Rating:  Summary: commonplace ending to a series that deserved better Review: The Dragonlance series is not exactly thought provoking or intellectual - it is simply a very well written series with compelling characters and a nice satisfying quest to give it momentum. This book is clearly meant to put a nice tidy fullstop on Ansalon as we know it - all ends knotted except for the few that will allow some future author to milk the Dragonlance name for all it's worth! I don't think that Weis and Hickman have done well by their characters in this book. Palin, who had the potential to become a very interesting character is depicted simply as a lovesick idiot with a talent for magic (what sensible man falls in love with a stange woman just because she bats her 'silver' eyelashes at him a few times?). Usha, who I was really looking forward to 'meeting' when I learnt she was Raistlin's daughter (from a review I read) is without a doubt the single most irritating character I have ever seen. In the first place she hasn't got the brains of a sheep. In the second place, she doesn't do anything all that heroic (any decent fantasy character would have done what she did) and lastly, to add insult to injury, we find that she isn't even Raistlin's daughter!!! What was I reading about her for, then? Which brings me to my next grudge against this book - Raistlin, by far the most intriguing character in the series, makes far too brief and far too few appearances in the book. He did have a daughter with Amberyl so where the heck is she? The mediocre plot further added to my disappointment with this book and none of the characters introduced to us (including Chaos and the gods) seems particularly interesting. I was very sorry when I finished this book. yes, it is difficult to end a series well but I felt that the Dragonlance chronicles, which is an excellent trilogy, deserved a lot better.
Rating:  Summary: What hath Weis and Hickman wrought? Review: Part of me wishes I'd never read this book and had remained in blissful ignorance instead. Like the rest of these authors' work, the writing and characters are absolutely fantastic. The plot, however, goes an awful downward spiral which literally destroys everything the other books stood for. The ending was a clever way to connect Krynn to Earth, but it was unnecessary. It may take several doses of the original trilogy to forget about this book upon reading it.
Rating:  Summary: Disgusting Review: I don't normally support book burning, but Dragons of Summer Flame makes a good case for it. The War of the Lance ended ten years earlier, and so should have this series. In the book, the "father of the gods" (gag me quick) comes to destroy his childrens' creation. It bothers me greatly to see a race of gods previously characterized as wise and powerful reduced to a brood of sniveling children. It also irks me that the god Reorx comes to Krynn in the form of a befuddled old dwarf. Wow, that idea's almost never used, and certainly not by the same authors! You'd never suspect you were reading a book completely devoid of imagination! And it gets worse. Much worse. Because the ten years separating Summer Flame from the other 3 Chronicles has aged the original heroes past their prime, Weis and Hickman draw on obscure tales from other (read: bad) Dragonlance books to supply them with offspring to pick up where their parents left off. Nothing new in those characterizations at all. They didn't even bother to make the names much different from those of their parents, gratefully reducing the required brainpower to discern which kid goes with which parent. Perhaps Weis and Hickman thought that if they made Summer Flame a quick read, we wouldn't have time to notice how bad it was. Ugh.
Rating:  Summary: A dissapointing return to Krynn Review: "Dragons of Summer Flame," returns us to the magical land of Krynn where many of us first fell in love with the fantasy genre. Unfortunately that return was an unpleasant and very unispiring reunion. The characters we once loved do absolutely nothing to motivate us, while their offspring never come to life. The convoluted plot seems slowed by the doggmatic adherence to formula. Regardless, it was a book worth reading, yet it doesn't beg one to miss any sleep. Perhaps its just that I've come to expect more from Margaret & Tracy.
Rating:  Summary: Excellent! Outstanding! Review: While, I don't quite like the way that all the characters I have come to love have been killed, it was inevitable, and it was done in a way that I could not help but have tears fall from my cheek. This was one of my favourite Dragaonlance books, not only because it is exceptionally well written, but because it is the last with some of my favourite characters. I ended the book with sorrow, both at the finish of such a fine book, and at the finish at such fine characters.
Rating:  Summary: Could have been better, but still exciting none the less Review: I did not like the way this book ended, the interaction withthe Gods with the characters and the magic is the reason I fell in love with the Dragonlance series of books to begin with. But all in all the book was well written and loaded with plenty of action and suspence. If you enjoy Dragonlance the book is a must, but be ready for some disappointment.
Rating:  Summary: Overall it was great but the ending was a disapointment. Review: The book Dragons of Summer Flame was a good book. It follows the adventure Palin,Raistlins nephew, takes. Little do the characters know but they are destined to save the world from chaos. I liked the book because the story was exciting and kept my attention. Up until the end it was a great book. In the end the writer destroys what took many novels to create. Dragons of Summer Flame was a great book and worth reading.
Rating:  Summary: This was a Superb book!! Review: This book, Dragons of Summer Flame, is now one of my favorite books out there. I thought that the action was great with the battles in all of the battles with Chaos' forces, and well written. And although I wasn't that happy with all of the many hero deaths, it was Really cool to see Raistlin again. Tasslehoff was more humorous than he's ever been, and I liked all of the mystery behind the newer characters Palin, Usha, and Steel. Unfortunately though, I hadn't read the Legends series yet, so I was kind of left in the dark about Raistlin, and all of his business with Caramon and Tasslehoff. Also, all of the gods were portrayed excellently. The ending disappointed me a bit, but every event leading up to it was superb. All in all, I can say that the book was well narrated, had a good progression of plot, and was very interesting. A must buy.
Rating:  Summary: Wholesale Destruction, and for what? Review: Although it's been over a year since I've read this book, I feel compelled to warn true fans of Dragonlance about it's true nature. This book ruins everything the authors took years to build!All I can say is Amen to the reader from San Diego. Everyone I know who has read this book, including me, dismiss it as having anything to do with the previous two trilogies. Whether from some contractual dispute or other bizzare scenario, this book just screams out loud and clear that something was wrong with it's creation. I did not even care that much for the other various authors (Preludes, Meetings Sextant) who feebly tried to recreate the characters that only Weis and Hickman should have claim to, but they were at least tolerable. Let us hope than somewhere someday this one 'truly does not exist' and that a character will wake up from this terrible dream and go on with the true spirit of the original books. Despicable!
Rating:  Summary: Krynn is destroyed by its Authors Review: I have to qualify the summary by stating that I loved the original Dragonlance Trilogy. I have read and reread the books and have never tired of wandering the realm of Krynn. The ho-hum efforts of the legions of well meaning authors of the spin-off novels were bearable. This effort by the trilogy's original authors is not. Yes, the Dragonlance series has spun on too long, but it surely the world of Krynn we know and love did not deserve to be destroyed so callously. I found myself grimacing at some of the hackeyed plots involving the gods of Krynn and despairing as one hero after another is killed off in uninspiring, unheroic fashion. The truly sickening end to many well-loved characters made my stomach turn. Do yourself a favour, throw this book into the Abyss. Then re-read the original Dragonlance Trilogy and revel in the magic and spendour on Krynn as we know and love.
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