Weis, Margaret & Hickman, Tracy
DRAGON WING
Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
Bantam Spectra 1990
Pb 430pgs
ISBN#
0-553-28639-0
Now here's a series worth reading! --that is if you don't mind
dwarves, elves, dragons, a whole lot of magic, and seven books
of length to keep you wholly entertained. I've lost count of
the number of times I've re-read this series--it's that good. I
think the main aspect of the story that attracts this reader so
deeply is the fact that not everything is as it seems on the
surface. Our heroes aren't all the nicest guys around, but
they've been through hell getting here, and when push comes to
shove they really are the kind of heroes you want to depend on.
And, as the Death Gate Cycle continues, good verses bad is not
cut-and-dried, quite the opposite in fact, and this reader finds
graying of characterization a delight.
Okay, imagine if you will that at some point in our world magic
reasserts itself into humankind. But of course there is a
division of the people. Supposedly, as history reads in this
story, the magical factions of Sartan and Patryn went to war
against each other and the Sartan, unwilling to share power with
the Patryns, sundered the world and threw their opponents into
the prison land of the Labyrinth to "rehabilitate" them. But
something went wrong. The Sartan have all but disappeared and
the Patryns have spent generations fighting the Labyrinth. Very
few Patryns have escaped that deadly place to find sanctuary in
the Nexus. Now, Xar, Lord of the Nexus is sending Haplo (one of
his followers) through Death's Gate--that magical porthole where
all pieces of the sundered world are connected. Haplo is to
reconnoiter each world and report back to his lord on his
findings. Volume 1 is Haplo's adventures on Arianus, Realm of
Sky. Volume 2 covers his exploration of Pryan, Realm of Fire.
In Volume 3, Haplo discovers the horrors of Abarrach, the Realm
of Stone. And in Volume 4, Haplo learns terror unlike anything
he has previously experienced. Volumes 5, 6, and 7 show Haplo
as he changes, growing into the realization that Xar, Lord of
the Nexus is not wholly pure or invincible, or totally wise.
There is something out there, and Haplo must, over the course of
this series, learn to trust his ancient enemies the Sartan or
face the end not only of himself, but all he holds dear.
But for now we just meet Haplo. In DRAGON WING he is not the
main character, his adventures are a side-plot that subtly
weaves two main plots together. The first main plot revolves
around Prince Bane and the man who has been hired to assassinate
him. The prince is a nasty little fellow even though he is only
ten years old. He succeeds in assassinating his assassin! But
Hugh the Hand is saved by Alfred (who we discover later is a
Startan in disguise). Hugh is a well established and gruff
paid-assassin but even he falls under Bane's spell. It seems
Bane is the child of a Mystiarch--a human wizard--and can charm
anyone except Haplo and Alfred (for reasons Bane cannot
understand, but it's because Patryn and Sartan magic is so much
stronger than human and elven magic). The ruler of the human
realm does not want this changeling in his house and will do
anything to remove the Mystriarch's power from his country. So
it was the king himself who hired Hugh the Hand to kill Prince
Bane, the child the Mystriarchs substituted for his own at
birth. Yet, in trying to get Bane off the human island (these
islands float in mid-air!), Hugh's dragon-ship collides with the
Maelstrom and crashes on the land of Drevlin below.
And here we have the second main plot. Oh, this is a funny
one! Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman have a delightful way of
interjecting splendid humor into their stories. Here on Drevlin
where live the Gegs (Dwarves) there exists this enormous and
strange machine called the Kicksey-winsey. This great machine
digs and rearranges buildings without any conscious direction at
all. Drevlin is a loud messy place but the Gegs love it. All
except Limbeck who keeps making the mistake of asking "why?".
"Why is the Kicksey-winsey here? What is it supposed to do?
Why do we serve it blindly, not even knowing what we are doing
and why?" And the most blasphemous why: "Why do the Welves
(elves) pretend to be immortal when they are not?" For this
outburst Limbeck is sentenced to "Walk the Steps of Terrel Fen,"
meaning he is to be pushed off their air-borne island to the
islands below, pushed into the hands of the gods. The gods will
judge Limbeck's guilt as a heretic. And it seems the gods do
respond, but Limbeck is judged innocent, for he not only comes
back from the Steps of Terrel Fen but he brings a "god" back
with him. After coming through Death's Gate, Haplo's ship
crashed and Limbeck saves Haplo and his dog. Haplo heals
himself then uses his magic dog to help him spy out the land.
He encourages Limbeck to start a revolution in Drevlin because
Xar, Lord of the Nexus desires Haplo to foment chaos in each
world he travels to so that when Xar comes to conquer them they
will fall right into his hands.
So it is that Drevlin is on the brink of civil war and
revolution against the elves when Hugh, Bane, and Alfred crash
there. Joined by Haplo and Limbeck, they capture an elven
vessel and journey to the High Realm of the Mystriarchs where
much is revealed in an explosive climax.
If you've gotten this far and believe, as I do, that this series
is worth reading, I suggest you buy the whole set together
because once you get started reading these gems you won't want
to stop until the finale.
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