Prisoner of Haven (Age of Mortals) [Mass Market Paperback]

This is the worst dragonlance book I've ever experienced, which is very strange, because it is probably the best Nancy Varian Berberick DL book I've read (not your fault this time NVB). This book shows everything that is wrong with modern dragonlance, all these faults coil around and brew into the horrible witch's brew that is "Prisoner of Haven", leaving a foul taste in any mouth seeking a story of glory or personal self-worth.

First, it destroys if not a great, but respected character. Usha Majere, our title character, is scum to me now. I don't care about the rationalization behind her actions, they were wrong, and she is now the first "weak" female dragonlance main character. Her husband is off saving the world, being tortured, and though she knows it not gave up magic for her, but that's not enough for her, he's never home and that makes it okay... Furthermore the whole idea is coped out at the end of the novel when Dez Majere slides in a one liner about sticking to whatever story Usha comes up with to tell people at home, so it can slip slide already set continuity of how they supposedly escaped from Have set up in WoS and make this mockery, and the money made from it, possible.

Second, it has a bad case of the horrible DL affliction, 300pageitis. Instead of working out a longer plot, or cutting out whole twists to make the story fit to 300 pages at a reasonable pace, we are left with the now often repeated but never duplicated last 50 page round up where characters are quickly killed off, nothing is resolved, plot points are left hanging, and one huge blast of action that is dry because it hasn't been properly set up right.

Third, weak villain(s). Dark Knights, worse they are really given no interesting character flaws or designs. They are brutal but we don't understand why. One, as I've already mentioned, was left hanging at the end while another never had a hashed upon character drive explained. Where have all the interesting villains gone?

Final, general errors. I'm kind of anal about it I know, but its not like I cross reference this stuff, it just pops into my head as something a DL writer/editor/fan should know. For example calling the Silvenesti elves, the Sylanesti elves more than once. Or a big pet peeve of mine, having dark knights ride black and red dragons when blue would make more sense, or even green since these are the Green Overlord, Beryl's, forces we are talking about here.

This has sadly been a very harsh review, but Usha's Betrayal (which would have been a better book title) simply sent me into a rant...

A Long Winded Final Thought: I'm sick of Fifth Age novels that follow this same formula. I'm sick of characters that are weak and set upon by larger forces, I'm sick of characters mopping around because there aren't any gods, I'm sick of characters that can't or won't fight back, and I'm sick of characters that do fight and get their butts kicked because "no gods were there to help them". People read DL books to see great legends, and great resolve like the characters in the first books and recently in Chris Pierson's (no relation) Kingpriest Trilogy. Stop with the sob stories already and get back to that route.

First off I would like to salute Richard Pierson in his fatally accurate description of this book. I had orginally planned to write more but he expressed much of my dislike for this book already, so I will just add some additional points.

Over the years I have read many Dragonlance books, and by far this is the worst. From the very get go the plot was boring and predictable, a characteristic that did not improve over the course of the novel. The characters of Usha and Dezra are underdeveloped and down right annoying at times. Usha is an especially weak maincharacter throughout the entire book.

As others have said this book is a good example of recent DL books that have gone awry. Other minor descrepicies present themselves as well. One being spelling mistakes that should have been spotted in editing.

Of all the DL books I have read this is certainly the least appealing to me to recommend or re-read. Whiny, boring, and weak are the three most important words I can convey to you about this book. People that havent read alot of other DL books, enjoy little action, and annoying aristocrats might kinda like this book. If you are reading it because you want to complete the Age of Mortals series then I am truly sorry for you and hope that you can finish quickly.

Unfortunately, Nancy Varian Berberick Ruins a book series about a world that i have come to love. Between this Soap Opera Style Romance of a book, and the "Inheritance" book she wrote that completly contradicts the whole Original history of the world. Her writing style is good and she is a good author i just dont feel that her writing belongs in the Fantasy/Sci-fi genre especially not DragonLance. Any dedicated DragonLance reader will find many flaws in this book. Usha was a TRAINED rogue, but now she is the most harmless of women. Very dissapointed.

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