- the ending is probably the lamest conclusion I have EVER read in a novel. It's a real pity, because the rest of it is so great. I'm baffled as to why Greenwood and Denning chose to drag it on for 12 more pages of what amounts to useless drivel that breaks the breakneck pace of the plot and is sopping with ridiculous sentimentality. For a second it looked as if they were trying to end on a happier note, but they didn't succeed in that- and I don't think this would be a good idea anyway.

If you've already read High Road, definitely read Death of the Dragon. It would be a shame to suffer through that novel and not get to this rewarding read. At this point, I see two ways the Cormyr Saga can be resolved- either another book with a well-written finale, or a truncation of the last 12 pages of this one. Since Death of the Dragon was so good for the better part, I would recommend the latter.

I liked this book, and enjoyed reading it. Which is saying a lot considering Ed Greenwood came anywhere near it, and you can see his handywork all over it. Greenwood has a tendancy for trying to cram too many characters in one scene, and for writting extremely poor dialoge, his battles become repetitive after awhile. However I'm straying from my point here, this was a very good read and I enjoyed it. It was a good finale to Beyond the High Road and it makes me want to read more and more of the Forgotten Realms (I'm a Dragonlance reader who is branching out after reading anything and everything with Drizzt Do'Urden in it.)

I would like to add one more thing. After reading Spellfire and Crown of Fire (I never finished Hand of Fire or whatever it was because I was so disgusted), I was afraid to spend my money on any book with Ed Greenwood on the cover. I know many people who won't touch a book that has his name on it. I would encourage those people to take a chance on this one...while Greenwood keeps it from being a great book (his style is so obvious you can tell where he mucked it up)...it is still a book worth reading as it will begin to reshape a very important Kingdom in the Forgotten Realms.

I liked this book, and enjoyed reading it. Which is saying a lot considering Ed Greenwood came anywhere near it, and you can see his handywork all over it. Greenwood has a tendancy for trying to cram too many characters in one scene, and for writting extremely poor dialoge, his battles become repetitive after awhile. However I'm straying from my point here, this was a very good read and I enjoyed it. It was a good finale to Beyond the High Road and it makes me want to read more and more of the Forgotten Realms (I'm a Dragonlance reader who is branching out after reading anything and everything with Drizzt Do'Urden in it.)

I would like to add one more thing. After reading Spellfire and Crown of Fire (I never finished Hand of Fire or whatever it was because I was so disgusted), I was afraid to spend my money on any book with Ed Greenwood on the cover. I know many people who won't touch a book that has his name on it. I would encourage those people to take a chance on this one...while Greenwood keeps it from being a great book (his style is so obvious you can tell where he mucked it up)...it is still a book worth reading as it will begin to reshape a very important Kingdom in the Forgotten Realms.

I liked this book, and enjoyed reading it. Which is saying a lot considering Ed Greenwood came anywhere near it, and you can see his handywork all over it. Greenwood has a tendancy for trying to cram too many characters in one scene, and for writting extremely poor dialoge, his battles become repetitive after awhile. However I'm straying from my point here, this was a very good read and I enjoyed it. It was a good finale to Beyond the High Road and it makes me want to read more and more of the Forgotten Realms (I'm a Dragonlance reader who is branching out after reading anything and everything with Drizzt Do'Urden in it.)

I would like to add one more thing. After reading Spellfire and Crown of Fire (I never finished Hand of Fire or whatever it was because I was so disgusted), I was afraid to spend my money on any book with Ed Greenwood on the cover. I know many people who won't touch a book that has his name on it. I would encourage those people to take a chance on this one...while Greenwood keeps it from being a great book (his style is so obvious you can tell where he mucked it up)...it is still a book worth reading as it will begin to reshape a very important Kingdom in the Forgotten Realms.

I liked this book, and enjoyed reading it. Which is saying a lot considering Ed Greenwood came anywhere near it, and you can see his handywork all over it. Greenwood has a tendancy for trying to cram too many characters in one scene, and for writting extremely poor dialoge, his battles become repetitive after awhile. However I'm straying from my point here, this was a very good read and I enjoyed it. It was a good finale to Beyond the High Road and it makes me want to read more and more of the Forgotten Realms (I'm a Dragonlance reader who is branching out after reading anything and everything with Drizzt Do'Urden in it.)

I would like to add one more thing. After reading Spellfire and Crown of Fire (I never finished Hand of Fire or whatever it was because I was so disgusted), I was afraid to spend my money on any book with Ed Greenwood on the cover. I know many people who won't touch a book that has his name on it. I would encourage those people to take a chance on this one...while Greenwood keeps it from being a great book (his style is so obvious you can tell where he mucked it up)...it is still a book worth reading as it will begin to reshape a very important Kingdom in the Forgotten Realms.

I liked this book, and enjoyed reading it. Which is saying a lot considering Ed Greenwood came anywhere near it, and you can see his handywork all over it. Greenwood has a tendancy for trying to cram too many characters in one scene, and for writting extremely poor dialoge, his battles become repetitive after awhile. However I'm straying from my point here, this was a very good read and I enjoyed it. It was a good finale to Beyond the High Road and it makes me want to read more and more of the Forgotten Realms (I'm a Dragonlance reader who is branching out after reading anything and everything with Drizzt Do'Urden in it.)

I would like to add one more thing. After reading Spellfire and Crown of Fire (I never finished Hand of Fire or whatever it was because I was so disgusted), I was afraid to spend my money on any book with Ed Greenwood on the cover. I know many people who won't touch a book that has his name on it. I would encourage those people to take a chance on this one...while Greenwood keeps it from being a great book (his style is so obvious you can tell where he mucked it up)...it is still a book worth reading as it will begin to reshape a very important Kingdom in the Forgotten Realms.

I liked this book, and enjoyed reading it. Which is saying a lot considering Ed Greenwood came anywhere near it, and you can see his handywork all over it. Greenwood has a tendancy for trying to cram too many characters in one scene, and for writting extremely poor dialoge, his battles become repetitive after awhile. However I'm straying from my point here, this was a very good read and I enjoyed it. It was a good finale to Beyond the High Road and it makes me want to read more and more of the Forgotten Realms (I'm a Dragonlance reader who is branching out after reading anything and everything with Drizzt Do'Urden in it.)

I would like to add one more thing. After reading Spellfire and Crown of Fire (I never finished Hand of Fire or whatever it was because I was so disgusted), I was afraid to spend my money on any book with Ed Greenwood on the cover. I know many people who won't touch a book that has his name on it. I would encourage those people to take a chance on this one...while Greenwood keeps it from being a great book (his style is so obvious you can tell where he mucked it up)...it is still a book worth reading as it will begin to reshape a very important Kingdom in the Forgotten Realms.

I liked this book, and enjoyed reading it. Which is saying a lot considering Ed Greenwood came anywhere near it, and you can see his handywork all over it. Greenwood has a tendancy for trying to cram too many characters in one scene, and for writting extremely poor dialoge, his battles become repetitive after awhile. However I'm straying from my point here, this was a very good read and I enjoyed it. It was a good finale to Beyond the High Road and it makes me want to read more and more of the Forgotten Realms (I'm a Dragonlance reader who is branching out after reading anything and everything with Drizzt Do'Urden in it.)

I would like to add one more thing. After reading Spellfire and Crown of Fire (I never finished Hand of Fire or whatever it was because I was so disgusted), I was afraid to spend my money on any book with Ed Greenwood on the cover. I know many people who won't touch a book that has his name on it. I would encourage those people to take a chance on this one...while Greenwood keeps it from being a great book (his style is so obvious you can tell where he mucked it up)...it is still a book worth reading as it will begin to reshape a very important Kingdom in the Forgotten Realms.

I liked this book, and enjoyed reading it. Which is saying a lot considering Ed Greenwood came anywhere near it, and you can see his handywork all over it. Greenwood has a tendancy for trying to cram too many characters in one scene, and for writting extremely poor dialoge, his battles become repetitive after awhile. However I'm straying from my point here, this was a very good read and I enjoyed it. It was a good finale to Beyond the High Road and it makes me want to read more and more of the Forgotten Realms (I'm a Dragonlance reader who is branching out after reading anything and everything with Drizzt Do'Urden in it.)

I would like to add one more thing. After reading Spellfire and Crown of Fire (I never finished Hand of Fire or whatever it was because I was so disgusted), I was afraid to spend my money on any book with Ed Greenwood on the cover. I know many people who won't touch a book that has his name on it. I would encourage those people to take a chance on this one...while Greenwood keeps it from being a great book (his style is so obvious you can tell where he mucked it up)...it is still a book worth reading as it will begin to reshape a very important Kingdom in the Forgotten Realms.