F/SF

Heerlijk boekje waarbij je kennismaakt met het rijk van de Hemel, Arianus, en de inwoners daarvan. Ik had het al eerder gelezen, maar dat was erg lang geleden en ik wist er nauwelijks meer wat van. Wel had ik veel oh ja-momenten. Jammer eigenlijk dat ik zo lang gewacht heb met herlezen, want Haplo, Alfred, Hugh en Limbeck zijn echt geweldige personages. Ik had wat moeite met Onera, Iridal en Sinistrad, die ik erg onpersoonlijk en wat ongeloofwaardig vond, zeker in tegenstelling tot de andere personages. Ze waren wat vlak en ook erg kil. Maar de wereld zit erg leuk in elkaar en de rest van het verhaal had me heerlijk te pakken. Op naar "Elfenster". ( )

You really can't go back again. I still remember when the Dragonlance series first came out, I bought the first book and devoured it in about 2 days (Which is great for me, I've always been a reader, but always a slow-ish reader). Then had to wait 6 months for the next book to come out. I would re-read the previous one and then start on the new one. I continued that process for the next four books.
Jump forward 35+ year later and a friend is cleaning out his house and offers the complete set of The Death Gate series. Well, if I were still 14, I probably would have really enjoyed this. Now that I'm not, this really didn't do it for me. The writing is simple and basic. The characters are just not that interesting (two of the principle characters are named Sinistrad and Bane...hmm, I wonder if they're the good guys?).
There are allusions to a great battle and chaos in the past, causing the current separations of the various realms in the sky. I imagine this will be covered in the next bunch of books. I'll never know... ( )

Siglos atrás, unos brujos de gran poder dividieron el mundo en cuatro reinos (cielo, piedra, fuego y mar), y a continuación desaparecieron. Hoy, únicamente los pocos que han sobrevivido al Laberinto y han atravesado la Puerta de la Muerte conocen la existencia de los cuatro reinos. Ala de Dragón es la historia de Ariano, el reino del cielo, donde humanos, elfos y enanos luchan por el control del bien más preciado: el agua. En esta lucha, un asesino humano, conocido como Hugh “la Mano” accede a asesinar al hijo del rey sin saber que su víctima será un chiquillo de excepcional encanto…

Dragon Wing is book 1 in the completed Death Gate Cycle of 7 books. The first book contains a complete story but there is quite obviously something more complex going on. The best part of this book is the world building - it is original, even after all these years. The characters are also fairly well written and complex. Even the dog has his own personality. The book starts off with an assassin in what is superficially a medieval world and ends up with a variety of elves, dwarves, humans, an "adorable" manipulative little child, wizards of various kinds (and a dog) in a world that isn't all that medieval anymore and on the cusp of change. Book 1 takes place in the World of Air, which is a world of floating continents with a contraption (of unknown purpose) called the Kicksey-winsey worshiped and maintained by the locals. Travel between these floating islands is via dragon back or airship, and the local currency is barrels of water or their equivalent in coin. If you want to know what happens in such a fascinating world, you are just going to have to read the book (and the rest of the Death Gate Cycle). ( )