Where Dragons Lie

Dragons Trilogy #1

by Rhondi A. Vilott Salsitz

Princess Sharlin, the swordsman Dar, Thurgood the wizard, and Toothpick the dwarf embark on a perilous quest to awaken the legendary Golden Dragon, their sole hope of defeating the evil Nightwing, the Black Dragon

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy

255 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 3, 1985

About the author

Rhondi Ann Vilott Salsitz

She also publishes as:
Anne Knight
Charles Ingrid
Elizabeth Forrest
Emily Drake
Jenna Rhodes
R.A.V. Salsitz
Rhondi Greening
Rhondi Vilott
Rhondi Vilott Salsitz

Reviews

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice entertaining Fantasy read. Enjoyable. Recommended

[River · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my opinion this is classic fantasy done right.

I've come across so many "classic fantasy" that gets caught up in the numerous pitfalls that comes with writing and the genre; under or over-explaining, wooden characters, questionable plot devices, stereotypes, lazy writing, over complicating, etc.

Where Dragons Lie doesn't do any of the above, it throws you into the story immediately with one character fleeing to save their family and kingdom aloft a gryphon's back - what a start! And then leads you to learning of the other characters while taking its time for you to really get to know them. The author hands you tidbits at a time and its up to you to string them together.

There's unintentional humor here; Trader Joe runs a town! Trader Joe's town hah. Also the dialogue, "stand back miss or he'll be barfin on yer boots!" (I apologize for that line without context).

Strangely, as much as I liked the two mains, my favourite was the dwarf seen on the cover, Toothpick. I'd definitely recommend reading this just on the backs of the characters.

Here are some mild spoilers that I wanted to mention, so click if you dare I was sad to see Toothpick die, and though we know Thurgood was facing the end of his life when they came upon him (as did he), I'd hoped the four could continue their journey together. Though they did have a couple cases of getting in each others way, or saying things that divided the group, they all resonated with each other quite well. Also, the fact that Sharlin was from the distant past was a twist I wasn't expecting at all! Time travel wasn't on my radar when picking this one up!

An underrated book, my suggestion is, if you see it in your library or shop, grab it and try this one out!

[Elise T. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've had this book on my shelves since high school, and since my kids accidentally ripped the front cover off it seemed like it was time to finally read it. I probably could have gotten rid of it without ever picking it up, but since I'd drug it through several moves I felt like I needed to give it a shot.
"Where Dragon's Lie" was standard 80s fantasy- main character with hidden past, princess, wizard, and dwarf. Short and not too painful, but utterly forgettable.

[Otis Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

The setup here is a classic D&D style road trip, but with some mighty fun flavor. The big bad in this world is a nasty Black Dragon named Nightwing, who's causin' all kinds of hell. The only hope humanity’s got left is to wake up the legendary Golden Dragon, but nobody knows exactly where the giant critter is nappin'. To fix this mess, a ragtag posse forms up. You got Princess Sharlin, a royal gal who ain't just sittin' around lookin' pretty; a skilled swordsman fella named Dar; an old wizard named Thurgood; and a grumpy dwarf named Toothpick. Together, they gotta trek across dangerous territories, dodge monsters, and find the mystical graveyard where the ancient scaley beasts go to rest—all before Nightwing burns their kingdom down to a crisp. Now, if you’re expectin' something deep and complicated like that Sword of Shadows business we were talkin' about earlier, you're barkin' up the wrong tree. This book is a straight-ahead, popcorn-chompin' fantasy quest. It’s light, it's breezy, and it moves faster than a greased pig at the county fair. Salsitz (who used a whole mess of different pen names back in the day) knows how to write a fun dynamic between her characters. Toothpick the dwarf and Thurgood the wizard bicker like an old married couple, and the adventure has a lot of heart. If you can find a vintage copy with that gorgeous old-school cover art, it’s a sweet, comforting little nostalgia trip that goes down smoother than a glass of sweet tea.

[Glenn Bresciani · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was published in 1985 and is a cheap imitation of the Dragon Lance and Forgotten Realm books that were popular at the time. Poorly written with some great ideas that were a pleasant surprise. A generic fantasy fighter, wizard, princess and dwarf go on a quest to find treasure in a dragon graveyard full of the bleached bones of dead dragons, because the author had to write a book about dragons but couldn't be bothered writing about dragons.
Fun book, but has me wondering if the success of Lord of the Rings was to blame for the market being flooded by Tolkien clones, did the same happen for the Dungeons & Dragons brand? Did small publishers try to cash in on D&D popularity and publish cheap imitations? can anyone suggest any books?

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very slow read in the beginning, but when it revved up it went quickly. I really liked the different fantasy creatures such as the Pallan race and the unique take on dragon rebirth that is spelled out through the book. The different types of sea serpents and dragon like creatures were really cool too.
I really liked the magic system too that showed the sorcery is evil not with standing who used it. How it corrupts you, but can be overcome with the right connection with people.
One of the few fantasy books that paced well and I felt like I was reading an intriguing story that felt like a movie. Although, the love relationship felt pretty out of nowhere and kinda weird. Not the worst one I've read, but didnt feel earned until the very end.

[Jolyne Toderian · Rating 4 out of 5]

While it wasn’t an "incredible" book, it outperformed a lot of similar books with similar feels at the time. It had depth and interesting characters, unique worldbuilding that wouldnt be too alien to understand for the average reader, and quite solid prose - not complex, but not quite bland either. All together a hidden gem that is worth the read.

[James]

Princess Sharlin, the swordsman Dar, Thurgood the wizard, and Toothpick the dwarf embark on a perilous quest to awaken the legendary Golden Dragon, their sole hope of defeating the evil Nightwing, the Black Dragon

[V]

I picked this up at a dollar book sale because I thought it might be fun and the sentence-level writing looked good. But so far, the action scenes have been muddled and confusing and the plot rather cliche.