Dragonvarld is a trilogy of fantasy novels by

Margaret Weis Margaret Edith Weis (; born March 16, 1948) is an American fantasy and science fiction author, of dozens of novels and short stories. At TSR, Inc., she teamed with Tracy Hickman to create the ''Dragonlance'' role-playing game (RPG) world. She is ...

. Within the series, this also refers to the setting; the word Dragonvarld is said to be the Dragon name for Earth ("Dragon World"). It resembles Earth of the

Late Middle Ages The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the Periodization, period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Eur ...

or the

early Renaissance Renaissance art (1350 – 1620 AD) is the painting, sculpture, and decorative arts of the period of European history known as the Renaissance, which emerged as a distinct style in Italy in about AD 1400, in parallel with developments which occ ...

, complete with a church bent on

witch hunts A witch-hunt, or a witch purge, is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft. The classical period of witch-hunts in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America took place in the Early Modern per ...

and

demon A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in religion, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology, and folklore; as well as in media such as comics, video games, movies, ani ...

hunts. The trilogy describes a world in which humans believe that they are the rulers of the world, while the co-existing dragons know that they themselves are the true masters.

Series synopsis

Mistress Of Dragons

Dragons have made a pact against dealing with the human world, organizing their own Parliament to rule themselves and their interactions with humans. A renegade dragon named Maristara has gone and taken over the valley of Seth, a human realm. She eludes dragon law and justice by keeping out other dragons with magic and by using humans who she has trained in dragon magic. She is a black dragon and therefore one of the oldest, strongest and most powerful of all dragons. A young green dragon named Braun, a grandchild of Maristara, brings startling evidence to Parliament that his father, who had tried to coax Maristara out of her valley, has died. His death was previously thought to be an accident, though Braun has learned he was murdered by another dragon in league with Maristara. Draconas, the walker, is a dragon in human form by dint of powerful illusion magics. Upon hearing this at the Dragon Parliament he decides to complete a task: find the Mistress of Dragons, the ruler of Seth, and from her find the whereabouts of Maristara and give the dragons the opportunity to bring her to justice. With Braun and the human King Edward of Idlyswylde to help get through Maristara's barrier, he sets out to adventure.

The Dragon's Son

At the end of book one, the almost-cult leader Melisande dies after giving birth to twin sons. Each son has a different father, one (Marcus) being the illegitimate son of Edward, King of Idlyswylde, and the other (Vengeance) being the son of the dragon Grald, who had taken over a human body. Each son is capable of using dragon magic, but only Vengeance has the scaled legs and clawed feet of a dragon. Occasionally helped by the walker Draconas, each of the two sons are unaware of each other's existence and are warned to avoid using magic in order to avoid detection. Meanwhile, an internal struggle in the Parliament of Dragons has the potential to bring destruction to dragon and mortals alike.

Master of Dragons

Master of Dragons picks up where ''The Dragon's Son'' left off; Marcus and Evelina are escaping Dragonkeep down the river while Ven remains in the city to heal and deal with Grald. Draconas must also hide since he now knows that Anora is the traitor of the Dragon Parliament. He trolls the city in the guise of an innocent while gathering information to assist Ven and Marcus in bringing down the unholy trio of dragon traitors. Marcus is kept busy evading Evelina's plots while Ven finds more siblings - Grald's children from his own dragon-magic bearing women. He had been keeping the magically powerful and sane children segregated from the general population of Dragonkeep while training them into a powerful army the likes of which Dragonvarld has never seen before. After what he felt was his 'success' with engendering Ven, Grald starting making more half-breed children and teaching them about dragon superiority. His intentions are to make Ven his next human host and Marcus has to help Ven fight him off in a battle that kills Grald. Ven leads his half-dragon siblings to refuge in Seth while Draconas attempts to have the dragon Parliament band together to stop Anora and Maristara. He fails and Parliament dissolves in disarray. Maristara leads the army of Dragonkeep against Idlyswylde while Anora infiltrates Ramsgate-on-Aston (the capital city) to destroy the new cannons. She had taken the form of Marcus' betrothed Lady Izabelle which set Evelina to jealous plotting, and snared Marcus' mind and magic to keep him from interfering. Dragon fights dragon to attack and defend the humans. Maristara and Anora die in their separate battles when Seth's warriors and priestesses ride to the rescue. Evelina is rewarded for her plots with banishment to a distant convent while Marcus and Ven start building their lives anew.

Reception

Reception to the ''Dragonvarld'' series has been positive, with

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

praising the trilogy and ''FantasyMagazine'' stating that the series was "full of intrigue". The

SF Site SF may refer to: Locations * San Francisco, California, United States * Sidi Fredj, Algeria * South Florida, an urban region in the United States * Suomi Finland, former vehicular country code for Finland In arts and entertainment Genre ...

reviewed ''

Mistress of Dragons Dragonvarld is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Margaret Weis. Within the series, this also refers to the setting; the word Dragonvarld is said to be the Dragon name for Earth ("Dragon World"). It resembles Earth of the Late Middle Ages or the ear ...

'', stating that while the book used a "familiar fantasy template", the book employed "an expertly paced narrative". Sfcrowsnest positively reviewed ''

Master of Dragons Dragonvarld is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Margaret Weis. Within the series, this also refers to the setting; the word Dragonvarld is said to be the Dragon name for Earth ("Dragon World"). It resembles Earth of the Late Middle Ages or the ear ...

'', citing the battle scenes as a highlight but writing that the character of Evelina was "just damn annoying at times".

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

panned the third entry to the trilogy, calling it "a paint-by-numbers fantasy whose soap-opera characterizations, laughable dialogue and execrable prose will have judicious readers rolling their eyes."Master of Dragons

Publication history

* ''Mistress Of Dragons'' (2003), by

, () * ''The Dragon's Son'' (2004), by

, () * ''Master Of Dragons'' (2005), by

, ()

References

{{reflist, 2 Book series introduced in 2003 Fantasy novel series Literary trilogies Novels by Margaret Weis Tor Books books Fiction set in the Late Middle Ages Novels about dragons American fantasy novel series