Please note: in order for me to discuss the plot of this book, it is necessary for me to discuss events from previous books, some of which may be considered spoilers. I do not, however, include any major spoilers for this book. You have been warned!
Skybowl is the last book in the Dragon Star trilogy by Melanie Rawn. It is also the last book in this series she has published to date (and ever to publish?), which began with the Dragon Prince trilogy. My personal opinion is that these books shouldn’t have been two separate trilogies, but a sextet. Calling Stronghold (book one of the Dragon Star trilogy) “book one” may lead to confusion with some readers who are unaware that there are other books which tell of the events leading up to this trilogy.
Now that I have confused you, maybe I will try to clear things up a bit. Here is a list of the two trilogies and the books contained therein:
Dragon Prince Dragon Prince
The Star Scroll
Sunrunner’s Fire
Dragon Star
Stronghold
The Dragon Token
Skybowl
Plot Summary
Naturally, Skybowl begins where the previous book, “The Dragon Token left off, with Andry (Lord of Goddess Keep) making his way to Feruche through the wilderness. This of course, being after he was wounded by Prince Miyon’s attack on a small group of people, which included the High Princess Meiglan, and her daughter Rislyn, and resulted in their capture by the Vellant’im (the attacking enemy force that threatens these people’s very existence).
Previously in the story, Sioned had decided to play on the superstitions of the Vellant’im by selectively burning parts of a book on dragons, leaving behind only particular parts which dealt with superstitions of dragons (blood that burns the skin, etc). When the Vellant’im subsequently raided the castle containing the book, they only read what Sioned wanted them to read. Little did Sioned know that this would be a grave mistake. Using information from the book, the Vellant’im decide that they need to make a sacrifice. They feel that Pol (the High Prince) has power over the dragons, and in order to free them from his rule, they need a sacrificial victim. And who better than to meet this need than Pol’s wife, Meiglan?
Meiglan is taken by the Vellant’im (in the manner described above) and is held hostage until the day when the sacrifice is to be performed. This complicates matters further for Pol, not only does he have to defeat the Vellant’im, he now has to try to save his wife from becoming a sacrificial victim.
Pol quickly realizes that in order to succeed, he will need to join forces with his cousin, Andry, which will be difficult since they have always been rivals.
I admit I have no hope of describing the events of this book in a way that someone who has not read the previous books can hope to understand, without going into a lot of background information. So much that it would not be feasible for me to attempt to cover it in this review. In spite of that, I still hope to give an insightful review of this book’s qualities.
One major downfall of this book is that there aren’t really many likeable characters. I still like Sioned, but Pol is as intolerable as ever. He just annoys me, and this is a bad thing when he is the character that is most focused on. Andry is even more annoying than before, with all of his “holier than thou” attitude that just makes me angry (I can think of people who are actually like that). And their unwillingness to join together, even to defeat a threat as large as the Vellant’im just seems unlikely. So who do I actually like in this book? Sioned, Chayla, Kazander, and Meath, unfortunately all pretty much minor characters.
There are a variety of subplots, dealing with alliances between regular people and Sunrunners as well as sorcerers. There is also a mysterious mirror that plays an important role, even if it is downplayed a bit. A shift in gender of one of the characters for no apparent reason is befuddling and seems to happen for no reason other than for a plot twist. Even more characters die, including some who have been with us from the very first, back in Dragon Prince.
At 760 pages, this book is rather lengthy, and the longest of the series. I feel that this is the best book of either trilogy, simply because the pacing is constant throughout the book. There is no lag in the story line in the middle of the book, much like her other novels. I consider a book to be good if I can read more than 100 pages in a day, something I did on several occasions while reading this book. And something else – this book made me cry, on at least two separate occasions – and I don’t usually bubble over with tears over a book (as for movies, well, that’s another story!).
When you start reading this book, one of the first things you will notice is that the character index is at the front of the book, not at the end as with the other books, and it includes a list of people who had died in the two previous books, along with a description of how they died. Anybody who has read my review of The Dragon Token will know why this was necessary – so many people die in that book! The character index in this book is much shorter than in the other books. This is the first hint of good things to come; one of my major complaints in the previous books was that there were too many characters to keep track of. Well, in this book Rawn actually manages to limit herself to only using characters developed in previous books. I can only think of a few new characters mentioned in this book, and this kept me from becoming too confused. Since Rawn decided to only stick with the major, already developed characters, I only had to consult the character index once or twice! (Even though it is not as thorough and as helpful as it was in the other books)
One thing that never really develops, and without a real explanation, is this apparent sickness that everybody is coming down with. I had my thoughts on it, and felt that it was a sickness brought by the Vellant’im, since they are a foreign people. (This next may be a minor spoiler, if you hadn’t already figured it out by now). It turns out that the plague, which devastated our characters in Dragon Prince was brought over by Vellant'im who had been scouting the land prior to their attack (this attack has been in the works for a long time). The plague is a disease that is not deadly to the Vellant'im. What is strange is that this sickness seems to have been brought again (all the children were getting sick), but it didn't have a major effect on anybody. This is strange since the only reason it was stoppable before was due to a drug called dranath. It seems unlikely that these people would have built up an immunity so easily to such a deadly disease. A minor point, but something I noticed nonetheless.
There are several situations that don’t really seem to fit. One of these is concerning Chiana and her son Rinhoel, who are traitors to Pol. Their transgressions seem to be inconsequential when compared with the threat of the Vellant’im, and I think the book would have been better off without it.
For those of you who may be stuck on The Dragon Token and you’re not sure if it’s worth reading Skybowl, let me assure you that is actually worth it! A lot of bad things happen to the characters in the book, (gee, doesn’t that sound familiar??), but there are also a lot of good things. The ending (no, I am not giving it away, no major spoilers remember?) is an open ending. The book ends, in a way that I think we can all consider an ending, even if another book is never written on the subject again, but there are certainly a lot of ideas going that could very well be made into at least another trilogy if Rawn chose to do so.
Thoughts on the series…
I honestly think that these books would be much better if one took the time to read them all a second time around. I think that if you did that, there might be a chance of knowing who is who and how they affect the story. But with the mounds of books on my “To Read” list, I don’t think I will be doing that any time soon.
Not that the books don’t have any merit; while not completely original, Rawn does come up with some unique ideas (at least I haven’t read anything like it). Sunrunning is probably the most notable of her creations (I do give an explanation of this in my review for The Dragon Token, so I think that going into it again would be a bit redundant). Extending this ability with an ability to “talk” with dragons is also interesting. Dragons will choose a Sunrunner that they want to “talk” to, and they treat that person like we would a pet. One thing about this that I find strange is that until just recently in the lives of these people, nobody had ever communicated with a dragon before, yet all of a sudden every Sunrunner out there is becoming a dragon’s pet.
Most series center around a set of main characters, most of who are still around by the time the end of the series rolls around. The interesting thing about these books is that they span four generations. The first book, Dragon Prince begins with Zehava, Rohan’s father. Rohan is a major character for a few books, and then the books focus on Pol, Rohan’s son. In Skybowl, Pol’s daughters, Jihan and Rislyn, are becoming more important. The main focus is only on two of the four generations, but the fact still remains that one of the first characters that we meet is the great-grandfather of the children in the last book.
Having this many generations allows Rawn to really play on the notion that the ability to be a Sunrunner is genetic, in fact it is a recessive trait, being that it must come from both parents for a child to have the gift. People with only one “Sunrunning” gene are considered to be “halflings” (no, not hobbits!). We can actually see the way it is passed down to the children, and there is even a description in one of the books (right off the top of my head, I think it is The Star Scroll), showing how the trait is passed.
It is obvious that Rawn has put a lot of thought and imagination into her works, even if I think the pace is a little too slow at times. A definite read for someone looking for a new world to explore, but only if you are up to the task.
If anyone out there has started her Exiles trilogy, please let me know how it compares (I have the first book, but I don’t know if I am going to read it or not).
In the first two novels of the bestselling Dragon Star trilogy, the peaceful reign of High Prince Rohan was shattered by a mysterious invasion force w...More at Buy.com
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