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Dragon's Winter #1
Dragon's Winter
The winner of two World Fantasy Awards presents her first novel in thirteen years, the story of Karadur Atani, a man born of a dragon king, who must free his land from his evil twin, a wizard who has stolen his birthright. Reprint.
352 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
About the author
Elizabeth A. Lynn
52 books92 followersElizabeth A. Lynn is a US writer most known for fantasy and to a lesser extent science fiction. She is particularly known for being one of the first writers in science fiction or fantasy to introduce gay and lesbian characters; in honor of Lynn, the LGBT bookstore "A Different Light" took its name from her novel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 75 reviews
October 18, 2007
This was an interesting book. I picked it up at the library while in search of a new fantasy author. I'd never heard of Lynn, but she had good recommendations from two of my favorite authors on the back of the book, so I thought I would give it a shot.
I did enjoy her writing style - it was interesting and easy to read. The plot of the story held my interest and kept me reading, right up until the end. The characters were well-formed and ... overall, it was pretty good.
I had some issues. First, it seemed that the main character was homosexual. Not that that's an issue, I really dont' care if he's homosexual or not, but she didn't -state- it as such. There was a sentence at the beginning about him getting up from "...the bed that they shared..." (referring to a male friend) and later there were some tender moments between those two friends, even though the friend had betrayed the main character. Nothing sexual was ever mentioned, just alluded to... and the people complained because the main character (who was a king) had not taken a wife and produced an heir. His reasoning for this, according to the main character, was that his mother had died when giving birth to him and his twin brother, and he didn't want to put any woman through such a thing. This, coupled with the allusions, also gives credibility to the theory that he was homosexual.
But then, at the end of the book ... the battle is over, the enemy is defeated, the child is saved... and then there are three more chapters that don't seem to bear any relevance to the story at all. About a band of theives that comes from the north part of the country and steals some horses, and blah blah blah. It's not until the epilogue that we find this is how he finally meets the woman he will fall in love with - her brother is part of the band of theives so he meets her in this fashion. And in the epilogue he is caught by the rescued child going to visit her secretly.
But then... what about the possible homosexual relationship with the friend? Does this continue? Does the friend become jealous? Does the woman ever find out? Did he just ... decide he likes women after all, or had he liked them all along? I realize this was not the point of the novel, but it seems like a loose end that wasn't tied up, and was definitely not a necessary part of the novel. The best friend could have easily betrayed him -without- them also being lovers. He could have found the woman at the end -without- the three unnecessary unrelated chapters and an epilogue...
I did enjoy her writing style - it was interesting and easy to read. The plot of the story held my interest and kept me reading, right up until the end. The characters were well-formed and ... overall, it was pretty good.
I had some issues. First, it seemed that the main character was homosexual. Not that that's an issue, I really dont' care if he's homosexual or not, but she didn't -state- it as such. There was a sentence at the beginning about him getting up from "...the bed that they shared..." (referring to a male friend) and later there were some tender moments between those two friends, even though the friend had betrayed the main character. Nothing sexual was ever mentioned, just alluded to... and the people complained because the main character (who was a king) had not taken a wife and produced an heir. His reasoning for this, according to the main character, was that his mother had died when giving birth to him and his twin brother, and he didn't want to put any woman through such a thing. This, coupled with the allusions, also gives credibility to the theory that he was homosexual.
But then, at the end of the book ... the battle is over, the enemy is defeated, the child is saved... and then there are three more chapters that don't seem to bear any relevance to the story at all. About a band of theives that comes from the north part of the country and steals some horses, and blah blah blah. It's not until the epilogue that we find this is how he finally meets the woman he will fall in love with - her brother is part of the band of theives so he meets her in this fashion. And in the epilogue he is caught by the rescued child going to visit her secretly.
But then... what about the possible homosexual relationship with the friend? Does this continue? Does the friend become jealous? Does the woman ever find out? Did he just ... decide he likes women after all, or had he liked them all along? I realize this was not the point of the novel, but it seems like a loose end that wasn't tied up, and was definitely not a necessary part of the novel. The best friend could have easily betrayed him -without- them also being lovers. He could have found the woman at the end -without- the three unnecessary unrelated chapters and an epilogue...
January 9, 2020
Well here is my first review of 2020, new decade new things to read. So I had been seeing this book around occasionally on my Goodreads browsing and figured why not and bought the duology. The premise sounded unique and as people can probably tell I'm a sucker for dragons on the whole. However in a classic lesson of life, just because something sounds like something you'd love doesn't mean you will. I thought this book was alright but to be honest with you other than the shapeshifters there was nothing that really struck me as unique about this book, as a whole it was kind of generic and forgettable which I will discuss in more detail. As always, the review will be broken up into sections based on aspects of the books I liked and ones I had issues with. Warning there may be minor spoilers in here but I'll try to keep those to a minimum.
What I Enjoyed:
Worldbuilding:
Despite the overall generic nature of the setting, I thought it had a few unique features especially the creation mythology of the changelings and other beings of the world. In said mythology, the Dragon was created by the maker goddess when all the other changelings couldn't agree on who should be their ruler and didn't want to fall into squabbling like the humans and monsters did. The idea that changelings need a special talisman to channel the magic to change forms provided an actually reasonable explanation of why Karadur couldn't change and simply flame his problems away and gave us a plot. Some of the stuff about magic and mages was also intriguing with the Mage Wars and a few tidbits about how the magic of the setting worked though not much was discussed in detail.
Subplots Tying Together:
One of the concerns I had at first was how it felt like there was a bunch of disparate stuff going on here between Karadur's brother stealing his talisman and running off with dark magic, the shapeshifter Wolf settling in Ippa and making a life for himself, Hawk going about her business and corresponding with Wolf, and the mage Senmet who at the beginning had lost her mind and then found it again to then go off and learn more about what evil is plaguing the land. At first I thought, okay none of this stuff really has anything to do with the main story but as time goes on each subplot contributes more to the overall story eventually bringing everything together into a greater whole with each PoV playing their part.
Issues:
Worldbuilding:
Other than the few unique features I discussed earlier, overall this world just felt rather bland and dime a dozen. It was your bog standard medieval European modeled fantasy with lords, kings, wizards, etc. Other than the changelings, I couldn't really tell you why this would stand out compared to most of what you'd find in an old bookstore.
Characters:
I felt like the characters were rather wooden on the whole and didn't have too much emotional investment in him. For instance, the relationship between Karadur Atani and Azil Aumson was really one of the pillars of the story given the fallout of the latter's betrayal and eventually coming back but yet I just wasn't feeling it. This should have been heartbreaking to see the chasm that formed between the two of them but I was just getting eh and never truly felt like I cared about either of them. Plus I just wasn't getting much personality from either one of them, other than Karadur being a hothead with pet the dog moments there was just nothing that really made him stick out in my mind. That generally sentiment really applies to the rest of the cast as well, I just found everyone forgettable. The narrating style didn't help either because I never truly felt like I was inside anyone's head throughout the story. Wolf is about the closest we have to somebody we get to see his inner mind but even then it just felt bland, it should have been heartwarming to see him build a life, fall in love, and have a family but his courtship of Thea was pretty much totally glossed over as well just like all the other major relationships in book.
Lack of Urgency, Stakes, or Scope:
This to me is one of the biggest problems I had with the entire book; it felt like nobody had any true urgency and nothing was that dire. For crying out loud Karadur, your twin brother stole the one thing that would allow you to fully access your Dragon abilities and has access to dark magic and it takes you like 4 years to finally go out there and try taking it back? In addition, when he finally does he's somehow only able to scrounge together about 70 soldiers against an infamous fortress out of legend. I feel like Lynn had a lack of grasp for the concept of 'scale' in storytelling. This did not feel like a fate of the world at stake type affair which it should have and for all intents and purposes was with the return of an old evil. It just felt like the story was plodding along for the most part.
Beige Prose:
Another major thing that hurt the book for me. The narrative was also just dull in the way it was written. Good prose can elevate even a more mediocre story with the right amount of wit and description but that was also lacking here. The author just went for about the bluntest expressions and even the times analogy was used it felt a bit dull.
The Ending:
In reviews I've looked at before, this was one of the major gripes people had with the story and reading it I can kind of see why. Basically the last couple of chapters are lead ins for book 2 instead of really wrapping up the story right here. Most authors tend to opt for sneak previews these days adding a couple of chapters in the next book of a series but maybe publishing conventions were just different in those days for all I know.
Conclusion:
Overall like I didn't hate this book I've just read far far better to be honest with you. There was just little that stood out to me in this book besides the shapeshifter thing, and even that I've seen done in more engaging ways before. I'm still going to read the second book since I bought it and who knows maybe it'll be a lot better. My final call is perhaps buy this on a deep discount if you're looking for a read just to kill some time but don't pay full price for it.
What I Enjoyed:
Worldbuilding:
Despite the overall generic nature of the setting, I thought it had a few unique features especially the creation mythology of the changelings and other beings of the world. In said mythology, the Dragon was created by the maker goddess when all the other changelings couldn't agree on who should be their ruler and didn't want to fall into squabbling like the humans and monsters did. The idea that changelings need a special talisman to channel the magic to change forms provided an actually reasonable explanation of why Karadur couldn't change and simply flame his problems away and gave us a plot. Some of the stuff about magic and mages was also intriguing with the Mage Wars and a few tidbits about how the magic of the setting worked though not much was discussed in detail.
Subplots Tying Together:
One of the concerns I had at first was how it felt like there was a bunch of disparate stuff going on here between Karadur's brother stealing his talisman and running off with dark magic, the shapeshifter Wolf settling in Ippa and making a life for himself, Hawk going about her business and corresponding with Wolf, and the mage Senmet who at the beginning had lost her mind and then found it again to then go off and learn more about what evil is plaguing the land. At first I thought, okay none of this stuff really has anything to do with the main story but as time goes on each subplot contributes more to the overall story eventually bringing everything together into a greater whole with each PoV playing their part.
Issues:
Worldbuilding:
Other than the few unique features I discussed earlier, overall this world just felt rather bland and dime a dozen. It was your bog standard medieval European modeled fantasy with lords, kings, wizards, etc. Other than the changelings, I couldn't really tell you why this would stand out compared to most of what you'd find in an old bookstore.
Characters:
I felt like the characters were rather wooden on the whole and didn't have too much emotional investment in him. For instance, the relationship between Karadur Atani and Azil Aumson was really one of the pillars of the story given the fallout of the latter's betrayal and eventually coming back but yet I just wasn't feeling it. This should have been heartbreaking to see the chasm that formed between the two of them but I was just getting eh and never truly felt like I cared about either of them. Plus I just wasn't getting much personality from either one of them, other than Karadur being a hothead with pet the dog moments there was just nothing that really made him stick out in my mind. That generally sentiment really applies to the rest of the cast as well, I just found everyone forgettable. The narrating style didn't help either because I never truly felt like I was inside anyone's head throughout the story. Wolf is about the closest we have to somebody we get to see his inner mind but even then it just felt bland, it should have been heartwarming to see him build a life, fall in love, and have a family but his courtship of Thea was pretty much totally glossed over as well just like all the other major relationships in book.
Lack of Urgency, Stakes, or Scope:
This to me is one of the biggest problems I had with the entire book; it felt like nobody had any true urgency and nothing was that dire. For crying out loud Karadur, your twin brother stole the one thing that would allow you to fully access your Dragon abilities and has access to dark magic and it takes you like 4 years to finally go out there and try taking it back? In addition, when he finally does he's somehow only able to scrounge together about 70 soldiers against an infamous fortress out of legend. I feel like Lynn had a lack of grasp for the concept of 'scale' in storytelling. This did not feel like a fate of the world at stake type affair which it should have and for all intents and purposes was with the return of an old evil. It just felt like the story was plodding along for the most part.
Beige Prose:
Another major thing that hurt the book for me. The narrative was also just dull in the way it was written. Good prose can elevate even a more mediocre story with the right amount of wit and description but that was also lacking here. The author just went for about the bluntest expressions and even the times analogy was used it felt a bit dull.
The Ending:
In reviews I've looked at before, this was one of the major gripes people had with the story and reading it I can kind of see why. Basically the last couple of chapters are lead ins for book 2 instead of really wrapping up the story right here. Most authors tend to opt for sneak previews these days adding a couple of chapters in the next book of a series but maybe publishing conventions were just different in those days for all I know.
Conclusion:
Overall like I didn't hate this book I've just read far far better to be honest with you. There was just little that stood out to me in this book besides the shapeshifter thing, and even that I've seen done in more engaging ways before. I'm still going to read the second book since I bought it and who knows maybe it'll be a lot better. My final call is perhaps buy this on a deep discount if you're looking for a read just to kill some time but don't pay full price for it.
February 10, 2017
I was interested to come across this, as I had previously read the author's Chronicles of Tornor and a SF novel. The book started out promisingly, though written in an omniscient narrator voice, which is less usual these days. However, a few chapters in, I discovered that it has a prologue dealing with the birth of the twin brothers. I had accidentally started reading from Chapter 1, but that had made no difference - everything in the prologue is soon explained as back story anyway. This turned out to be an indication of some serious structural issues.
When the main story starts, the brothers are twenty-three years old, their father has died, and elder brother Karadur rules Dragon Keep. They are descended from a rare line of dragon shapeshifters, known as changelings - a word that in traditional folklore actually means fairy children exchanged for human children - but only the elder brother has this ability. Tenjiro, the younger twin, has magical abilities and has been away to study magical knowledge. He tells his brother's lover, Azil, that he is concerned Karadur will become cold and inhuman like their father when he starts to take dragon form. Changelings can only change form after creating a talisman in the shape of their totem animal. Karadur has not yet married and fathered an heir which Tenjiro claims is his great concern. He learns from Azil that Karadur is in the process of creating his talisman and tricks him into making a box in which to hold it, then he steals it and escapes with Anzil, whom he has enslaved.
Some time later, another changeling, Wolf, comes to the area and finds work as a carpenter. We see his courtship of a local weaver, Thea, and his building of a house for her and their son, Shem. Meanwhile, troubling rumours have begun of the sacking of villages in the north and a dark citadel where monsters live. The weather starts to become a mini ice age and gradually the monsters - wargs, reminiscent of the giant wolves of the same name in Tolkien's The Hobbit, except these are scaled rather than furry - begin raiding into the land ruled by Dragon Keep. The last of the true mages regains her memory and starts to investigate the truth about what is happening in the north and how Tenjiro has ignorantly revived an old evil. And other changelings, friends of Wolf, are drawn in to events.
I enjoyed the book initially, but began to be disquieted as the story wore on. Firstly, there is a major spoiler when the mage is introduced and scries in a mirror, witnessing the future murders of two characters the reader is invested in. From then on, every time those characters appeared, I wondered whether this was about to happen and when it did, what would have been a shocking and upsetting scene fell flat. Secondly, the story then deals with the preparations Karadur makes to invade the north and destroy the threat to his people, followed by the actual invasion. The climax - or at least what should be the climax - is over far too quickly and lacks impact. This concludes the fourth section of the book. Thirdly, there is a fifth section dealing with problems caused by a bandit in which Karadur meets a woman who, judging by the Epilogue, will become the mother of the heir he lacks, but all of this is just tacked on. It should have been the focus of another book (and there is a sequel, I understand), so I don't understand why something that isn't anything to do with the main story in the rest of the book is just added on the end, especially as it raises serious questions about Karadur's ability to control his abilities - . But the book then jumps to the Epilogue which is some years later, and it seems that everything that happened in section five has been glossed over, judging from what we learn in Shem's viewpoint about a couple of people still at the Keep.
The whole of those later stages come over as incredibly rushed. The story as a whole has too many minor characters, often not developed sufficiently to be told apart, and character motivation is poor for important ones such as Tenjiro. The female mage is only in the story to impart some information, including that devastating spoiler, and do one important action, , then she clears off in the anticlimactic resolution to the main conflict. I also wasn't convinced by some of the world building - if a changeling makes their own amulet, why can't they just make another - something that affects not just Karadur.
It's a real shame as the writing and the world building generally, with the stories told about legendary heroes etc, is lyrical and very visual. But due to these fundamental issues, a book that initially looked as if it would merit a very enjoyable 4-stars can only aspire to 3.
When the main story starts, the brothers are twenty-three years old, their father has died, and elder brother Karadur rules Dragon Keep. They are descended from a rare line of dragon shapeshifters, known as changelings - a word that in traditional folklore actually means fairy children exchanged for human children - but only the elder brother has this ability. Tenjiro, the younger twin, has magical abilities and has been away to study magical knowledge. He tells his brother's lover, Azil, that he is concerned Karadur will become cold and inhuman like their father when he starts to take dragon form. Changelings can only change form after creating a talisman in the shape of their totem animal. Karadur has not yet married and fathered an heir which Tenjiro claims is his great concern. He learns from Azil that Karadur is in the process of creating his talisman and tricks him into making a box in which to hold it, then he steals it and escapes with Anzil, whom he has enslaved.
Some time later, another changeling, Wolf, comes to the area and finds work as a carpenter. We see his courtship of a local weaver, Thea, and his building of a house for her and their son, Shem. Meanwhile, troubling rumours have begun of the sacking of villages in the north and a dark citadel where monsters live. The weather starts to become a mini ice age and gradually the monsters - wargs, reminiscent of the giant wolves of the same name in Tolkien's The Hobbit, except these are scaled rather than furry - begin raiding into the land ruled by Dragon Keep. The last of the true mages regains her memory and starts to investigate the truth about what is happening in the north and how Tenjiro has ignorantly revived an old evil. And other changelings, friends of Wolf, are drawn in to events.
I enjoyed the book initially, but began to be disquieted as the story wore on. Firstly, there is a major spoiler when the mage is introduced and scries in a mirror, witnessing the future murders of two characters the reader is invested in. From then on, every time those characters appeared, I wondered whether this was about to happen and when it did, what would have been a shocking and upsetting scene fell flat. Secondly, the story then deals with the preparations Karadur makes to invade the north and destroy the threat to his people, followed by the actual invasion. The climax - or at least what should be the climax - is over far too quickly and lacks impact. This concludes the fourth section of the book. Thirdly, there is a fifth section dealing with problems caused by a bandit in which Karadur meets a woman who, judging by the Epilogue, will become the mother of the heir he lacks, but all of this is just tacked on. It should have been the focus of another book (and there is a sequel, I understand), so I don't understand why something that isn't anything to do with the main story in the rest of the book is just added on the end, especially as it raises serious questions about Karadur's ability to control his abilities - . But the book then jumps to the Epilogue which is some years later, and it seems that everything that happened in section five has been glossed over, judging from what we learn in Shem's viewpoint about a couple of people still at the Keep.
The whole of those later stages come over as incredibly rushed. The story as a whole has too many minor characters, often not developed sufficiently to be told apart, and character motivation is poor for important ones such as Tenjiro. The female mage is only in the story to impart some information, including that devastating spoiler, and do one important action, , then she clears off in the anticlimactic resolution to the main conflict. I also wasn't convinced by some of the world building - if a changeling makes their own amulet, why can't they just make another - something that affects not just Karadur.
It's a real shame as the writing and the world building generally, with the stories told about legendary heroes etc, is lyrical and very visual. But due to these fundamental issues, a book that initially looked as if it would merit a very enjoyable 4-stars can only aspire to 3.
February 21, 2019
~~!~EDIT~!~~
I read the sequel. Wow, what a great redemption. The sequel basically takes place between the last section of the book and the epilogue, which helps so much to explain how out of the blue and unexplained it felt (see my original review below). Given that this was planned as a trilogy, I'm upping the stars because I actually really love where Lynn went with the story in the next volume. As a standalone, I rate this book 3 stars for the weirdness of the ending. As a pair, I rate them a solid 5. I couldn't put them down.
ORIGINAL REVIEW:
Disclaimer: this review contains adult language. Head's up.
I just finished this book and I don’t know if I can take reading the sequel. I don’t remember the last time I have been so monumentally crushed by high expectations being suddenly dashed upon a rock.
Seriously, what is this book about?
After 300ish pages of beautiful, subtle, committed, heart-breaking adorableness between the two (main?) characters, the epilogue is
And another thing? Azil. What the hell? Poor Azil.
Despite my utter disappointment with the main storyline, I will give Lynn credit for creating a style of prose that was very beautiful. It read like an oral-tradition myth. The side characters (who were really main characters, since most of the story was from their POVs) were very interesting. I liked the world-building too. It felt real in the same way that George R.R. Martin's Ice and Fire world feels real. There are references to histories,old book titles, and lands beyond Ippa that suggest the characters live in a place that is real and not just in the setting of a story.
I wanted to like this book *so much*. And I did like it, really. I liked it right up until the inexplicable epilogue. I shouldn't read the sequel, but I probably will. Ugh.
I read the sequel. Wow, what a great redemption. The sequel basically takes place between the last section of the book and the epilogue, which helps so much to explain how out of the blue and unexplained it felt (see my original review below). Given that this was planned as a trilogy, I'm upping the stars because I actually really love where Lynn went with the story in the next volume. As a standalone, I rate this book 3 stars for the weirdness of the ending. As a pair, I rate them a solid 5. I couldn't put them down.
ORIGINAL REVIEW:
Disclaimer: this review contains adult language. Head's up.
I just finished this book and I don’t know if I can take reading the sequel. I don’t remember the last time I have been so monumentally crushed by high expectations being suddenly dashed upon a rock.
Seriously, what is this book about?
After 300ish pages of beautiful, subtle, committed, heart-breaking adorableness between the two (main?) characters, the epilogue is
And another thing? Azil. What the hell? Poor Azil.
Despite my utter disappointment with the main storyline, I will give Lynn credit for creating a style of prose that was very beautiful. It read like an oral-tradition myth. The side characters (who were really main characters, since most of the story was from their POVs) were very interesting. I liked the world-building too. It felt real in the same way that George R.R. Martin's Ice and Fire world feels real. There are references to histories,old book titles, and lands beyond Ippa that suggest the characters live in a place that is real and not just in the setting of a story.
I wanted to like this book *so much*. And I did like it, really. I liked it right up until the inexplicable epilogue. I shouldn't read the sequel, but I probably will. Ugh.
January 26, 2011
This book could have had so much potential, but instead, Lynn has destroyed it. The plan was probably a good one, but the execution, nothing short of terrible.
Two brothers are born in an event that will kill their mother. They are not any brothers though, but rather Dragon-born. One is a direct dragon, born to be able to shape shift into a dragon at will when he grows. The other, is normal. We aren't given much of their childhood and instead come to the future where Tenjiro Atani, the brother without the dragon shifting, is now a mage and arguing with his brother Karadur. In a well concealed plan, he steals his brother's talisman and takes off with it to the north, leaving Karadur unable to transfer into his dragon's form. Three years later, a new man comes to town. His name is Wolf and he is also a shapeshifter (guess what into) and he meets and marries a local woman and has a son. Over time, he becomes acquaintances with Karadur and is there when his brother starts creating war in the North. Wargs, hideous beasts who like to kill, come to the land and start slaughtering. Karadur becomes determined to kill his brother and stop the havoc that is being strewn about his land. The return of his lover Azil (who was kidnapped and tortured by Tenjiro) only further sets his mind to the path.
The characters in this book could have had potential but never were really fully described. The best of them in terms of detail, Wolf and his wife, didn't get to stick around long and so did not keep adding to the story. The rest of the characters there is never a connection or motivation behind their actions. Yes, we are told that Tenjiro is evil, but background would have helped us understand him more. The same applies to all of the other characters.
The writing was deplorable. It's as if Lynn had a bunch of ideas and just tossed them into a blender and made this book. It bounces around, changes ideas, and never finishes a thought before rushing on to the next. Those parts that do start to make sense are rushed and feel incomplete. There are technically five parts and an epilogue, but the fifth part and the epilogue were next to useless and felt like a short story added on to what should have been a completed novel. The most grievous thing of all to me was the language. I was incredulous when fifty pages to the end of the book, Karadur stops talking normally (as he does throughout the book) and starts using language like thee, thou, art and other old forms. This would normally be ok, but it needs to be consistent! People don't start talking different without good reason.
I can't say I'll be looking to read any of Lynn's work in the future. The fact that such a neat idea for a book was translated into this just made me a bit sad.
Dragon's Winter
Copyright 1998
341 pages
Review by M. Reynard 2011
Two brothers are born in an event that will kill their mother. They are not any brothers though, but rather Dragon-born. One is a direct dragon, born to be able to shape shift into a dragon at will when he grows. The other, is normal. We aren't given much of their childhood and instead come to the future where Tenjiro Atani, the brother without the dragon shifting, is now a mage and arguing with his brother Karadur. In a well concealed plan, he steals his brother's talisman and takes off with it to the north, leaving Karadur unable to transfer into his dragon's form. Three years later, a new man comes to town. His name is Wolf and he is also a shapeshifter (guess what into) and he meets and marries a local woman and has a son. Over time, he becomes acquaintances with Karadur and is there when his brother starts creating war in the North. Wargs, hideous beasts who like to kill, come to the land and start slaughtering. Karadur becomes determined to kill his brother and stop the havoc that is being strewn about his land. The return of his lover Azil (who was kidnapped and tortured by Tenjiro) only further sets his mind to the path.
The characters in this book could have had potential but never were really fully described. The best of them in terms of detail, Wolf and his wife, didn't get to stick around long and so did not keep adding to the story. The rest of the characters there is never a connection or motivation behind their actions. Yes, we are told that Tenjiro is evil, but background would have helped us understand him more. The same applies to all of the other characters.
The writing was deplorable. It's as if Lynn had a bunch of ideas and just tossed them into a blender and made this book. It bounces around, changes ideas, and never finishes a thought before rushing on to the next. Those parts that do start to make sense are rushed and feel incomplete. There are technically five parts and an epilogue, but the fifth part and the epilogue were next to useless and felt like a short story added on to what should have been a completed novel. The most grievous thing of all to me was the language. I was incredulous when fifty pages to the end of the book, Karadur stops talking normally (as he does throughout the book) and starts using language like thee, thou, art and other old forms. This would normally be ok, but it needs to be consistent! People don't start talking different without good reason.
I can't say I'll be looking to read any of Lynn's work in the future. The fact that such a neat idea for a book was translated into this just made me a bit sad.
Dragon's Winter
Copyright 1998
341 pages
Review by M. Reynard 2011
June 11, 2012
Elizabeth Lynn is one of the first women authors I read where there are gay and straigh characters, all of whom (mostly) accept each other for the choices they made. Her Chronicles of Tornor series was well done. I found this one by chance, as I had thought she had finished writing with just the Tornor series. This one, Dragon's Winter is simply written, meaning she pares her language but still is able to give a good idea of the land and the peoples and the issues of the land. I love a story with changelings -- this was one of those. I liked it.
January 5, 2019
This is rich, deeply plotted story about dragons and changelings and the battle against evil. Characters are deeply developed so much so that when they die, you feel the loss personally. If you love reading about complex worlds with plenty of evil and battles, this is a book you will enjoy.
September 4, 2019
Twin brothers are divided by a shapeshifting ability which graces only one of them. This is very much high fantasy, with stock tropes and battle against an ancient corrupting evil; it isn't a structure or style that I enjoy. What makes this interesting is that the "good" twin is an ambiguous figure, objectively justified but also dangerous, flawed; the tension between this danger and the loyalty he commands on account of rank and charisma is more interesting than the central conflict and arguably motivates more of the character arcs. Unfortunately, the bulk of the book leans towards the genre trappings, with an affected, distant voice that which compliments brutal wintery setting but fails to provide the vibrant intimacy, as in A Different Light or The Dancer of Arun, which would forefront the tense interpersonals. This is more in vein with The Watchtower, but more tropey and larger in scope, and thus less interesting. I'm a Lynn completionist and on that account found this worthwhile, but recommend other readers skip it and start her work elsewhere. (2.5 stars, rounded up.)
February 17, 2022
I liked the tone of this book, but was frustrated when it unexpectedly went in different directions.
The prologue was the birth of twins, one with the power to shape-change into a dragon and the other solely human. I was prepared to empathize with the non-magical twin. But Chapter One - fast forward 20 years: the twin who wasn't a shapechanger is now an evil magician who can do everything except change into a dragon and is jealous of his brother.
After some scenes about the brothers, the book introduces new characters: a traveler who can change into a wolf, and the woman he falls in love with. The story follows them for a while.
Then
Then the story shifts again to a woman who hasn't spoken in ten years who suddenly recovers the power of speech. .
Eventually these plot lines come together, but I would have preferred to have fewer main characters and more character development. My favorite parts were with Wolf and Thea.
There is a low-key gay male relationship, but it's just part of the background so I didn't shelve this as LGBT.
The prologue was the birth of twins, one with the power to shape-change into a dragon and the other solely human. I was prepared to empathize with the non-magical twin. But Chapter One - fast forward 20 years: the twin who wasn't a shapechanger is now an evil magician who can do everything except change into a dragon and is jealous of his brother.
After some scenes about the brothers, the book introduces new characters: a traveler who can change into a wolf, and the woman he falls in love with. The story follows them for a while.
Then
Then the story shifts again to a woman who hasn't spoken in ten years who suddenly recovers the power of speech. .
Eventually these plot lines come together, but I would have preferred to have fewer main characters and more character development. My favorite parts were with Wolf and Thea.
There is a low-key gay male relationship, but it's just part of the background so I didn't shelve this as LGBT.
May 12, 2024
Rep: bi mc, gay side character
CWs: gore, torture
CWs: gore, torture
August 14, 2019
A fantasy book with changelings, a feud between brothers and a medieval setting.
The problem? It is too cliché.
Sure it's a simple read, but the amount of clichés, like the big baddie, the corruption of a character by some supernatural power, the character with an immense power that he needs to learn how to control, even the freaking "let me build a character you'll cheer for and I'll kill them" is there.
The problem? It is too cliché.
Sure it's a simple read, but the amount of clichés, like the big baddie, the corruption of a character by some supernatural power, the character with an immense power that he needs to learn how to control, even the freaking "let me build a character you'll cheer for and I'll kill them" is there.
April 28, 2015
I remember loving Elizabeth Lynn's Chronicles of Tornor years ago and when I found the dragon books on Kindle Unlimited lately I thought I'd give them a try. Turns out I still love her prose style - dry but detailed at the same time, neither too sparse or too overblown. I really like most of the characters in this book and was sad because you do loose some of them along the way, but new ones (equally good!) usually step in to fill their place.
Dragon's Winter is obviously a first book in a series - it doesn't end on a cliffhanger, more of an intermission, but it does leave quite a few things not answered yet. I'm not sure I'm quite ready to jump into the second book yet; the first on is long and meaty enough I feel like I ought to digest it for a bit before continuing on to the second course, and the ending does invite a pause before leaping back into it.
My only complaints are that the Kindle version has occasional typos - sometimes a word, sometimes an entire line, where the OCR of the text coughed up a jumble of characters that vaguely resemble the right letter shapes but are not actually the right letters. This was mostly ignorable and only happened a handful of times, and only in one case did it actually obliterate a line of text (it was dialog and you could get the general gist through the context around it, so nothing is lost.)
The pacing towards the end is also a little anti-climactic - right up until the big battle it runs along quite steadily, then during and after the battle things just feel a little lackluster. It leaves the ending chapters a little disappointing feeling without really being able to put a finger on why, but it seems a minor quibble for a book that is otherwise full of characters that I've quite enjoyed getting to know.
Dragon's Winter is obviously a first book in a series - it doesn't end on a cliffhanger, more of an intermission, but it does leave quite a few things not answered yet. I'm not sure I'm quite ready to jump into the second book yet; the first on is long and meaty enough I feel like I ought to digest it for a bit before continuing on to the second course, and the ending does invite a pause before leaping back into it.
My only complaints are that the Kindle version has occasional typos - sometimes a word, sometimes an entire line, where the OCR of the text coughed up a jumble of characters that vaguely resemble the right letter shapes but are not actually the right letters. This was mostly ignorable and only happened a handful of times, and only in one case did it actually obliterate a line of text (it was dialog and you could get the general gist through the context around it, so nothing is lost.)
The pacing towards the end is also a little anti-climactic - right up until the big battle it runs along quite steadily, then during and after the battle things just feel a little lackluster. It leaves the ending chapters a little disappointing feeling without really being able to put a finger on why, but it seems a minor quibble for a book that is otherwise full of characters that I've quite enjoyed getting to know.
May 28, 2011
I would have really liked to have given this book a higher rating, but it simply isn't possible to do so. The idea of the book was great. Dragon (Karadur Atani) and Tenjiro, Dragon's twin brother, held a lot of promise. Their story could have been epic. Unfortunately, Lynn failed to deliver.
In the minor characters she managed to develop them more, though not completely. But somehow she left the twins with very little development. By the end of the story, you're left to guess at why certain decisions were made.
And I have to admit, I was very disappointed with the plot development and pacing of the plot. For more than 200 pages Lynn built up to this epic showdown between the twins which she quickly settled in just a few paragraphs. What a disappointment! And then she spent a good number of pages after the battle describing events that really were unnecessary.....save one, which I won't discuss as I don't want to give away too much information. But even that one thing wasn't enough. As she left so many questions unanswered.
As I sit here writing this review I still want some resolution to the relationship between Dragon and Azil! Azil was a major part of the story and it was his relationship to Dragon that really set things in motion. Yet, the reader has no idea what happened to him once Maia comes on the scene.
In the minor characters she managed to develop them more, though not completely. But somehow she left the twins with very little development. By the end of the story, you're left to guess at why certain decisions were made.
And I have to admit, I was very disappointed with the plot development and pacing of the plot. For more than 200 pages Lynn built up to this epic showdown between the twins which she quickly settled in just a few paragraphs. What a disappointment! And then she spent a good number of pages after the battle describing events that really were unnecessary.....save one, which I won't discuss as I don't want to give away too much information. But even that one thing wasn't enough. As she left so many questions unanswered.
As I sit here writing this review I still want some resolution to the relationship between Dragon and Azil! Azil was a major part of the story and it was his relationship to Dragon that really set things in motion. Yet, the reader has no idea what happened to him once Maia comes on the scene.
January 31, 2008
What I liked about the story was how well the characters were defined. I really liked almost every last secondary character in the book. Wolf, Thea, Hawk, all fantastic characters. The language was also a bit archaic but well versed and it really helped to move the story along in a comfortable pace.
What I disliked was for one thing, she spent so much time on these secondary characters and then she killed them! Now, it's not a Rowling death where it was unnecessary to the plot and completely unreasonable, but it did come as a bit of a blow and I was left blinking and scowling at the page in WTF fashion. Then our 'hero' comes off as spoiled, horribly tempermental, overdramatic, and downright irritating. The villain was empty, shallow, and I neither cared that he lived or cared that he died. I felt no desire for the hero to overcome the villain, though I did like the villain's captain, a werewolf type creature who was fantastically sadistic.
I might pursue Elizabeth Lynn's work some more but only if her heroes and villains improve and aren't flat, two-dimensional creations that are only supported by the secondary characters.
What I disliked was for one thing, she spent so much time on these secondary characters and then she killed them! Now, it's not a Rowling death where it was unnecessary to the plot and completely unreasonable, but it did come as a bit of a blow and I was left blinking and scowling at the page in WTF fashion. Then our 'hero' comes off as spoiled, horribly tempermental, overdramatic, and downright irritating. The villain was empty, shallow, and I neither cared that he lived or cared that he died. I felt no desire for the hero to overcome the villain, though I did like the villain's captain, a werewolf type creature who was fantastically sadistic.
I might pursue Elizabeth Lynn's work some more but only if her heroes and villains improve and aren't flat, two-dimensional creations that are only supported by the secondary characters.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 28, 2014
The book never really grabbed me; I finished it because I've often seen it used and wanted to know if it was worth picking up. It starts with the birth of twins (how utterly typical of the genre), then skips to when they're adults. Almost nothing of their childhood is ever revealed, which is a pity. It might better explain why the brothers hate each other. Dragon was an interesting character, until she decided to throw in the "hey, I need a gay character" trick on him. Perhaps the only one I really liked was Azil, who went somewhat crazy after being tortured. The Ancient Evil trick is all well and good, but for all the somewhat interesting characters, the plot is hideously flat. Wolf is at the castle one minute, then dead in his own yard a page later with me wondering how and when he went home. Not really recommended.
April 3, 2016
I first encountered the work of Elizabeth A. Lynn in collection of dragon stories, Wings of Fire
April 11, 2017
I loved this book. Really did. But the ending was perhaps a bit of a let-down; not because of what there was, necessarily, but because of what there wasn't. I need a proper resolution for Azil Aumson and Karadur Atani, alright? That's all.
March 14, 2022
Coming nearly thirty years after her richly imaginative and humanely majestic Chronicles of Tornor trilogy, Elizabeth A. Lynn’s Dragon duology, starting with Dragon’s Winter, is a wrenching shock. This is a dark tale of atrocious violence, including intense cruelty towards animals, the hideous abuse and torture of children, and graphic scenes of death and mutilation. It’s narrative structure is complex, clear and compelling, but it left me wondering where Lynn’s deeply felt and sophisticated humane themes had disappeared to during her three decade hiatus from writing.
Dragon's Winter opens with the birth of Karadur and Tenjiro Atani, twin sons of the Dragon prince. Only Karadur inherits his father's dragon changeling nature; as they are born, Karadur's talons rip his mother from the inside and scars his brother. Out of jealousy over his brother's changeling status, Tenjiro studies sorcery and, in their late teens, casts a spell preventing him from taking dragon form. In the process, he tricks the man that Karadur loves, the singer Azil, into betraying him, then kidnaps and tortures Azil.
Having gained power by studying dark sorcery, Tenjiro also becomes the unwitting vessel for Ankoku, an ancient and powerful wizard who sought immortality but only achieves an enduring existence as a force that negates and perverts the living.
Tenjiro’s jealousy of Karadur leads to a psychotic break and, under Ankoku's influence, transforms into a hideous worm. Tenjiro/Ankoku takes the new name Koriuji, the Cold Serpent, and sends his resurrected forces to harass and destroy Karadur's kingdom. Brutal and grotesque atrocities are committed, including the torture and abuse of a toddler, women, and men.
Clearly there are echoes of Wagnerian opera, Tolkien's epic fantasy, and Frank Herbert's Dune series, but Lynn's imagined world is stamped with her own unique imagination. Still, although the world-building is detailed and thoroughly immersive, the Dragon series lacks the multi-layered sophistication of her earlier work. The Tornor books unfold at the everyday level of the unique, individual lives of its characters while also evolving at the macro-level of cultural time, showing the way that culture shapes and is shaped by the ebb and flow of nations, religions and belief systems across centuries - even as it also shaped by individual choice. The Dragon series occurs over the span of two years or so. It loses something of the implied, quiet majesty of her earlier trilogy, making the duology’s brutality a central, defining feature.
Don't get too attached to any one character, as Lynn freely kills off characters in ways that remind me of Martin's Game of Thrones. Whereas the violence in epic fantasy is frequently abstracted and generalized, with just enough detail to be effective, here the violence is concrete, detailed, individualized, and terrifying. There are no heroes in this story, only noble, loving victims that fall to torture, tragedy and lethal force. It’s shockingly inhumane, with echoes of the devastation and horror of Tolkien’s Sillmarillion, specifically the tales of the First Age, but with a raw brutality that makes for difficult reading.
Where Tolkien’s dark narrative, its violence and betrayal, has roots in the author’s firsthand experience of World War I, making his epic fantasy function as a kind of magnifying lens that reveals, in equal measure, the rot and tenderness that is the central paradox of humanity, Lynn’s Dragon’s Winter has no such foundation. Compared to Tolkien’s masterpiece, her fantasy is rootless and difficult to justify. Well done it might be, and highly effective in its storytelling, but there is no humane vision, no empathy or fellow feeling, in it.
It’s a gibbering, malevolent imagining, a slashing, nihilistic guillotine of a story. Coming from an author who gave us the overwhelmingly humane Chronicles of Tornor trilogy, with its palpable, even irresistible, moral vision of hope and empathy, Dragon’s Winter lands like a refutation, a twisted Hegelian denial of what came before. Sadistic glee and grimy cowardice, it seems to say, is the truth of humanity.
It’s chilling to think, in light of events of the last twenty years, that the Dragon series might be closer to the truth of who we are than her earlier vision of humanity.
( A note on the quality of the e book is necessary. While the text is easily read (mostly), it was clearly scanned from a printed copy. The new publisher bungled the process when turning it into editable text through optical character recognition (OCR). It’s marred by poor OCR and even worse proofreading. For instance:
One line just reads “UJ ff.”
Another reads: “a rpi rt/lryme.Try me.”
There is missing punctuation and some sentences run together.
This is not just carelessness and unprofessional, but a complete abdication of any regard for an author’s work and shows Open Road Media for the crass corporation solely interested in taking our money and providing substandard work in return. Another company would be embarrassed or at least feel compelled to respond to customer complaints. They obviously see no downside is shafting their customers.)
Dragon's Winter opens with the birth of Karadur and Tenjiro Atani, twin sons of the Dragon prince. Only Karadur inherits his father's dragon changeling nature; as they are born, Karadur's talons rip his mother from the inside and scars his brother. Out of jealousy over his brother's changeling status, Tenjiro studies sorcery and, in their late teens, casts a spell preventing him from taking dragon form. In the process, he tricks the man that Karadur loves, the singer Azil, into betraying him, then kidnaps and tortures Azil.
Having gained power by studying dark sorcery, Tenjiro also becomes the unwitting vessel for Ankoku, an ancient and powerful wizard who sought immortality but only achieves an enduring existence as a force that negates and perverts the living.
Tenjiro’s jealousy of Karadur leads to a psychotic break and, under Ankoku's influence, transforms into a hideous worm. Tenjiro/Ankoku takes the new name Koriuji, the Cold Serpent, and sends his resurrected forces to harass and destroy Karadur's kingdom. Brutal and grotesque atrocities are committed, including the torture and abuse of a toddler, women, and men.
Clearly there are echoes of Wagnerian opera, Tolkien's epic fantasy, and Frank Herbert's Dune series, but Lynn's imagined world is stamped with her own unique imagination. Still, although the world-building is detailed and thoroughly immersive, the Dragon series lacks the multi-layered sophistication of her earlier work. The Tornor books unfold at the everyday level of the unique, individual lives of its characters while also evolving at the macro-level of cultural time, showing the way that culture shapes and is shaped by the ebb and flow of nations, religions and belief systems across centuries - even as it also shaped by individual choice. The Dragon series occurs over the span of two years or so. It loses something of the implied, quiet majesty of her earlier trilogy, making the duology’s brutality a central, defining feature.
Don't get too attached to any one character, as Lynn freely kills off characters in ways that remind me of Martin's Game of Thrones. Whereas the violence in epic fantasy is frequently abstracted and generalized, with just enough detail to be effective, here the violence is concrete, detailed, individualized, and terrifying. There are no heroes in this story, only noble, loving victims that fall to torture, tragedy and lethal force. It’s shockingly inhumane, with echoes of the devastation and horror of Tolkien’s Sillmarillion, specifically the tales of the First Age, but with a raw brutality that makes for difficult reading.
Where Tolkien’s dark narrative, its violence and betrayal, has roots in the author’s firsthand experience of World War I, making his epic fantasy function as a kind of magnifying lens that reveals, in equal measure, the rot and tenderness that is the central paradox of humanity, Lynn’s Dragon’s Winter has no such foundation. Compared to Tolkien’s masterpiece, her fantasy is rootless and difficult to justify. Well done it might be, and highly effective in its storytelling, but there is no humane vision, no empathy or fellow feeling, in it.
It’s a gibbering, malevolent imagining, a slashing, nihilistic guillotine of a story. Coming from an author who gave us the overwhelmingly humane Chronicles of Tornor trilogy, with its palpable, even irresistible, moral vision of hope and empathy, Dragon’s Winter lands like a refutation, a twisted Hegelian denial of what came before. Sadistic glee and grimy cowardice, it seems to say, is the truth of humanity.
It’s chilling to think, in light of events of the last twenty years, that the Dragon series might be closer to the truth of who we are than her earlier vision of humanity.
( A note on the quality of the e book is necessary. While the text is easily read (mostly), it was clearly scanned from a printed copy. The new publisher bungled the process when turning it into editable text through optical character recognition (OCR). It’s marred by poor OCR and even worse proofreading. For instance:
One line just reads “UJ ff.”
Another reads: “a rpi rt/lryme.Try me.”
There is missing punctuation and some sentences run together.
This is not just carelessness and unprofessional, but a complete abdication of any regard for an author’s work and shows Open Road Media for the crass corporation solely interested in taking our money and providing substandard work in return. Another company would be embarrassed or at least feel compelled to respond to customer complaints. They obviously see no downside is shafting their customers.)
February 11, 2021
1.5 stars.
Twin brothers are born; one a dragon changeling (Karadur), and one not (Tenjiro). The non-changeling brother, consumed with jealousy, steals his brother's talisman and the key to his transformation into a dragon. A strange and unnatural winter falls upon the land, and the dragon-lord must set out to defeat his evil brother.
Full disclosure: I started skimming about a third of the way through this. I began heavily skimming at about halfway. And by the last third I was literally flipping to a chapter and reading the first few paragraphs before flipping to the next.
This is a straight-up conventional high fantasy with no amount of deviation in its execution of standard tropes (to the point that I *could* flip through the last third while not losing the plot) apart from the slight variation of blink-and-you-miss-it queer rep. A color-by-the-numbers plot paired with stilted, uninteresting characters, and thin, shoddy world-building results in a dry, predictable read that could not hold my attention.
The worst part of this book, however, is Lynn's prose. I can handle a tropey plot. I can even forgive dry dialogue and boring characters (sometimes). But combined with all that is a stale and utterly lifeless writing voice, which keeps the reader at such a far and unfeeling remove from everything that it's impossible to care or engage on any emotional level at all.
Another minor annoyance is the use of pseudo-Asian window-dressing (names for characters, places, and concepts) for some "exotic flavor," but the narrative does not leave room for actual Asian people (unless I missed something in that last third, but tossing in racial rep at the eleven o'clock hour wouldn't really be much of an improvement). Instead, this is a standard 99% of the cast is white European high fantasy. Pseudo-Asianness is also used to denote evil a lot. Examples: you know the evil twin is evil because of his Japanese name, and then he literally gets possessed by Evil Japanese Darkness (no, I'm not kidding).
The only halfway engaging part of this book is Karadur himself. As a dragon-changeling, his "fiery" temper is pretty on the nose, but the first couple of times Lynn does that tender/sweet directly to angry/lashing out switch it is so, so good. But that's about where the depth of Karadur's characterization stops. And after about the tenth time Lynn does this switch, it ceases to be impactful.
So, in closing, this was very much not my cup of tea.
Side note: The kindle ebook for this title is a mess of errors. There are whole lines and sections that have been corrupted and are completely unreadable. So, that definitely didn't help my reading experience.
Twin brothers are born; one a dragon changeling (Karadur), and one not (Tenjiro). The non-changeling brother, consumed with jealousy, steals his brother's talisman and the key to his transformation into a dragon. A strange and unnatural winter falls upon the land, and the dragon-lord must set out to defeat his evil brother.
Full disclosure: I started skimming about a third of the way through this. I began heavily skimming at about halfway. And by the last third I was literally flipping to a chapter and reading the first few paragraphs before flipping to the next.
This is a straight-up conventional high fantasy with no amount of deviation in its execution of standard tropes (to the point that I *could* flip through the last third while not losing the plot) apart from the slight variation of blink-and-you-miss-it queer rep. A color-by-the-numbers plot paired with stilted, uninteresting characters, and thin, shoddy world-building results in a dry, predictable read that could not hold my attention.
The worst part of this book, however, is Lynn's prose. I can handle a tropey plot. I can even forgive dry dialogue and boring characters (sometimes). But combined with all that is a stale and utterly lifeless writing voice, which keeps the reader at such a far and unfeeling remove from everything that it's impossible to care or engage on any emotional level at all.
Another minor annoyance is the use of pseudo-Asian window-dressing (names for characters, places, and concepts) for some "exotic flavor," but the narrative does not leave room for actual Asian people (unless I missed something in that last third, but tossing in racial rep at the eleven o'clock hour wouldn't really be much of an improvement). Instead, this is a standard 99% of the cast is white European high fantasy. Pseudo-Asianness is also used to denote evil a lot. Examples: you know the evil twin is evil because of his Japanese name, and then he literally gets possessed by Evil Japanese Darkness (no, I'm not kidding).
The only halfway engaging part of this book is Karadur himself. As a dragon-changeling, his "fiery" temper is pretty on the nose, but the first couple of times Lynn does that tender/sweet directly to angry/lashing out switch it is so, so good. But that's about where the depth of Karadur's characterization stops. And after about the tenth time Lynn does this switch, it ceases to be impactful.
So, in closing, this was very much not my cup of tea.
Side note: The kindle ebook for this title is a mess of errors. There are whole lines and sections that have been corrupted and are completely unreadable. So, that definitely didn't help my reading experience.
March 30, 2018
I ended up being incredibly annoyed with this book.
The main plot is fairly standard fantasy fare. Two brothers, one of them a sorcerer who turns evil and steals the other's birthright of being able to turn into a dragon, and then the second has to lead a group of warriors to stop his brother and save the land. There's some interesting world-building, mostly involving this world's animal shapeshifters, and I actually quite liked several characters, including the temperamental Dragon Lord Karadur and his lover Azil.
Sadly, the things I disliked about the book eventually outweighed the good stuff. Partly - for an epic fight against the ancient evil rising one more to threaten the land, it's downright tiny and anti-climactic in its scope. The bad guy barely has an army and the forces Karadur leads to defeat him number less than a 100 men. Then there's how the book keeps switching main character - not POV character, that's not what I mean. I mean - after the prologue we're left assuming that Karadur will be the main character, except then the first third of the book is spent focusing on the shapeshifter Wolf. After that, it settles down in more straightforward changing POV characters narration, but still. It annoyed me. Finally, the book is simply poorly plotted - the main plot is resolved 3/4 into the book, and we're left reading some sort of awkward extended epilogue, which I understand is a lead up to/elaborated on in the sequel - but it feels so out of place that I've actually lost all desire to read that sequel.
The main plot is fairly standard fantasy fare. Two brothers, one of them a sorcerer who turns evil and steals the other's birthright of being able to turn into a dragon, and then the second has to lead a group of warriors to stop his brother and save the land. There's some interesting world-building, mostly involving this world's animal shapeshifters, and I actually quite liked several characters, including the temperamental Dragon Lord Karadur and his lover Azil.
Sadly, the things I disliked about the book eventually outweighed the good stuff. Partly - for an epic fight against the ancient evil rising one more to threaten the land, it's downright tiny and anti-climactic in its scope. The bad guy barely has an army and the forces Karadur leads to defeat him number less than a 100 men. Then there's how the book keeps switching main character - not POV character, that's not what I mean. I mean - after the prologue we're left assuming that Karadur will be the main character, except then the first third of the book is spent focusing on the shapeshifter Wolf. After that, it settles down in more straightforward changing POV characters narration, but still. It annoyed me. Finally, the book is simply poorly plotted - the main plot is resolved 3/4 into the book, and we're left reading some sort of awkward extended epilogue, which I understand is a lead up to/elaborated on in the sequel - but it feels so out of place that I've actually lost all desire to read that sequel.
March 26, 2024
Forty or more years ago I devoured two of Elizabeth Lynn's books and looked for others. I didn't find them, although I suspected she had written others. In the time since, I have looked for her books. No joy – until this month.
I have read books that I enjoyed in high school and college, sometimes continuing to enjoy them and sometimes not connecting with them; however, I have been taken anew by Dragon's Winter – and the second in the duology, Dragon's Treasure.
Dragon's Winter is, in part, a story of good and evil, Reading the book's blurb, I had assumed that Dragon was evil and his twin, not. Telling you that I was grossly mistaken is not a spoiler, as Lynn's views of good and evil are less glib than we usually expect. Good and evil are not a dichotomy, power is not necessarily corrupting, love does not heal all wounds, and what we see is not necessarily real. People may feel attacked, although others may not attack.
"Do not lose yourself in Dragon’s country! For it is perilous for humans to know and love the dragon-kind” (p. 73).
In other words, Lynn does not paint in bright primary colors – in fact, Dragon's Winter's colors are layered and the book is quite dark.
But it is also magical, comforting, and satisfying.
I have read books that I enjoyed in high school and college, sometimes continuing to enjoy them and sometimes not connecting with them; however, I have been taken anew by Dragon's Winter – and the second in the duology, Dragon's Treasure.
Dragon's Winter is, in part, a story of good and evil, Reading the book's blurb, I had assumed that Dragon was evil and his twin, not. Telling you that I was grossly mistaken is not a spoiler, as Lynn's views of good and evil are less glib than we usually expect. Good and evil are not a dichotomy, power is not necessarily corrupting, love does not heal all wounds, and what we see is not necessarily real. People may feel attacked, although others may not attack.
"Do not lose yourself in Dragon’s country! For it is perilous for humans to know and love the dragon-kind” (p. 73).
In other words, Lynn does not paint in bright primary colors – in fact, Dragon's Winter's colors are layered and the book is quite dark.
But it is also magical, comforting, and satisfying.
August 12, 2018
Okay. I'll be the first to say that this book is NOT my kind of book. Hence why I am giving it an average 3 star rating, as I feel any more would be inflation and any less would be unfair. I don't even really know what to say without spoiling stuff. Suffice it to say, I was on board with this until the end. The ending was just...WTF? I've heard the second book somewhat redeems it, but I can't accept what I've just read. Not after all the to main-ish characters went through. Also, I will say another thing. Omniscient narrator. UGHGGHGHGHGHGHGHG I hate omniscient narrator. And this book was constantly head-hopping and I had to be super vigilant to make sure I knew who was being focused on at any given moment.
All that being said, there were some really neat things about this story. One device the author used is using secondary characters' POVs to tell the main characters' stories. I thought this was a unique experience even as I was really sad not to follow the main characters throughout the story. It also had a fairy-tale like feeling to it with the lyrical prose and interesting dialogue choices. Also, the main love story was beautiful tragic.
But that ending tho… *shudders*
All that being said, there were some really neat things about this story. One device the author used is using secondary characters' POVs to tell the main characters' stories. I thought this was a unique experience even as I was really sad not to follow the main characters throughout the story. It also had a fairy-tale like feeling to it with the lyrical prose and interesting dialogue choices. Also, the main love story was beautiful tragic.
But that ending tho… *shudders*
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March 7, 2021It's been so long since I've read anything by Elizabeth A. Lynn that I can barely remember any of her stories. So, when I saw a new one out just recently, I swooped upon it like a starving vulture.
Dragon's Winter is a tale of conflict between two brothers; one heir to the throne of a powerful kingdom, the younger brother a powerful mage who covets his brother's position. The elder brother has inherited a shapeshifting ability from his father, but its exercise is dependent on a talisman that each shapeshifter must create. The younger brother deceives his brother's lover into helping him steal the talisman, then flees the kingdom.
As it turns out, the younger brother has been possessed by the spirit of an evil mage which delights in darkness, cold and death. He creates evil creatures which begin to harass and kill all with whom they come in contact, and which he sends to invade his brother's kingdom.
Anyway, there's some semi-inventive stuff in this novel dealing with shapeshifters and mages, but overall there's nothing we haven't seen a million times before in one novel or another. I'd hoped for something more exciting from Ms. Lynn after such long silence.
Dragon's Winter is a tale of conflict between two brothers; one heir to the throne of a powerful kingdom, the younger brother a powerful mage who covets his brother's position. The elder brother has inherited a shapeshifting ability from his father, but its exercise is dependent on a talisman that each shapeshifter must create. The younger brother deceives his brother's lover into helping him steal the talisman, then flees the kingdom.
As it turns out, the younger brother has been possessed by the spirit of an evil mage which delights in darkness, cold and death. He creates evil creatures which begin to harass and kill all with whom they come in contact, and which he sends to invade his brother's kingdom.
Anyway, there's some semi-inventive stuff in this novel dealing with shapeshifters and mages, but overall there's nothing we haven't seen a million times before in one novel or another. I'd hoped for something more exciting from Ms. Lynn after such long silence.
December 16, 2019
Dragon's Winter was interesting in the way it uses the idea of shape changers. The world at large and it's feel is very good. The pace was a bit slow but plodded on at a pretty even pace. Elizabeth A. Lynn carves a cold world and cold people. Even the relationships in the book are cold...all but one. The killings are cold and savage. No deep love of life found in the book not by good or bad characters. The first changeling, Wolf. He is very mechanical, not very capable even though you feel like he should be. Death comes quick. Fight scenes are flat and even quicker. The apex of the action comes and goes then the book drags on for some time really meandering around. The book is written well it just never pulled me in and made me want to see what was coming next. After Wolf and his wife died, I didn't care much any more. Some will like this savage cold emotionless book and others won't. I am sure this was not her best effort, because the book had moments where it grabbed you only to let go in a few pages.
May 3, 2020
I picked this dusty old book up thinking it wouldn t be good. Hoooo boy was I was wrong. I loved it! Her writing has a very beautiful style and I enjoyed the plot. I loved the characters, they were all so interesting and had well fleshed out lives of their own. Thea and Wolf were definitely my favorite characters! I had to stop reading for a few days when they died. I felt it was very sudden, but it had it's place in the plot. The ending confused me a little, and I was shocked when Dragon started that huge fire in rage. :0 I feel like the story ended rather uprubtly, and maybe that Atari was tossed to the side. I really liked their romance at the beginning. Perhaps they could all be in a poly relationship? Is there even a sequel?? I'll have to read the rest of her stuff!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 10, 2022
Not bad, could have been better
Decent story, though the pacing was kind of weird and the entire last quarter of the book is just setting up for the sequel. A lot of the scenes are very abrupt without much transition or lead up. I had to go back and reread a number of times because it swings from things like “family outing” to “wait, someone’s being murdered” with very little in between. I’m also a little thrown by the couple of Asian sounding names given to white guys in an otherwise very solidly Northern European based fantasy world. Seemed like an odd choice to me. Not a bad book, just had a hard time keeping my attention on it.
Decent story, though the pacing was kind of weird and the entire last quarter of the book is just setting up for the sequel. A lot of the scenes are very abrupt without much transition or lead up. I had to go back and reread a number of times because it swings from things like “family outing” to “wait, someone’s being murdered” with very little in between. I’m also a little thrown by the couple of Asian sounding names given to white guys in an otherwise very solidly Northern European based fantasy world. Seemed like an odd choice to me. Not a bad book, just had a hard time keeping my attention on it.
July 9, 2021
Not hard to follow. Very basic/ dry delivery. Nothing really to keep you interested. Also kinda dumb concept you have to make a talisman in order to shift but you get to keep some of your abilities when it’s taken away. Also people really fear the dragons power but still follow him loyally. He losses control several times and hurts/kills some of his loyal men accidentally. Was really hoping to like this more. Needed something that wasn’t part of large series will still probably read next book so I know how everything shakes out in the end.
April 26, 2018
Very enjoyable story with strong characters and sense of place. Despite the presence of a typical fantasy evil, the characters make it so things never feel simplistic or black and white. I felt even those evil villains had more depth to them than many fantasy characters.
I will definitely be getting the second book in the series - several story elements are left unfinished, but not in a frustrating way - perhaps 'open' is a fairer way to say it than unfinished.
I will definitely be getting the second book in the series - several story elements are left unfinished, but not in a frustrating way - perhaps 'open' is a fairer way to say it than unfinished.
January 8, 2018
I liked the world building and how they handle shape shifters. The villains were kind of interesting as they acted like beings changed by dark magic. However I did not like the main characters as I felt it jumped around a little to much and it seemed that it couldn't really decide on who was the main character.
July 17, 2018
I have mixed feelings about this book. It's generally well written, and the descriptions are vivid. I could really see the world and the characters. The plot is okay. But some of the details don't quite ring true for me. I also didn't really like the denouement. I could imagine someone really liking this book, but it just didn't quite work for me.
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