Elven Roses (The World of Five Nations Book 2)

It's like somebody else wrote this, and not the original authors. The book was so bad, that I didn't even finish it. There were several reasons why: He was supposed to be a funny, comedy relief character, but to me he was just annoying and unnecessary. I cringed every time he I loved the first book.

I cringed every time he appeared. It's called Realm of Fire, but there is no real fire here. It's just a jungle-covered world where the rain almost never stops. I did read that Haplo makes an appearance later in the book, but I just couldn't pass all that drivel to actually see his appearance.

I really liked the first book and I have a feeling that this series has potential.

Elven Star

Maybe I will finish it one day, but with books like this, the entire saga suffers. Having continued with the series, all I have to say is that the next books are amazing! If you are like me and didn't like this one, I recommend you to skip it and continue reading the events of this one will be re-told in a future book anyway. Death Gate cycle is currently my favorite fantasy series.

View all 5 comments. Jul 26, kingshearte rated it did not like it Shelves: This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Don warned me that this was his least favourite book in the series, and yep. It pretty much sucked. Everything that made the first book so good was basically absent from this one.

In Dragon Wing , the plot started early, and it was interesting right from the beginning. Political intrigue, backstabbing, revolution, and everything all intertwined into an engrossing, twisty plot. In Elven Star , the plot took forever to get going, and when it did, it was clunky, awkward, and uninteresting. I mea Don warned me that this was his least favourite book in the series, and yep.

I mean, really, giants pretty much destroying the entire world and its population lacks a certain subtlety. And as for the elf, human and dwarf uniting to save the world? That doesn't even make sense. For starters, there never was such a grouping. At one point, there was an elf, a dwarf, and two humans, but by the end, it was quite a band, with a few more elves, some humans, and Haplo.

And as for saving the world, they made no such attempt. They pretty much just made a run for it and escaped with their own lives. The characters in Dragon Wing were interesting. They had dimension and depth, and you cared about them. Several of them sort of evolved as you learn new information about who they really were and where they came from.

The characters in Elven Star were dull and flat. They turned out to be exactly who and what you thought they were the moment they were introduced. Each of them basically had one dominant personality trait if that , and that's all there was to them. The only one with even any hint of more than one level and we're pretty much talking about two levels here, nothing more profound than that was Aleatha, and she was really more of a secondary character. And don't even get me started on the great passionate love affair between Paithan and Rega. Sure, I was told often enough by the narrative how much they loved each other, but I never really saw it.

I didn't see it develop; it was just all of a sudden there, because the author told me it was. And despite the great controversy it caused among their respective people he was an elf and she was a human , I felt nothing for it. Be together or don't. There was more depth and genuineness in the brief hints at the attraction between Hugh and Iridal in the final pages of Dragon Wing than there was in the whole book's worth of the Paithan-Rega romance.

Roland and Aleatha, if cliched and also not that interesting, was at least mildly entertaining. In Dragon Wing , the setting was crucial to the plot. Getting from one island to the next was a major issue, and where in the strata of islands one happened to live made a huge impact on one's life. The eternal sun and rain of this world was almost irrelevant for most of the book. At the beginning, there was a mention of fans, which was just about the only nod to the fact that it's bloody hot on this world.

And occasionally, the fact that they have no darkness was brought up, but barely, and it really only became really relevant near the end when they find the citadel, which has night. I just feel that a world referred to as "Realm of Fire" should be a hell of a lot hotter, maybe even with some actual fire not endless rain. What is that about? In any case, the point is, this story could have taken place just about anywhere, in any setting, and it wouldn't have made any difference.

And if you're going to go to the trouble of creating four different worlds, each supposedly with a dominant element, that element should really play into things a whole lot more than it did here. He wasn't in Dragon Wing , and that alone made it much better. I'm told that Zifnab is pretty much an inside-joke type nod to a character from the Dragonlance books, and he was a big mistake, as far as I'm concerned. He added nothing except asshattery, and his constant real-earth pop culture references were not cute, funny, or endearing; they were merely stupid.

I could maybe almost forgive it if real earth actually came into the picture at some point, but apparently it doesn't, so there's absolutely no excuse, and I dearly hope that Don's right in his recollection that when we see this character again later, he quits that shit. A bunch of boring characters having a boring adventure on a boring planet, with a character who makes Jar Jar Binks seem awesome? If I ever for some reason find myself re-reading this series, I think I'll skip this one. Anything important will be re-iterated in the subsequent books, so I won't miss anything.

One interesting pattern that is either developing or is coincidence: Will that go anywhere? But I'll be watching for it. Jul 29, Dirk Grobbelaar rated it it was ok Shelves: In the first few pages of reading this, at least one thing became apparent: On the other hand, perhaps it was the intention of the authors to reveal the worlds in this fashion, altering reader perceptions with each novel. There are a number of things that bothered me about Elven Star. The forced humour was something I j In the first few pages of reading this, at least one thing became apparent: Many of the characters annoyed me.

No Hugh the Hand this time round.

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Yet, despite all this I found myself finishing the novel at a trot. Not much wrong with the pacing then. As was the case with its predecessor, the world building in this novel is truly fascinating. The few tantalising glimpses into the Nexus and the Labyrinth also hinted at awesome-ness. Oh, and the Tytans were super scary and creepy. I really wanted to like Elven Star more. Mar 11, Matthew rated it really liked it. You know, whenever I'm lucky enough to find a reasonably literate person who has read some fantasy novels, I'm always surprised by the fact that - as far as I can recall - none of them have read The Death Gate Cycle.

Granted, I had some holdover nostalgia from the Dragonlance Chronicles for Weis and Hickman, and so I probably had more cause to read them than most, but, even solely on their own merits, these are really excellent books. They're filled with interesting and nuanced characters - Hugh You know, whenever I'm lucky enough to find a reasonably literate person who has read some fantasy novels, I'm always surprised by the fact that - as far as I can recall - none of them have read The Death Gate Cycle.

They're filled with interesting and nuanced characters - Hugh the Hand is still one of my favorite characters ever - and the plotlines are expertly interwoven. The real mastery, though, is in the novels' 5 distinct - geographically, sociologically, politically, ethnically - worlds. People who enjoyed Harry Potter or Tolkein should give these books a shot. Jan 08, Lurino rated it it was amazing. Zifnab is the best of all crazy mages the Weis-Hickman duo ever came up with.

En este mundo conoceremos al delirante mago Zifnab, que parece sacado de una novela de Terry Pratchett. Seguimos conociendo a Haplo, mientras viaja por los mundos sembrando el caos. Jul 23, Darin rated it it was ok. I like the setting of the Death Gate Cycle with the different worlds. However, this novel was not written very well.

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The plot was very uninspired, the writing seemed amateurish at times, and the character of Zifnab was just annoying. I feel that this book can just be skipped without missing anything. View all 3 comments. De serie wordt voortgezet in een heel nieuwe wereld met een heel nieuwe set personages op 1 na.

Hoewel ik de personages van deel 1 beter vond, was de hele nieuwe wereld met zijn eigen geschiedenis en relatie tussen elf, mens en dwerg erg interessant. Ik ben erg benieuwd hoe de volgende wereld eruit ziet en hoe de geschiedenis van de splitsing van de wereld nou is verlopen. I love the references to other books and sci-fi movies. The dog always provides a little levite and softens the main character.

A fun nostalgic read. May 02, Rebeca Adams rated it it was ok. Mar 13, Chris rated it it was amazing Shelves: Naturally, this creates a planetary greenhouse effect, which causes the jungle-laden surface to sprout mega trees the size of continents. Elves, dwarves, humans, giants, dragons, and one kooky wizard bring balance to a story loaded with contrasting personalities. The thing that really enhances this book, at least for me, is the coupling of forbidden romance with raw, apocalyptic adventure.

One of the most intense passages I've ever read was when the giants first rumbled onto the pages- when Paithan and Rega were trapped on that enormous mushroom. Nov 27, Jim C rated it really liked it. Actual rating is 4. This is the second book of a series and it can be read as a stand alone novel.

by Karin Slaughter

There is a little background information but not enough that the reader will be lost. That being said, the reader does need to read the first one because they will all eventually tie in with each other. In this one, Haplo and his dog continue their journey. His journey leads him to Pryan where a looming menace threatens all races. I thought this book was better than the first one and I really Actual rating is 4.

I thought this book was better than the first one and I really am enjoying this series. One thing I am enjoying about this series is that we get two different layers of storytelling. The first layer is concerned with one planet and its inhabitants. We also get a huge overall arc where each book will tie in with each other and during the story we get little hints to this arc. In this character arc, we have three races that include elves, dwarfs, and humans.

All three races hate each other and we have rampant racism. Can these races put aside their racism or do they risk extinction because of the threat? Obviously, these issues are prevalent in today's society. I have read the reviews on this site and the character Zifnab seems to be a divisive one. My theory whether one enjoys this character depends if the reader has read these author's other works of Dragonlance.

Zifnab is Fizban from that world. If he is new to you I can see why he would be irritating. If you are a fan of Dragonlance you will love him here. This is shaping up to be a great series. The storytelling of a complete arc wrapped in an overall arc that is a mystery is well done and enticing me to continue with this well thought out series.

Here the story is elaborated on. His mother, Elansa Sungold, originally was kidnapped by Brand's brigands, however later fell in love with him, resulting in Tanis. At that time, Elansa was also married to the prince, and so the prince tried to "rescue" her from Brand. When she refused to leave, he fought Brand, and they both died. Pregnant with Brand's child, Elansa goes back to Qualinost pretending she was raped to protect her and Tanis. The orphaned Tanis was taken in by his mother's husband's brother, the elf king, Solostaran.

Tanis felt isolated growing up as a half-human amongst the elves and was only really close to Gilthanas and Laurana. Tanis became romantically involved with Laurana who gave him a promise ring that pledged her to marry him. When Laurana's family discovered how serious Laurana's infatuation with Tanis had become they angrily confronted him as they did not consider a bastard half-elf a suitable match for an elven princess. This fight led to the end of Tanis's friendship with Gilthanas and Tanis decided to leave Qualinesti. Tanis traveled to the nearby town of Solace where he began to work for the dwarven metalsmith Flint Fireforge.

Tanis had met Flint years earlier when the dwarf had come to Qualinesti to craft items for Solostaran and the two had developed a friendship. Tanis met Tasslehoff Burrfoot Tas when the light-fingered kender tried to steal one of Flint's bracelets. Tanis kept Flint from killing Tas and soon Tas was an inseparable companion.

Tanis met Kitiara when he believed he was going to her rescue as she fought a band of hobgoblins, only to find she was toying with her assailants. There was an immediate attraction between the two and Tanis was soon involved in a romantic relationship with the fiery human woman. Tanis did this despite the fact that Laurana still believed Tanis and her were engaged to be married. Together these seven Tanis, Flint, Tas, Kitiara, Raistlin, Caramon and Sturm formed a group known as the Innfellows and they adventured together for many years before finally separating for five years to go in search of evidence of the old gods of Krynn.

In the first chapter of Dragons of Autumn Twilight , Tanis meets up with the companions five years after they had split to find proof of the true gods. On his way into the Inn, Tanis meets up with Flint and Tas. They encounter Fewmaster Toede , who sets his goblins upon them. They fight them off, but are disturbed at their peaceful town of Solace being controlled by the Highseekers and the goblin patrols.

When they get to the Inn of the Last Home, the companions discuss things. In short, none have found any proof of the true gods. In addition, Kitiara has left a letter saying she will not be there. However, upon assembling in the Inn, they encounter Sturm, who has with him two barbarian plainspeople, Goldmoon and Riverwind. An old man there also tells a story of Huma Dragonbane and the White Stag. Goldmoon sings an enchanting song, which just about starts a riot. The companions, now joined by Goldmoon and Riverwind, leave the Inn under Tanis's guidance to prevent capture.

Khisanth was the first dragon Tanis ever sees, as well as the first black dragon introduced in the Chronicles Trilogy. Upon returning to Solace, Tanis and the others are captured by Toede and sent in slave caravans to Pax Tharkas. They escape and flee with a party of elves to Qualinesti. Tanis is then reunited with his childhood sweetheart, the elven princess Laurana. Laurana is still in love with Tanis and wants to marry him.

Tanis however rejects Laurana, telling her that he is in love with the human woman Kitiara. Later that evening, the Qualinesti Speaker of the Sun Solostaran tells Tanis and his companions how the Red Dragonarmy is about to invade Qualinesti and the only hope for the elves is for Tanis's group to sneak into the occupied fortress of Pax Tharkas, by way of the Sla-Mori, to free the slaves there. Such an uprising will delay the Dragonarmy long enough for the elves to evacuate Qualinesti.

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Tanis agrees to accept this mission. In the Sla-Mori, the companions encounter a great slug monster that melts Tanis's sword, when he was momentarily distracted by Laurana, who had followed them. Tanis was then given Wyrmslayer by Kith-Kanan, an ancient elven king. Tanis then angrily rebukes Laurana for following them and endangering the mission.

The companions enter Pax Tharkas and free the slaves. Afterward, the companions recover the Hammer of Kharas and give it to the refugees, who trade it to the dwarves in exchange for safe haven in Thorbardin. Tanis also begins to feel a renewed attraction to Laurana, who has become much more mature since leaving Qualinesti. However, Tanis again quarrels with Laurana due to his jealousy of her close friendship with the cleric of Paladine, Elistan, who Laurana is helping lead the refugees.

Tanis leads the companions off to Tarsis, where the dragons attack. Tanis, Raistlin, Caramon, Tika, Goldmoon, and Riverwind split off with the others after being rescued from Tarsis by the Silvanesti elf princess Alhana Starbreeze, who forces them to go to Silvanesti with her to free her father, King Lorac, from the dream and the dragon orb. Tanis loses Wyrmslayer at this point. They enter the dream and most of them die only in the dream, they live in real life.

Tanis lives because of his love of Laurana, and Raistlin because of his ambition. From here they head to Port Balifor and then to Flotsam. Here, Tanis disguises himself as a Dragonarmy officer and is discovered by Kitiara, who has become the Dragon Highlord of blue dragons. He briefly had a relationship with her, then fled Flotsam on the Perechon with the others and sank in the Maelstrom.

He finds himself in the sunken city of Istar, where he meets sea elves, particularly Apoletta, and Zebulah, who is a human whose magic allows him to breathe underwater and lives with the sea elves. The companions are sent to Kalaman afterwards. There Tanis meets up with Flint and Tasslehoff and learns that Laurana has been captured by Kitiara, who used the elfwoman's love for Tanis to lure her into a cunning trap.

Flint dies on the way there, suffering a heart attack. At Neraka, the remaining group is captured, but Tanis, seeing Kitiara enter into the city, takes a great risk and escapes from the guards, calling out for Kitiara's help. He falls into the charade of being her officer, and she accepts him up onto her dragon, however she does not see the others, so she believes Tanis is alone.

He then makes an exchange for Laurana, offering himself. He tells Kitiara he will serve under her in Bakaris's stead. She accepts, and brings him to the meeting of the Dragon Highlord's to be presented to the Dark Queen though in fact Kitiara plans to betray Tanis as she has already promised Laurana's soul to the death knight, Lord Soth.

At the meeting, it is revealed that Toede is dead, slain by the kender in their homeland. Laurana is then carried in by Lord Soth and roughly handled by Kitiara who presents the captured elf woman to the Dark Queen.

Tanis Half-Elven - Wikibooks, open books for an open world

Laurana remains defiant though and Tanis, seeing her courage and beauty, finally realizes it is Laurana he loves not Kitiara. Tanis realizes though that he must hide these feelings if he is to have any change of rescuing Laurana, so he treats her coldly, letting her think he is willingly serving Kitiara. Prior to the meeting, Kit told Tanis he would be presented before the Queen and could ask her for a favor in the form of escorting Laurana to the prison, after which he could sneak her out to the gates and free her. However, when Tanis kneels before the Dark Queen, he is so overwhelmed he cannot speak, and she commands him to present his sword before Ariakas, a part of the plan he did not know of.

Kitiara insisted on him going, and on the way there Tanis convinces himself barely to kill Ariakas. However, he discovers a magical shield in the way; Raistlin, is present and breaks the shield, allowing Tanis to plunge the sword through Ariakas and kill him. Tanis then makes a grab for the Crown of Power which Ariakas wore; Soth attempts to take it as well. During the struggle, horns blare, creating silence all round the chamber.

Kitiara calls to Tanis, telling him to bring her the crown and ordering Lord Soth to escort him to her. Tanis then tells Kit she will only get the crown in exchange for Laurana. Kit allows him to free Laurana, but Laurana refuses to go with him. Instead Laurana attacks Kitiara, stealing Kit's weapon and knocking the Highlord down. Laurana then pushes Tanis off the ledge when he tries to stop her from running off. This causes Tanis to drop the crown and a huge fight breaks out.

Tanis chases after Laurana as she fights her way out of the temple. He finally catches up to her but then so does Kitiara who again offers to let Tanis rule alongside her and warns him that Lord Soth is coming to collect Laurana. Tanis refuses Kit's offer, telling Kitiara he will protect Laurana with his life. Kitiara then allows Tanis and Laurana to flee, and they escape Neraka. Laurana and Tanis have a castle near Solanthus. Tanis becomes a widely known and popular figure on Ansalon. So heroic was he in the War of the Lance he is proclaimed by the Knights of Solamnia an honorary Knight of the Rose, a rank normal knights must strive for years to obtain.