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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dacileva" data-source="post: 1128024" data-attributes="member: 12957">Oh, good, I won't be the first negative commenter.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />I did like a few aspects of the book.  He obviously put a lot of work into the background of the world, and his concepts.  His take on the "what happens after the dragon is dead", and what happens to the hoard, are interesting, though not very unique (see The Hobbit).  I really did like how Black Kalgalath, even though he disliked Sleeth, and considered Sleeth his biggest rival, still felt compelled to defend Dragon honor by humiliating and destroying the upstarts who killed Sleeth.  I like the Utruni concept, their pseudo-culture, and their behavior.There was a lot I didn't like, both about the world and this book in particular.Elyn and Thork (and basically everyone) seemed rather stiff and unrealistic in behavior.  No one went through any real dynamic changes, other than the changes forced on Elyn and Thork through their adventuring.Modru and Andrak were the usual "mean, stupid arrogant bad guys"...  Kalgalath wasn't quite so bad, but even he made big mistakes that don't seem in character for how awesome McKiernan seems to want to make Dragons.The races on this world seemed horrendously stereotyped.  This really annoyed me, actually.  I've been very happy about the way D&D 3.x is starting to draw gamers away from the traditional stereotypes, and this book (admittedly, it was written in 1990) just seems like the same old fantasy tropes revisited in a not-particularly-interesting manner.The rampant sexism throughout the book may be intended to feel like a fantasy version of medieval Earth, but it just came off to me as rampant sexism.  Dwarven women are maybe a different species?  Jordian women are meek homemakers, and the only Jordian warrior maid is ridiculed throughout her training?  *sigh*Overall, this wasn't a particularly enjoyable read for me.  I may still try reading some other Mithgar books, but McKiernan's got an uphill road to interest me.Okay, I think I'm done ranting for now.</blockquote>

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