King's Test

Description

By calling a temporary truce, Derek Sagan and the rebels thwarted the alien Corasian invasion. Enemies once again, the rebels have resumed their defiance and Sagan has retumed to his campaign to topple the corrupt galactic government.  He plans to set up Dion as king of the Starfire dynasty--and to place himself as the ruling power behind the throne.  On a remote planetary sinkhole of sin and corruption, a small weapon-barely ten centimeters on a side--is hidden.  If activated, this seemingly harmless crystal cube could tear a hole in the universe. . .and destroy the fabric of creation.  Sagan wants it.  Lady Maigrey wants it.  And so does Abdiel, a cruel genius who commands a drugged army of mindless slaves. And now Dion is caught in this momentous struggle as he faces his greatest trial yet in his battle to gain the interstellar throne.


From the Paperback edition.

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Customer Reviews

Best series by Margaret Weis.
This truly is a galatic fantasy, as the author describes. Real emotions were portrayed by the main characters, and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys well thought out and creative story telling.

2009-04-15 (Los Angeles, CA USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Star of the Guardians Gets Better With Every Page!
King's Sacrifice continues the great story of Dion Starfire and his spiritual struggles. Dion so badly wants to become a man and assume the throne. His interactions with Sagan and the StarLady, as Sagan's men now call Maigrey Morianna, keep tugging at him mercilessly.

Dion becomes involved with the leader of an ancient priesthood from the Order of Dark Lightning. He trusts the man will take him straight to the throne, but Abdiel has plans of his own. Sagan and Maigrey must use everything they've been given to overcome Abdiel and bring Dion safely back to reality.

A whole new group of wonderful characters emerge in this book. Bear Olefsky, a mountain of a man and an ally of Sagan's, Snaga, the brilliant weapons manufacturer, a vapor breather, and an Amazon woman warrior and leader of a powerful plant. Sagan and Maigrey must use all the players in order to bring Dion closer to the throne.

A great tale continued with this book...

Kevin Gerard

Conor and the Crossworlds: Breaking the Barrier
Conor and the Crossworlds, Book Two: Peril in the Corridors

2008-04-27 (San Diego, CA USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Keeps the Series Intense
In this novel, the struggle for power continues between Maigrey, Derek Sagan, and Dion Starfire. However, a new, deadly opponent comes to the surface. The new opponent is going to try to tear apart the Guardians and Dion. However, Maigrey and Sagan have a few tricks up their sleeves! This novel continues right where the first one ended. It is fast paced and highly enjoyable.

2000-04-13 | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

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Awsome fantasy fiction!!
This was the best book I have ever read!!I'm currently looking for the 5th book, but I can't find it!What I really want to do is buy the whole series together.I need to know: how many books are in the whole series, if she's written them all, and where could I but them?If you know, email me at LanenKae@aol.com

1999-10-22 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Awsome fantasy fiction!!
This was the best book I have ever read!!I'm currently looking for the 5th book, but I can't find it!What I really want to do is buy the whole series together.I need to know: how many books are in the whole series, if she's written them all, and where could I but them?If you know, email me at LanenKae@a0l.com

1999-10-22 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Master of Dragons (Dragonvarld Trilogy, Book 3)

Product Details

• Modify: New
• ISBN13: 9780765343925
• Notes: BUY WITH Nerve, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and amenities to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

Description

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Customer Reviews

The final book (or is it?)
The title would make you think that the King's son became the master of dragons, but I didn't see it that way. To me, Draconas became the master of dragons, because he outsmarted all of them. Again, not a 5 in my book, I'm stingy with those, but a good series and I would like to see more of Vengeance and his siblings.

2010-05-11 | book addict (alabama) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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Fantastic BOOK
I never cared in the slightness to even pick up a book and read it through How ever when I sat down and actually read the book "Mistress of Dragons" I was eclipsed and entranced the theis trilogy books. Margaret Weis Book make you want to read on and on. And the surprise in it was fantastic. I Wouldn't be surpised in the slight's if they decide to put her books in the big screen! I would buy them! lol. Theis books are my absalutly TOP favorit books to read. Im finding myself reading other books thanks to her Brilliant trilagy THANK YOU MAGARET WEIS!
lol,
Also when i received this book it was in great shape, as if it where right out of the shelf. and the dilvery of the book was very fast indeed!
Thank you very much!

2009-07-18 (Oregon, USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Master of Dragons
The condition of the book and cover are excellent. Shipment was timely. A++ That's the review of the seller. I haven't read the book yet.
HN-Texas

2008-11-11 | badkitty2 (TX USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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2.5 stars. Half-baked.
Master of Dragons, the final book in Margaret Weis's Dragonvarld trilogy was a tasty but sloppy finale -- like a cheesecake that didn't quite set.

This last book wraps things up, as we knew it would, and everything is finally well in the world, as we knew it would be. There are some fine moments (Draconas showing tenderness to a female dragon, Ven finds a family, Marcus falls in love) and even some hilarious ones (Draconas darning socks, Evelina's ironic fate). Characterization, especially of the bad guys, continues to be a high point, and the writing is nothing brilliant, but certainly pleasant enough.

But this otherwise entertaining novel suffers from internal inconsistencies:

* On page 38, Draconas is said to wear "the guise of a human male in his thirties," and 5 pages later he is described as "a human male of undetermined years."

* Draconas has cast the illusion that he is a little girl while staying in DragonKeep. He is able to eavesdrop on adults because of his keen dragon hearing. But, later, we are told that as a little girl "his hearing was so reduced that it seemed his ears were stuffed with wax."

* Much of what Anora (Prime Minister of the dragon parliament) says to the parliament is illogical and none of the dragons ever notice. For example, she says she should have removed Draconas from his post as "walker" because he was starting to become emotionally involved with humans, but she didn't remove him because he was the best walker they'd ever had because he was able to stay detached from humans. Then she says that she became involved in Maristara and Grald's plot 200 years ago because humans had become such a threat (she cites their canons), but a few lines later she says that because their plot went awry, the humans created canons (a few years ago). Sometimes she indicates that the canons are a threat which, though they are no threat, show that humans are, for the first time in their history, preparing to fight dragons.

There also seem to be inconsistencies about dragon magic vs dragon blood, who can see through illusions and who can't, and to what extent thoughts can be shielded from others with dragon magic. These sorts of "rules" seem to be conveniently flexible. For example, one of the monks is able to see through illusions, yet he doesn't recognize Draconas?

Then there are the unbelievable elements. For example, Anora's betrayal just doesn't ring true -- it sounds like a forced plot twist. And, Anora says that to keep their plot secret from Draconas, they had to kill some good dragons (which she seems to regret) when, if they had just killed Draconas instead, everything would have been fine. And it didn't make sense to keep the plot from the dragon parliament if the purpose of it was to protect the dragons from the might-someday-be-threatening humans. It would have made immensely more sense, and been a lot less stressful, to just go to the parliament and say "hey, these humans want to kill us -- let's kill them first." That seems a lot easier and a lot more likely to be successful than to embark on a 200 year breeding program in order to try to figure out if they might someday rule the humans with half-human, half-dragon creatures and a pack of mad monks. (And let's not forget that the humans weren't even starting to threaten the dragons until AFTER the breeding program started.) (And let's not forget that Anora even says herself that the humans are not actually threatening yet -- they just might be in the future.) The whole thing just seems sloppy. Half-baked.

I listened to this on audiobook. The reader, a woman, did a great job with the female voices. At first I thought she was doing a great job with the male voices too, because her voice for Grald, the first male speaker, was excellent -- really slimy. Unfortunately, she used the same slimy voice for every male character in the entire book.

My overall opinion of this series: Unless you've just got a thing for dragons, I'd recommend choosing something better.

2008-07-02 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

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Weis, Fun, Sci-Fi
During the summer Months when I'm not in school, I look forward to Entertainment ýreading something that's Sci- Fi and action packed; I feel that Margaret Weis has done ýthis in her Dragonvarld Trilogy. She captivated me with Mistress of the Dragons and kept ýme with Dragon's Son, and left me wanting more similar reading with the last Master of ýthe Dragons. (She is a real entertainment break from regular graduate school work, lol)ý

2008-05-15 (NY, NY) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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Dragon Wing (The Death Gate Cycle, Book 1)

Product Details

• ISBN13: 9780553286397
• Adapt: New
• Notes: BUY WITH Self-reliance, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and secondment to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

Description

Preeminent storytellers Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman have redefined epic fantasy. Since the publication of their Dragonlance series, millions of readers have enjoyed their imaginative world-building, rich characterization, and intricate storylines. Now these bestsellingauthors bring their talents to one of the most innovative fantasy creations ever in Dragon Wing, the first volume in The Death Gate Cycle.

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Customer Reviews

Great Book, Terrible Editing
I read this book many years ago and am reading it again now as a Kindle book. It's just as good as I remember it being except for the editing. I've found an error every few pages including slight misspellings, random characters, strange typographic issues, and missing words. I'd recommend reading this book, but don't buy the Kindle version unless you're not at all bothered by errors. Its's hard to enjoy the story when every few minutes you notice another error and wonder why they didn't have anyone proofread this.

2010-08-23 (Washington, United States) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

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Have you ever played D and D??
This book reminds me of the guy who used to be a Dungeonmaster for D and D games and for some reason thought he could write a book. So he sits down and pounds out the most drab, generic piece of drek he can, labels it a masterpiece simply because he was able to finish it and then distributes it not even realizing how bad it sucks.

This is one of the most generic books I have ever read (but can't finish). With scenes such as this (summarized):

Hugh walks into the chamber where Prince Bane (yes, Bane) is sleeping. "Wake up! You're coming with me. You're in danger" Bane, "You're ugly. I won't go with you! I won't! I wont!" Of course Bane has big innocent eyes and strands of wild gold hair. Hugh, "I'm here to protect you so my looks don't matter." Bane, "Ok. grab my stuff." Bane then hops up and gives Hugh a hug.

WHAT??????

Is this what people who gave the book 5 stars are calling hi fantasy??? Oh people, step outside the basement and do some exploring! The descriptions are bland, the dialogue is retarded and the emotions/reactions of characters typically makes no sense and comes out very Saturday morning cartoonish. Overall, this book is a waste of time and paper (or e-paper if you're on Kindle).

Suggestions: Lies of Locke Lamora or, of course, R. R. Martin.

2010-05-03 | Chelseausa (Fresno, ca) | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 1

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Novel good, Editing Bad
The editing of the Kindle Book version of this novel is atrocious. The conversion from a physical book to an electronic one obviously didn't go well and a number of words that the author uses frequently are constantly misspelled (clark is dark) in the kindle format. The same goes for a good bit of punctuation where i's and exclamations frequently end up as italicized slashes. If you've read the book before, you'll likely pick up on issues quickly and be able to substitute as you read, but if you haven't you may be confused by terminology "changes" that happen sometimes even in the same paragraph.

Its painful to believe that the publishing company (Spectra) didn't even bother having someone read the Kindle version before sticking it up on the Amazon store.

2010-05-03 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 2

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Hard slogging...
However good the plot, the character development, the overall theme of the series, kindle version of this book, at least, is *full* of typos and other character recognition errors. Before I reached chapter 5 I was tempted to toss the book. Reader beware - you may want to invest in a printed copy.

2010-03-19 | Irish Red (Waldorf, MD USA) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 3

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Kindle version has a lot of problems.
I'd first read this series back when it came out and I was a teenager, and I remember them only being so-so back then. I decided to give them another try, and after reading Dragonwing I'm not sure I'm going to make it through the rest again. It shouldn't come as any surprise to me, but the characters are pretty one-dimensional and the dialogue doesn't sound real. And how many times does Alfred need to trip or Limbeck start rattling off a speech while no one's listening? We get that Alfred is clumsy after the first 15 times he trips... it doesn't need to keep happening every other page!

Anyway, the real reason I wanted to write this review wasn't to complain about the content of the book, but rather how the Kindle version turned out. There are a lot of problems with text that got garbled and came out with the wrong characters. For example, if there's a line in the book that says "I'll go get it.", it might appear in the Kindle version as "I'11 go get it". There's also quite a few cases of words with letters missing. It's impossible to go more than 2 pages without hitting an error like this, and in some cases you might see 5 or 6 on a page. It's not a huge deal since you can still tell what the word is supposed to be, but it's pretty annoying that this was such a low-quality digital conversion.

2010-03-05 | Helpful Votes: 4 | Rating: 2

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A Magic-Lover's Treasury of the Fantastic

Description

In many worlds, the rules of magic are as serious as the principles of quantum physics. In this extraordinary collection, Melanie Rawn, Orson Scott Card, Raymond E. Feist, Fritz Leiber, Andre Norton, Larry Niven, Ursula K. Le Guin and many others take readers on 20 wonder-filled journeys, revealing the power of magic in many different realities.

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Customer Reviews

An excellent anthology...
Here Margaret Weis has put together (another) collection of gems by well-known and beloved writers in the fantasy genre. This is a fun book, chock-full of memorable, quirky, and original tales that might have been missed or mis-laid and never heard from again had not Weis collected and re-released them. It's worth a read, especially if you're a short-story fan, and it's worth a re-read every now and then. You really should do yourself a favor and buy it - quick, before it goes out of print!

2004-03-03 (Oregon, United States) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

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Great!
I think that this book was very well written! The author seemed to spend a lot of time in compiling the information for this book and I think that whoever loves magic should read this book! I want everyone to enjoy this book as I have enjoyed it! :)

2000-05-24 | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 4

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The Dragon's Son (Dragonvarld Trilogy, Book 2)

Description

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Customer Reviews

second in the trilogy
I purchased all three of these books together because I hate reading out of order. I was surprised in the sense that usually in books like this, one son is evil and one is good. This did not follow the usual pattern. I like the touches of humor, intentional (and sometimes unintentional) and the ending was a bit of a surprise. I would be very interested to follow up with the Dragon's Son and see where he winds up. Not the best I've ever read, but held my attention well and I went straight through all three books.

2010-05-11 | book addict (alabama) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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Perhaps workable for young adults...
I'm pretty critical of this novel, but I'm an adult. If you're a young reader you very well may get a lot from the series (I like Weis/Hickman books as a teen) so I'd take my review for a grain of salt if you're under around 20.

For the rest of us:

Right from the beginning... where abysmal 1980's era synthesizer music played in the background of the recording for what seemed like forever... I didn't think this book was for me. I actually had to jump forward in the playback to make sure that the music stopped... because if it had continued there'd have been no way I could have sloughed through the book.

Luckily the music stopped, but the story never really captured me. Characters were VERY cookie cutter, with actions that could be predicted by the plot direction far better than by the character description provided in the text. It left me with a feeling that characters were schizophrenic, saying one thing but doing another. 6 year old kids acted and spoke like adults. 16 year old young men are described as intelligent but everything they do establishes that they're complete idiots. I think the author wants us to believe that a 16 year old boy can be so besotted by a pretty girl that his mind shuts off. Well... it might for a short while... but after she denigrates him and berates him he WILL smarten up... her characters never do... which means they never grow. They're as dumb at 16 when the book ends as they were at 6 when the book started. Then there's absolutely baffling behavior that is so conflicted with the characters developed personality that it makes the text come off as just silly. In the same paragraph one character behaves so gullibly toward one character that only a 70 IQ could explain it... yet he turns around and acts like a 60 year old hardcore cynic to another. The unkind part of me sees the pattern of a silly romance in the plot... it's the only thing that could explain some of the crazier plot points and character behaviors.

The whole book comes off as... disheveled. The one thing I actually liked about the book was unintentional on the authors part. I didn't read the first book of the series, so I learned about characters as I went... and it gave the book a certain amount of growth just by virtue of the fact that information was hidden. Sadly... the more I got to know the characters, the more distracting their insane behavior became.

I will not read or listen to the other books in the series.

2009-10-02 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 2

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BEST EVER!!!!!
I LOVE THE BOOK I LOVE THE BOOK!! lolz, I truly do to. I had the original 1st book hanging around my room for forever--. rad maybe the 1st chapter and that's it. but one day i was bored and I was just stuck in the book. And shortly realizing OMG! theirs still 2 more books out their to this one! so i had to of coarse buy this book. Hands down the best trilogy book set ever written next to Harry Potter series! I would LOVE to see thies books to become a movie series.
The book it self was in really good condition for being used. And dilvery was awesome THANK YOU!!!!

2009-07-18 (Oregon, USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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I was somewhat dissapointed
Um....a "bad" twin and a "good" twin, now where have I seen that story before?

2008-12-20 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 2

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Great
I enjoyed this book very much. It was received in great condition and in a timely manner. This is a great continuation of the first.

2008-12-16 | cherkerulz (Florida) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Secret of the Dragon (Dragonships of Vindras)

Product Details

• Notes: BUY WITH Self-assurance, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and waiting to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
• ISBN13: 9780765319746
• Quarters: New

Description

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Customer Reviews

Can't wait for the 3rd book after reading this one
This book is much improved over the first. Although I did enjoy the first, this one felt like it had more "meat" to it. This series definately has the makings of EPICness. READ THIS BOOK!!

2010-07-15 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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A view about Weis&Hickman's Dragonships of Vindras
After reading Weis & Hickman's novels for many years, this is one of series which I'm looking forward to. Although the first book did not quite meet many fan's expectations, the plot in the second book thickens quite considerably. Or should I say, a bit too much actually. There was very little explaination about the gods in this series and it leaves many readers wondering what kind of gods Weis and Hickman is trying to impress us on. While book two explains more about these gods and their occasion appearence, I myself find it either too sudden or else the way these gods make their entrance without causing any excitment for the readers. I used to recall the Death gate or Darksword series where there was always a climax or thrilling section where a character does something or meets someone. Obviously Weis and Hickman lost a bit of that touch in here.

Overall, without spoiling any of this novel's contents, I would say that if you'r a big fan of these authors, you will feel somewhat disappointed but the enjoyment is still there, just not that epic. For new readers out there, it is still worth your time reading this.

2010-07-09 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

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The 2nd Book is always better...


Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman continue their "Bones of the Dragon" series in an excellent entry, "Secret of the Dragon." Like the first book, Tor/Forge gives readers a kickass cover that screams BUY ME! (So I did).

The second is much improved over the first. With an increased familiarity with Skylan, the plot of Dragon is far more interesting and twisted. We have the power of the old gods led by Torval challenged by those led by Aelon. When 'gods' fade, others take their place and the Gods of Raj step up to the altar. Not willing to take their loss of worship easily, they search for the Five Bones of the Vektia Dragons. The Sinorians and the land of ogres are known holders of two, but three are missing.

Meanwhile back on the 'earth', Skylan Ivorson (crew and Bone Goddess Treia) are betrayed by Raegar into the hands of Lord Acronis via the slave trade. Raegar, over time, discovers that Acronis is not whom he thought, and he realizes that he needs the help of the gods and Dragon King Kahg!

This is a fantastic series that is a little off the beaten path, but experienced guides Weis and Hickman, the paths become something else. Dragonships is one of those series (6 books) that will become legendary as their previous works. Reading this, part of me wants to join the crew...

2010-04-30 | Comic Fan 42 (Red Deer, Alberta) | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 5

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Secret of the Dragon
I have just started reading this book, but it seems good. I liked the first part either.

2010-04-03 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Much Better Than the First Book
This review is more a brief capsule than a true review. I just finished the book and felt that a little more should be said. First of all, the opening book in the series did not do much for me. I would suspect that most of us who read it did not have any vested interest in Skylan, the central character. I will say this book is a 180 degree turnaround and contains much more engrossing scenes and better twists. Character development also takes enormous leaps forward. Overall, I would say it is starting to look much like the Death Gate Cycle series from these same authors, a slow beginning with "who cares" characters which is suddenly taking off. If you made it through the first book, this one will get you excited about the series. It definitely looks more like their works of old than their more recent material.

2010-03-28 (Florida) | Helpful Votes: 7 | Rating: 5

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