Melanie Rawn?

[Phaedrus]

What are her books like? I pick them up in the store because the cover art looks good...but I've never bought one. Anyone have a recommendation?

My favorites (just so you'll know my bias): David Gemmell, Eddings, Modessit (Recluse, haven't read the other series yet) are far and away my favorites. I have read most of their books twice. I also like Goodkind (philosophically preachy, but I tend to agree with him so I don't mind it), Jordan's OK but a bit wordy. George R.R. Martin is good (but it feels soap opera-ish with so many characters).

Given my likes... what do you recommend? Rather than reading the same books over and over, I want to try something new.

 

[talinthas]

Melanie Rawn's Dragon Prince/Dragon Star set is one of my favorite fantasy series' of all time. Normally i'm not big on stories that feature strong willed red haired women (too many end up like that silly mercedes lackey), but rawn writes really well, and developes a great world to play in. Well worth the read.

/edit- oh, and her characters are very realistic as well. and her magic system is awesome, and feels like a precursor to the jordan/goodkind styles. she gets a little preachy in the last book, but by that point you won't care =)

only problem is that all the names are variations on the same thing...

 

[s/LaSH]

I liked the books; they're not particularly stereotypical. Which is good. They're a little distant in memory right now, honestly, but I don't remember thinking 'bleh', so go for it.

(The cover art rocks, though, doesn't it? I love me some dragons...)

 

[Shallown]

I particularly loved the books and have read the Dragon prince/Dragon star series a few times. She develops believable human characters. the world has magic and though it plays a part it is a believable part with defined internal consistance. The family interaction is interesting and mostly believable. They are not action oriented at all but the development of the characters keeps you pretty involved.

Even her Good guys do bad things or make mistakes that are more realistic than them just having some flaw designed in so you'll buy them as a character.

I reccommend them. Try the first one and if it doesn't hook you then chances are you won't like the rest.

later

 

[Kaledor]

Rawn's Books

I picked up the first Dragon Prince about 12 years ago for the very reason that the cover was outstanding (love Micheal Whelan's work!) and I found the series to be incredible. I've reread the 6 book series many times since (and I normally don't reread books often).

As others have mentioned, her characterization is very real, her magic system is inspiring, and her stories have a real historic feel without the heavy-handedness of some others. My wife loves the series too, so I would say that they have a lot of different elements to offer different types of readers.


Hey, does anybody know the status of her other trilogy (mageborn?). She released the first two and it's been years... I heard something about her taking time off because of her mother's health... but that may have just been rumor.

 

[drothgery]

The thing about Rawn is that there's always a strong romantic thread in anything she writes. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's probably worth noting.It's also unfortunately true that due to various personal problems, she didn't write much from about 1997 to 2003. This is somewhat frustrating, as I loved the first Exiles book (I think it's the best book she's written), the second was pretty good, and she just started the third a few months ago.

 

[Storminator]

I really disliked the first Exiles book. I really wanted the bad guys to kill those bumbling "heroes" and take over the world. The foreshadowing of the heroes mistakes went on far too long for my tastes.

And the feminist preaching was so uninspired. If there had been some interesting point or twist to the preaching I wouldn't have minded, but it read like the 1950s gender roles, but with men and women's positions reversed. There didn't seem to be any deeper thought in it than "what if the women were on top?!?"

The book soured me on Rawn completely. I have yet to even consider reading another one.

PS