Sacred Fire

Dragonlance: Kingpriest #3

by Chris Pierson

As Beldinas, the Kingpriest of Istar, approaches victory in his long war against the forces of evil, his long-lost hero, Cathan Twice-Born, a one-time Kingpriest's champion, returns, seeking the meaning of a fateful dark vision of a burning hammer. Original.

Genres: Dragonlance, Fantasy, Fiction, Dungeons and Dragons, High Fantasy

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 1, 2003

About the author

Author of GREENSWORD, a dark comedy about global warming. Author of Forced Conversion, a military science fiction novel set in the near future. Also author of a variety of short fiction in the fantasy, science fiction, horror, and comedy genres, and gaming material, including stories in the Dragonlance and Transformers universes and in a variety of DAW themed anthologies. World's top-ranked player of RPGA Classic roleplaying game tournaments from 1985-2000. See more at www.donaldjbingle.com."

Reviews

[Kevin Potter · Rating 3 out of 5]

After the first two books in the Kingpriest trilogy, I was really looking forward to this book.

There was so much buildup to this, it was set to be an epic conclusion truly worthy of the Dragonlance brand.

And...

Gah. For the first time, I must confess myself disappointed with Chris Pierson's choices.

In fairness, this was still a good story. There were some great twists (on, the one! I don't want to spoil it, but that one twist near the end alone makes having read the book worthwhile), some awesome ways things tied together.

However, this is the first time I've seen serious continuity issues with one of Chris's books. He's usually careful and diligent about maintaining continuity with established Dragonlance facts. But he went completely off the trails in this one in so many ways.

Danubis, frankly, isn't even the same character we saw in Time of the Twins.

And there are events that feel so contrived (especially the one or two that were completely unnecessary!), it felt almost like I was playing a D&D game with a REALLY BAD DM.

I feel like if the book has been 50,000 words longer, he could have devoted enough time to these things that they would have come across a lot better.

In the end, I feel like this book was rushed and trimmed down to too short of a length to do it justice, effectively crippling its ability to be a great book.

That said, however, it was still worth reading and I definitely recommend this trilogy to any Dragonlance fan.

[Jim C · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the final book of a trilogy set in the realm of Dragonlance. The other two books must be read to understand this book and this whole trilogy is a must read for a fan of Dragonlance or fantasy. If you have read Dragonlance you know about the Cataclysm and this book is about the final events leading up to it. The author does a fantastic job with these events. Even though I know the Cataclysm must happen, the author did a fabulous job of making me hope that it wouldn't. I felt bad for the characters and I sympathized with their plight. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and this is one of the better trilogies that are in print.

[Nimrod Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great book in the trilogy, and a great ending to The Kingpriest trilogy. The imminent cataclysm is on the horizon, and it looks like nothing would stop the gods from setting the balance in the world. No doubt that it's a great telling of a very important event in DL history.

4.5/5

[Ronnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an excellent conclusion to an excellent trilogy, which is why it's a shame that the editting was so atrociously bad. There were multiple sentences and paragraphs that made no sense at all, sentences missing key words, missing or doubled punctuation, and at one point Tithian's name was replaced with Cathan's. It detracted from the story immensely.

That aside, I found this story great. Cathan and Beldinas' relationship was given weight again, and so Cathan's betrayal was finally given the weight it needed in the second book; when choosing between staying by the man he loved most in the world, or doing what was right, he had no choice to do what was right.

Beldinas remained a fascinating character throughout the series, a study in what happens when no one ever tells you no, and mostly managed to avoid becoming a flat, two-demsional character it would have been easy to make him. Quarath, sadly, never seems to evolve much past a formless sycophant. I felt as though he had a lot of potential in this story that he never quite lived up to, and his part in the trilogy could easily have been cut. I felt much the same about Bron, and don't see why his part in the latter half of the novel couldn't have been left to Tithian instead; it seems strange to give such an important roll to someone who had no connection to any of the main characters.

It was interesting to see Fistandatilus' plans take shape with the portal without Caramon, Raistlin, and Tasslehoff there to thwart him.

The parallel of Cathan having the chance to put Beldinas "out of his misery" once he realized he was mad was a very, very nice parallel to Cathan killing his brother, the original Tancred, once he had lost his wits to the plague. Likewise, Tancred the younger's decision of supporting the church instead of his family/the greater good was a very nice mirror to Cathan's choice.

The final twist of Cathan being the Lightbringer was one that I saw from the moment the prophecy was first revealed in the first book, but Pierson did a good job in the mid-story at steering the reader away from that conclusion, making it a very good twist.

Overall, a fantastic story, and I look forward to reading Pierson's other additions to the Dragonlance canon, though I still have a while to go before I get there.

[Mikaël · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great ending to a trilogy that had such a rough start, going from overly pretentious and fluffed up writing to.. well, still pretty pretentious, but at least bearably so

The ending in particular was fascinating and as if the freakin' Cataclysm happening wasn't enough, it ends on a cliffhanger? How will ol' Fisto top the end of the world, and what did he do 100 years in the future that'd explain him not popping up in Fisto Reborn?

Although if there's one big downside to this book, it's that it was never explained what the hell Beldyn was, after all

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very satisfying end to this trilogy. I see why this is often considered one of the best Dragonlance series outside the main canon. Enough Easter eggs and references to excite fans but not necessary to be a mega fan to enjoy these books.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

A worthy conclusion to the Kingpriest trilogy, although I have to say that I thought The Divine Hammer was the best book. The story concludes, as expected, with the Cataclysm. The main twist that occurs near the end of the book I saw coming well in advance. It seemed to me to be pretty well telegraphed, but maybe I have just read too many of these types of stories at this point. Still an excellent conclusion to one of the best Dragonlance trilogies.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prachtig geschreven, alsook dat je je kunt inleven in de personages, je je bepaalde gebeurtenissen goed kunt voorstellen. Van deze serie kan zeker een film gemaakt worden. Geen twijfel mogelijk.

Istar komt, voor zover ik mij herinner, ook voor in 'Chronicles' (met Tas en Flint?), en dan is de streek al verwoest. En in Kingpriest Trilogy krijg je meer info daaromtrent (Cataclysm? ).

Wel jammer dat lady Ilista al in het eerste boek uit het verhaal 'verdwijnt' (lees: gedood wordt). Ik dacht echt dat ze nog een belangrijke rol ging spelen in het verdere verloop. Maar ze (haar geest) komt even kort terug in Sacred Fire.

Wat ik niet snap, is waarom Cathan niet geloofde dat hij de 'Chosen Of The Gods' was, toen hij de miceram vond en daar ook de geest van een ex- of wannabe kingpriest ontmoette. Maar doorheen het verhaal heb ik wel altijd aangenomen dat Cathan de rechtmatige 'ruler' was.

Toen Beldyn/Beldinas wat te fanatiek bezig was met het uitroeien van evil, was ik wel wat bezorgd. Veel wizards verdienden het ook niet, daar heb ik mij toch even kwaad gemaakt op Beldinas. Fistandantilus bezorgde mij meestal koude rillingen, hoewel ik in Sacred Fire enige sympathie voor hem voelde, ook omdat hij Cathan hielp te ontsnappen.

Ik had nooit gedacht dat Cathan daadwerkelijk die bloodblossom olie in Beldinas zou 'spuiten', gezien ze toch een goeie vriendschap hadden. Nuja, op het laatst toen Bron bijna vermoord werd door lokale inwoners, toen hij even tot Paladine bad, had ik zo'n gevoel van "tiens, toch wel een redelijk grote gelijkenis met de huidige wereld"



The Kingpriest Trilogy is niet zomaar een derderangsserietje, maar belangrijk om bepaalde dingen/gebeurtenissen te kennen als de streek ter sprake komt in latere boeken (Legends, Tales, ...).

[Blake Lukach · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book to read to read over all. Some of the thing that Happen is the Twice-born a person that lived a double life has came back to Istar to hopefully stop what old friend has begun from cataclysom from happening knowing from the books before that the land of Krynn is to come of disaster eventually because of the king priest.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely the perfect end to the trilogy. What I liked best was that even though I knew the inevitable Catclysm (in the Dragonlance timeline) was happening, the story still felt engaging enough to rise above predictability.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the best book of the series, and the whole series was great, Chris did a great job.

[Tobias Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sad, sad story and a fitting end to the trilogy.