Dalamar the Dark

Dragonlance: Classics #2

by Nancy Varian Berberick

A talent for magic runs like fire through the blood of Dalamar Argent. Yet he is only a servant in the house of an elvish lord, not worthy of the High Art of Sorcery and denied all but the most grudging teaching.

As war simmers on the borders of Silvanesti, Dalamar will find a way to learn his art. His quest will take him along dark paths toward an awesome destiny.

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

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Nancy Varian Berberick is an American fantasy author well known for her work in the Dragonlance series. She has written 12 fantasy novels, eight of which have been in the Dragonlance saga, and numerous short stories. Her Wizards of the Coast biography mentions that she is fond of going through a thesaurus. She enjoys Beowulf, Norse mythology, and Orlando Innamorato.

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I visited the world of Dragonlance last in December 2016 with The Siege of Mt. Nevermind, which I didn't finish for various reasons, explained in my review. I then decided to visit Krynn in small doses.

'Dalamar the Dark' is a stand-alone novel about a Silvanesti-elf who has found a purpose in life: to become a dark mage, devoted to Nuitari. His people, however, are followers of the Light, aka the god Paladine. Dalamar Argent, later Nightson, earns his living at first as a servant, before properly going for his quest.

He soon is found worthy enough, despite still not being Tested (which occurs later, though he seems to get out unharmed - or is he?), to help defend the land against the attacks of the armies of the Queen of Darkness, the goddess Takhisis. Dragonlord Phair Caron is a serious threat. As you can imagine, Dalamar's plan of illusion succeeds. But as is found out that he follows the path of darkness, he's cast out of Silvanos, erased from all records, except the archives, of course.

And so, he must leave the country and find a new home. Ladonna, of the Black robes, has a plan to use him to get rid of a dangerous dwarf, despite that dwarf also working for Takhisis. Well, more for his personal gain. And so, one more important task must be fulfilled by Dalamar.

All this takes place before the Chronicles and Legends and before Dalamar meets Raistlin Majere (one of the Heroes of the Lance, later having exchanged his red robes for black ones and becoming the most powerful mage of all) to become his student.

Dalamar is a dark elf, but comes across as a friendly, normal guy. Contradiction? What also bothered me in the last part of the story: practically out of magical power, he can still conjure certain spells to eliminate an opponent or even travel back whence he came or elsewhere. But it's fantasy and Dragonlance, right?

The writing wasn't that great, although it was entertaining to some extent; Mrs. Berberick has written better DL-stories.

All in all, I did find it pleasant to revisit the world of Dragonlance and will continue to do so. The TBR-pile with DL-novels is still large enough for that.

[Jim C · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is part of the world of Dragonlance. This is the story about Dalamar before he becomes Raistlin's apprentice which was the first time we met him. Dalamar is essentially this world's antihero. He wears the black robes of magic but he isn't evil. He isn't wholeheartedly for the side of good either. Dalamar does what is good for him whether it serves good or bad and he is one of the more interesting characters in this world.

I am always apprehensive when a book tackles a character that we have already met and know. Will the author do the character justice? For this novel the answer is yes. The author does a commendable job with the character as she details his history of him being a member of the elves, his banishment, and his taking of the test. One cannot help but like her characterization of Dalamar and by the end I liked Dalamar even more. She details Dalamar's involvement with major events and it is believable the path she chooses for this character. This book fits perfectly within this world. There are a few minor inconsistencies but they do not detract the enjoyment of this novel.

If you are looking for supplemental Dragonlance novels from the "holy six" books you should consider this one. The author does justice to a fan favorite and I enjoyed every second of it.

[Anastasia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, I'll just say it: dark elves are sexy, particularly when they fall into a beautifully conflicted role between good and evil. Dalamar was introduced in Legends as Raistlin's apprentice--already a strong mark in his favor--and as a dark elf from the Silvanesti lineage, the haughtiest of elven nations. This book tells the story of his life before that time, as part of the servant caste doomed to learn only scraps of magic begrudgingly shared. Like all the Dragonlance mages, Dalamar's true love affair is with magic, and it's not surprising that his dabbling takes him to darker roads. It's a diverting pleasure to travel those paths with him and see the road that will one day take him towards his own mastery of the Tower of High Sorcery.

[Scott Hibberson · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best fantasy novels I’ve read for some time. Excellent.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dalamar brings the pain. A hero of the ages that is actually fighting for the darkside. Everybody loves a good hero and every body wants to watch a villain take that hero and make them weep. These books are great that have happy endings and good feelings, but I'm sorry this is a dark elf who's fighting for a dark cause. Dalamar has always been my favorite character in a book ever since Dragons of a Fallen Sun and now he gets a book devoted to just him and his awesome self. Jump on in the waters great. We watch horrors movies because the terror gives us thrills, well Dalamar will terrorize the reader and you will not look up at the television, hear the leaf blower,or pay attention to when the doorbell rings-pizza guys gonna have to wait- you got some good times ahead.

[☆Ruth☆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author captures Dalamar's personality to a degree, but there is no real depth to his character. In fact I felt that the book was lacking in character development overall, which gave it a rather passive, indifferent feel. So, despite the pretty descriptive passages and the fact that the book is competently written, it fell a bit flat in comparison with other novels in the DL series, particularly those penned by Weis and Hickman.

[Brian]

Something about the writing style that kept me from really getting into this one. I was quite bummed since Dalamar is one of my favorite characters. I will try again at some point.

[BLynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book and Dalamar is another of my favorite characters from this series. It was interesting to learn about this life before being an apprentice to Rastlin.

[Jeff Jellets · Rating 4 out of 5]

He smiled, though, and he did so because he had chosen his path. He who had been allowed to choose nothing in all his life ...

To be fair, Raistlin’s apprentice Dalamar is not one of my favorite Dragonlance characters. And I’ve long since soured on prequels.

But Nancy Varian Berberick’s Dalamar the Dark is one of those rare gems that defies expectations. The origin story for the dark elf sorcerer is refreshingly good, amply sampling the rich history of the Dragonlance saga while giving the young Dalamar just the right amount of justification for a believable drift toward anti-heroism. It also doesn’t hurt that Berberick puts a harder edge to this story that most Dragonlance tales. The battle for Silvanesti, for example, fairly crackles with dragon fire and, though it largely occurs off camera, the fate of Highlord Phair Caron is grisly even for a villain.

And Dalamar himself ends up being rather interesting. Sure, he’s a misogynist ass, discarding people like scraps from his plate, but past that, his motivations are pretty pure. It’s magic above all else. People simply can’t compete with that passion — and sure, that makes him a bad guy — but it is understandable. And to be fair, people didn’t exactly treat young Dalamar all that well ... so it’s not hard to see where the succor of the magic would quickly move callous humans (and elves I suppose) to the backseat.

The book may be fantasy, but there’s a lot of real life allegory right there.

Of course, Dalamar the Dark is not perfect. If you haven’t read the other core books in the Dragonlance saga, I can’t see where reading this one independently would at all resonate. More importantly, because it runs concurrently with the original two trilogies, spoiler alert: a lot of the surprises of the first six books are explained out-of-hand here. And speaking of spoilers ... who spoils the ending of their own book on page one? Not exactly sure what the editors were thinking with the fourth paragraph in the prologue, but it really beats the wind out of the sails of the final few chapters.

If you can close your eyes and skip past those sentences, I would.

Final Verdict: For Dragonlance fans, Dalamar the Dark is a good one. It may have a few flaws, but its characterization, tone and themes are well above what you’d expect for this sort of thing. More importantly, Berberick deftly taps into the classic voice and atmosphere of Weis and Hickman’s original run. This feels like Dragonlance! And it makes for a nice little dip back into one of my favorite fantasy worlds.

[Egan Budd · Rating 3 out of 5]

TLDR: I would recommend this book to any Dragonlance fan. It's a solid read and part of the cannon describing the backstory of a well- known character. However, the book does have it's flaws.

Writing: Generally the writing is of a good quality. I really enjoy the way Berberick describes more abstract things like the evil that overtakes Silvanesti, she really excels in that area. However she's a bit week on character development.

Plot: The book spent too much time on the War of The Lance battles and not enough time on Dalamar's character becoming a dark elf. For instance at the beginning of the book he is already practicing black magic and worshipping Nuitari. Despite the entire first 3/4 of the book and all the battle nothing really changes at all with his character. It's a waste of a really promising premise. How does an elf - a creature of the light - turn to darkness? Dalamar becoming a mage and the tower of high sorcery could have also played a much larger part. That said I did really enjoy the effort spent into describing how Silvanesti becomes a corrupted land.

Characters: As mentioned the characters are a bit lacking but I did feel like I came out of the book with a good feeling of who Dalamar was. Berberick also does a good job with Lorac and how he slowly gets corrupted by the Dragon Orb. The Ladonna cameo is decent as well. So mission accomplished. I do however think there was a lot more Berberick could have done with the various characters including much more with Dalamar. There are a lot of characters presented during the Silvanesti portion which could have been less focused on to make more room for fewer but deeper characters.

[Ronnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first read this book more than twenty years ago, and while I can't remember much of it from then, I DO remember coming way from the book disappointed even then.

Dalamar has the potential to be a great character. In a world where elves almost exclusively worship the gods of good, having one that worships the gods of evil is intriguing. Why did he turn from the light? Who would he choose to he exiled from his homeland for the sake of his magic?

Unfortunately, Dalamar the Dark falls flat. Maybe it's just bad timing -- I just finished several well-written books with magnificent negative character arcs, and while I generally don't hold Dragonlance books to an especially high standard (I'll be the first to admit that they're brain candy. Some of my favourite brain candy, but brain candy nevertheless), it was just a bad time to read... Well, a character that turns from the gods of good to the gods of evil for no particular reason that I could discern, other than the fact that they were there.

The writing was inconsistent, and I can't understand why the white robed mage decided to just... Pray to her god? Instead of actually casting spells? The spellcasting in this book was inconsistent with how magic works in the Dragonlance world too, and in general didn't seem to follow... any rules at all? It was vague in the "he waved his hand and people died" kind of way which was neither interesting nor accurate.


All that being said, the book is, more-or-less entertaining. A large portion of it is just recapping things that happened in other books, but it was nice to see the fall of Silvanost from the perspective of someone *in* Silvanost.

[Yasmin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este es el camino que Dalamar tuvo que recorrer.

No es un misterio que él es el aprendiz de Raistlin, así que no constituirá un spoiler. Lo que sí se tiene que mencionar es que -por lo que he visto por ahí- la mayoría de los lectores se irritan bastante pues esta no es la historia del período que pasan juntos El Oscuro y El Amo del Pasado y del Presente, sino todo lo que ocurre antes.

Es una lectura interesante, que nos ayuda a conocer de forma un poco más íntima a un personaje que llega a tomar bastante fuerza en la etapa posterior a la Guerra de la Lanza.

[Anya · Rating 1 out of 5]

The writing lacked heart. The story was basically a retelling of the start of the war of the lance. Which is fine except that the character for which the book is named has little to do with the war. The first 2/3rds is a weak origin story at best and at worst it is poorly written fan fiction. Which ever it is, it is near impossible to get into. The last 1/3rd is somewhat exciting and would almost provoke me to praise it except I was so off put by the first 2/3rds.

[Kurt Vosper · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would actually say 3.5 stars but a good book about one of the Dragonlance characters I knew of but little about. Covers pre, during and post war of the lance. Some interesting scenes with characters we have known in other books. Well done. Worthwhile for fans of the series.

[Beau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written. Deep, moving, and thought-provoking. My favorite Dragonlance novel yet. This is literature. (Should be read after the original Chronicles and Legends trilogies.)

[pemondelo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me encantan todas las historias de magia y magos situadas en la fantasía medieval y, como no, este no podía ser menos. Además de ser el aprendiz número uno de Raistlin Majere.
Disfruté del libro.

[Duber Vasquez · Rating 4 out of 5]

No hay mucho que decir si ya has leído fantasia epica anteriormente. Lo interesante es como expande el mundo de Dragonlance.

[Mikaël · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was alright, but it was also kinda bland and full of fluff, which I guess is fitting for a story about elves

[Fco. Salvador · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tenía pocas esperanzas puestas en esta novela, porque justo antes había leído otro libro ambientado en el mundo de Dragonlance y escrito por la misma autora, Espada De Reyes, que me resultó un tostón con ínfulas. Debo reconocer que me vi sorprendido.

La historia no es para tirar tracas, pero está bien escrita y es entretenida. Se escapa, creo, de esa montaña de mediocridad que forman las novelas franquiciadas.

En primer lugar, en "Espada de reyes" la prosa de Berberick me pareció farragosa y afectada, y los largos períodos de las oraciones eran como un terreno lleno de baches. Eso no sucede en esta novela, donde el texto fluye con facilidad. Lo que no sé es cuánto de ese cambio se debe a la propia autora (doce años separan Dalamar el Oscuro de su primera novela) y cuánto se debe a la mano de las diferentes traductoras de ambas obras.

Por lo que respecta al contenido, el fallo principal es que la novela sólo retrata la historia del personaje antes de pasar al servicio del mago Raistlin (cuando éste ya se ha convertido en Amo del Pasado y del Presente y es dueño de la Torre de Palanthas) por lo que el relato parece quedar un poco cojo. En cierto modo, es como un primer tomo de una trilogía inacabada. Sin embargo, el personaje queda bien descrito, a pesar de que, paradójicamente y a diferencia de otras novelas, no se le describe directamente, sino a través de sus acciones. Los motivos que le llevan a tomar la túnica negra y al mismo tiempo intentar mantener los lazos con su pueblo se explican de forma coherente, dando un resultado un personaje pleno y redondo.

Otra cosa son los secundarios, que quedan bastante huecos. Pero eso se debe en general a su breve aparición, y sobre todo al hecho de que se contemplan siempre desde el punto de vista de Dalamar, que es casi siempre frío en el trato e introvertido.

Además, a pesar de no contar con una gran trama, ni épica ni amorosa, la obra resulta entretenida, y sus poco más de trescientas páginas son lo bastante absorbentes como para leerse con velocidad. No es una obra perfecta, ni mucho menos, pero la cuento entre las mejores de esta ambientación.

[Emily White · Rating 3 out of 5]

This Dragonlance Classics book tells the story of Dalamar's youth in Silvanesti and his eventual calling to the dark arts. He is cast out of his Elven home and left on his own to pursue his fate. He goes to the Tower to be tested, and is willingly used by the leadership of the Tower to complete a task that would allow more than one person the revenge they seek. Berberick's telling is good although her characterization of Dalamar falls slightly short of his personality from what we know of him from other stories. Her perspective of the fall of Silvanost and Lorac's Nightmare is insightful and well written, and ties well into the Chronicles storyline. This is a good book for someone who has already read the core books of the Dragonlance series.

[Avaminn F'nett · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do like Dalamar (even though he never does anything evil) and enjoyed reading his backstory. The book wasn't poorly written by any means, but there were a lot of problems conflicting with the original Dragonlance books. For example, Kitiara Uth Matar is called Kitiara Majere. Raistlin, who has gold eyes with hourglass pupils, is described as having black eyes with hourglass pupils. (How could anyone possibly get Raistlin's eyes wrong? They're his most important feature!) Worst of all, the magic-using dwarves. Dwarves do NOT use magic in Dragonlance, or most other settings for that matter. These errors don't ruin the whole book but they just kind of bothered me.

[Rajca · Rating 1 out of 5]

I rarely feel urge to say some words of discontent about books. Once I start reading a book I tend to finish it, Dalamar the Dark was not an exception. So what was exceptional? Its poor quality.

Dragonlance books, well - most of them, are cliché fantasy novels and my guilty pleasure. That said, Dalamar the Dark reached new heights of being repetitive, stereotypical and dull.
Storytelling is poor, there are so many errors - it's almost like author didn't ever read anything concerning DL world. It is off-putting work about one of the most important characters in the whole saga and I'm really disappointed.

[Krochmal · Rating 1 out of 5]

I rarely feel urge to say some words of discontent about books. Once I start reading a book I tend to finish it, Dalamar the Dark was not an exception. So what was exceptional? Its poor quality.

Dragonlance books, well - most of them, are cliché fantasy novels and my guilty pleasure. That said, Dalamar the Dark reached new heights of being repetitive, stereotypical and dull.
Storytelling is poor, there are so many errors - it's almost like author didn't ever read anything concerning DL world. It is off-putting work about one of the most important characters in the whole saga and I'm really disappointed.

[Jeff Granger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes it's tough to read a backstory of a well-established character. You know they aren't gong to die because they appear later in the series. Even having to tick some boxes as far as Dalamar's past, this was an enjoyable read. It was really two stories with a montage in the middle to tie them together. I really enjoyed Nancy Varian Berberick's contributions to several of the anthologies, and the first novel of hers that I read did not disappoint. I look forward to reading more of her books.

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

An awfull book. The book is bad, it has a lot off missing ideas and the accion is not well define. The main character (Dalamr) if forced to exist in the book, with a lot of incoherences in his and the dragonlace history.

This book could be recommended as a example of bad book around a great history

[Thieluar]

Just like Laine says, this is mind candy. I really love any book that can make me feel like the character. So I can feel like a dark wizard myself ^-^

[Nimrod Daniel]

I read many years ago about 50 pages, which was more than enough.
ABANDONED LIST !