when people ask why you read sword & sorcery, point to berberick. She does the Old Englishy stories with the technical proficiency of 'The Broken Sword' or the Inklings. Her characters are good people and her macguffins are magic.

This and later books of Garroc are set in the Geoffrey of Monmouth Old England. Berberick does the Old English stuff as well as an Inkling. She's good at magic too. Read 'The Panther's Hoard' too.

The book had wonderful tales, though I skipped the one that was in poem form. I don't understand why that story was done that way. Tales are meant to be read like stories, not poetry. Fave tale was the Good Knight, with Nikol and Michael meeting Lord Soth. At least I was able to know that there was a good side to Soth, even though it only happened once.

The Cataclysm is an event talked about in almost every Dragonlance book. We have been given hints of the destruction it caused Krynn. In this book, you get the full fury of what kind of an impact it made. The story on Lord Soth is by far the best short Drangonlance story I have ever read. This book has some of the most terrifying stories in the whole series. A must read for any fanof the saga.

I loved every single writer. I can't believe they meshed so well. The only problem I saw, was that they weren't longer; instead of just short stories, I would love a bunch of novels! A must read.

Ms. Berberick's characterization gets a lot stronger in this sequel to Jewels of Elvish. The story wasn't quite as exciting, but still really good. This, like the first book, really shouldn't be out of print. I had to hunt for months at several used bookstores before I was able to find them. If you find them, grab 'em...quickly.

The Jewels of Elvish lay deep within a mountain: emerald, sapphire, diamond, topaz, and fiery ruby bound in a golden crown: Proud Ruler of Nature, gentle King of Air, wild Prince of Water, golden Thane of Fire, all held in check by the fearsome Mistress of War.

Long ago a strong-willed queen stole the crown to save her people and broke it apart to field fire and water to defeat the fearsome Sorcerer who was ravaging her land. Now only her ghost waits in the deep caverns, waiting for someone to help her restore the balance she has undone. Her last hope may be a child made for magic . . .

I have to give all the short story novels 3 stars. There are some stories you won't like but they'll 2-4 really great ones that will make the books worth the price.

... I actually liked three stories in this book. The poem is worthless, and a few more were downright too hard to read and boring, but if I had the desire to stick with them they might have been worthy. Get this book! If not for the stories, get it for the last story written by Weis and Hickman. You will be surprised that a Hero of the Lance makes an appearance! I can't wait to read the next book. Even though the poem in this was horrible, it was better than most early dragonlance books I have read, but I must say Knaak finally has a good story. Unlike his Huma and Kaz books. Bravo Knaak. Maybe he should always write short stories, but he did leave me wanting more for once. GET THIS BOOK!

As I am not a huge fan of short stories, I was surprised to find most of these excellent. 'Colors of Belief' was an further insight as to how the Games of Istar worked after Caramon's experiences in the Legends. 'Kender Stew' was very funny and a nice little story. 'The Goblin's Wish' was my favourite, a saddening tale of how different races banded together to fight Istar. 'The Three Lives of Horgan Oxthrall' was not so good. The scribe's narration is just silly, I think Douglas Niles could've just told the story and got on with it. Far and away the worst story was 'Filling the Empty Places'. I find myself being more and more disappointed by Nancy Berberick's work. Stormblade was okay, but her writing style has definitely gone downhill since. 'Off Day' was hilarious. And finally, 'The Silken Threads' again showcased Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's wonderful talent which puts them at the forefront of the DL world.
Those disappointed by the other Tales books will find this a better one, with more information into a neglected part of Krynn's history.

I have to give all the short story novels 3 stars. There are some stories you won't like but they'll 2-4 really great ones that will make the books worth the price.

I agree with the other guy who said that there was only one good story. The Story that Tasslehoff Promised he Would Never, Ever Tell (which is the real name of the story) was spectacular. It captured the mystery behind the lances. Were they magical, or just steel? The ending of the story still leaves this mystery unsolved. That is excellent literature. Another is war machines. It captures the humorous aspect of gnome machinery and a gnome of many working to perfect his life quest. The rest is absolutely terrible. One other note...I expected the Vingaard Campaign to be awesome. It was terrible.

A great book to read if you just can't get enogh of the original DL trilogies. The book is full of fun stories that will give you a little more insight into Kyrnn during the war of the lance.

I did really try to like this one, after all it has a really cool cover right? Those that know my DL reviews are aware that I don't think much of Nancy Varian Beberick's work in the shared fantasy world. But this time I thought I would let all the past over-descriptive romance-fantasies slide and begin anew. Like I said, really cool cover and all.

Well the Lioness was a better outing but sadly still was not a good novel. The writing as a whole has gotten a ton better, no two paragraphs spent on describing how an elf wears their hair in this one. But the plot and structure are still horrid in many regards. Speaking of the structure itself first, I must say it was badly designed. The beginning half is fine, but as the second half moves on it gets more and more rushed, and more and more unreadable. Characters are forgotten and then pop up only to die, plot points are rushed, the last fifty pages ends up being nothing more than a massacre and then no resolutions are made on some of the main character deaths during that massacre.

Next point, the villain. One Skull Knight named Eamutt Thagol. He's a wimp. Oh he's tough on the powerscale, he's got some freaky mentalist powers, but on the villain-o-meter he falls short. That's because he's really only got one thing going for him, wanton brutality. He's not really all that clever, and he just kind of popped up in the overall story line of dragonlance. Other than killing a ton of elves he didn't do a thing and because of that the only fear he gave to the protagonist was death. More so my personal dislike for the character comes from the fact that he was an easy out from having to deal with writing Marshall Medan.

Last, the editing in this novel was horrible. Grammatical errors all over the place, strange wording in parts, and almost no knowledge whatsoever of the overall plotline in dragonlance. The worst such discrepancy was that Senator Rashas, plainly dying in the Puppet King by Douglas Niles set thirty years before the Lioness and even thought of as dead in the War of Souls novels, is alive in this novel. It amazes me how the author, and all the editors could miss such a rather large inconsistency. Also Tanis Half-Elven is thought of as alive as far as ten years after the Chaos War and the Elven Prince Porthius is thought of as dying before his time as well.

FINAL THOUGHT: Some elves die, then some knights die, rinse and repeat for a lackluster novel.

This is a taut, thrilling story, full of action and adventure. It propels the reader along at an ever-intensifying pace to an all-out, satisfying resolution. Well plotted and keenly envisioned. I heartily recommend it for all fans of Dragonlance.

I can't believe no one is publishing this duology (with A Child of Elvish) right now. I had to search all over in used bookstores before I was able to find it. Does that tell me that it's really good because no one wants to part with it or that it's no good and I can't find it because there aren't many copies around?

Personally, I really enjoyed it. The first third or so was a little weakly written, but then Miss Berberick found her stride. Vivid characters, an exciting plot, and just enough hints about a mystery here and there to keep the reader engaged. I found it very difficult to put this book down at night. I would recommend this to any of my fantasy reading friends, but good luck finding a copy.

The whole book is riddled with editorial errors. The errors are so obvious however, you would expect an author to know the simple facts Berberick stuffed up on. For example, Kitiara's surname is Uth Matar, not Majere. Several references in the war of the lance are incorrect also. That aside, Dalamar wasn't developed throughout the book at all. He was the same character from start to finish. All the battle scenes were boring to say the least. I felt none of the tension I usually do when reading a decent dragonlance book. Overall, it was a huge letdown. WotC should have got one of their more competant authors to write the story about one of Krynns favorites. Berberick was involved with desecrating Cryssania's name in "Tears of the Night Sky". She has done it again with "Dalamar the Dark".

I found this book to be very well written. It does a good job of explaining why Dalamar chose the path he did. There are a few errors, but most are just minor like the Majere, Uth Matar error mentioned above, this happened even in Dragons of Summer Flame where Usha is called Jenna, typos nothing more. The majority is set in War of the Lance as it must, and does an extremely good job of describing Lorac's choice as well the forces that pushed Dalamar to the Dark. Overall a very good book.

This was an excellent addition to the Dragonlance canon. Nancy has been writing Dragonlance material for a long time - her short stories are some of the best in the anthologies. This novel traces the development of Dalamar's magical career. Silvanesti, its elves and caste system, are described well. My favorite thing about the novel is the fact that for me it captured the feeling of the early Dragonlance novels. Nancy did a great job in handling the world of Krynn as it was during the War of the Lance, as well as the character of Dalamar himself.