Tim Waggoner

Temple of the Dragonslayer (Dragonlance: The New Adventures, Vol. 1)

Kirsten Simkiss

I really just didn't much care for this book. 

The introductions were fairly good, but every character has one or two personality traits to them and that's it. It makes them feel really flat and hard to relate to, as I feel no one person is so easily simplified to one or two personality traits. We're all a healthy dose of all of them, I think, in different amounts for every individual. The most complex of them all was Nearra, and even then she was just your basic damsel in distress. Sure, she has another personality seemingly stuffed into her, but that personality reveals so little over the course of the book that it's hard to tell what they're like. Obviously, it's implied the other personality isn't nearly as nice as Nearra.

I thought it was really fun having a minotaur as a protagonist. I definitely think of all the characters, he was my favorite. Simple? Absolutely. But also quite fun. How often do you see a minotaur as a good guy?

The plot was very predictable and they spend half their time fighting battles where they're clearly outmatched - yet they seem to always manage to scrape by miraculously. All the characters fit a very overplayed archetype, unfortunately, though it was nice to have a lady knight. Usually, they give that to a male character. Still, none of the stories of these characters seemed particularly original or interesting to me. I mean, I know this is intended to be a kid's series, but come on. The kids reading this are intelligent. Give them the benefit of the doubt.

Overall, it just wasn't my piece of cake. Others may love this, but it was just overly predictable to me.

Temple of the Dragonslayer (Dragonlance: The New Adventures, Vol. 1)

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