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Bones of the Dragon

by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Reviewed by Coral


The Vindras tribes are having a tough time of it; their crops are failing and their raids have been unsuccessful, mainly because the dragons have not been answering their prayers for help.

One day Ogres arrive at the home Torgun tribe with a message: there was a war in the heavens and our gods have defeated your gods. As proof, the Ogres offer up the Vektan torque, gifted by the gods to the Chief of Chiefs of the Vindras people.

Skylan, son of the Torgun chief, leads his people into battle against the Ogres but are unable to recapture the torque.

Now the Torgun tribe must seek justice against their own Chief of Chiefs and seek to remove him from the leadership of their people.

But the Ogres were not completely lying; the Vindras gods have lost a battle. In order to recover they will need their people to collect the five bones of the Vektan dragon (which includes the torque lost to the Ogres). Torval, the Vindras war god, has chosen Skylan to be his champion. But does this arrogant warrior have what it takes to lead his people in this quest?

While this might not be the first Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman book that I haven’t enjoyed, it is the first of their books that I didn’t finish.

There was nothing remotely appealing about Skylan. Not only was he arrogant, he was also stupid (not only does he not know anything about the customs of his people but he also trusts someone who it is painfully obvious that he shouldn’t) and a pretty horrible leader (who endangers his people on a needless mission and get rid of his people’s high priestess, both for personal reasons). I am assuming that the character was meant to go through a heroic quest and end up being a true leader or something, but I couldn’t keep reading to find out.

Besides Sylan, there aren’t really any other characters to cheer for. Sklyan’s best friend is secretly in love with the woman Skylan wants to marry, a tired storyline I was disappointed to see here. Draya, the high priestess, does something around the mid-point of the book that seems totally out-of-character for her.

Right before I stopped reading the book seemed to go totally off the rails, completely diverging from the plot and going into a weird direction that I didn’t understand.

Lastly, a minor thing, though the Vindras were based on the Vikings, the authors gave them their own unique name, mythology and history. So why were the people based on the druids called druids?

 

Grade: F