Stronghold (Dragon Star, #1) by Melanie Rawn

Stronghold (Dragon Star, #1) Reviews

• 
  Sarah Mac

  I read all the Sunrunner novels when I was a teenager. I remember tucking them into my backpack to escape lunch period...and math class...and chemistry...and biology. What can I say. High school & I didn't get along. >___>
  
  To be honest, I can't speak as to their quality aside from nostalgic value -- but when I was clearing out my collection of accumulated fantasy paperbacks, I put all six aside as keepers. This particular book is the first one I read. Exact details escape me, but there was a lot of family baggage & likable characters doing unlikable things (rather soapy compared to most sword-and-sorcery novels, IIRC) & someone died when I wasn't expecting it -- a punch in the gut for impressionable teenage eyes. I remember dashing back to the store & buying #2 right away. All six contained adultery, family melodrama, unrequited lurve, & questionable actions on the part of heroes -- surely a prelude to my love for trashy 70s bodice rippers. :P
  
  Anyway, for nerdy sentimental reasons the Dragon Star trilogy holds a special place in my heart. All six installments were entertaining, but I remember thinking the second series -- this one -- was superior. Someday I need to revisit them & see how they hold up.
• 
  Sarah

  This book really is the culmination of all the previous three. The earlier books have all their own charms and worth, but Stronghold is where it all makes complete sense. The children succeeding their parents, the bonds and rivalries formed through the events of the previous books, all that explodes forth by the end of this book in a real triumph of epic fantasy writing.
  
  Yes, the book has its issues. Mel is obsessed with being skinny and being intelligent, anyone who isn't is demonised. Poor Meiglan, everyone treats her like complete trash! Pol knows she is terrified of dragons and hides it for him - well then why not tell her that you know she's scared and that she doesn't have to put on a brave face for her husband? And when she quite rightly flees her father so he can't use her and the twins as hostages, he yells at her. Clearly she wouldn't flee her home in the middle of the night for no reason, how about you treat her with concern and sympathy when she arrives exhausted and terrified? ARGH. And the internal monologue Tobin has about her during the siege for Stronghold ("timid doe", "boring", it goes on...) - absolutely disgusting. Tobin is usually a much better person than that, which made it even more infuriating.
  
  But those niggles aside, this book is full of so much win and so much heartbreak. The way Mel can make you mourn for a character you've only known for a few pages almost as much as one you've known for 4 books is masterful. And ah, that final scene. I love the way the pace and the cadence of the writing changes when Sioned goes looking for Rohan in those final few pages. And I'd never noticed before the time Rohan spends in the Flametower just before, thinking about his father's death and about how Pol's fire will burn there one day. Somehow I can't believe I never saw his death coming the first time. Poor Sioned :(
• 
  Aldi

  Wow. I have to admit the middle years (i.e. Star Scroll & Sunrunner's Fire) have lost a bit of their shine for me over the years, but as with Dragon Prince, Stronghold yanked me right back into the middle of things, and by "things", I mean delicious, delicious heartbreak. I think the Dragon Star series is definitely where MR's talent for epic, continent-spanning narration comes in - the war takes us all over the princedoms and it's amazing how much you can feel for characters whose plot is either extremely back-burnered (Idalian & Tirel, Kostas, Rihani, Chayla & Rohannon) or who we even only meet once (Latham & Hevatia). The vignette style that often fails in MR's later works absolutely works here. Again, there are things I see differently on this reread, characters I used to sympathise with and now don't (Tilal, Gemma, Alasen - ugh), and vice versa (I adore Meiglan and want to kick everyone who thinks her a coward in the face!), loyalties that have shifted and old loves that have not (Andry Andry Andry). Honestly half the time I spend reading these books I'm either devastated or so furious I'm grinding my teeth! ;) But that's a good thing - these characters still engage my emotions fiercely.
  
  Two books to go! I need more tissues.
• 
  Sideshowrob

  I read this originally when I was in middle school, and it has stayed in my collection and been re-read several times. I adore this series, such strong characters and strong family relationships - something I think stuck with me forever as ideal ;-) I love the magic aspect, the dragons, the names of the characters, the game of thrones, this to me is an epic fantasy series.
• 
  David

  I bought these a while back but didn't get around to reading them until now. I still fondly recall the original trilogy and this book managed successfully to recapture that nostalgic feeling.
  
  The author's strong characterisation is again very evident in this book. You get inside the heads of many major characters and get to see their motivations and things from different perspectives. Granted, the years between my reading of the trilogies has diluted my memories to the point that I can't really comment on whether there were any behavioural deviations (still, the fact that decades have passed more than excuses any inconsistencies).
  
  The plot starts off slow and meandering, letting the reader savour the fruits of Rohan's labour, of the long-lasting peace that had been forged. Once the raiders arrive, the plot picks up speed and never lets off, all the way to a sad ending. I applaud Melanie Rawn for daring to kill off quite a few major characters along the way.
  
  There's one thing that sort of irked me though. I loved the prose and how all the perspective jumps were done smoothly, but I can't wrap my head around the military engagements. I guess I'm not convinced that the author was in familiar ground; most of the sieges and battles felt unrealistic. But, suspending disbelief, most of these situations seem to serve the cause of character development.
  
  It was definitely an enjoyable read, making me recall the events in the first trilogy. The finale is a cliffhanger though, albeit a logical one. The enemy is still faceless in the sense that you still have no idea who they are and what they want. This book is definitely meant as a bridge from the first trilogy; to transition readers into a new state of reality.
  
• 
  Amanda R

  Lovely way to spend Christmas, lost in one of my favorite books!
  
  *************
  
  Update, March 2021: Having read this book forty thousand times, I'm not going to write a whole review here, just some thoughts I had while reading. Spoilers ahead!
  
  * It would be so great if anyone treated Meiglan like an adult.
  * I absolutely love how Meiglan is written. Her POV is one of the most interesting in all six books, especially on the odd occasion when we get the same event through her eyes and again through someone else's. I find that I appreciate her more and more as I get older.
  * It's great how Melanie managed write characters with such a broad range of likeability, from the heroes (Rohan, Sioned, Chay, Tobin), to the perfectly loveable minor characters (Tallain, Kazander, Ostvel, Rislyn), to the characters who are fine but kind of annoying (Tilal, Rialt, Mevita, Jihan), to the monsters (Chiana, Rinhoel). The ones in that third category are the most interesting to me, even though I don't always like hanging out with them. Take Riyan, for example. There's nothing overtly wrong with him but I've always found him mildly irritating. They're all just so REAL.
  * Pol sucks but AFAIK he's never committed genocide or deliberately gotten anyone pregnant without their knowledge, so.
  * It is not possible to read the last few pages without crying.
• 
  Josephine McNabb

  Pol and Meiglan have a family all of their own. They are grown up. Pol is spoiled, lazy and very happy. Meiglan annoyed me a bit at first, but I think I'm coming around.
  
  Pol should have believed his dragon and Audry makes me want to injure him slowly and painfully! Does he think only he can stop the coming invasion? Well he can't! So he can just nicely get off his high horse and sit down.
  
  Once the invaders attack, Pol and Rohan argue about how it should be handled. This causes strain for everyone (and it was painful to read!). Then Pol starts to annoy me again, I can see where he's coming from but to get so wrapped up in all of it and FORGET ABOUT HIS WIFE FOR CHAPTERS AT A TIME!!!!! I was insulted on Meiglan's behalf. Sioned does her best to ease the tension between them as it tears her up inside (still love Sioned).
  
  Audry sits at Goddesses Keep being all "look at me, I'm so powerful, all sorcerers must die". Sit down and be quiet! You are not helping!
  
  Then... The end... It all happened so fast... All the death and destruction. It makes for an amazingly emotional read.
• 
  Alex

  The very first fantasy/sci fi story I ever read. Unforgettable, addicting and amazing.
• 
  Cindy Cunningham

  I enjoy this author a great deal!
• 
  Helen Corcoran

  ROHAN. :(
  
  Pol's in charge now.
  
  That's a bit worrying.
  
  *weeps and despairs*
  
• 
  Jim Pike

  All I can really say is, I was in tears at the end.
• 
  Victoria

  This is the 4th in a series or the 1st in a second trilogy depending on your perspective I guess. Some say it's best as the beginning of a trilogy, some say it should have been the 4th in a series of 6.
  
  I can understand why some prefer this as the beginning of a new trilogy but I think it should be the 4th in the series.
  
  To just start with this book is no different than starting a book series in the middle. As in all series characters reappear. Without reading the first trilogy you'll miss the detailed character building which is really necessary to understand their motivations and interactions with each other.
  
  There are a lot of characters and the author sometimes goes off on little tangents into each character's thoughts, heritage, relatives and other semi unrelated details. The author does manage to remember she's writing a larger story with bigger characters though and returns to the main story.
  
  Readers should be warned that the author Melanie Rawn is similar to George R. R. Martin in that she isn't afraid to kill off main characters. Having said that, this book has some emotionally wrenching scenes, especially if you had followed the series, as I suggest above since Dragon Prince, book 1 of the first series (trilogy).
  
  In this book, Stronghold, Rawn has brought the plot to a deeper dimension, that makes the "crises" of the first series (trilogy) seem minor. She had brought us from the micro level of that world, with succession disputes and politics, to the macro level, where war could mean complete destruction of what the characters had known for all their lives... their heritage, the dragons, their species.
  
  The plot developments were extremely engaging, and as destruction looms over the land, you find yourself cheering or despairing with each character in the face of such insurmountable challenges. High Prince Rohan's and his wife Sioned's strength, passion and loyalty is admirable, but they have their weaknesses too, that you have grown to know so well (if you followed the first series) that your heart goes out to them when they are defeated at each turn, by obstacles big or small.
  
  The new characters introduced here were engaging on their own, but what struck me most is the reality that Melanie Rawn injects into her stories. Mortality is very real, and it tears at your heartstrings to see the characters fall in battle, or in sickness or some nefarious manner. It's not just the bad guys who die, but the good guys and the innocent ones too sometimes in a spectacular manner.
  
  There are some characters that are very annoying. Rohan's son Pol refuses to understand why his father does the things he does. Pol's wife Meglyn is also annoying in that she's a very weak and always scared addition to the story. I really disliked that the author wrote her in such a way. I can't see Meglyn surviving being married to the next High Prince of all the land but I guess we'll see if she does.
  
  One of Rohan's and Pol's biggest arguments is their different way of fighting an enemy. After one mega battle Rohan swore to hang up his sword and never touch it again. Because the way Rohan rules his kingdom there has been no war so there's no need for Rohan to fight with his sword. But now with attackers at their doorstep everyone, including Rohan have to fight. Pol wants to take action immediately while Rohan's style is to wait and see if and what action is necessary.
  
  War has come to the kingdom in this book. But who or what these attackers are is unclear. Confusing and frustrating to me is that Rawn keeps them vague and ambiguous. We are not told who they are, where they're from or even their ultimate goal. Why are they attacking? And why do they utterly destroy some cities while leaving others unscathed? Perhaps these are questions to be answered in the next book.
  
  I cried at the last few pages of the book for some of the characters in this book and it felt as if I was crying for a friend whom I had known for a long time. Unfortunately, to the reader, these deaths basically have to happen so the next generation can step into their destiny. It still feels like losing a close friend though. Happily though there are 2 more books written in this trilogy that will tell how the characters manage after their losses as well as who wins the ultimate battle.
  
  Melanie Rawn is, IMO, an underrated and largely overlooked author in the fantasy genre. She writes some vivid, detailed and exciting scenes in addition to thought provoking dialog which any fan of the fantasy genre would enjoy.
• 
  Jonathan

  The world carefully crafted by the author in the first trilogy (The Dragon Prince) is unraveling. An overwhelming invading force of mysterious barbarians invades the lands. Internal strife between the next generation of leaders threatens any successful defense. And a heart-rending twist in the final pages leaves the reader stunned and bereft. Any reader will be left desperately craving for hope in the next book of this deep, compelling saga.
• 
  Drew Patrick Smith

  
  From the PFS Book Club...
  
  What I Liked: In books, you rarely get to see your big, favorite characters fail. One of the things I love about Rawn is that she is willing to mercilessly kill off major characters (there are several in this book, including one at the end that is likely to shock any reader of the previous series) and she's also not afraid of allowing her characters to be complete idiots and screw things up. Several beloved characters do very stupid things in this book, allowing all sorts of possibilities for the future.
  
  Another strong trait here is how fast Rawn moves the plot once she gets past the opening section. The moment those dragon ships arrive, things move along at a fantastic pace, with each moment ratcheting up the tension and heading towards a big finish. And, fantastically enough, when the climax comes, it's completely unexpected, especially for your standard fantasy trilogy.
  
  What I Didn't Like: This book simply can't stand on its own. While I understand it's part of a trilogy, so I'm willing to forgive the abrupt (though amazing) ending, new readers thinking this is the first part of a new series will likely hate the book. Our main characters don't even appear until Chapter 4, and even fans of the series have several newer characters to deal with (a lot of them were children the last time we saw them). There's too much going on for a new reader to really be able to hang onto the details.
  
  Also, the book's opening is atrocious and the structure of the novel is lacking. While Rawn does her standard jumps between characters and POV, there doesn't seem as much rhyme or reason in this book. She spends far too long (and too frequent) with sojourns into minor characters' heads, including those who are simply reported dead by other characters pages later. It weakens the novel as a whole.
  
  The other major issue is the faceless nature of the enemies. While they are related to the enemies of previous books, there's no reason given for the war and the reader sees so little definition of the enemies' character that they might as well just be evil personified. There's no character to them - they're just a horde of nebulous bad guys. For a writer known for her shades of gray, this is disappointing.
  
  Last Thought: A strong entry marred by some glaring problems that's probably best left to fans of the first trilogy (like me).
• 
  Alyssa Nelson

  I made the mistake of reading this even though I haven't finished the Dragon Prince trilogy. Due to that, there were some plot points of the previous trilogy that I'm sure were ruined, and I was thoroughly confused for the first 100 pages or so. It didn't help that those pages were also incredibly, incredibly slow. The family tree and character list at the end of the book really helped, and after the first 100 pages, I got the gist of who everyone was.
  
  As with most high fantasies, Stronghold takes some time to get going, but once it does, it's impossible to put down. My first love is high fantasy, and it's due to this incredible payoff that they give. It takes a lot of patience to get through the beginning, but the endings are always fantastic for all the setting-up that we have to deal with.
  
  This novel deals with a nation that has been spoiled with a couple decades of peace suddenly being overrun by "barbarian" invaders intent on taking them over. As with most books that deal with war, there's a huge struggle between Rohan, aged war veteran who goes for patience and not attacking until he has to, and Pol, his son who's desperate to prove himself as High Prince and warrior. Lots of violence, lots of death, but not gratuitous violence. It's not done for shock value, but rather for a realistic depiction of what war is.
  
  What I've always admired about Rawn is her ruthlessness to her characters. They're given tough choices and touch circumstances. It's not fluffy by any means, so they have a chance to really grow and change, which always makes for interesting reading. She also has no problem with spending ages and ages creating characters, giving them a history, background, family, etc., and then killing them off three books later. Again, it gives the feel of a war. For readers of the Dragon Prince trilogy, there are some hard deaths to take. It's really tough reading about these characters go from peaceful happiness to once again fighting a war.
  
  The ending is a bit of a cliffhanger, and I'm glad I have the second book at hand so I can see what's going to happen next. For fans of high fantasy, if you haven't yet come across Melanie Rawn, I would definitely suggest you give her a try. (Start with Dragon Prince, and don't go near her Ruins of Ambrai series. It's unfinished and will probably remain so.) For those who have already read the Dragon Prince trilogy, pick this one up. It's a definite must-read.
• 
  Lana

  the invasion of rohan's continent by the barbarians sees the end of all rohan and sioned believed in and worked so hard to bring about - peace! war reigns and its so brutal, the invaders want only to wipe all the people out but they are interested in the desert for some reason! hence the castles bordering the desert are left intact but what do they want from the desert? and will andry and pol not be able to put their differences and jealousies behind them in order to work together to save what their parents worked so hard to acquire? this book brings about the end of an era and maybe the beginning of another or does it? will Pol be able to reign once again in peace?
• 
  Heather

  A very exciting return to the world of Dragon Prince after the first trilogy.
  
  Here a brand new enemy is introduced but ties in nicely with the first three books.
  
  There are a number of new engaging characters as well as our old favorites although readers my not like what happens to some of them in this and the subsequent books. The world is plunged into war seemingly overnight and nobody's life will be the same.
• 
  Natalie Lozano

  Every time I re read the Dragon Prince series and the Dragon star series, I am reminded of how much I love Melanie Rawn's storytelling. The characters are so vivid to me. So much so that the book lingers with me for a little bit. I am left missing the characters until I read about them again. My only complaint. I wish they would all be released in E-book as well. The fat books get hard to hold in my bad hands.
• 
  Markus

  This book is the first in the Dragon Star Saga. Taking place after the Dragon Prince Trilogy again it starts out to be a very politically oriented story line but turns into a great saga. The story keep your attention and takes you into a world of High Princes, Sunrunner Magick and Evil Sorcery. It is a good read for any dragon and fantacy lover.
• 
  Dawn

  I love medieval fantasy and this was a great story of it's type. I did not read the previous series set in this world but after only reading the first book in this trilogy I already have plans to. The setting was well written and the characters engaging. The bad guys are mysterious and very evil, always a favorite for me.
  I'm happy to have found another great fantasy author.
• 
  Anita

  This is the follow up trilogy to the Dragon Prince and gives us the stories of the next generation who faces internal strife and political intrigue as well as invaders. This really tied into the first trilogy very well.
• 
  Jennifer

  Deprimerend. Alle karakters die in de vorige serie eindelijk allerlei problemen overwonnen hadden, worden hier weer geconfronteerd met een hele nieuwe set problemen. Darker & Edgier en Anyone can die.
  
  Desondanks blijft het fascineren.
• 
  Diana

  This is the series that first introduced me to fantasy fiction. (Thank you Faith Mehler) Every couple of years I go back and re-read it just to make sure it's as good as I remember. It never disappoints.
• 
  Joanna

  Book One of a sweeping saga of romance, intrigue, and adventure. I adored every one of the six novels that make up this world.
• 
  Rachel

  The Dragon Star trilogy takes up where the Dragon Prince trilogy ended. More swords, dragons, magic coming your way, as Pol, the son of Rohan and Sioned, steps up to the plate.
• 
  Astrila

  I love this series. The intricacies of the politics and plots get you totally immersed. I've read the whole series at least twice.
• 
  Jesse

  Okay, this is a good book. A bit of a downer compaired to the last series...but good.