Tides of Blood: The Minotaur Wars, Volume Two (Dragonlance)

Knaak isn't a great writer, like a Martin or even a Jordan, but he is solid. He never shows a great deal of originality or complex characters, but neither does me make bad choices with plot or write bad prose. As I said, he's a solid writer, good but not great. With this novel, he shows this, continuing his minotaur trilogy with a story that has been told before, but a story that is told well. An Emperor is brought down, a possible heir escapes into slavery, breaks free and along the way he meets a warthog and a meercat and brings down his evil uncle. So it's a common plot. So it's a Disney movie and a Broadway play. Sometimes you need a Big Mac. You need to not think about the story and just read, let the mind wonder, and as far as Big Macs go, this is a really good Big Mac. To steal from another company, it's a Six Dollar Big Mac. It is also the best of the three novels in the trilogy. The first really didn't have a chance because of the structure. Knaak jumps around every ten pages in this trilogy, so when you start off its kind of annoying having to remember twenty names in the first fifty pages. By the second novel this isn't a problem. You know the characters. On the action scale, it rates very high, but that's not always a good thing. When I was fourteen I remember being entertained by "our hero versus four ogres" but now, in my twenties, I've been there, done that, its just filler, nothing is going to happen nine times out of ten to anyone that hasn't been introduced in the last ten pages. This led to quite a bit skimming through this book, but all the fighting was well-done, and there are a couple nice fights evolving detailed villains. And, the plot is the best of the trilogy, revolving around the temple's growing power, Faros' life as a runaway slave, and the friction of the imperial family. Final Thought: So far, post War of Souls stuff has been really bad. This is one of the better ones. If you are looking for that time frame, pick this trilogy up, its all in paperback now.

If you like battles and internal strife, this is the book for you. The second book in the minotaur series has the minotaurs already in the midst of invading Ansalon. Faros is trying to escape from imprisonment and exact revenge up his oppressors. Also, to show the unity in the ogre nations should make this worrisome for other races of Ansalon also. A major shake-up of the eastern side of the continent is going to affect the entire continent soon enough....

Tides of Blood is the second book in the Dragonlance: The Minotaur Wars, by Richard Knaak. The first book in this trilogy was dark by Dragonlance standards and this novel is no different. I am enjoying the 'darkerside' of Krynn if you will. It seems the books that have been released as of late in the Dragonlance world have been sub-par to say the least. With his first novel in this trilogy Night of Blood, Knaak broke that mold and delivered a very solid book. This second book keeps that theme going and is well written and well thought out story. I have been a fan of Knaak's since I read Kaz the Minotaur and he doesn't disappoint here. It is evident that Knaak has planned out this story in great detail and taken the time to think everything through as far as what he would like to happen. As far as the story there is a good deal of action mixed in with the politics of the Minotaur empire. For a Dragonlance novel I was a little surprised of the politics as that's not usual for DL novels. Overall this is a very solid second book and one that will surely carry right into the final book in the trilogy.

Awesome book, Knaak is a very great author, one of my favorites. WoS and the MW come together in this novel, explaining that take over of Silvanesti. Besides that, the rebellion against Hotak grows, with some unexpected deaths, new characters, treachery (sp), and new alliances. I loved this book and cant wait for Empire of Blood to come out. Props on this series Knaak

This books is the second in the Minotaur Wars series and to me was a way to finally start bringing this trilogy into the Dragonlance setting. If you haven't read the War of Souls Trilogy, then you need to to understand some of what is going on in the rest of Ansalon especially with regards to how Mina's war is interweaved with the war that the Minotaurs are undertaking with the Ogres. In addition, this book continues on with the stories of the rebellion against Hotak. Though it tries to build up the rebellion, I often felt at a lost where the story was going, maybe because this is the 2nd book in the trilogy. Also, we get more in tune with what the Forerunners actually are and where their power comes from, which is very interesting when you think to the War of Souls Trilogy (though the ending of this novel is really kind of a good setup for the end of the trilogy from several standpoints as now we are getting to a point that everyone, especially followers of the series, is going into unknown waters). All in all, this is a great book for fans of the series and Dragonlance as a whole. If you are a casual reader, then you might get bored at points as the story seems to drag or not be as interesting as it could have been. If you like hardcovers, go for it (I do and did!), but if you don't, wait for the paperback (trust me, nothing so crucial happens that you need to buy it this second).