Mistress of Dragons (The Dragonvarld Trilogy, #1)

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Mistress of Dragons (The Dragonvarld Trilogy #1)

3.56 of 5 stars 3.56 · rating details · 896 ratings · 50 reviews

Welcome to the Dragonvarld...

In Mistress of Dragons we are introduced to a world where political deception, greed, and avarice have lead to a violation of the "hands off" policy of the Parliament of Dragons concerning the affairs of men.

Indeed that violation threatens more than policy and order it threatens the freedoms and survival of the entire human race.

Paperback, 352 pages

Published May 16th 2004 by Tor Fantasy (first published 2003)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Dragons/Serpents

81st out of 154 books — 60 voters

Dragons

322nd out of 621 books — 1,013 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 1,568)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Sep 26, 2011 Igor Trushevsky rated it 2 of 5 stars

Man, this was weird. I mean no offense to anyone who is into this genre of books but I read this book purely because of a challenge I set up with my friend and I. We each had to choose the most embarrassing looking book we could find, and the other had to read it, preferably in public. While I abandoned the latter clause fairly quickly, I did manage to read the entire book, and fairly quickly at that. So the weird thing is, for all of the awful writing and plot and character understanding that t...more

like 1 like · see review

Mar 20, 2013 Josh rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, teen

I picked it up on a whim, having enjoyed some of Weis' collaborations with Tracy Hickman. It seems that alone, her talent simply evaporates, and Tor is perfectly willing to publish bad lemony fanfiction. At best, it's good for making fun of with friends.

Maybe this kind of plot was enough when Dragonlance began in 1984, but the ensuing decades have seen the market flooded with real brilliance, along with these generic fantasy trilogies with dragons on the cover cranked out every month. Good writi...more I picked it up on a whim, having enjoyed some of Weis' collaborations with Tracy Hickman. It seems that alone, her talent simply evaporates, and Tor is perfectly willing to publish bad lemony fanfiction. At best, it's good for making fun of with friends.

Maybe this kind of plot was enough when Dragonlance began in 1984, but the ensuing decades have seen the market flooded with real brilliance, along with these generic fantasy trilogies with dragons on the cover cranked out every month. Good writing, characters, and original twists could easily overcome that disadvantage, but instead we got cardboard cutouts and a plot that mostly exists to fill pages between sex scenes. Melisande is a self-absorbed twit utterly dependant on her lover. Draconas is an arrogant human/dragon prick who endlessly whines about the puny humans and isn't nearly as intelligent as he believes, and we know he believes it, because we're privy to his banal stream of consciousness throughout. (Except, conveniently, only when it would reveal some vital twist too early!) Plus when the King comes on the scene, we get a second angsty whiner with a superiority complex! Two for the price of one, now that's a deal.

The plot sucks in a way that would make a hentai game proud. Beginning in an apparently _all-lesbian_ convent that has an all-female military and almost zero contact with the outside world, except for monthly choosing a few noble men to mate with a few of the women. A huge deal is made of virgins, even though they take female lovers. For the most part, absolutely nothing happens in the convent, and it takes whole chapters of sex and slice of life to get that across. Then we get Draconas, and he goes to great lengths to make sure that we never have any damn clue what he's doing, where he's going, why he's doing it, or why we should care about his whiny emo ass. The entire first half of the book drifts in an interminable morass. Most of the underpinnings of the story are just plot devices and unimaginative or garbled clichés strung together, especially the dragon's history.

I don't think one creature in this book has a last name or nickname. You don't realize how unnatural it is until you hear someone called the exact same tongue-twisting name constantly.

But oh, the writing puts every other factor to shame. Weis appears to be channeling Robert Jordan in her ability to describe to death pointless details, drag out long and pointless conversations, and gloss over relevant details that might aid with actually understanding the stupid plot. Then our suspension of disbelief is badly challenged by her insistence on pastiching a story out of wildly improbable coincidences, continuity holes, plot devices, infodumps, and eye-rolling backstories. Foreshadowing is in overdose; I constructed a fairly accurate guess of the story arc within the first few chapters. Everyone talks as if they're brain-damaged, repeating themselves or forgetting what was just said.

It does start to get better after 200 pages, but remains intensely mediocre and it's impossible not to start skimming much of it.

Don't get it. I do not recommend except for the humor value inherent in really bad teen fiction. I've seen choose-your-own-adventure(tm) books written better. (less)

like · see review

Jan 12, 2011 Ithlilian rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

I didn't like this book. It's not because of the lesbianism and it's not because of the non-unique plot. I was actually really enjoying myself for the first half of the book. I couldn't wait to find out who the traitor dragon was, and what was going to happen in the monastery, and how long it would take the king to find out about the dragon man. Unfortunately, it turned into a story about a whiny irritating woman and a fawning unfaithful king traveling across the country to fulfill a strange sol...more

like 1 like · see review

Feb 13, 2010 Carlos JP Navia rated it 4 of 5 stars

I had a heck of a time trying to rediscover the title of this book. I first found it in the library literally by just walking over to the fantasy section and looking for book covers with pictures of dragons. As it turned out, I was very happy with the result. I haven't yet read the remaining two books in the Dragonvarld series--and even if I do choose to do so in the future, I will probably need to reread the first one, since I couldn't recall enough details about it to easily locate it in a Goo...more I had a heck of a time trying to rediscover the title of this book. I first found it in the library literally by just walking over to the fantasy section and looking for book covers with pictures of dragons. As it turned out, I was very happy with the result. I haven't yet read the remaining two books in the Dragonvarld series--and even if I do choose to do so in the future, I will probably need to reread the first one, since I couldn't recall enough details about it to easily locate it in a Google search; I just spent almost three hours trying to simultaneously recall key details of the story and whittle them down into just the right phrase to get the search hit I would recognize. But I did learn one thing from this process: Simple, general phrases are better. My major impediment during the last couple of hours was that I kept trying to add details to my search phrase as I remembered them. "So, what," you may wonder, "was your successful quote?" It was this: 'book about dragons versus priestesses soul trapped by evil dragon one man can assume dragon form.' I know, the phrase is still pretty awkward, but, dammit, it worked. Compare it with the one I started with two hours before: 'virgin princess soul trapped stolen by evil dragon who wants to destroy people there are good dragons too hero is part dragon.' The former is somewhat better, wouldn't you say?

(I hope you'll forgive me for the fact that this "review" states more about my Google search for the book title than it does about the book itself. But, as shown above, I recall few details from the story, only that I liked it enough to search desperately for it again until I identified its correct title.)

I consider these, from Amazon.com, the best among the reviews I found at the conclusion of my search:

From PUBLISHERS WEEKLY...

"Best known for her successful partnership with Tracy Hickman (Dragons of the Vanished Moon, etc.), Weiss launches a new series on her own that's sure to please high fantasy fans. In the world of Dragonvald, an ancient race of dragons with its own parliament has kept apart from the race of men and refrained from meddling in their affairs. Since a renegade dragon, Maristara, seized the human realm of Seth three centuries earlier, an Amazonian order of priestesses with magical powers and the Mistress of Dragons have kept the peace. But evidence that Maristara and a partner-in-crime have indulged in their taste for human flesh means renewed trouble. Draconas, who can change into a man, sets forth into human territory to resolve the problem. The ensuing conflicts and complications, as Draconas learns the true identity of the Mistress of Dragons, will keep readers turning the pages. A cliffhanger ending, involving the birth of a part-dragon human baby, will leave them eager for the next installment."
(Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.)

From BOOKLIST...

"The laws established by the Parliament of Dragons, an ancient and secret institution composed of the elder from each of the 12 houses of dragons, forbid interference with human affairs and the taking of human life. Humanity, however, knows nothing of this and lives in fear of dragons. In the mountains overlooking the city of Seth stands a monastery in which live the Mistress of Dragons and her priestesses, defended by fierce female warriors. Draconas, a dragon who has shape-changed into human form to walk among humans and keep an eye on their doings, is charged by the parliament to deal with a renegade dragon, who has broken the laws and established herself as ruler of Seth, with the further intent of conquering the world. With his dragon and human personas often in conflict with each other, Draconas is a particularly well-developed character, flexible enough to bend the laws to carry out his mission. Full of intrigue, magic, and violence, this first book of Dragonvald--a projected trilogy chronicling the battle to preserve the uneasy relationship between dragons and humans--launches the project powerfully. Weis has brilliantly conceived a world viable for both dragons and humans."
(Sally Estes, Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved)(less)

like · see review

Jul 14, 2012 Melissa rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

like · see review

Oct 02, 2007 Nathan rated it 5 of 5 stars

I love Margaret Weis as an author and a person(I met her at a convention, she is AWESOME) and this book is by far my favorite she has written to date. Its interesting because you can see that if written from another point of view, it would have been a rather typical fantasy novel, but through the character Draconas and several others, you can see more of what is going on and have an appreciation for it

like 1 like · see review

Nov 07, 2011 Leighann rated it 3 of 5 stars

I received this book when it first came out. A signed hardback edition. I read the first few pages and put it down.

I grew up with Margaret Weis and Tracey Hickman (who hasn't read Dragonlance?) My favorite series is the Death Gate Cycle - something about it makes me pick it up again and again.

So here was a book about Dragons written by Margaret Weis and I thought how could this go wrong... I was expecting an easy 5 star.

Instead when I picked it back up I felt the same lack luster desire to read...more

like · see review

Nov 14, 2009 Amy rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was my fun fantasy read for the month, and it was interesting. I haven't read anything else by Margaret Weis before, but apparently she is very famous in the fantasy world. This book, #1 in the Dragonwarld series, introduces us to the small, isolated kingdom of Seth, which is protected by a powerful group of women who use magic to keep away all dragon invaders, led by the gentle guidence of the Mistress of Dragons. We are given a completely different view of the kingdom of Seth from a "walk...more

like · see review

Mar 23, 2011 MsBDiamondDiva1 rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: the-dragonvarld-trilogy

This is the first installment in the Dragonvald Trilogy, before I read this series; I read the reviews and wanted to draw my own conclusion off the book. First let me say this about the author, the writing is far better than some of the books, newspapers and other main stream media out today. I mean the plot is overall predictable, but the quality of the writing makes the book a worthy read. To make a long story as short the whole book is about the dragons interfering with the human world. Even...more

like 1 like · see review

Oct 19, 2011 Josh rated it 3 of 5 stars

So overall I liked this story even at the end when it was quite reminiscent of Star Wars. I was however bothered with the abundance of lesbians especially being somewhat central to the story. (view spoiler)...more

like · see review

Apr 27, 2013 Sue Smith rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-read-in-2013, ridiculous

Wow. So bad.

I'm sure that this book is not indicative of the entire writing of Margaret Weis, but truly this book was just awful. Dialogue that was wooden when it was supposed to be emotional, a plot that was hazy and disjointed when it even surfaced and some of the worst dialogue bantering eveeeeeerrrrrr. There was no depth to the characters, the plot, nor the language. It was just disappointing. And I wasn't too thrilled with the lesbian aspect either - not because I have a thing against Lesbi...more

like · see review

Mar 05, 2013 Micah Scelsi rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

Let me say I have read many books by Weis and Hickman and in general they are great Fantasy. When I first started reading this one I thought it rather objectionable and almost put it down, but then I found she had a point to the strange construct of the initial human population portrayed and it went with the rest of the story. I read the entire series and in general it is pretty good. It is an interesting concept she developed and we do eventually feel for the characters that develop. The GR rat...more

like · see review

Mar 31, 2009 Kat Hooper rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: audiobook

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

Mistress of Dragons is an interesting story with some likable heroes and and excellent villains. The heroes are the humans and their dragon allies, but the humans don't realize that dragons are their friends because the villains are a couple of dragons gone bad. Very bad. The good dragons concoct a plot which uses humans to conquer the bad dragons. Mistress ends with an unexpected plot twist.

This story is well-told except for that annoying conjunction omis...more ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

Mistress of Dragons is an interesting story with some likable heroes and and excellent villains. The heroes are the humans and their dragon allies, but the humans don't realize that dragons are their friends because the villains are a couple of dragons gone bad. Very bad. The good dragons concoct a plot which uses humans to conquer the bad dragons. Mistress ends with an unexpected plot twist.

This story is well-told except for that annoying conjunction omission problem that bugs me. For example, on a few consecutive pages, we find these constructions:

"She closed her eyes, shut out the sight of them."
"Melisande raised her head slightly, cast him a furtive glance."
"She'd been planning to slip away, try to go back to her people."
"Draconas poked and prodded, found no other injuries."

That drives me insane (especially when it's done as often as Margaret Weis does it). But if that doesn't bug you, and you don't mind a rape scene and a lesbian love affair, you'll probably enjoy this book. I listened to it on audiobook and it was read well and the story is compelling enough that I've ordered the second one in audiobook format, too. I'm going to give it a chance, but I'm not so hooked that I can't drop it in the middle if it doesn't keep me entertained.
add book/author My review / What I learned from this book
2.5 stars Master of Dragons, the final book in Margaret Weis's Dragonvarld trilogy was a tasty but sloppy finale -- like a cheesecake that didn't quite set. This last book wraps things up, as we knew it would, and everything is finally well in the world, as we knew it would be. There are some fine moments (Draconas showing tenderness to a female dragon, Ven finds a family, Marcus falls in love) and even some hilarious ones (Draconas darning socks, Evelina's ironic fate). Characterization, especially of the bad guys, continues to be a high point, and the writing is nothing brilliant, but certainly pleasant enough. But this otherwise entertaining novel suffers from internal inconsistencies: * On page 38, Draconas is said to wear "the guise of a human male in his thirties," and 5 pages later he is described as "a human male of undetermined years." * Draconas has cast the illusion that he is a little girl while staying in DragonKeep. He is able to eavesdrop on adults because of his keen dragon hearing. But, later, we are told that as a little girl "his hearing was so reduced that it seemed his ears were stuffed with wax." * Much of what Anora (Prime Minister of the dragon parliament) says to the parliament is illogical and none of the dragons ever notice. For example, she says she should have removed Draconas from his post as "walker" because he was starting to become emotionally involved with humans, but she didn't remove him because he was the best walker they'd ever had because he was able to stay detached from humans. Then she says that she became involved in Maristara and Grald's plot 200 years ago because humans had become such a threat (she cites their canons), but a few lines later she says that because their plot went awry, the humans created canons (a few years ago). Sometimes she indicates that the canons are a threat which, though they are no threat, show that humans are, for the first time in their history, preparing to fight dragons. There also seem to be inconsistencies about dragon magic vs dragon blood, who can see through illusions and who can't, and to what extent thoughts can be shielded from others with dragon magic. These sorts of "rules" seem to be conveniently flexible. For example, one of the monks is able to see through illusions, yet he doesn't recognize Draconas? Then there are the unbelievable elements. For example, Anora's betrayal just doesn't ring true -- it sounds like a forced plot twist. And, Anora says that to keep their plot secret from Draconas, they had to kill some good dragons (which she seems to regret) when, if they had just killed Draconas instead, everything would have been fine. And it didn't make sense to keep the plot from the dragon parliament if the purpose of it was to protect the dragons from the might-someday-be-threatening humans. It would have made immensely more sense, and been a lot less stressful, to just go to the parliament and say "hey, these humans want to kill us -- let's kill them first." That seems a lot easier and a lot more likely to be successful than to embark on a 200 year breeding program in order to try to figure out if they might someday rule the humans with half-human, half-dragon creatures and a pack of mad monks. (And let's not forget that the humans weren't even starting to threaten the dragons until AFTER the breeding program started.) (And let's not forget that Anora even says herself that the humans are not actually threatening yet -- they just might be in the future.) The whole thing just seems sloppy. Half-baked. I listened to this on audiobook. The reader, a woman, did a great job with the female voices. At first I thought she was doing a great job with the male voices too, because her voice for Grald, the first male speaker, was excellent -- really slimy. Unfortunately, she used the same slimy voice for every male character in the entire book. My overall opinion of this series: Unless you've just got a thing for dragons, I'd recommend choosing something better. Read more Margaret Weis book reviews at Fantasy Literature (less)

like · see review

Dec 28, 2011 Nathan Pennington rated it 3 of 5 stars

Honestly, this was a book I didn't think I was going to like after I started it. The language seemed awkward and the lesbianism struck me as contrived.

Well, I was wrong. I ended up liking it all (and the lesbianism worked perfectly with the plot being an key component).

The best part (imho): Draconas, the dragon in human form. Very cool guy.

The worst part: Edward, the king. What a wimp of an idiot of man. I disliked him more and more as the story went on.

In short, it finished strong, and I'd give...more

like 1 like · see review

Sep 15, 2012 Marco rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, english, lgbt

It is hard to put down this book when you start reading it, but this does not come as a surprise given that was written by the skillful Margaret Weis. This book really does stand apart from her other ones. The themes and the tones are different, more complex and interesting, closer to the ones of feminist fantasy writers like Marion Zimmer Bradley.

like · see review

Oct 15, 2012 Corinne rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: listened-on-audiobook, adult

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

like · see review

Sep 09, 2009 Autumn Doughton rated it 1 of 5 stars

This is what happens when books fail.
It was so awful that I don't think it quite merits one full star. It's corny to an unbelievable extreme, the storyline jumps around unmercifully, and the characters are dull. If I had to make a comparison, I would say that it was like watching a SciFi (now SyFy) channel movie that comes on at 3:00 AM.

like · see review

Feb 16, 2011 Wendy rated it 3 of 5 stars

I picked this book up because I recognized the authors name. I liked the book but was not thrilled with the sexuality in it. It is definately part of the story though. I am not sure I will read the sequal books. There are so many other books I want to read. I am not sure this was worth my precious time.

like · see review

Jul 29, 2011 Jenee rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I've read books by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman before but this is the first book I've read just by Margaret Weis. And I have to say I'm not very impressed. The entire story was way to sexual. Between dragon rape and leisbien sex and straight sex, I felt like I was reading a D&D porno novel.

like · see review

Oct 05, 2010 CJ Gosling rated it 4 of 5 stars

After some urging from my husband, I finally began this series. The plot itself was simple but the world and characters were so rich and complex that I was enthralled until the last page! I read all 381 pgs. in 1 1/2 days: happily neglecting all the important things I should have been doing.

like · see review

Oct 22, 2012 D. Hunter Phillips rated it 3 of 5 stars

I liked the concept of this book, where the dragons are the main characters rather than just big evil antagonists. I feel like the last few chapters of the book were a bit disappointing. I'm not sure why, but it just felt like I didn't get back what I put into it.

like · see review

Jul 19, 2010 Melissa Bennett rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book wasn't a bad book but it wasn't an oustanding book either. I enjoyed the story, the plot, the twists and turns. What I didn't enjoy was the characters. I wasn't drawn to a single one. Matter of fact, there was not one that I cared about what happened to them. That is a very important factor in a book. If you do not care about the characters, why would you care about what happens. I will get the second book though, only to hope that it will be written better. If not, I won't bother with...more

like · see review

Aug 31, 2009 Kara rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

This book has a lot of the elements of stereotypical fantasy: dragons, magic, priestesses, warriors... but Margaret Weis does a good job of combining them in interesting, new ways. The plot seemed fresh. The end of the book didn't have a complete wrap-up of events, which normally bothers me, but you can tell that this book is merely a set-up for big events to come later in the series, and like a true Robert Jordan fan, I'm down to wait a little longer for the solution..

The only thing that worrie...more

like · see review

Jan 13, 2012 Scott Block rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: hard-cover

MW is a great storyteller! This book flows so smoothly and was hard to put down. It was the first novel I read of hers that was outside the Dragonlance world and, while I wasn't sure what to expect, couldn't wait for the next one.

like · see review

Feb 23, 2012 Sasha Strader rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, fiction, sci-fi

I was pretty impressed by this book, but I was a little frustrated at first because the beginning heavily hints at past events you don't learn anything about until half way through. Despite that, it was a worthwhile read.

like · see review

Dec 25, 2009 Jenny rated it 1 of 5 stars

yea, blech. lesbians, rape, blood, undeveloped characters, poorly written emotions. i finished it out of curiosity. trying so hard to create future books out of this one. most dragon books have this flaw.

like · see review

Nov 07, 2012 Riffel Librarian rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, series

Loved the portrayal of the dragons, but could not find myself caring much for the human characters. The king was particularly two-dimensional for my tastes.

like · see review

Dec 03, 2012 Kim rated it 4 of 5 stars

I was hunting for another book and ran across this one and thought it a great piece of science fiction! Have to love dragon books.

like · see review

Mar 03, 2010 Zhiqian rated it 3 of 5 stars

The first chapter didn't really catch my interest. Luckily, it quickly picked up after that.

like · see review

Nov 30, 2009 Steve rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A low 3. Not a great book. Seems that in summing it up, not that much actually happens.

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 52 53 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Dragons, dragons ...: Dragonvarld	1	1	Sep 14, 2012 05:46am
Dragons, dragons ...: Draconas	1	2	Sep 14, 2012 04:08am

combine
Other Editions (17)

More editions...

Genres

Fantasy

130 users

Fantasy > Dragons

19 users

Science Fiction Fantasy

8 users

Fantasy > Magic

5 users

Fantasy > High Fantasy

5 users

Dungeons And Dragons > Dragonlance

4 users

Fantasy > Epic Fantasy

4 users

Science Fiction

3 users

Adult

3 users

Adventure

2 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Margaret Weis

Margaret Edith Weis is a fantasy novelist who, along with Tracy Hickman, is one of the original creators of the Dragonlance game world and has written numerous novels and short stories set in the world of Krynn. She graduated from the University of Missouri–Columbia and now lives in southern Wisconsin in a converted barn. Most recently, she has completed the third novel in the Dragonvarld trilogy...more

More about Margaret Weis...

Books by Margaret Weis

Dragons of Autumn Twilight (Dragonlance Chronicles #1)

Dragons of Spring Dawning (Dragonlance: Chronicles, #3)

Dragons of Winter Night (Dragonlance: Chronicles, #2)

Time of the Twins (Dragonlance: Legends, #1)

War of the Twins (Dragonlance: Legends, #2)

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Mistress of Dragons

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

title link	preview: Mistress of Dragons
avg rating	preview: Mistress of Dragons Goodreads rating: 3.56 (896 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28474.Mistress_of_Dragons?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1316131625l/28474.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28474.Mistress_of_Dragons?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Mistress of Dragons by Margaret Weis[/url]

Mistress of Dragons (The Dragonvarld Trilogy #1)

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website