The Tainted Sword: Dungeons and Dragons Novels, Penhaligon Trilogy

To me this is THE classic Dungeons and Dragons novel. The Penhaligon Trilogy was my first exposure to D & D books, and after reading dozens and dozens of Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms novels etc. since, nothing has yet to come close to this. Great story of an exiled fallen hero who attempts to save face by saving the people who have shunned him. Throw this in with love,an epic battle with a dragon, and an unsuspected ending and youve got yourself a classic. Although these themes may sound typical, this book and the following two ( The Dragons Tomb and The Fall of Magic) are not, they are great!

This book is one of few that clearly defines what i have always been looking for in fantasy novels. The author paints a vivid world where the reader can lose themselves and completely identify with the suprisingly lifelike characters. Each character has a unique personality and sucessfully evokes true human emotion. Anger, sadness, lust, bravery, honor, and guilt paint the pages of this tragic yet beautiful work of art. It is so rare that a story can display such emotion and beauty, which makes this novel all the more genuine.

The Tainted Sword is, as I'm sure you've gussed, a fantasy. There isnt a definable main character, but the story focuses on two people in particular above the rest. These two are Flinn and his Squire-to-be/lover-to-be,Johauna Menhir. Flinn is a knight who has fallen from grace in his court. The book never really explains why so many people support his fall,seeing as he has saved the land multiple times,but he is constently tormented by everyone he sees.He adpots an very mean spirit and refuses to talk to anyone he sees. Finally someone gets through his rough deamanor and sees the goodness in him.That someone is Johanua Menhir. A really nicely written relationship between them begins and is even delayed at one point where the author could let it all come together between them. Flinn evetually reagins his titles and his honor and heads out back inot the world to destroy his sworn enemy who has been ravaging the world, the dragon Verdilith. The final encounter between then is very intense and the end is totally different from what I would expect from a book with 2 sequels. This is a very well writen novel, that expresses a lot of human emtion and has vey believable characters. I would highly recommend it.

I've bought this book when I was in forth grade, and I'm still reading it in tenth. It would be impossible to sum up the greatness of this book in just a simple paragraph, but to generally put it... The characters each had a unique personality, which the author has done well to describe them. The storyline is unpredictable, and leaves you wanting more. In a matter of fact, I would love to see this trilogy be extended to a 4 or 5 book series.This book also arises many different emotions throughout the book.... happiness, fright, anger, sadness, depression, abandonment... All to a great extent.This novel combines romance, action, and magic into one great novel that you would surely want to read.

This book was filled with everything, romance, magic and swordplay. Also they end the book with a great cliffhanger that leaves the reader wanting to go out and read the next book.