About the Author

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 in 1955. He 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 Dragon Lance Chronicles. He currently lives in Utah with his wife Laura and their four children.

Reviews

Chosen to serve as the whipping boy of the young Prince Dagnarus, Gareth becomes his master's friend and confidant as they grow to manhood and become embroiled in the affairs of the land. Tempted by dark powers, Gareth seeks to assist the prince in his search for love and glory, unaware of the greater paths each must follow to fulfill his destiny. The best-selling combination of Hickman and Weis have once again joined forces to create a rich and vibrant fantasy world populated with varied races and complex, believable characters. Based on the "Sovereign Stone" role-playing game, this epic series opener belongs in most fantasy collections. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

The founding parents of the game-tie-in fantasy novel here launch a role-playing-game-related high fantasy trilogy in which game knowledge is irrelevant to reader enjoyment. This is a classic tale of the rivalry of two half-brothers, the sons of King Tamaros of Vinnengael: the virtuous elder Helmos and the frustrated and ambitious young Dagnarus. Along the way, Dagnarus wins the friendship and loyalty of his whipping boy, Gareth, who in due course trains as a mage and adept in forbidden Void magic, dangerous to the user but deadly to the user's enemies. Shortly after King Tamaros believes that he has made peace among the four races (human, dwarves, elves and orken), Dagnarus and Gareth together begin to undo all the king's work, unleashing a war of all against all made even worse by the lethal Void magic and the rivalries of potentates, particularly human and elven. This is a story assembled from archetypical elements, all at least slightly touched with originality. Dagnarus is a thug but also a heroic soldier, and his elven lover prefers to become one of the Void-spawned undead Vrykyl rather than be parted from him. Elven political institutions irresistibly recall the Tokugawa era of Japan.The dwarves are not metal-working troglodytes but horse archers, living light and traveling fast. Weis and Hickman (Dragons of a Fallen Son, etc.) are still not much more than good plain cooks as stylists, but here they are writing at an entirely respectable level. (Sept.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.