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Dragonlance: Meetings Sextet #3
Dark Heart
Obsession
At long last, the story of the beautiful dark-hearted Kitiara Uth Matar. This compelling novel tells the story of the birth of her twin brothers, the warrior Caramon and the frail mage Raistlin, and Kit's admirable role in their upbringing.
But her youthful mercenary deeds and increasing fascination with evil throw her into the company of a roguish stranger and band of adventurers whose fates are intermingled with her own. Haunted by the memory of her Solamnic father, she hunts him ceaselessly.
Tina Daniell's first novel brings to life this remarkable warrior-woman, whose credo of "the sword is truth" becomes her triumph and downfall.
At long last, the story of the beautiful dark-hearted Kitiara Uth Matar. This compelling novel tells the story of the birth of her twin brothers, the warrior Caramon and the frail mage Raistlin, and Kit's admirable role in their upbringing.
But her youthful mercenary deeds and increasing fascination with evil throw her into the company of a roguish stranger and band of adventurers whose fates are intermingled with her own. Haunted by the memory of her Solamnic father, she hunts him ceaselessly.
Tina Daniell's first novel brings to life this remarkable warrior-woman, whose credo of "the sword is truth" becomes her triumph and downfall.
310 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
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1250 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
August 25, 2017
Ah... I should probably get this out of the way first: I don't like Kitiara - never have. I've read about her in other Dragonlance books and she annoys the living poo out of me. She's such a token badbutt character with little personality... and is thrown at you like, "here's a STRONG, POWERFUL and INDEPENDENT WOMAN!!! DON'T YOU LOVE HER?!?! You SHOULD because she's a STRONG FEMALE CHARACTER who kicks BUTT and is EDGY and has SASS!!!" ....So yeah, because I don't like Kitiara, I was hesitant to read this book since it's practically centered all around her. But seeing that I really enjoyed the last two books in the Meetings Sextet, I decided to give this book a chance anyway. Maybe I'd have a change in opinion about Kitiara.
Annnnd I still don't like her. Lol.
The story? ...Not as exciting as the last two books, in my opinion. :( I don't know if that's because I turned my brain off whenever Kitiara opened her mouth? Maybe the story actually WAS exciting and it's my fault for not liking the main character? I just didn't get anything out of the plot. I tried to though. I think the parts that intrigued me most was Raistlin's backstory - I've always thought him as an interesting character.
Hopefully Kitiara fans will have a different opinion about this book.~
Annnnd I still don't like her. Lol.
The story? ...Not as exciting as the last two books, in my opinion. :( I don't know if that's because I turned my brain off whenever Kitiara opened her mouth? Maybe the story actually WAS exciting and it's my fault for not liking the main character? I just didn't get anything out of the plot. I tried to though. I think the parts that intrigued me most was Raistlin's backstory - I've always thought him as an interesting character.
Hopefully Kitiara fans will have a different opinion about this book.~
July 3, 2022
Dark Heart tells the story of Kitiara. From her early childhood through to the time that she finally and always splits from her family.
For all of the book Kit is obsessed with finding her father. He had adored her before he had to go away and being with him again was what kept her going.
The parts of this book that I enjoyed the most were the small portions with the twins. The twins father was a wonderful man who raised twins, and a stepdaughter while his wife spent most of her time in an empty minded state. Most men would have abandoned the whole situation.
Still her mostly crazed mother could not love or appreciate Kit as she needed to be. So Kit struck out to find adventure and hopefully her father.
She found plenty of adventure. I guess that every piece of what happens in the book helps turn her into the heartless warrior she is in the stories we know. If Kitiara is your favorite and you think she is misunderstood then this is the book for you.
I have never been a fan of Kitiara, still am not. This was a really interesting adventure though. The first adventure that Kit is involved in pulls the strings for the rest of the story.
I began to wonder what was going on when she met Patric. I really never thought of Kit as the swoony in love with a prince type. But this part is just one more string in the carefully plotted out story. Where is all of this going?
I have to admit that Kit's almost obsessive infatuation with El-Navar made me wish the two could become a couple of rogue mercenaries. I think that could make a cool book or series.
Also I want to see where the twins go from the end of this book. Does the next books pick up their stories from around this point? The relationship between the twins is always so interesting to me, I would always love more.
For all of the book Kit is obsessed with finding her father. He had adored her before he had to go away and being with him again was what kept her going.
The parts of this book that I enjoyed the most were the small portions with the twins. The twins father was a wonderful man who raised twins, and a stepdaughter while his wife spent most of her time in an empty minded state. Most men would have abandoned the whole situation.
Still her mostly crazed mother could not love or appreciate Kit as she needed to be. So Kit struck out to find adventure and hopefully her father.
She found plenty of adventure. I guess that every piece of what happens in the book helps turn her into the heartless warrior she is in the stories we know. If Kitiara is your favorite and you think she is misunderstood then this is the book for you.
I have never been a fan of Kitiara, still am not. This was a really interesting adventure though. The first adventure that Kit is involved in pulls the strings for the rest of the story.
I began to wonder what was going on when she met Patric. I really never thought of Kit as the swoony in love with a prince type. But this part is just one more string in the carefully plotted out story. Where is all of this going?
I have to admit that Kit's almost obsessive infatuation with El-Navar made me wish the two could become a couple of rogue mercenaries. I think that could make a cool book or series.
Also I want to see where the twins go from the end of this book. Does the next books pick up their stories from around this point? The relationship between the twins is always so interesting to me, I would always love more.
September 14, 2022
I liked it alot. But there was a few things so predictable that they irked me plot wise. And she doesnt feel as hard and dark as kityara usually is. But still good.
June 9, 2015
My rating is 2.5 stars.
A book set in the world of Dragonlance. This one tells the story of Kitiara's childhood and how her father affected her to be the woman we see in the original trilogy. One does not need to read the original trilogy to understand the plot and know the characters in this book.
Unfortunately, this book fell short and is a shame since this could have been so much better. I liked the insight to the main character and one does get a glimpse of how she becomes the woman we already know. I loved the scenes with the twins as children and during these scenes, they actually stole the spotlight. The problem with this book is the main adventure isn't engaging. There were a couple of side adventures that resulted from the main adventure and those were enjoyable. But the main adventure never grabbed me and I never fully cared about the adventure.
The only way I can recommend this book is for fans of this world. These readers will love seeing Raistlin and Caramon as children and how they develop. I believe other readers will enjoy this aspect but not nearly as much as the die hard fans.
A book set in the world of Dragonlance. This one tells the story of Kitiara's childhood and how her father affected her to be the woman we see in the original trilogy. One does not need to read the original trilogy to understand the plot and know the characters in this book.
Unfortunately, this book fell short and is a shame since this could have been so much better. I liked the insight to the main character and one does get a glimpse of how she becomes the woman we already know. I loved the scenes with the twins as children and during these scenes, they actually stole the spotlight. The problem with this book is the main adventure isn't engaging. There were a couple of side adventures that resulted from the main adventure and those were enjoyable. But the main adventure never grabbed me and I never fully cared about the adventure.
The only way I can recommend this book is for fans of this world. These readers will love seeing Raistlin and Caramon as children and how they develop. I believe other readers will enjoy this aspect but not nearly as much as the die hard fans.
February 11, 2022
On most levels this just wasn't a great book, but I think its biggest issue is how it took Kitiara - probably the baddest-assed woman from the Dragonlance Chronicles- and tried to reimagine her as this tough, determined young girl before she turned bad, who was basically decent but a little obsessive about her finding her father, and spun a series of slice of life drama and adventures around her that depended on us warming to her as that young girl character. Yet, she doesn't have much personality here; she's a young naive child except when she isn't; she's a ruthless killer except when she isn't; she's a sexual dynamo except she isn't.
It doesn't help, either, that this book felt so disjointed and didn't really know what sort of story it wanted to tell. Long scenes of childbirth and bringing up Caramon and Raistlin are swept aside tonally at the midpoint for an experience with bandits (and the worst virginity loss scene one could imagine), a high seas romp? (how I wish it had been!), more slice of life, a bit of sword and sorcery and finally a revenge tale. In a weird way I enjoyed it nevertheless, since I never quite knew what the next chapter would bring, it kept me more engaged than 100 pages of Raistlin going to school ... but why were storylines dropped? Neither does it help that Tina Daniell's authorial voice feels a little bit mugged by both her intended audience for these things and a lack of affinity for the whole enterprise. Otherwise her writing is not too terrible.
Too much box ticking and not enough heart. Dark or otherwise. The worst of the Meetings Sextet thus far and this is one I recommend to skip over in your Dragonlance journey since it otherwise adds nothing to the bigger picture.
It doesn't help, either, that this book felt so disjointed and didn't really know what sort of story it wanted to tell. Long scenes of childbirth and bringing up Caramon and Raistlin are swept aside tonally at the midpoint for an experience with bandits (and the worst virginity loss scene one could imagine), a high seas romp? (how I wish it had been!), more slice of life, a bit of sword and sorcery and finally a revenge tale. In a weird way I enjoyed it nevertheless, since I never quite knew what the next chapter would bring, it kept me more engaged than 100 pages of Raistlin going to school ... but why were storylines dropped? Neither does it help that Tina Daniell's authorial voice feels a little bit mugged by both her intended audience for these things and a lack of affinity for the whole enterprise. Otherwise her writing is not too terrible.
Too much box ticking and not enough heart. Dark or otherwise. The worst of the Meetings Sextet thus far and this is one I recommend to skip over in your Dragonlance journey since it otherwise adds nothing to the bigger picture.
September 7, 2017
I knew I wasn't going to enjoy an entire book of Kitiara, but what can I say? I was a Dragonlance completist, once upon a time... before they published all those additional crap series.
April 16, 2023
Surprisingly dark and lurid in places, but in a welcome way.
May 10, 2018
Well Kitiara, considering how you were in The Chronicles, this origin story took me by surprise. It started off well enough, showing how she helped raise her half brothers due to her mother's illness and segwayed into how she eventually came to work with mercenaries. Kit led a tough life and wanted nothing more than to adventure away from her boring home life, find her missing father and become rich and powerful.
The pace did slow down a bit once she became enamored by a passing royal during one of her stints home in Solace and it was sort of an eye roll moment for me, but she never once became a love sick puppy which I appreciated. It would have ruined her tough as nails attitude.
I enjoyed reading what little there was about Rasiltin in this book. Hands down he will be my favorite book character of all time.
I was hoping to see more of how Kit became drawn to the Dark Queen's forces as we see her in The Chronicles, and how in the world she came to be a dragon rider. I'm guessing in the Preludes series there will be more on this.
Overall it wasn't bad. I felt Tina Daniell did a pretty good job of sticking to Kitiara's personality and keeping her choices mostly within the realm of what I felt Kit would do, but some of the plot points needed work.
The pace did slow down a bit once she became enamored by a passing royal during one of her stints home in Solace and it was sort of an eye roll moment for me, but she never once became a love sick puppy which I appreciated. It would have ruined her tough as nails attitude.
I enjoyed reading what little there was about Rasiltin in this book. Hands down he will be my favorite book character of all time.
I was hoping to see more of how Kit became drawn to the Dark Queen's forces as we see her in The Chronicles, and how in the world she came to be a dragon rider. I'm guessing in the Preludes series there will be more on this.
Overall it wasn't bad. I felt Tina Daniell did a pretty good job of sticking to Kitiara's personality and keeping her choices mostly within the realm of what I felt Kit would do, but some of the plot points needed work.
October 3, 2009
The third book of this series focuses on Kitiara's younger days and how she took care of the young brothers Caramon and Raistlin. The parts about Caramon and Raistlin are very good as they shed light on their childhood and their unique relationships with each other as well as Kitiara (which gave it an extra star). The parts about Kitiara were disappointing though. Her character is very unique and has the potential to have very intriguing plot built around her. Too bad the plot fell short. It was like reading a couple of disjointed trivial short stories.
June 11, 2021
La rebelde Kit
Esta -como el nombre lo indica- es la historia de origen de uno de los protagonistas de la Guerra de la Lanza. Aunque es un personaje que está lejos de ser uno de mis favoritos, en esta entrega podemos conocer un poco más de su personalidad y sus vivencias. Todo lo que la llevó a convertirse en lo que sería después.
Fue bastante gratificante seguir su vida con sus hermanos y ver cómo es que no siempre tuvo una ambición ciega, sin límites, prácticamente sin escrúpulos, sino que en el fondo de su corazón sin lugar a dudas, guarda ciertos sentimientos hacia su familia.
La historia en sí es una aventura en la que hay momentos bastante predecibles y otros bastante diferentes de lo que podríamos esperar, también hay misterio, coincidencias y claro, muchos viajes.
Esta -como el nombre lo indica- es la historia de origen de uno de los protagonistas de la Guerra de la Lanza. Aunque es un personaje que está lejos de ser uno de mis favoritos, en esta entrega podemos conocer un poco más de su personalidad y sus vivencias. Todo lo que la llevó a convertirse en lo que sería después.
Fue bastante gratificante seguir su vida con sus hermanos y ver cómo es que no siempre tuvo una ambición ciega, sin límites, prácticamente sin escrúpulos, sino que en el fondo de su corazón sin lugar a dudas, guarda ciertos sentimientos hacia su familia.
La historia en sí es una aventura en la que hay momentos bastante predecibles y otros bastante diferentes de lo que podríamos esperar, también hay misterio, coincidencias y claro, muchos viajes.
September 13, 2020
This book tells Kitiara's origin story, and can be read by itself without knowing any of the other books. The beginning is a bit slow, but the main story picks up at chapter 5. We also have an off the canon description of Raistlin's entrance into the mage school which was later rewritten. I really enjoyed this book, but it had a divided identity. A couple of chapters talk about cozy home life, and others are more of wild adventuring, and toward the end we turn towards gore and gothic melodrama, borderline horror, which I have to admit I enjoyed a lot, and wasn't really expecting from a dragonlance book. The plot is also really good and caught me off guard. The only reason I am not giving the book five stars is that it has some pacing issues, and sometimes the plot wanders off.
November 5, 2023
This was the weakest of the meetings Sextet series imo. The pacing was all over the place; so many parts were needlessly slow, and the exciting parts rushed and forgotten. The conclusion was rushed and although it was very cool, the lackluster writing took away from the awe of it all. Clearly no love for Caramon lol, I felt he was glazed over in a really obvious way many times. The most excitement comes from the parts where Colo takes action, and that unfortunately doesn't last long. The story itself was good, with much travelling and trials and places to see, but the writing was unfortunately not up to par. I believe this was the author's first official novel, so I hope this allowed her to improve and become a great writer.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 30, 2024
Im dritten Teil des Meetings Sextett geht es hauptsächlich um die Kindheit und Jugend von Kitiara. Man erfährt einiges über ihre Familie. Ihr schwieriges Verhältnis zu ihrer verrückten Mutter, über ihre Halbbrüder Caramon und Raistlin und ihr Leben in Solace. Aber entgegen den ersten beiden Teilen der Reihe kommt es zu keinem frühen Treffen mit den anderen Mitgliedern der Heroes of the Lance.
Die Geschichte kommt etwas unspektakulär daher. Kitiaras Werdegang vom Kind zur Frau, angereichert mit ihren ersten Söldnergeschichten. Nett geschrieben, kann man lesen. Etwas schwächer als die beiden Vorgänger dieser Reihe.
Die Geschichte kommt etwas unspektakulär daher. Kitiaras Werdegang vom Kind zur Frau, angereichert mit ihren ersten Söldnergeschichten. Nett geschrieben, kann man lesen. Etwas schwächer als die beiden Vorgänger dieser Reihe.
November 23, 2019
I expected Dark Heart to be a struggle. I was never a fan of Kitiara, and after finishing this book, I don't like her a bit more. I feel like I understand her a little better though. Where she came from, her drive to get away from it and make her own way.
The story told isn't bad, and the writing is passable, but the fact I just don't like the main character kept it from getting more than 3 stars. That being said, it's worth a read, to see a bit into the past of both her and her twin brothers.
The story told isn't bad, and the writing is passable, but the fact I just don't like the main character kept it from getting more than 3 stars. That being said, it's worth a read, to see a bit into the past of both her and her twin brothers.
December 10, 2020
This is my favorite of the prequel series so far. I like the gaps it attempts to fill in - there are numerous books detailing the history of the twins (Raistlin in particular) but when it comes to Kit most just gloss over her adventures by saying that she was often gone. There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of detail about her in any of the books, especially her upbringing, so it was a refreshing POV.
January 26, 2021
For a Dragonlance novel this is 4 stars. I was pleasantly surprised by Dark Heart, it kept me entertained and reading until the end. Yes, it is predictable but not horribly so...I enjoyed reading about Kitiara's family, and the bits with Raistlin, Caramon, Rosamund, and Gilon really helped round out some of the histories of these major and minor characters.
Was every page amazing? No.
But is it a good Dragonlance read? Yes.
Was every page amazing? No.
But is it a good Dragonlance read? Yes.
January 30, 2018
It was a good enough story, I suppose. However, the narrative tended to drag, in parts. This caused the ending to be very rushed. Some of the action scenes could have been done a little better, too. Having read some other Dragonlance stories, I found some events not covered as well as I would like. I hope the last three stories in this sextet cover the events not dealt with here.
September 7, 2022
surprisingly good. I went in fully expecting to hate this book and how wrong I was. No whiny children feel, the character grows appreciably during the story. I was never board or felt a lull. It feels Dragonlance. We see a perfectly portioned amount of her brothers to show family but they did not take over the story. I’m glad to see the rougher side of Krynn.
September 25, 2017
Empieza y acaba fuerte, pero el medio es un poco lento. Siempre es un placer volver a Dragonlance y creo que de tantos libros que he leído ya de esta colección algunas cosas no me cuadran, pero aún así, un relato magnífico.
June 14, 2020
Kitiara is definitely not my favorite of the companions. But I did enjoy reading about the origin of the twins. And despite the title I don't think this book really paints Kit as the evil woman she becomes. It is an entertaining read though.
November 7, 2019
Think Jack Kerouac's On the Road, but with swords and mercenaries.
Bit of a rushed tacked on ending with her trajectory later in the series.
Bit of a rushed tacked on ending with her trajectory later in the series.
November 26, 2019
Reads almost like literature. One of my favorite Dragonlance novels.
July 21, 2022
Definitely not my favorite of the series so far, but still a fun fantasy adventure
May 12, 2024
This was an incredible book, one of my favorites.
January 27, 2025
I woulda recommended the book, if it hadn't decided to romanticize pedophilia out of nowhere towards to the end. Why
September 22, 2016
copy-pasted from my Librarything account: Quite a surprisingly good story about Kitiara's travels.
Was soms moeilijk door te komen, maar er zaten zeker spannende stukken tussen, waardoor je MOEST doorlezen. Het draait effectief allemaal rond Kit en hoe ze de wereld verkent, gezien haar moeder stervende is en haar stiefvader haar niet echt interesseert. Af en toe komen ook,de broertjes Raistlin en Caramon in beeld, vooral wanneer Kit terug in Solace is na een rondzwerving. En ze maakt echt wel veel mee, o.a. met Ursa, El-Navar, etc... waarbij het het zwaard van een toekomstig heerser krijgt van Ursa en later leer je dan hoe die ene overvalsdaad op het einde nog terugkomt en welke gevolgen dat had voor dat 'koninkrijk'. Wel jammer, maar misschien ook te verwachten, is dat Kit nooit haar vader terugvond. Misschien maar best, anders zou daarover dan weer een serie moeten gemaakt worden om een passend einde te vinden zodat beide personages hun eigen weg kunnen gaan. Het zou trouwens niet aansluiten bij het vervolg, The Oath And The Measure.
Was soms moeilijk door te komen, maar er zaten zeker spannende stukken tussen, waardoor je MOEST doorlezen. Het draait effectief allemaal rond Kit en hoe ze de wereld verkent, gezien haar moeder stervende is en haar stiefvader haar niet echt interesseert. Af en toe komen ook,de broertjes Raistlin en Caramon in beeld, vooral wanneer Kit terug in Solace is na een rondzwerving. En ze maakt echt wel veel mee, o.a. met Ursa, El-Navar, etc... waarbij het het zwaard van een toekomstig heerser krijgt van Ursa en later leer je dan hoe die ene overvalsdaad op het einde nog terugkomt en welke gevolgen dat had voor dat 'koninkrijk'. Wel jammer, maar misschien ook te verwachten, is dat Kit nooit haar vader terugvond. Misschien maar best, anders zou daarover dan weer een serie moeten gemaakt worden om een passend einde te vinden zodat beide personages hun eigen weg kunnen gaan. Het zou trouwens niet aansluiten bij het vervolg, The Oath And The Measure.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 15, 2016
I always loved the character Kitiara. She was one of the ones who you knew upon first "meeting" her that she made the best of a hard life. And I usually love any of the Dragonlance books where she plays an active role, but this one left me feeling a bit "meh."
Her character in this one, though she is meant to be the main, always came across as one standing outside the window and looking in--always seeing what was going on, but always on the fringes of the event. Someone else seemed to always steal my attention in every key scene, and it was not fair to Kitiara.
It was almost like the author could not figure out the character--making her clever and strong in one chapter then a chapter or two later, she comes across as a weak, dull-witted damsel.
If you want her history, here it is, but the character, as she came across in this novel, could have used a lot more time on the editing table.
Her character in this one, though she is meant to be the main, always came across as one standing outside the window and looking in--always seeing what was going on, but always on the fringes of the event. Someone else seemed to always steal my attention in every key scene, and it was not fair to Kitiara.
It was almost like the author could not figure out the character--making her clever and strong in one chapter then a chapter or two later, she comes across as a weak, dull-witted damsel.
If you want her history, here it is, but the character, as she came across in this novel, could have used a lot more time on the editing table.
July 10, 2008
I've always liked the Meetings sextet, for all the weaknesses of the individual novels. The main legends of Dragonlance Chronicles begin with a reunion of the characters with a great deal of history already behind them: the Meetings novels are a bit of an expose of that history. This is my favorite of the lot, in large part because it features the character of Kitiara growing up to adulthood. Parts of it are consistent with the rewrite of the family history that Margaret Weis does in Soulforge. It's a good portrait of a future villianess that puts into perspective how she developed the toughness at her core. She's also a perfectly unmotherly figure thrust at times into that role for her younger brothers, and that conflict brings out the protective side of her nature and creates some interesting dialogue and tensions.
February 26, 2010
I didn't quite like this one as much as I did the first two books in the meeting sextet.
The author did a lot of pushing the plot forward and not enough of sprinkling comic relief around. I remember having to stop and go while reading this book because it was just so darned exhausting.
I remember sitting at home going "Okay, we get that you want to find your dad. Why are you stuck here then?"
And there'd be pages and pages dedicated to her battles. I hated that part, since I'm not as visual with my reading as other people were.
I actually enjoyed the first half of this book more than I did the second but that was more because I liked reading about the main character's brothers, who were a lot more interesting to me than Kit.
The author did a lot of pushing the plot forward and not enough of sprinkling comic relief around. I remember having to stop and go while reading this book because it was just so darned exhausting.
I remember sitting at home going "Okay, we get that you want to find your dad. Why are you stuck here then?"
And there'd be pages and pages dedicated to her battles. I hated that part, since I'm not as visual with my reading as other people were.
I actually enjoyed the first half of this book more than I did the second but that was more because I liked reading about the main character's brothers, who were a lot more interesting to me than Kit.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews