Empire of Blood

Dragonlance: The Minotaur Wars #3

by Richard A. Knaak

The sequel to Night of Blood and Tides of Blood, the third volume in a new trilogy, a follow-up to the War of Souls series, continues the adventures and exploits of the minotaurs as they become caught up in the chaos, fallout, and changing destinies that resulted from the War of Souls. Reprint.

Genres: Dragonlance, Fantasy, Fiction, Dungeons and Dragons, High Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy, Dragons

371 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Richard A. Knaak is the bestselling author of Dragonlance novels, the Dragonrealm and Black City Saint series (his own creations), six novels for Blizzard Entertainment's Diablo series, and six works in the Warcraft universe. He has also written several non-series fantasy books.

Reviews

[Jim C · Rating 3 out of 5]

My actual rating is 3.5 stars.

This is the final book in a trilogy that takes place in Dragonlance. The first two must be read to understand this book. In this one, the gods have returned and two of them are backing opposing minotaur forces. On the line is who rules the minotaur kingdom.

I liked this book and this was a nice fantasy trilogy. After the first two books, the author has all the characters in place where events can unfold. This book had plenty of action as battle after battle is fought. This book did not have much character insight as this was provided in the first two books. This author does a great job describing battle scenes as I felt like I was in the middle of the fray. The only problem I had with this book was the "surprise" ending as I saw the result coming way back in book two. I believe it was a little too much and I wish the author found another way to resolve this issue.

If you enjoy fantasy books with battle scenes, this book is recommended as the carnage from these battles are aplenty.

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all, before I begin my review, I just want to congratulate Lady Nephera for winning the coveted prize of Worst Wife and Mother in All of Krynn. It was a hard-fought battle, but she managed to triumph over all.

A thrilling, if slightly disappointing and typo-filled conclusion to The Minotaur Wars, "Empire of Blood" has a lot of good fights, a lot of divine intervention (complete with actual deux ex machinas where a God will literally show up and tell our protagonists what needs to be done), and the bad guys finally get their comeuppance and have glorious, awful deaths that suit them. The book sorta slows down in the middle - there's an extended sequence where both the good guys and the bad guys are on boats and there's a lot of annoying, filler scenes - but does manage to pick right up again once Faros reaches the capital and has a video game-styled boss battle with the Emperor.

The ending does feel kinda forced, but with this entire book being filled with appearances of the Gods, it at least didn't feel out of the blue to have Sargonnas suddenly appear and be like "if you want the minotaur race to survive, here's what you must do".

Of the complaints I have with the story, the biggest one I have is that two characters, Golgren and Bastion, just sort of drop off the face of the planet after a certain point and there's not satisfying conclusion to either of their stories. Although at least with Bastion, you can sorta assume that he died of his injuries (even though he conveniently left no body and the people who recovered his body are the ogres, who were already conspiring against the minotaurs) while Golgren has a ton of dangling plot threads (why is there a Titan? Why does the Titan need a potion?) that never get resolved because after he betrays the Minotaurs, he just sorta disappears into the mist and doesn't get talked about ever again. There's no resolution to his character arc, and according to the Dragonlance wiki, the events of this book are the last we ever see of him in the Dragonlance mythos.

Another complaint I have is that, near the end of the book, Faros feels completely indestructible to an absurd degree. Twice in one battle, the book describes a weapon striking his arm so hard that it tears the flesh and cracks the bone, but he manages to shrug this off somehow and it's never brought up again. Yeah, no big deal, bone fractures. I can just walk that off.

But, despite all that, it's fun. Nothing more, nothing less. It's not thought-provoking literature, but it was fun reading the minotaurs bash each other's brains in and seeing actual gods duking it out.

Highlights

*Hotak is a ghost too stubborn to follow his wife's instructions, choosing to instead haunt her and make her have Lady MacBeth style breakdowns. This was very fitting for the character and I liked this detail.

*When I reviewed the first book in the series, I said that General Rahm felt like more of the main protagonist in the rebellion than Faros. This book actually brings this up by having Sargonnas say that he chose Rahm as his champion, only for Rahm to perish accidentally. It was really cool that this was intentionally set up by the author.

*The fate of Lady Nephera's children:
-Kolot - stabbed to death, made a ghost puppet
-Bastion - survives an assassination attempt set up by his brother, realizes his family is insane and joins the heroes, and is the most level-headed and smart of the bunch, therefore he needed to get into a fight with some ogres (because betrayal) and...die? Did he die? Were the ogres telling the truth about recovering his body but then burning it because it was in poor shape? What?
-Maritia - realizes a bit too late that her family is evil, but manages to survive. Somehow the glowing green eyes from Ardnor didn't clue her in, but her mom's giant monologue at the end of the novel did.
-Ardnor - turns into a final boss with glowing green eyes and the ability to inflict the Poison and Zombie statuses on your party. Takes a sword to the forehead.

[João Batista · Rating 4 out of 5]

With a new (puppet) minotaur Emperor, the book opens with a siege against crimson-eyed Faros and his rebels from that unholy alliance... And the gods have really returned to Krynn, but what for? Grand Lord Golgren's power and machinations are so great even against Titans! A dark, mournful sentient blade, Elric? Nephera's real god reveals himself and a dread transformation occurs in Ardnor. Finally, Faros and rebels reach the capital, but can they fight the living and the dead?
Minor but annoying typos all along the book.

[DaveyNukes · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great ending for this trilogy. I enjoyed all three. A lot of action and bloodshed. Magic and gods! I really enjoyed how the story coincides with what’s going on in the Dragonlance realm and The War of Souls story. There are a few loose ends as far as certain characters that we never hear about again. But overall a great read. There’s a lot of twists and turns throughout the trilogy that kept the story interesting.

[Alec · Rating 2 out of 5]

The trilogy needed to be one book, maybe two. The last volume was sloppy with poor editing. I blame WoTC for this but it was sad how many spelling and grammatical errors there were. I see this book as a sign of the decline in Dragonlance books which of course are no longer published.

[Angel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was going to start this right away, but since I borrowed the set from the local public library, and I am moving out of town, I returned it. I am definitely hoping to pick it up later, as the first two books have been very good.

* * * *

I got the book on Interlibrary Loan, so starting it right away. We'll see how it goes.

* * * *

Finally finished it. The pace on this one was pretty fast. Unlike the other two, where I think there was more intrigue, this one was more action. I am not saying that is bad; on the contrary, it was a good book, just different on the pacing. The key event, which occurs at the end of the second book, is the return of the gods. From this point, the gods, Sargonnas for the minotaurs, and Morgion for the evil side, are plotting along and leading their champions to the final confrontation. While I thought the ending was a bit too "deus ex machina" (ok, the god literally laid down the law, so to speak),it was definitely something you could see coming, and it works overall. After all, the idea is to unite an empire, and it seems this time it will work. In the end, this was a very enjoyable and entertaining fantasy series that I would recommend to anyone who likes the genre. I read a review somewhere that this particular series is good as an entry point for folks who have not read Dragonlance books. I agree. You do not need to know a lot about the fictional world of the series to get into these books. The books may, however, lead you to seek others, which I will likely do over time.

[Conan Tigard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This being the concluding book in the series, I was hoping for a little more action than the previous two books. I knew that Faros needed to defeat the evil Nephera and her son Ardnor. I knew that there were going to have to be a lot of battles with minotaurs killing minotaurs.

What I didn't enjoy was how long and drawn out the book was. Yes, the book builds in intensity until the last 50 or so pages, but again I was fighting to get through this book, like I did most of the series. For a fantasy novel, there just wasn't enough action, at least for my tastes.

Maybe the fact that you don't really care about the main character as much as you should is part of the problem. Yes, he has seen hell and survived it, but it is the way he acts that turns the reader off to really liking him. The bond between reader and character never really forms until the end of the series. By then, it is too late.

Overall, Empire of Blood by Richard A. Knaak is a fitting conclusion to a series that could have been a really great trilogy.

I rated this book a 7½ out of 10.

[Timothy McNeil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Far less taxing than the first two entries in the series, Empire of Blood does offer up a slew of typos the deaden the pace of the final third of the book. While this ends up being fine light fantasy, it is clear that Knaak either cannot write engaging political machinations and schemes into his stories or that he could not do it in a setting not his own. I often have to remind myself that Knaak's Dragonrealm (as opposed to Dragonlance) novels I love so much were ones I encountered when I was 15. I may be going into these books with wildly unrealistic expectations, but this trilogy is far from his best work.

[Lana · Rating 5 out of 5]

a great read all the way through!! Faros turns out to be a big hero even though he never intended to be but he had sargonnas on his side!! and so many ready to follow him! the protectors end up in a really bad and crazy way same as their priestess!! and the ending is positive for the minotaur race and their survival!!

[RKO Archer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a little sad that it ended with three books. He could have gone into a fourth with everything that conspired near the end. I won't spoil anything, but just feels like there's a lot left hanging. It didn't feel rushed though. Everything kind of played out smoothly. I knew or had a feeling from the first book that ---- and ------- would end up ------ after their first encounter.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finished up the Minotaur Wars trilogy today with the excellent Empire of Blood. While I enjoyed Book 2 a little more, this was still a great book and a great conclusion to the series. Faros really became the leader the rebels needed, Hotak’s bloodline got what they deserved, and the reader got to visit more of the ever-expanding minotaur empire!

[Kereesa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A vast improvement over the first two, Knaak's long winded and slow set up finally concludes and comes together in an ending that suits this historic feeling trilogy

[Tim Dunn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good ending to a very good trilogy.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this series. This book in particular was the best since it had more magic in it. I also liked the battle tactics of Trojan prisoners. The ending reminded me a lot of Willow.