Margaret Weis was born in 1948. She graduated from the University of Missouri in 1970 with a BA in Creative Writing and Literature. Following a career in publishing she became an editor withTSR in 1983, and now lives with her husband and two cats in a converted barn near Lake Genva, Wisconsin. Tracy Hickman, born in Salt Lake City ihn 1955, worked as a supermarket boy, a movie projectionist, a theatre manager and a drill press operator, before landing a job with TSR. That job led to his association with Margaret Weis and the creation of the Dargon Lance Chronicles. He currently lives in Utah with his wife Laura and their four children.
Bestsellers Weis and Hickman (Dragonlance series, etc.) deliver a solid tale peopled by familiar figures (some of whom are Not What They Seem) in the second volume of their latest fantasy trilogy. Two hundred years after the action in Well of Darkness, the world of Loerem (conceived by fantasy artist Larry Elmore, who provides the stunning jacket art work) is plunged into war. Old hatreds and new combine with the struggle to recover all the pieces of the Sovereign Stone to uproot the characters, sending them running across lands turned hostile. While much of the work fits the classic fantasy quest tradition, the authors do manage to impart some subtle differences, such as basing cultural traits and the magic used by each race (human, elf, dwarf, ork) upon an unusual associated element. (Orks are the water race and rule the seas, while the fire-using dwarves are master horse riders.) Dagnarus, Lord of the Void, is also not the quintessential outsider that most evil overlords tend to be. Instead, he's a Mordred figure, struggling to claim what he believes is his inheritance. In places the narrative turns expository, in order to aid readers wishing to role-play in the setting. Elsewhere, the collaboration reveals its seams, as when the same object is repeatedly given two names (blood knife/bone knife) or when a long-separated elven wife and husband immediately separate after embracing, "for elves consider public displays of affection to be boorish and intrusive." The target audience, college-age readers and their teenage kin, should be well satisfied. (Nov. 20) Forecast: As with the authors' Dragonlance books, the associated role-playing game is sure to swell sales for the novel and vice versa. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
When Sir Gustav recovers a portion of the long-lost Sovereign Stone, he hopes that its reunion with its companion stones will bring humans, elves, dwarves, and orken together to battle the forces of the Void. A group of unlikely individuals, including a young barbarian and his traveling companion, one of the diminutive race of pecwae, undertakes the quest to bring the magical treasure to its rightful place as vicious monsters pursue them across the landscape. In this sequel to Well of Darkness, best-selling fantasy authors Weis and Hickman again demonstrate their uncanny ability to create meticulously detailed imaginary worlds peopled with complex and vital characters. For most fantasy collections. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
|
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
