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The Bronze Canticles #1
Mystinen soturi
Suositun Dragonlance-sarjan luoja Tracy Hickman aloittaa ensimmäisen oman fantasiasarjansa – Pronssikronikat.
On olemassa kolme maailmaa, jotka ovat yhteydessä keskenään vain unien kautta.
Ensimmäisessä maailmassa keijut kärsivät sodassa kentaurien ja satyyrien laumoja vastaan.
Toisessa hiidet etsivät raunioista kadonneiden titaanien jälkeensä jättämiä koneita ja niiden osia.
Ja kolmannessa maailmassa ihmisiä ja kääpiöitä hallitsevat kuolemattomat lohikäärmeet. Niitä tottelevat papit pitävät ihmisiä vallassaan poimimalla hullut ja hulluiksi epäillyt vuosittain järjestettävästä juhlasta, Valinnasta, huostaansa eikä heistä kuulla enää mitään sen jälkeen.
Kun papit vievät nuoren sepän Galen Arvadin pois lähtevät hänen vaimonsa ja kääpiö Cephas vangitun sepän perään pelastaakseen hänet.
On olemassa kolme maailmaa, jotka ovat yhteydessä keskenään vain unien kautta.
Ensimmäisessä maailmassa keijut kärsivät sodassa kentaurien ja satyyrien laumoja vastaan.
Toisessa hiidet etsivät raunioista kadonneiden titaanien jälkeensä jättämiä koneita ja niiden osia.
Ja kolmannessa maailmassa ihmisiä ja kääpiöitä hallitsevat kuolemattomat lohikäärmeet. Niitä tottelevat papit pitävät ihmisiä vallassaan poimimalla hullut ja hulluiksi epäillyt vuosittain järjestettävästä juhlasta, Valinnasta, huostaansa eikä heistä kuulla enää mitään sen jälkeen.
Kun papit vievät nuoren sepän Galen Arvadin pois lähtevät hänen vaimonsa ja kääpiö Cephas vangitun sepän perään pelastaakseen hänet.
446 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2004
65 people are currently reading
1426 people want to read
About the author
Tracy Hickman
452 books2,725 followersNYT Best-selling fantasy authors Tracy Hickman, with his wife Laura, began their journey across the 'Sea of Possibilities' as the creators of 'Dragonlance' and their voyage continues into new areas with the 'Drakis' trilogy, 'Wayne of Gotham', a Batman novel for DC Comics and his
'Dragon's Bard' collector's series
. Tracy has over fifty books currently in print in most languages around the world. A record of both Tracy and Laura's DNA currently orbits on the international space station and he is the writer and editor of the first science-fiction movie actually filmed in space. Follow us on
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 75 reviews
May 31, 2017
3 stars is a bit generous, but it is an interesting premise. 3 unique, if narrowly described worlds that are mysteriously connected. I'd like to learn more about it in the other 2 books of the trilogy, but I can't take the writing any more. The characters are flat, too conveniently ignorant, stubborn, or stupid depending on what's needed. The dialogue is awful. There's not too much repetition, but enough that it's annoying.
Years ago, I read some of the Dragon Lance books & liked them. IIRC, the Dark Sword trilogy was very good, if depressing. There was also a fun space opera trilogy with blood swords & fighter rockets or something. I read all of those in paperback, so could skim as needed. I can't do that with an audio book. Also, I was able to enjoy regurgitated tropes, but no longer. I think I'll stay away from Hickman from now on. He's fallen into the same category as Simon R. Greene. Fun ideas, but I just can't take the delivery any more.
Years ago, I read some of the Dragon Lance books & liked them. IIRC, the Dark Sword trilogy was very good, if depressing. There was also a fun space opera trilogy with blood swords & fighter rockets or something. I read all of those in paperback, so could skim as needed. I can't do that with an audio book. Also, I was able to enjoy regurgitated tropes, but no longer. I think I'll stay away from Hickman from now on. He's fallen into the same category as Simon R. Greene. Fun ideas, but I just can't take the delivery any more.
February 20, 2017
A very short review since this book has been out for a long time and I'm sure there are plenty of reviews on it. I thought the world was interesting enough to bump this up to 2 stars. There's kind of a weird multiple universe sort of thing with overlapping magic that I would be interested in exploring further, but all the characters fell super flat for me. I don't care about any of them and it's almost to the point where most of them actively annoy me. If I hadn't been borrowed this book to read, it would have been a DNF. The world/magic just wasn't explored enough to get over how much I wanted to smack all of the characters.
April 3, 2011
Mystic Warrior is a tale of three different worlds. All of them occupy the same space, but on a different plane, and communication between these worlds is only possible for certain people through what appear to be dreams. On the faerie world, the inhabitants are under attack from hordes of satyrs and centaurs as their way of life is threatened. On another, goblins scour the countryside looking for ancient machines that can be made to work, especially signs of the old Titans who inhabited the land before goblinkind.
On the human dominated world, Galen (the main character) is a master ironworker along with the dwarf Cephas, who runs the forge. Each year, the local religion runs what they call an "election," where people who have some form of insanity are magically brought out and taken away. Galen has had objects talking to him for years, but he has managed to avoid being present for the Election and has thus been passed over. Not this year, however. Taken away from his loving wife and his livelihood, he is forced into a war between five dragons who have marshaled their forces for 400 years, fighting insignificant battles over nothing. But Galen discovers that the "insanity" that made him one of the elect which is actually a form of magic, a magic linking all the worlds together, allowing one of the faeries, the "winged woman" of his supposed dreams, to aid him. But will he survive long enough to learn what this magic is?
The book slowly starts to merge the storylines as the book wears on. At first, each story has its own chapter, using the chapter breaks to jump to something else. As things become more tightly entwined, the breaks are more frenetic, jumping three or four times per chapter and ramping up the tension. This effectively darkens the mood as we come closer to understanding how everything links together. The pacing of the book is really nicely done in that sense.
The problem is with some of the characterization. It wasn't necessarily bad, but it wasn't that interesting either. Galen tended to whine a lot right after he was selected, and while that may be understandable in real life, it's not that interesting to read about. Tragget, the Inquisitor of one of the dragon's religions, and the person who saw Galen in his dreams, is a bit more intriguing, but the political fighting within the church just became boring. It picks up when you start to learn the secret behind the religions, especially how all of the dragons interact. After that, the book grabs you and doesn't let you go.
It's a shame that the beginning is such a struggle, as Mystic Warrior would be a first-rate book otherwise, and one I would recommend whole-heartedly. Instead, it's just a very good book.
On the human dominated world, Galen (the main character) is a master ironworker along with the dwarf Cephas, who runs the forge. Each year, the local religion runs what they call an "election," where people who have some form of insanity are magically brought out and taken away. Galen has had objects talking to him for years, but he has managed to avoid being present for the Election and has thus been passed over. Not this year, however. Taken away from his loving wife and his livelihood, he is forced into a war between five dragons who have marshaled their forces for 400 years, fighting insignificant battles over nothing. But Galen discovers that the "insanity" that made him one of the elect which is actually a form of magic, a magic linking all the worlds together, allowing one of the faeries, the "winged woman" of his supposed dreams, to aid him. But will he survive long enough to learn what this magic is?
The book slowly starts to merge the storylines as the book wears on. At first, each story has its own chapter, using the chapter breaks to jump to something else. As things become more tightly entwined, the breaks are more frenetic, jumping three or four times per chapter and ramping up the tension. This effectively darkens the mood as we come closer to understanding how everything links together. The pacing of the book is really nicely done in that sense.
The problem is with some of the characterization. It wasn't necessarily bad, but it wasn't that interesting either. Galen tended to whine a lot right after he was selected, and while that may be understandable in real life, it's not that interesting to read about. Tragget, the Inquisitor of one of the dragon's religions, and the person who saw Galen in his dreams, is a bit more intriguing, but the political fighting within the church just became boring. It picks up when you start to learn the secret behind the religions, especially how all of the dragons interact. After that, the book grabs you and doesn't let you go.
It's a shame that the beginning is such a struggle, as Mystic Warrior would be a first-rate book otherwise, and one I would recommend whole-heartedly. Instead, it's just a very good book.
August 24, 2023
DNF - I listened to the audiobook. Nothing interesting happens until ~1.5 hours in (the ending of Chapter 4). Even then, it wasn't ~that~ interesting, and I had no desire to continue with the story. There wasn't anything that made me care about the main character. He sees/hears things and has a hard-on for his wife. There's a blind dwarf that's not really blind and is good at working with metal. The wife is shallow enough to be extremely mad that her husband didn't wear a matching shirt but then cares so much that she's willing to run away from her father to chase after her husband when the priestess takes him.
January 7, 2024
7.5/10
The first book of The Bronze Canticles introduces us to the three linked worlds of the faeries (and other magical creatures), the goblins (and many mechanical objects and creatures), and humans (and dragons). The main characters in each world are struggling to find safety, truth, and a better understanding of the magic they discover. Because they don’t fully understand how the magic works and its consequences, neither does the reader, which was frustrating. Themes of love, loyalty, ambition, and power run through the narrative.
The first book of The Bronze Canticles introduces us to the three linked worlds of the faeries (and other magical creatures), the goblins (and many mechanical objects and creatures), and humans (and dragons). The main characters in each world are struggling to find safety, truth, and a better understanding of the magic they discover. Because they don’t fully understand how the magic works and its consequences, neither does the reader, which was frustrating. Themes of love, loyalty, ambition, and power run through the narrative.
October 15, 2025
3.5/5 ⭐rounded up to 4. It got better towards the end. I happened upon the sequel in a box of free books so I figured I'd give the series a go.
December 28, 2007
It has been a while since I have read a book which so heavily depended on a sequel to continue its story lines. And I have to say, it is really annoying! Nothing is resolved really and hardly anything makes any sense yet. That being said, it is an interesting direction that the Hickman's took for this set of worlds, I'm not familiar with any works that function like this. True, it does bear some resemblance to Weis and Hickman's Death Gate Cycle in the different worlds, but a unified world as the origin of magic is something not seen before.
The characters generally have a good beginning for development. The goblins are a little over simplified and flat but that is only to be expected as they are portrayed with a lower intelligence. Tragget's personality is the only one that didn't make much sense especially towards the end. The twists and turns are unexpected but not unexplained providing excellent storytelling and the attentive reader may be able to see the patterns that exist between the worlds which will likely be more fully explained in later novels.
The characters generally have a good beginning for development. The goblins are a little over simplified and flat but that is only to be expected as they are portrayed with a lower intelligence. Tragget's personality is the only one that didn't make much sense especially towards the end. The twists and turns are unexpected but not unexplained providing excellent storytelling and the attentive reader may be able to see the patterns that exist between the worlds which will likely be more fully explained in later novels.
July 29, 2016
Do you like dream sequences? Then have I got the book for you! Anyway, this is about a human named Galen who can hear inanimate objects talk. This is widely seen as insanity, and one day he is whisked away in an annual ceremony (which he has thus far been able to avoid) where he learns the horrible truth about what happens to the crazies. Meanwhile, he connects via dreams to a faerie named Dwynwyn and a goblin named Mimic, and nobody's quite sure what the dragons are up to. There's a whole lot going on, and a ridiculous amount of worldbuilding to keep up with (complete with footnotes), and all in all I wasn't too interested. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't particularly memorable either. It was more something to pass the time than an engaging fantasy experience. I won't bother with the rest of the trilogy.
A note on the audio: The narrator was great, but it's not clear why the fairies all had vaguely Mexican-sounding accents and the goblins all sounded like a cross between Jimmy Stewart and Don Knotts.
A note on the audio: The narrator was great, but it's not clear why the fairies all had vaguely Mexican-sounding accents and the goblins all sounded like a cross between Jimmy Stewart and Don Knotts.
April 22, 2013
An interesting premise based on Mystics who have dreams that cross dimensional realms where they either go mad or find they can tap into the magic of metaphor. Their world is ruled by dragons who have made themselves their gods and; as is typical with religion, it's dirty secrets are horrific.
The writing is continually engaging and the mystery of what is really happening is dangled far enough ahead to keep you reading. THe protagonist is in denial of his real and considerable power, having lost all he loved when he was declared insane by the human religious leaders of the Dragon's "religion."
The writing is continually engaging and the mystery of what is really happening is dangled far enough ahead to keep you reading. THe protagonist is in denial of his real and considerable power, having lost all he loved when he was declared insane by the human religious leaders of the Dragon's "religion."
March 22, 2010
A truly strange setting with three linked worlds overlapping each other in weird and frightening ways. Definitely an interesting fantasy read.
October 8, 2019
Tarinan lähtökohta ja maailmat piirteineen vaikuttavat lupaavilta, mutta tarinankerronta on kankeaa ja tökkii melko pahasti.
February 18, 2025
I'm a fan of Tracy Hickman; the work he did on Dragonlance and other things with Margaret Weis is pretty great and was pretty formative for me. But this one was a harder path for me.
It's an interesting world (or worlds) that the Hickmans have set up here, with a lot of potential lore and interesting a very different conflicts and styles depending on which dimension you're operating in. But a little too much of this (with the footnotes and all) reads more like an rpg manual rather than as a connected novel, with lore dumps that don't feel very organic. The goblin world gets rather short shrift...but it also the least interesting and compelling, partly because it's very hard to be interested in or care much about any character there outside of Mimic. It feels like it's supposed to be three important and equal worlds, but in reality it's not as far as the narrative goes.
I'm not sure I'm enjoying the "insane hero" aspect very much as it goes for Galen and his comrades in The Elect; the crazy wizard trope is a tough one to navigate (and one that Hickman has explored before, more than once). There's frequently a lack of realism attached to it, or the character just becomes annoying and obnoxious. There's a fair bit of that here, and it's not all that great. One of the more compelling characters is Rhea, the devoted wife pretending to be crazy to stay with and try and protect her husband Maddoc. She's more interesting than Galen in a lot of ways, and when you're ostensible lead isn't all that great, it drags the book down somewhat.
Tragget is even less successful to me: his characterization feels inconsistent to me, vacillating between someone interested in escaping his life and exploring his potential powers and slavish devotion to his mother's cause. He's kind of a mess, and he's definitely an asshole, so again: hardly someone we want to spend time with.
The faerie Dwynwyn is probably the most interesting and most complete character, but that's a relatively small part of the book. Her part of the novel is fairly well-constructed and interesting: she's trying to figure out a solution to a massive problem and the ways she's working through it are actually interesting and mystical and original. I think she's the best part of the book, whether she's attempting to comprehend Galen and his world, find solutions in her world, or wherever. But she's only part of the book.
Not sure I'm going on with this one, was kind of disappointing. The worldbuilding is pretty strong, but the narrative is less great.
It's an interesting world (or worlds) that the Hickmans have set up here, with a lot of potential lore and interesting a very different conflicts and styles depending on which dimension you're operating in. But a little too much of this (with the footnotes and all) reads more like an rpg manual rather than as a connected novel, with lore dumps that don't feel very organic. The goblin world gets rather short shrift...but it also the least interesting and compelling, partly because it's very hard to be interested in or care much about any character there outside of Mimic. It feels like it's supposed to be three important and equal worlds, but in reality it's not as far as the narrative goes.
I'm not sure I'm enjoying the "insane hero" aspect very much as it goes for Galen and his comrades in The Elect; the crazy wizard trope is a tough one to navigate (and one that Hickman has explored before, more than once). There's frequently a lack of realism attached to it, or the character just becomes annoying and obnoxious. There's a fair bit of that here, and it's not all that great. One of the more compelling characters is Rhea, the devoted wife pretending to be crazy to stay with and try and protect her husband Maddoc. She's more interesting than Galen in a lot of ways, and when you're ostensible lead isn't all that great, it drags the book down somewhat.
Tragget is even less successful to me: his characterization feels inconsistent to me, vacillating between someone interested in escaping his life and exploring his potential powers and slavish devotion to his mother's cause. He's kind of a mess, and he's definitely an asshole, so again: hardly someone we want to spend time with.
The faerie Dwynwyn is probably the most interesting and most complete character, but that's a relatively small part of the book. Her part of the novel is fairly well-constructed and interesting: she's trying to figure out a solution to a massive problem and the ways she's working through it are actually interesting and mystical and original. I think she's the best part of the book, whether she's attempting to comprehend Galen and his world, find solutions in her world, or wherever. But she's only part of the book.
Not sure I'm going on with this one, was kind of disappointing. The worldbuilding is pretty strong, but the narrative is less great.
June 23, 2023
While the societies and magic systems should have been sufficiently complex and intricate enough to hold my interest, the pacing of this book is a major issue. The story of the main character is compelling, however I found it to be broken up by too many things to become truly invested.
While it was a fascinating lore experience to have access to excerpts of world-building writing (in this case religious texts) the story was lost in the influx of information.
Upon reaching the first *exciting* plot point, the authors (or perhaps the editor, either way it was a shame) chose to rip our attention away to explore the meandering establishment of a completely different character. While not uncommon, this book did not time it well. It happened too early, before sufficient understanding of the main character and the plot had been reached, and the other side of the story went on for too long and was too subdued in its wake. Upon returning to the main plot both the weight of the stakes and the sense of urgency I once felt had lost their grip on me. I found myself more frustrated than curious.
I gave it a true chance because this book has every element of something I would adore for many, many years. It's with a bit of a broken heart that I have to admit I put it down in favor of a different story. It felt so Sisyphean to read that I found I didn't have any energy to read *at all*. A rather significant issue for me, unfortunately.
It's worth a try if you're in the mood for substantial exposition before the plot begins (I know some are, in which case this book would be fantastic all around), but I find I prefer a bit more of a conspiratorial experience with the authors I read. It's amazing what a reader can pick up along the way from the details an author *doesn't* include, or at least hasn't included *yet*.
It is likely I will attempt to read this book again at some point in the future. For now though, I've set it down unfinished.
While it was a fascinating lore experience to have access to excerpts of world-building writing (in this case religious texts) the story was lost in the influx of information.
Upon reaching the first *exciting* plot point, the authors (or perhaps the editor, either way it was a shame) chose to rip our attention away to explore the meandering establishment of a completely different character. While not uncommon, this book did not time it well. It happened too early, before sufficient understanding of the main character and the plot had been reached, and the other side of the story went on for too long and was too subdued in its wake. Upon returning to the main plot both the weight of the stakes and the sense of urgency I once felt had lost their grip on me. I found myself more frustrated than curious.
I gave it a true chance because this book has every element of something I would adore for many, many years. It's with a bit of a broken heart that I have to admit I put it down in favor of a different story. It felt so Sisyphean to read that I found I didn't have any energy to read *at all*. A rather significant issue for me, unfortunately.
It's worth a try if you're in the mood for substantial exposition before the plot begins (I know some are, in which case this book would be fantastic all around), but I find I prefer a bit more of a conspiratorial experience with the authors I read. It's amazing what a reader can pick up along the way from the details an author *doesn't* include, or at least hasn't included *yet*.
It is likely I will attempt to read this book again at some point in the future. For now though, I've set it down unfinished.
November 23, 2021
The authors (a husband and wife team, which is super cool) are first-rate world builders. I love the detail surrounding this universe; the Peer, the different peoples, the notion of craftists, etc. All very well-thought out and engaging. But I have to admit I agree with many of the other reviews I’ve read: the characters are lacking. They somehow lack depth in this way where it’s simply hard to become invested in their fate. And they aren’t very likable somehow.
Some of the character actions/motivations are inconsistent as well, but not in a way that adds complexity or humanity; it just seems insufficiently executed somehow. For example, is Tragget truly Galen’s enemy or friend? I think the authors were attempting to make him seem conflicted, but the character just comes across as confusing and unfocused.
Three stars may be a bit generous, but this is worth it for the world alone. And to be clear, could I do better? Hell no. But the problems with the characters are what they are. The output from this team could be absolute top-draw stuff if they could just find a way to fix the character problems.
Some of the character actions/motivations are inconsistent as well, but not in a way that adds complexity or humanity; it just seems insufficiently executed somehow. For example, is Tragget truly Galen’s enemy or friend? I think the authors were attempting to make him seem conflicted, but the character just comes across as confusing and unfocused.
Three stars may be a bit generous, but this is worth it for the world alone. And to be clear, could I do better? Hell no. But the problems with the characters are what they are. The output from this team could be absolute top-draw stuff if they could just find a way to fix the character problems.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 6, 2020
Mystic Warrior largely fell flat for me. Neither the plot nor the characters really managed to grip me, and as far as I am concerned that makes the book largely a failure. The world (or should I say worlds?) actually consists of three parallel worlds - the human/dragon world, the faery world, and the goblin world. Perhaps that is not exactly how the authors label them, but that is essentially the simplest description. For most of the book, these three worlds seems to be largely separate, with perhaps some vague connection via dreams. Dreams are a pretty central element of the plot. Regardless though, I spent most of the book wondering how these worlds were really connected, because I knew that the authors would not spend all of this time building three separate worlds without some sort of payoff. Besides, the characters and the events taking place in these worlds were, for the most part, not all that interesting, so trying to determine the connection between the worlds was the main thing that kept me reading. Then, quite near the end of the book, everything came together in a very innovative and unexpected way. Perhaps there were clues along the way that I missed because I was not fully invested in the story. Regardless, I was surprised at this moment in the story, which was also a very brief moment, because instead of carrying through this idea to some sort of innovative conclusion to the story, it seemed to me like the idea was almost immediately dropped in favor of a more traditional lazy ending. Maybe this was necessary in order to continue the story in the subsequent books in the trilogy, and maybe this idea plays a bigger part in the story to come, but I will not be subjecting myself to any more of it.
June 25, 2019
What a horrid read!! It was so convoluted and vague and yet distant that I was never able to get into the story or care about the characters. I forced myself to finish it but I have no intention of read the other two books. Does anyone want them?
I usually love Tracy Hickman's writing but this was terrible.
I usually love Tracy Hickman's writing but this was terrible.
May 8, 2020
This is a 48 hour long striptease for those who enjoy world building.
Your revealed more and more tantalizing hints of wonder.
And then you can do the other 2 books in the series for the same experience over and over.
Id call this "slight cackle" on my insanity meter, but its my type of insanity.
Your revealed more and more tantalizing hints of wonder.
And then you can do the other 2 books in the series for the same experience over and over.
Id call this "slight cackle" on my insanity meter, but its my type of insanity.
August 2, 2022
Oh, how slow and ponderous the beginning is. It really takes more than half the book before it truly gets going and becomes engaging. I'm sure (I hope) some of the tediousness in the first half of this book will be relevant in the remainder of the series?
April 27, 2024
Amazing experience.
Awesome characters. Highly detailed world building. Characters that matter. Action. Reaction. And enough logic to keep things make sense while still remaining entertaining.
Awesome characters. Highly detailed world building. Characters that matter. Action. Reaction. And enough logic to keep things make sense while still remaining entertaining.
July 25, 2017
another great start to a series. A bit different from what I'm used to
August 21, 2017
My fault, thought this would be science fiction but it is fantasy. The only character I liked was Mimic although he kept changing jobs from engineer to technician (I.e., inconsistent).
August 15, 2018
Me gustó, Mímico es el personaje más adorable que he conocido y es muy inteligente, buena historia y buen desenlace. Voy a por el segundo.
August 18, 2019
I have read many books from these two authors and am never disappointed :)
December 15, 2020
Excellent adventure. Lots of new and interesting beings. Fun to read.
July 5, 2021
Great start to a series! It had a bunch of interesting fantasy elements all intertwining together and you don't know what to fully expect... can't wait to read the next book and see what happens!
March 31, 2022
Three seemingly separate stories intersect at certain points as dragons, faeries, goblins and humans interact with other creatures of myth and fantasy in magical realms. An engaging epic tale.
May 30, 2023
3.5 stars
Read
August 18, 2024That certainly was a book
January 7, 2025
DNF. It was a well-written book, I just didn't enjoy reading it.
June 20, 2022
I adored this book. I loved how the world was set up. I loved that it went in between three different worlds and characters. I loved how the authors are slowly bringing about the connection between the worlds. This book had fun fantasy in it and I thought it was a great read!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 75 reviews