The Amber Enchantress

Dark Sun: Prism Pentad #3

by Troy Denning

The Lure of Dark Sorcery. . .

Borys: The Dragon of Athas, born of magic and sustained by the agony of the doomed. For a thousand years, he has terrorized the desert wastes of Athas, roaming from city to city in pursuit of his gruesome levy - the lives of thousands of slaves.

The winsome enchantress Sadira now stands ready to challenge him.

To do so, she must reach the Pristine Tower, the forgotten citadel still smoldering with the incredible magic that spawned the Dragon. Only one man can help her: Faenaeyon, her elven father, the man who abandoned her into slavery. Before the journey ends, Sadira must forgive his betrayal - or give herself to the dark forces that still dwell within the Pristine Tower.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Dungeons and Dragons, Forgotten Realms, Science Fiction, Dark, Audiobook

344 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1, 1992

About the author

Also known as Richard Awlinson.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Den...

Reviews

[[Name Redacted] · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, colour me surprised. The first novel was only okay, the second was actually tedious, but this third one? The one that focused almost exclusively on the worst-written, Mary-Sue-iest character I've ever encountered? It was good. Really good. 4-stars good. So good I want to immediately pick up the next volume in the series, despite the fact that more than a year elapsed for me between reading books 2 and 3. Nicely done, Troy Denning.

[Kevin Wortman · Rating 3 out of 5]

As you'd expect for a D&D tie-in novel, this is long on schlock and light on substance. The book centers on Sadira the wizard, and is a vehicle to explore the nature of magic and elves on the Dark Sun world. In the first book Sadira was under-developed and over-sexualized, and this installment is better about that, though there's still room for improvement.

Dark Sun is an experiment in subverting the expectations of fantasy and D&D audiences. Magic is not wonderful. It "defiles" the environment, an allegory to fossil fuels that was more incisive in 1992 than now. The fiction obeys the D&D rule that casting a spell involves forgetting the spell and consuming some witchy components. The book reiterates all this many times, which gets repetitive, especially if you've played D&D and/or paid attention to the first book.

In another subversion, elves are not majestic, but instead are an underclass of hawkers and petty criminals. In the middle part of the book, Sadira tags along with her estranged father's gang of elves. This part feels aimless and stretched-out.

Like the prior books, battles in the countryside are not described clearly. Foes seem to be at long range, and close quarters, simultaneously.

The city-state of Nibenay, and weird climactic scenes at the end, are legitimately interesting. I wish more pages were dedicated to these, and fewer to the lead-up.

[Jared · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is really worth about 3.5 stars, but I decided to round up. While much of the story was a bit inconsistent in tone and character motivation, the payoff was definitely worth it. I was pleased to see some of the subtext of the first book return at the end of this volume; a pleasant reminder that there is a larger and more complex story in the making. This whole pentad probably could have been told in a more focused trilogy, but I'm infinitely more pleased with this tale than I was with The Crimson Legion. Book 4 may just be where the story returns to Tithian, while also expanding on Agis's role in the ultimate outcome of the story. I'm excited to get to the next book!

[Roger Senra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesante relato, ambientado en uno de mis mundos preferidos, el desolado Athas. Troy Denning nos lleva a conocer muchas de las costumbres de este mundo, bastante opuesto a lo tradicional en la fantasía. Vemos bardos asesinos, elfos nómadas esclavistas, medianos caníbales y muchas otras criaturas más de forma nada tradicional.

[S. D. Howarth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as fluid as the previous two books and personally I found the fourth one worse. Worth reading with the yarn fleshing out the series, but it lacks the heights of the getter books.

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why am I reading this.

[Benjamin Hesdorf · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very interesting read. I'm looking forward to the next two books in the series.

[Slobodan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Amber Enchantress is the third book in the 'Prism Pentad' series penned by Troy Denning.

This book is centered around the sorceress Sadira and her quest to the Pristine Tower where she hopes that she will find the answer to stop Borys the Dragon from taking his levy from Tyr: the lives of one thousand slaves.

This is the first book where Troy Denning has successfully developed a character as Sadira meets the father who abandoned her and her mother - Faenaeyon, chief of the 'Sun Runners' clan. In contrast to the brute Rikus - who came off as very one dimensional in the 'Crimson Legion', Sadira's relationship with the members and the struggles that take place within her fathers tribe make for a much more interesting read. Forced to make some hard decisions that conflict with the very core of the organization she belongs to (The Veiled Alliance), Sadira starts to become what she once detested most. Justifying her actions for the greater good, she nevertheless blurs the lines between freedom fighter and defiler.

This book adds greatly to the lore of Athas, a remarkable world for fantasy lovers.

[Nabil Hussain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thrilling and Gripping!!

Action packed and Exciting to the last page, this novel did not fail to be as dramatic as it could be. This novel as the name suggests centered on the exploits of Sadira, the half elven sorceress. This book was enthralling right to the end. It serves as another fine installment of the 5 book series. The next book awaits my keenly deserved attention!!

[Omri Dallal · Rating 5 out of 5]

The world is still very interesting, and the author showing new parts of its past and present in a good pace. Sadira's story was much more interesting then Raikus in the last book, which made this book better (obviously :]). Things are still happening in a very connivant way for the story to progress in the way the author wants to, but I think it’s a sin of many books that were written around that time, so I can't condemn it for that . Even so the book still survives that passage of time very well even 30 years after it was published.

women are still equal to the men in every way and its refreshing to see such a thing in an old fantasy book.

the plot twists are somewhat obvious, but that did not affect my enjoyment of the book.

all in all a 4.5 stars put off 5

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this story focuses on the sorceress of the group. In this world, magic destroys the land. So, the magic users are split into two factions; the Defilers and Preservers. Defilers are more powerful, but they have no concern for the land (which is why the whole planet is a dessert). The Preservers only take enough "mana", or whatever they call it in these books, to cast less powerful spells. While this still drains the land, it does not use it up completely. So, Sadeira is a Preserver who sometimes uses Defiler spells "when she has to". I think that she goes to the jungles in the mountains and fights canibalistic halflings.

[David Given Schwarm · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was fantastic. Lots of Dark Sun history was revealed that I did not expect. The interlocking character back story was used very very well. The combat was almost exclusively magical in nature and handled very very well.

One of the things that I liked about this book was the further development of the elves moral ambiguity and its relationship to Sadira's development. In book two we learned about leadership or something, but here we learn about the two sides of defiling--the need for moral absolutes--the nature of personal growth and personal power. The end battle seems a little much, everything comes together a little to cleanly, but overall a very good book.

[Josh · Rating 2 out of 5]

This series continues to underwhelm with storylines that are too simplistic and repetitive, falling short of the the potential of its worldbuilding. Of course, it can only be a product of its intended purpose, which is marketing materials for an RPG. This is not epic fantasy, even if it should be. It’s far closer to action packed sword and sorcery, but this is what makes it so dated and feeling like a waste of potential. I remember when this came out seeing the series and imagining the depths of its world building and complexity, only now to realize how formulaic it is. Of course there’s a lot worse out there but this series just leaves me wondering what might have been.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a step up from The Verdant Passage and far better than the dull plod that was The Crimson Legion.

Sadira has, until now, been one of my least favourite characters. I found her a little shallow and over sexualised in the first book. The journey she goes through in this book ties in to much of her past, explaining why she is the way she is and, in so doing, transforms her into an interesting and deep character that's really compelling to follow.

The story arc is really starting to get going here - straight on to The Obsidian Oracle now, methinks!

[John Teske · Rating 5 out of 5]

The third in this 5 book series, the central character is an interesting paradox, a defiler with some code of morality. She justifies most things for personal gain, so perhaps her alignment, if playing D&D, would be neutral evil, but at other times, she abhors what she has become.

She is a complex character with interesting development.

I look forward to continuing the next two books in the series.

[Aznable · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exceeding its predecessors, Amber Enchantress delivered everything I am looking for in a D&D adventure: character growth, viewpoint challenges, action, and exploration. The epic story of the main plot of Dark Sun is dialed up a notch, and begs for more.

[Brannigan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I discovered reading this book I’m only reading it to learn about the world. The actual characters are all to boring to care about as well as the over all plot of the book and series. I should just buy the gaming material for the world and read that instead.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great middle point to the series!

This book focuses on Sadira and her journey to deny Borys the dragon of his levy of slaves from Tyr. It's a good look at her motives and ambition where magic and Tyr is concerned. A great story by Troy Denning!

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not only a good self-contained story, but a smaller piece in a much larger and very interesting tale.

Ready to move on to the next in the series!

[Justin Covey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sadira was always the best character in this series so no surprise the one that makes her mc and drops the rest of the mostly forgettable crew is the best so far.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

It might actually be the best book in the series.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

A balancing act with magic. Some hard decisions. A greater foe?

[Georgi Nikolaev · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe best of the series so fat.

[Nenad Pavlović · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the protagonist, the desert trek, the new city, new villain, and the ending. The part with elven tribal social mechanics bored me to tears though.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full review here:

https://jamesgenrebooks.blogspot.com/...

Fun book. Not a single good person in it

[Ethan · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this book… honestly feels like a two steps forward, one step back kind of situation. I really want to like Sadira, and to have a female protagonist in the otherwise all-male band of narrators is fantastic. However, some of her flaws make her incredibly frustrating, and the stilted writing make it incredibly obvious this is a polyamorous female character with trauma that is being writing by a heterosexual male who isn’t keeping the effects of her experience in his mind as he’s writing her actions.

Pros:
- female protagonist
- more explanation of the actually really interesting setting of Dark Sun
- same gritty action of the whole series

Cons:
- stilted character development from an author that doesn’t seem to really be in a realistic headspace with his female characters
- incredibly frustrating and abrupt end to plot lines that the author doesn’t think are relevant anymore. It’s almost like he remembered that the plot hole has been looming for several books and then just decided to wrap it up as fast as possible
- same biological essentialism that kind of plagues the rest of this kind of fantasy. It can be taken as the character’s limited perspective but it can also be jarring and frustrating

TW: gore, implied or discussed sexual harassment, slavery

[Silas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I again took a little too long between books to properly remember everything about the characters right away, but it was less of an issue this time, because apart from a bit at the beginning and the end, we only really end up following one of them. This is mostly Sadira's story, where she joins up with an elf caravan run by her father, travels to Nibenay and onward to the Pristine Tower. There are some interesting elf characters, and we get a better feel for elves on Athas, which are quite different, as well as some of the ways the Pristine tower changes people who are close to it, and some of the history of Athas. Things are finally starting to get pretty interesting on that front, and I think I will have a much shorter gap before the next book, but time will tell. With this being mostly a solo Sadira book, there is some significant character development for her here. I think it works as a solo book, though I also sort of wonder just what the other characters were doing during that time, and might have liked a slightly more integrated approach like some more modern D&D novels tend to take. Still, it was interesting and different, and an enjoyable read.

[Matthew J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be perfectly honest, I lost interest in this book about half way in and didn't think I was going to finish it. But after a while, I got back to it and pushed on to the end. The climax and conclusion of the book were the best parts, and if the rest of the book hadn't been such a slog, I might be excited to read the next one. But I think I'm done with the series. I really liked the first book, but my interest has waned.
I really do like a lot about the Dark Sun setting, and the changes in Sadira are intriguing. I like that there's a sense of hope in where she's going as a character. So, while I don't think I'll be going on with the series, I can see how some would.

[Oliver Prast · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book focuses on Sadira and the culture of the athasian elves (who are nothing like the fairyland elves of other fantasy worlds). Like in the Crimson Legion the other protagonists from the first book are not part of the story. However the delightfully malicious elven characters make up for this loss. Sadira herself is a great character with a lot of flaws and she faces a lot of compelling conflict in this book. The world of Athas becomes alive as we learn more about its history and nature and about the forces that shape it.

[Micah Schulte · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the best of the pentad so far. The characters and world have more depth, while still adhering to the series' Sword and Sorcery style.