Item - Dragon of Doom

This is a satisfying read; it manages to give at least a little bit of the feel of an epic fantasy in its relatively few pages.

More reviews by Demian

In Rose Estes' final book of the series as far as I know, she tries to go out on a somewhat epic tone. You play Morgan, a young mage appointed by a council of magicians to welcome your uncle Zed, a powerful mage. Zed plans to summon Shen, a powerful black dragon.

This book is alright. It has two main paths, one of which will get you a love interest. It's not particularly memorable, but can have a final scene that feels like the film Dragonslayer. The cover art by Larry Elmore [editor's note: it's actually Clyde Caldwell this time around] is typically awesome.

The annoying talking animal in this one is a pseudo-dragon, a tiny dragon, and I have no idea how you can have a 900+ year old uncle.

Not the best book for Estes to go out on.

More reviews by Kveto

Not a bad Endless Quest book, but I'm getting a little tired of the same old "Child out to rescue a loved one" angles. This time however, you are sent to greet your uncle who has been trapped for nearly a millennium. Turns out this uncle is currently up to no good though. A number of questions arose in my mind early on:

Why would the Council of Nine be planning a huge celebration for someone banned for 999 years for using forbidden magic?

Why would they not give you a map to find the location of this mountain?

The text says that your pseudo dragon looks like a miniature red dragon, but is green on the front cover. Other than this mistake, the cover art by Clyde Caldwell is tremendous. Unfortunately, the interior art by Harry Quin is amateurish and not up to par.

The writing is fairly typical of Estes, average to slightly above. Descriptions of the setting are generally lacking and at times, entire days are skipped over. She doesn't really envelop you in the world, but instead concentrates on character dialogue, which is poor to average. Pacing is pretty poor, with the author taking a long time to describe things in a mediocre fashion that shouldn't take nearly as long. The writing shines when the author is describing the Dragon of Doom. There is plenty of moralizing, naturally, and once again, an animal that speaks to your character, this time it's a pseudodragon.

Efforts at battle encounters are weak, with silly resolutions.

Replayability is high, with vastly disparate paths you can take. I suppose I chose quite an easy path the first time and completed the quest quickly and with ease. Ability to backtrack occurs at times, and the author goes on for pages and pages without offering a choice at other times. Not as bad as in Mountain of Mirrors, but at times, you are reading a novella.

I was disappointed by this book, having expected more out of it.

Rating 1-10: 5.5

More reviews by utfanatic