Dragon Wing (The Death Gate Cycle, Book 1)
by Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman

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Book Reviews of Dragon Wing (The Death Gate Cycle, Book 1)

Book Review: DRAGON WING COULD SPOIL YOU - Death Gate Cycle Vol 1
Summary: 5 Stars

Don't read this book if you are looking for a simple uncomplicated story that you can read in single digit sittings. This book will absorb you and you will eventually end up reading all seven Death Gate Cycle series volumes.

And definitely do not read this book if you are satisfied with the fantasy novels you have been reading. What you're currently reading may not measure up.

The Authors

The Death Gate Series was written by renown Fantasy and Science Fiction authors Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. This is the first installment of the most impressive fantasy series I have ever read. In fact the seven volume Death Gate Cycle has set a standard so high, it has spoiled fantasy for me. Hence my title. They created such a unique and creative concept and their writing was so clear and easy to follow (Readers of Tolkien take note)that after ten chapters I was hooked.

Death Gate Cycle

The Setting

The Death Gate Cycle is a seven book series about four mythical Realms, actually five, that were created untold ages ago when a powerful magical race, known as the Sartans, sundered the single world into four realms named after the four elements, Sky, Stone, Fire and Water and a fifth realm, the Nexus, which is a Penal colony for the Sartans vanquished rivals, the almost equally powerful Patryns.

The Main Characters in order of appearance.

Haplo - A Paytryn, explorer/spy
Hugh the Hand - A Human, mercenary/hired sword
Bane - A Human prince
Limbeck - A revolutionary Geg
Jarre - His revolutionary wife
Alfred - Bane's man servant
Haplo's Dog

Background

Good vs Evil

The story revolves around the Sartan and the Patryns. Both races are powerful magicians, the Satan a beneficent people who respect all beings and the nefarious Patryns who want to conquer and subjugate all the races of the world. Eons ago these great and powerful races fought and the Sartan were victorious. Based on some lost plan the Sartan sundered the world creating five realms revolving around the Death Gate. On one of these realms, Nexus, was created a penal colony called the Labyrinth to which the Patryns were exiled. The Labyrinth, which apparently has a life of its own, is a cruel hostile place in which most of the patryns have been exterminated. But finally one great wizard, The Lord of Nexus, escapes into the city(prebuilt by the Sartan) Nexus and starts to help others. And so our story begins;

The Plot

The Patryns are gradually escaping their tortuous prison, The Labyrinth and are now plotting their revenge against their implacable enemies, the all powerful Sartan. Haplo, the great Lords trusted emissary, is being sent out to cause destabilization in the realms, surreptitiously search for the Sartan and to report back all findings to the Lord.

But Haplo is unable to find any Sartan. Where have they gone?

Volume I, Dragon Wing

Arianus, Mid Realm

Hugh the Hand was framed but it doesn't matter. He's about to be beheaded by Three-Chop Nick, an executioner renown for his bungling beheading, when an envoy from King Steven arrives, by Dragon, to save his life.

It seems King Steven has a job for Hugh, a reputed assassin.
Who is the target of this assignment? Why, it's King Steven's own son, Bane. Meanwhile:

Arianus, Low Realm

Limbeck the Geg is also in a predicament. What got him in hot water was that he repeated what he saw.

The Gegs are a race of small people, similar to the Hobbits from another more obscure novel. They are the sole inhabitants of the lower realm of Arianus and their only purpose in life seems to be to mine coralite by use of an enormous, extraordinary machine, the Gegs call Kicksey Winsey, thats just always been there. The real purpose of the machine is unknown but it manages to allow the Gegs to mine coralite and to sell it to the Godlike Elves from the upper realms.

Lembeck, who sees injustice in toiling away for the Elves, saw one of the Elves get killed in an accident taking delivery of a shipment of coralite and informed everyone that the Elves are not Gods, they die just like Gegs, therefore they no longer need to take orders from the Elves. This of course is heresy and leads his banishment to the Steps (the very small islands just below Drevlin, the main island, that are mined for coralite. This is tantamount to a sentence of death as no one ever returns. Meanwhile;

Arianus, Mid Realm

Back with Hugh, who is ambivilent about his new contract, especially after meeting the seeminly endearing youngster 912 year old), takes Prince Bane on a dragon to another location from which they can hike a couple days to Hugh's Elfen dragon ship, "Dragon Wing", however Hugh notices that someone is following. So Hugh waylays his follower and captures Alfred, Price Bane's loyal but timid, clumsy and bumbling chamberlain. But is Alfred what he seems? Hugh begins to wonder when an accident occurs involving a deadly Crystal Tree in which neither Prince Bane or Alfred get even so much as a cut and later when they are airborne on the Dragon Wing, Bane poisons Hugh (he knows Hugh's Mission)with a deadly poison only to be awakened(from death?) by Alfred, primarily,so he can stabilize the falling ship. Meanwhile;

Arianus, Lower Realm, The Steps

Lembeck is Marooned on one of the small unnamed step islands but manages to get his Initials on one of the dig claws to let Jarre, his loyal, loving wife, know where he is. In the meantime the whole island is shaken by something and Lembeck goes to investigate and finds some unknown type of airship has crashed and the occupants, some kind of manlike person, who is severely injured, and a dog, are in imminent danger of getting crushed by a dig claw. Once Lembeck effects their rescue he examines the manlike person(Haplo)and discovers he has tattoos(actually runes) over his entire body and decides, despite the fact the he is near death, that Haplo is a true God. Luckily Jarre is able to send a "help hand" down to Lembeck to rescue him and he brings back Haplo and the dog with him. Meanwhile;

Arianus, Deepsky Descending

Bane's poisoning of Hugh has caused a crisis. It seems Bane is only the step son of King Stephen and is the biological son of Sinistrad, an arrogant mysteriarch of the upper realms, who maintains contact with bane through a feather amulet he wears. It was Sinistrad who instructed Bane to poison Hugh and now the ship is hurtling toward the perpetual storm known as the Malestrom.

The Rest of the Story

Eventually our main characters will all meet up at Drevlin in the Lower Realm and procede to the Upper Realms, where the action and intrigue continue unabated to the climax, which isn't really the climax since there are six subsequent novels, each one, I think is more exciting than the previous.

Authors Note

As you can tell, this is a purposely involved and complex story. The writing is excellent, as is the character development of two of the characters, Hugh the Hand a reputed noblemans son, orphaned and left in the care of the strange austere Kir Monks, and Haplo whose parents were killed in the Labyrinth, while Haplo played dead. As for the other characters, the authors have not deemed much detail other than necessary items such as Lembeck's nearsightedness. Alfred is a central character and an enigma and meant to stay that way at least for a while.

If you decide to tackle this series, Good Reading!

Summary of Dragon Wing (The Death Gate Cycle, Book 1)

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