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Dragonlance: Villains #6
La reine des ténèbres
The long-awaited tale of the New York Times best-selling Dragonlance series' greatest villain--Takhisis, Queen of Darkness--follows her as she is worshipped by legions of evil beings and spends her time plotting to escape from the Abyss.
246 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1994
5 people are currently reading
864 people want to read
About the author
Michael Williams
40 books77 followersMichael Williams was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and through good luck and a roundabout journey through New England, New York, Wisconsin, Britain and Ireland, has ended up less than thirty miles from where he began. Over the past 20 years, he has written a number of strange novels, from the early WEASEL'S LUCK and GALEN BEKNIGHTED in the best-selling DRAGONLANCE series to the more recent lyrical and experimental ARCADY, singled out for praise by Locus and Asimov’s magazines. TRAJAN'S ARCH (to be re-released in 2019) and VINE (2018)(Blackwyrm, 2010 and 2012), two recent novels, have been revised and re-issued by Seventh Star Press as part of the new City Quartet. DOMINIC'S GHOSTS (2018) and TATTERED MEN (to be released in 2019) will complete this large and multi-faceted work.
Williams has a Ph.D. in Humanities, and teaches at the University of Louisville, where he focuses on European Romanticism and the 19th century, the Modern Fantastic, and 20th century film. He is married, and has two grown sons.
Of TRAJAN'S ARCH, he says:
“This is a story that kept entering other stories, like rooms opening into rooms in some big, unwieldy gothic mansion, both hard and necessary to tell. It takes a press with venture and backbone to bring it forth, and I believe I’ve found that press in BlackWyrm.”
VINE, a combination of Greek tragedy and contemporary urban legend, was released this summer by BlackWyrm. In this new novel, Greek Tragedy meets urban legend, as a local dramatic production in a small city goes humorously, then horrifically, awry.
Williams has a Ph.D. in Humanities, and teaches at the University of Louisville, where he focuses on European Romanticism and the 19th century, the Modern Fantastic, and 20th century film. He is married, and has two grown sons.
Of TRAJAN'S ARCH, he says:
“This is a story that kept entering other stories, like rooms opening into rooms in some big, unwieldy gothic mansion, both hard and necessary to tell. It takes a press with venture and backbone to bring it forth, and I believe I’ve found that press in BlackWyrm.”
VINE, a combination of Greek tragedy and contemporary urban legend, was released this summer by BlackWyrm. In this new novel, Greek Tragedy meets urban legend, as a local dramatic production in a small city goes humorously, then horrifically, awry.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
November 8, 2015
This novel is part of the Dragonlance world. I have read many, many Dragonlance books and I have to say this one could possibly be the worst of the lot. In this one, Takhisis is once again trying to enter the world and a small group can throw a monkey wrench into her desires.
As you can tell by my rating I did not care for this book. This is part of the "Villains" series where each book is devoted to a villain. That is not the case here as the dark queen is a secondary character to the group that will foil her plans. Maybe my rating reflects my disappointment as I was hoping for a book about the main bad guy in this universe. There are other aspects of this book that lowered my enjoyment. I did not connect with any of the main characters as there was no build up in their qualities. Also, there were characters that were introduced and then not mentioned for many pages even though they played a integral part in the finale. In fact this book's flow was disjointed and the authors seemed to ramble on about a particular subject. There were times I would read several pages and I had no idea what I read as these pages seemed to run into each other.
Please pay heed to my recommendation and skip this book. There is nothing redeeming about it at all and it is a shame that a book about a vital character is so deeply flawed. This book felt very amateurish and did not provide one moment of entertainment.
As you can tell by my rating I did not care for this book. This is part of the "Villains" series where each book is devoted to a villain. That is not the case here as the dark queen is a secondary character to the group that will foil her plans. Maybe my rating reflects my disappointment as I was hoping for a book about the main bad guy in this universe. There are other aspects of this book that lowered my enjoyment. I did not connect with any of the main characters as there was no build up in their qualities. Also, there were characters that were introduced and then not mentioned for many pages even though they played a integral part in the finale. In fact this book's flow was disjointed and the authors seemed to ramble on about a particular subject. There were times I would read several pages and I had no idea what I read as these pages seemed to run into each other.
Please pay heed to my recommendation and skip this book. There is nothing redeeming about it at all and it is a shame that a book about a vital character is so deeply flawed. This book felt very amateurish and did not provide one moment of entertainment.
November 17, 2024
Oof. This did not feel like a Dragonlance book at all and easily the worst in the Villains series.
Every book features a villain from the main trilogy and this should have been the One. It's about the Dark Queen herself. Instead she feels like a minor character in some Arabian Nights story with familiar Dragonlance words tacked on.
If you decide to read the Villains series just stop at book 5 about Lord Toede. That book was amazing and even none Dragonlance fans would enjoy it. This book is an easy pass.
Every book features a villain from the main trilogy and this should have been the One. It's about the Dark Queen herself. Instead she feels like a minor character in some Arabian Nights story with familiar Dragonlance words tacked on.
If you decide to read the Villains series just stop at book 5 about Lord Toede. That book was amazing and even none Dragonlance fans would enjoy it. This book is an easy pass.
September 13, 2020
This was fine. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't especially good. It was a weak story all around. Most characters were nothing more than names on a page, and no characters had a good, three dimensional portrayal - except maybe Vincus, who didn't end up being much of a character at all until halfway through the book.
Someone new to the world of Dragonlance might not know why Fordus' army wanted to war against the Kingpriest - not once in the story is any reason given, and only by being familiar with the world and lore of Krynn could I guess that maybe the Kingpriest had sent armies out against the Plainsmen for how they worshiped (maybe. Who knows. Seriously, it's not brought up once). Never is it explained why Vaananen wants to pay off Vincus' father's debts to free him - never is any history mentioned between them that I noticed. The Kingpriest's characterization is weak, especially compared to the Kingpriest Trilogy, which I had just read and which is a much, must stronger story all around.
Takhisis' story seeks completely unconnected to the main story of the book, and I genuinely couldn't figure out why she was bothering with the rebels, except maybe to fuck with Sargonnas.
I've now read over 60 Dragonlance novels and not once have I ever heard any mention of Lucanesti elves as one of the races of Krynn. Likewise, I've never seen a druid before, though that seems less like a stretch.
Overall though, it wasn't terrible. It was competently written, for the most part, though there were several confusing sections, and it was entertaining enough to read. Kind of.
Someone new to the world of Dragonlance might not know why Fordus' army wanted to war against the Kingpriest - not once in the story is any reason given, and only by being familiar with the world and lore of Krynn could I guess that maybe the Kingpriest had sent armies out against the Plainsmen for how they worshiped (maybe. Who knows. Seriously, it's not brought up once). Never is it explained why Vaananen wants to pay off Vincus' father's debts to free him - never is any history mentioned between them that I noticed. The Kingpriest's characterization is weak, especially compared to the Kingpriest Trilogy, which I had just read and which is a much, must stronger story all around.
Takhisis' story seeks completely unconnected to the main story of the book, and I genuinely couldn't figure out why she was bothering with the rebels, except maybe to fuck with Sargonnas.
I've now read over 60 Dragonlance novels and not once have I ever heard any mention of Lucanesti elves as one of the races of Krynn. Likewise, I've never seen a druid before, though that seems less like a stretch.
Overall though, it wasn't terrible. It was competently written, for the most part, though there were several confusing sections, and it was entertaining enough to read. Kind of.
October 4, 2024
I'd call this the worst Dragonlance book, but that'd be acknowledging it's a Dragonlance book, which it isn't. Oh sure, there's big names like Istar, Ergoth, Takhisis and such, but absolutely none of it is used correctly
The origin of the Gods and the Cataclysm are wrong, the book takes place during the Beldyn era but the Kingpriest is never called by name (prolly 'cause the writer doesn't know what a Kingpriest even is) and acts nothing like Beldyn, there's bardic and druidic magic and they're perfectly accepted, the non-Paladine Gods aren't banned anymore, a whole new race was not only introduced, but established to have been there all along.. even Silvanost is open to outsiders
You can see the writer played DnD in the Generic Realms, but had never heard of Dragonlance before he was told to write about it, so he looked at a quick glossary and called it a day without doing any research whatsoever
This book isn't canon, you can safely skip it
The origin of the Gods and the Cataclysm are wrong, the book takes place during the Beldyn era but the Kingpriest is never called by name (prolly 'cause the writer doesn't know what a Kingpriest even is) and acts nothing like Beldyn, there's bardic and druidic magic and they're perfectly accepted, the non-Paladine Gods aren't banned anymore, a whole new race was not only introduced, but established to have been there all along.. even Silvanost is open to outsiders
You can see the writer played DnD in the Generic Realms, but had never heard of Dragonlance before he was told to write about it, so he looked at a quick glossary and called it a day without doing any research whatsoever
This book isn't canon, you can safely skip it
February 24, 2023
I am working on reading every Dragonlance book in chronological order as accurately as possible. I didn't expect for every book to connect to every other book seamlessly because there are so many writers working on them with different ideas and creative expression, but I was confused by some elements in this book that I don't remember ever being mentioned in any other. That was fine other than I would have enjoyed some fleshing out. I just couldn't get into the story so I skim-read each page to finish it. I love the Dragonlance series and there are parts to this story that you won't want to miss to round out an interpretation of later characters.
October 11, 2022
Probably one of the slowest of the Dragonlance Saga.
February 9, 2023
Wonderful fun adventure fantasy. Good reading!
April 11, 2011
I saw this book at Savers and thought "how interesting!" A book about one of the most powerful villains in the Dragonlance series. Delving into what makes a villain such can be an interesting piece. Unfortunately, the authors got in over their heads!
Let me define a literary device for the authors: Incluing, the gradual exposure of the reader to the background of the story world. Building of clues.
The authors had NO CLUE what incluing was. In fact, I had no idea what was going on ever. It starts out with a monk reading something forbidden, then Takhisis enters who dreams about this warrior who will overthrow her, then we meet a band of rebels who I am assuming includes the warrior in question but this is not clearly defined for a long while, then we are in a fight, but we have no idea what the groups are fighting over... Once I finally thought I figured out who the main characters were, then the authors go and introduce a new set of characters! I finally gave up. There are so many great Dragonlance novels, why waste your time confused?
I was so looking forward to a strong novel about a powerful female god, and this story got lost in all the unfamiliar and completely forgetable characters. I have no idea what time period this was set in, where it was (depite the oh so "detailed" map provided in the beginning of the book), and who was who! Granted, I have not picked up a Dragonlance book in at least 2 years, but I remember great stories and great characters as well as a fascinating landscape to build from.
Takhisis is extremely superficial and predictable in every part I read. She's a god, she's a very prominent god in the series, and she's so very bad. WHY??? Give her some more emotions than just anger all the time. In addition, there is no depth to any character (at least not in the first 1/4 of the book). The authors just could not focus in the story. Wies and Hickman are superb at balancing characters and plot (with TONS of characters)!!! These authors need to take a masterclass from them or something. I was extremely disappointed in this story. I'm not sure if I'll have the motivation to ever finish the story, but maybe in time I will try again. I mark this as "read" because I really consider my time spent on the book enough for now. No wonder it was 99 cents at Savers!!!
Let me define a literary device for the authors: Incluing, the gradual exposure of the reader to the background of the story world. Building of clues.
The authors had NO CLUE what incluing was. In fact, I had no idea what was going on ever. It starts out with a monk reading something forbidden, then Takhisis enters who dreams about this warrior who will overthrow her, then we meet a band of rebels who I am assuming includes the warrior in question but this is not clearly defined for a long while, then we are in a fight, but we have no idea what the groups are fighting over... Once I finally thought I figured out who the main characters were, then the authors go and introduce a new set of characters! I finally gave up. There are so many great Dragonlance novels, why waste your time confused?
I was so looking forward to a strong novel about a powerful female god, and this story got lost in all the unfamiliar and completely forgetable characters. I have no idea what time period this was set in, where it was (depite the oh so "detailed" map provided in the beginning of the book), and who was who! Granted, I have not picked up a Dragonlance book in at least 2 years, but I remember great stories and great characters as well as a fascinating landscape to build from.
Takhisis is extremely superficial and predictable in every part I read. She's a god, she's a very prominent god in the series, and she's so very bad. WHY??? Give her some more emotions than just anger all the time. In addition, there is no depth to any character (at least not in the first 1/4 of the book). The authors just could not focus in the story. Wies and Hickman are superb at balancing characters and plot (with TONS of characters)!!! These authors need to take a masterclass from them or something. I was extremely disappointed in this story. I'm not sure if I'll have the motivation to ever finish the story, but maybe in time I will try again. I mark this as "read" because I really consider my time spent on the book enough for now. No wonder it was 99 cents at Savers!!!
Read
July 14, 2007This book almost had the dubious honor of being the first book that I stopped reading it before I finished it. There seemed to be two main types of writing in this novel, rambling and environment descriptions. If the author was rambling on and on he was describing something in the book. I finished the whole novel and I still wasn’t sure what was going on. At some points the god Sargonnas was trying to stop Takhisis, next thing I know there is a brush fire destroying half of the Istarian army, and then after that there is a druid trying to prevent Takhisis from entering the world through opals. I didn’t even know that there were druids in Dragonlance. I tried to think of something good to say of this book but I couldn’t think of one thing. Maybe if Takhisis is actually in the book for a long portion of time but she wasn’t except for when she possesses sand and rocks.
Check out the full review by clicking on the link.
[http://www.thefantasyreview.com/2007/...]
Check out the full review by clicking on the link.
[http://www.thefantasyreview.com/2007/...]
August 13, 2009
For my high school and two of my college years, I was a huge fan of Forgetten Realms and Dragonlance. I mean huge. You have no idea how huge. I'm slightly embarassed by it now.
And then. And then, there kept coming books and more books. And everything got explained. Or demonizied. Or stupid. Or changed.
The Dark Queen was one of the better later Dragonlance books. It is largely forgettable though except for one thing. It is one of the few places I have seen a male elf fall in love with a human woman. I thought that was cool.
And then. And then, there kept coming books and more books. And everything got explained. Or demonizied. Or stupid. Or changed.
The Dark Queen was one of the better later Dragonlance books. It is largely forgettable though except for one thing. It is one of the few places I have seen a male elf fall in love with a human woman. I thought that was cool.
October 22, 2021
It felt a little aimless to me until at least halfway through. Also, it introduced some new things that I don’t recall ever being mentioned again: Lucanesti elves and the mention of the bardic college in Silvanesti. I didn’t hate these additions, but since I’ve read so much other Dragonlance, it felt odd to have them included. As a character, Fordus seemed too chaotic to have so many followers. Also, I wished either that more was done with Takhisis or that her presence had been more mysterious.
Overall, I didn’t mind it but felt it lacked a strong enough climax and resolution.
Overall, I didn’t mind it but felt it lacked a strong enough climax and resolution.
May 14, 2025
An absolute Slog.
I am not a canon monger, however, this one is way out there even for the DraganLance world. Nothing matches. Including within this story!
I would be worried about giving something away, however, I don't understand what was going on enough to do that. So the only spoiler is... DON'T READ THIS BOOK. Your life will be better for it.
If you aren't heeding my advice... at least pretend that this is a written-down tavern tale from a Kender.
I am not a canon monger, however, this one is way out there even for the DraganLance world. Nothing matches. Including within this story!
I would be worried about giving something away, however, I don't understand what was going on enough to do that. So the only spoiler is... DON'T READ THIS BOOK. Your life will be better for it.
If you aren't heeding my advice... at least pretend that this is a written-down tavern tale from a Kender.
October 24, 2014
What can I say? The story this book told was not the one I thought it would tell. This book is titled "The Dark Queen," yet she doesn't appear in this book any more than she does in any other Dragonlance titles. Not to mention the climax of the story comes rather abruptly. Then it's all over. This wasn't a bad book, just not the book it said it would be.
June 21, 2014
first time I've disliked a dragonlance book. I can hardly keep track of what went on.
December 21, 2014
Not too bad I suppose. Many other Krynn books are better. =)
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews