Prisoner of Haven

First off, at the risk of starting a war of words, to Mr. Pierson, with all due respect, the point you bring up is a strictly chauvinistic one and makes it clear that you missed the whole point in Usha's "betrayal." While Palin may have been off saving the world, that's not the point. The point is that he was her husband and, in fantasy, that's as important a fact as it is in real life. He was being a poor husband and, in real life, when wives have husbands that are acting like, to use a polite term, jerks, it affects them. So, while you're crucifying a fictional character for having a real person reaction, maybe you should sit back and realize that it's one of the few time that people in these novels have acted like ::gasp:: real people! I, for one, applaud Mrs. Berberick for having the courage to "taint" one of the series' more recognizable characters and will agree with the other two reviewers that this was an excellent novel. As far as continuity within the series, it never has been and never will be a mistake-free series. Weis and Hickman are as guilty as anyone else of breaking the "rules" and I have long since stopped caring if their precious little "vision" is changed now and again by an author trying to tell a good story. This was a good story and was, at times, very poignant. The villains didn't need anymore background than we were given, just as Usha and Dezra didn't need fleshing out beyond the simple synopses of their recent history. They're Dark Knights of the new age, thus they're evil and hardly representational of the honorable Knights of Dragons of a Summer Flame. For a good story, you don't have to make the bad guys sympathetic...you just have to establish that they're bad. Hanging innocents and taking over a town qualifies pretty much as bad in my book, though I dunno about anyone else's. While this is far from the greatest DragonLance book ever penned, it's pretty damn good considering the small setting and content. Read away!

What a nifty book. Well-written, engaging characters, and tightly plotted. Ms. Berberick's work always impresses me. It was nice to have major characters with real-world problems, and to have characters with maturity. The characters drive the story. Very happy to have this book on my shelf.

This latest offering from Nancy Varian Berberick presents a more mature and thought-provoking work than much of what passes for genre fare these days. In the book, Usha is a heroine confronted by very real difficulties in her marriage and makes choices that are all too easily dismissed as simple acts of betrayal. But these are choices faced by flesh-and-blood people, not hollow, shopworn idealizations. That doesn't mean what she chooses should be condoned, and indeed she bears the consequences of her actions, but that is what sets this work apart -- there are real-life decisions to be made and real-life consequences to be borne. All of which is dealt with in Ms. Berberick's beautifully crafted language. All in all, this is a work to be savored, to be relished, although it is not, perhaps, a work that will satisfy those who have yet to achieve a certain level of life experience.