Dragon Forge

The Draconic Prophecies #2

by James Wyatt

A heroic battle to uphold the balance of Eberron ®!

Gaven has fulfilled part of the prophecy and become the Storm Dragon. Now he seeks the Draconic Prophecy at its source in Argonessen, the dragon nation--but as he travels towards that ancient continent, Gaven may discover much more than he expected.

Meanwhile, Aundairian loyalists--assisted by a sinister dragon cabal--are assembling the Dragon an eldritch machine designed to harness the power of a Siberys dragonmark and amplify it. In this case, to create a devastating storm of hail and acid rain to go before Aundair's armies as they march into the Eldeen Reaches. And they know just the dragonmarked to use...

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Dungeons and Dragons

352 pages, Hardcover

First published June 3, 2008

About the author

James Wyatt is an award-winning game designer at Wizards of the Coast, and now holds the position of Design Manager for Dungeons & Dragons. He was one of the lead designers for D&D 4th Edition and one of the original designers of the Eberron Campaign Setting, and has written and co-authored dozens of game supplements. He grew up in Ithaca, New York, and now lives in Washington State with his wife and son.

Reviews

[Ηλίας Τσιάρας · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really really enjoyed this book. The characters were great, although a bit overpowered, the plot thick, the battles well written. I think that the Eberron setting is the best novel like. It is unique. My only problem was that this book being a gift, I had no idea what happened in the first book, so I was at a loss for the biggest part. Still I loved it. Makes me wanna buy the first one and read it even though I have read the second one.

[Yavor Vlaskov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely stellar. I was so pleasantly surprised. Gaven is still of a pacing void, but Cart and Aunn's characterization is just crazy moving and immersive, the struggle of being too rigid in your morals against the one of being too flexible. The intercharacter characterization is weird, but the individual one works really well. Enjoyed it so much, still pleasantly surprised.

[Joel Flank · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately, the Draconic Prophecies series gets worse in it's second book. This time around, Wyatt is clearly following the corporate mandate of Wizards of the Coast to forcefully convert all of their campaign settings to the new paradigm of 4th edition dungeons & dragons. The continent of dragons in Eberron now suddenly has cities of dragonborn, magic doesn't work the same, you can't simply cast a teleport spell (even though this was done in the first book of the series with no problem), you need to take time for an elaborate ritual to teleport, there are the standard looking 4th edition tieflings in the demon wastes, faeries from other planes are now eladrin, which are basically elves, even though none of this was part of Eberron prior to 4th edition....sigh.

Aside from that horribleness, the actual plot of the book is pretty uninspiring. Gaven the main character from the first book is basically wandering aimlessly, and walks into one of the bad guys hands, who therefore captures him with no problem. Several of the semi-ambiguous villains from the first book undergo fairly forced and rushed stories of redemption, the warforged Cart and the changeling, Aunn, each on their own journey of having a friend for the first time and seeing the holy light (literally), and then snap - they don't like being bad guys anymore. The whole book comes down to them deciding to change sides at just the right moment to save Gaven from being used to power some horrible thing that prophecies have said will happen. Instead, at the last minute he stops it all, through no fault of his own. Oh, and a horde led by that Tiefling is on it's way to destroy the civilized world, which I'm sure will make book 3 thrilling.

[James Geluso · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the changeling character. There are scenes that are D&D combat encounters in book form, which can be jarring (I play D&D but don't read many D&D books, so I don't know if this is common in the other novels). Wyatt does a good job introducing 4e concepts and balancing the characters, who are split apart geographically. The downside is that the main character is uninteresting, so the book is a slog.

[David Given Schwarm · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was another great book. I really enjoy the way in which the prophecy comes out, resolves itself through out the book. I love the dragons and their personality. I love the introduction of Dragon Born and Tiefling. This is a very fun book--lots of action, good characterization, etc.

I am going to need more Gavin for sure.

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The biggest problem Dragon Forge has is being the middle book of a trilogy. That means no real resolution is to be had. But the various split plots are handled well and while the 4E changes are obvious, they don't take away from the story.

[Trung · Rating 3 out of 5]

Connective plot. Very little parts of resolution and a bit of introduction of staple 4E D&D ideals. I was hoping for an appearance from the Lord of Blades, but that could happen in the final book.

[Nicole Baratta]

Dragon Forge: The Draconic Prophecies, Book 2 (The Draconic Prophecies) by James Wyatt (2008)

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

wonderful book, can't wait to read "Dragonwar"

[Shannon Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Suffers from the common second book in a trilogy problem of setting up the third book

[Morvram · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book overall. I love this series so far.