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Het Geheim Van De Draak (2000)

by Margaret Weis(Favorite Author)

3.88 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

9024529956 (ISBN13: 9789024529957)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

series

Dragonships of Vindras

review 1: And here is Book Two in the Dragonships of Vindras series by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis. I've sort of been wondering how well this series is doing for them. The authors have been awfully silent about it and any news as to when to expect a third book has been kept behind closed doors. I know they each have other books and projects they are working on, but I still can't help being a bit curious...mhh....I also want to mention that I tear into this book quite a bit, but still gave it a 3 out of 5 stars...so please don't think that I have a low-level of respect for this novel or for the talent of the authors. That wouldn't be the truth and I'm simply trying to be honest with my criticism.Anyway, let's get to the dirty. Secret of the Dragon. More Dragon's, more Ogres and m... moreore annoying characters than in the last book even. Do I mean this in a bad way? Well...not completely. You see, in the first volume Bones of the Dragon, the only character that actually kept you sane when you were reading was Skylan's best friend, Garn. Everybody else was just...just too one-dimensional. Well, let's just say that Garn was not a major character in this most recent volume and so all that is left to us are the characters we didn't really like in the first place. This makes starting the book a bit of a challenge. Do I really want to read an entire book about selfish, obnoxious and immature Skylan Iverson without his friend Garn, the only person that brought any sense into these people's minds? It's a toss-up, because either Skylan will change - because he has no choice - or he'll completely fail and so will the book because he doesn't change at all.I stuck with it. Don't ask me how I conjured the strength to, but I did stick with it. And I am glad to report that, yes, the authors were actually able to accomplish something about these characters that I had thought were completely lost. Honestly, I believed that they had created characters that were absolutely non-salvageable from page one of book one. I hate sounding harsh, but I do this to emphasize the fact that somehow, through either pure talent or very good planning, they were capable of taking a character like Skylan and actually make you think, "Alright, I might care about this guy," by the end of the second book. That, my friends, is saying something even if there isn't much more to say.Here are a couple more flaws (in my opinion) before I get to the strong points:1. I hate the villains. I know, that's what you're supposed to think, right? Well, I think that depends on why you hate them. Think of all your favorite villains...you love the fact that you hate what they do. You think of them and even though you want them to lose, you really think that they are pretty awesome. The Joker. Maleficent. Khan. Darth Vader, etc...These villains, in this book, are just there to fill in the space. They're what I call the 'Page Flippers', the ones that have no other purpose than to be despised and introduce the next challenge. You're happy to get rid of them so you don't need to read about them anymore. Sorry if I'm offending anybody, but that all I have to say about it.2. The story is a bit clishe...or at least it's a bit too popular lately. Can a story about slaves and Gladiators trying to escape or overpower their captors become a bit too predictable? Anyone? Wait, let me think.... How many stories have gladiators in them? Lots. How many stories have dragons in them? Lots, right? Does combining the two make it more exciting, or original? (You reluctantly say...) No. It doesn't.Some of the good:1. As I mentioned before, the character's have been salvaged. If you disliked the first book because of the characters alone, you will be greatly surprised by this one. If you liked the characters in the first book, then you will love them now. I categorize myself with the first group, and I need to be honest and fair when I say that the authors did a terrific job at turning the ugly into the good. Props on that.2. It's well written. It's not poetic and nothing is described to the point that you see it exactly the way the author sees it, but it works very well. It leaves lots to your imagination while still leading you along the path of the story. I like that. I like that a lot, actually. I feel like I'm given freedom to walk the world they have created and left to my own musings. Of course, the main details are given, but most of what surrounds those are for you to fill in the blanks, and that is pretty cool.Conclusion:I miss The Deathgate Cycle, but there's nothing I can do about that. Trying to find a hint of that in these books, however, was a mistake. Don't try to quench that hunger for Haplo and his dog through Skylan. It'll never happen. Taken separately though, the Dragonships of Vindras are already showing a lot more promise than when only the first book was out. So, if you're a fan of Margaret Weis or Tracy Hickman, give it a go. You've never read their work before, follow my suggestion from an earlier review and read The Deathgate Cycle instead.
review 2: This book was much better than the first in the series, and it felt like the level of crassness was brought down a notch, although I do get it that with a story drawing from features of norse mythology, there is the expectation of a certain caliber of "manliness". What set this story apart for me were the tender feelings expressed between parent and child from characters which were new to the series in this book, much in the spirit to some degree as in Secret Garden. less

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