What do you think?
Rate this book
Dragonlance: The Warriors #5
Knights of the Rose
The Knights of Solamnia were the greatest order of chivalry in the history of Krynn.
After a knight has achieved the Order of the Crown and the Order of the Sword, he must then begin his training in the virtues of wisdom and justice in order to achieve the Order of the Rose, the highest of all orders.
This is the third tale of Sir Pirvan the Wayward, whose reluctant and inauspicious beginnings bore few clues to his potential as a knight of the highest order. In a time when others of Solamnia had become corrupt and self-serving, Sir Pirvan maintained the dignity of the Order, walking the fine line between personal codes of honor and loyalty, and diplomacy and duty.
Roland J. Green is the author of the Starcruiser Shenandoah and Wandor series and numerous Conan novels, and is coauthor (with Jerr Pournelle) of the Jannisaries series.
The Warriors series details the exploits of the heroes and villains of the War of the Lance.
After a knight has achieved the Order of the Crown and the Order of the Sword, he must then begin his training in the virtues of wisdom and justice in order to achieve the Order of the Rose, the highest of all orders.
This is the third tale of Sir Pirvan the Wayward, whose reluctant and inauspicious beginnings bore few clues to his potential as a knight of the highest order. In a time when others of Solamnia had become corrupt and self-serving, Sir Pirvan maintained the dignity of the Order, walking the fine line between personal codes of honor and loyalty, and diplomacy and duty.
Roland J. Green is the author of the Starcruiser Shenandoah and Wandor series and numerous Conan novels, and is coauthor (with Jerr Pournelle) of the Jannisaries series.
The Warriors series details the exploits of the heroes and villains of the War of the Lance.
320 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 1, 1995
9 people are currently reading
784 people want to read
About the author
Roland J. Green
88 books29 followersRoland James Green is an American science fiction and fantasy writer and editor. He has written as Roland Green and Roland J. Green; and had 28 books in the Richard Blade series published under the pen name 'Jeffrey Lord'.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 29, 2021
This was just okay. Green seemed to write in the aesthetic of older writers, again reminding me of Lieber’s Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories, mostly in style now, though the first Pirvan book recalled those tales in characters and plot as well. In this one, Pirvan and approximately 1,000 named characters (there were far too many characters) travel close to the Silvanesti border to deal with Istarian tax collectors and renegade sell-swords and end up uniting to defend a small, peaceful settlement against the rogue agents. Double-crosses and intrigues and poorly-executed plans of attack abound. I enjoyed the story of this one more than I did the other Pirvan tales but Green’s writing does not do it for me. He expounded at great length about events and thoughts in which I had no investment, then glossed over actions that would have felt urgent in another novel. Several times I realized I was reading about a battle only pages later. And the battles themselves were so diffuse and oddly described that they didn’t even seem important. Also, the love scenes were far too numerous and repetitive. How many chapters ended with Pirvan and his wife going off to have sexy times? And if not Pirvan, then some other randy couple. And then, the WEIRDEST bit: Rynthala spends the whole time mooning over one man only to share a random romantic moment with someone else. A direct quote: “Then he relaxed a trifle, and returned the kiss, in a brotherly manner.” And later: “Then he kissed her again, longer but just as brotherly.” Firstly, why was she kissing this man at all when her heart clearly lay elsewhere? And secondly, what does this description mean? I couldn’t get past it. Of all the words in the English language, why use this one and why use it twice? Anyway, I plan on reading The Wayward Knights but will be glad to finally be done with Green’s Pirvan series.
April 1, 2020
It really is something to watch an author improve by leaps and bounds with every book. Much like Knights of the Sword was better than Knights of the Crown (which was atrocious), Knights of the Rose is heads above Knights of the Sword.
The plot is streamlined and easier to follow. Pirvan shows a great depth of character and a much great moment of angst, that was much deserved during war, especially given the fact that since book one he's hated killing people (unfortunately, this was solved far too quickly and never mentioned again). It was really refreshing to see kender who actually acted like kender (unlike the terrified one in the last boo, despite the fact that biologically kender can't feel fear), yet still has a depth of character and darkness in them that's lacking in nearly every other kender I've ever read about.
As with all his other books in this series so far, I'm glad to see that women are still badasses with a great sense of agency and development. It's also really nice to see marriages where both people in them are head-over-heels in love with their spouse.
There weren't any massive loose threads that left me, at the end of the book, convinced that they'd never be resolved like there had been in the previous two books.
Now onto the bad: First of all, there were far too many characters (well over 30!). Hawkbrother, who got a fair amount of development in the first half of the book and should have been an important character all but disappeared in the last half. Gerik barely showed up at all - nearly everything we know about him is what other people said about him and the like, five lines he has in the story.
Like the other two books in the series, the last few chapters involve good guy characters dying, this time practically en masse and for no real reason (whereas in previous novels I didn't get the sense that the deaths were completely pointless). I imagine so many of them died because Green realized having that many characters in the next book would be untenable.
The kender subplot was rendered all but pointless by having some unnamed bald dude killing the main villian. Likewise, I couldn't see any point to Aurhinius being in the story at all.
Rynthala has a love triangle that ends up getting resolved, but I'm still not sure how. Also, how does one give someone a long kiss on the mouth in a "brotherly" fashion??
Finally: If both Rynthala's parents are half-elven, how on earth is she a quarter elf? Does Green have no idea how genetics work? Or are elf genetics somehow different? I'm going to go with the former.
The plot is streamlined and easier to follow. Pirvan shows a great depth of character and a much great moment of angst, that was much deserved during war, especially given the fact that since book one he's hated killing people (unfortunately, this was solved far too quickly and never mentioned again). It was really refreshing to see kender who actually acted like kender (unlike the terrified one in the last boo, despite the fact that biologically kender can't feel fear), yet still has a depth of character and darkness in them that's lacking in nearly every other kender I've ever read about.
As with all his other books in this series so far, I'm glad to see that women are still badasses with a great sense of agency and development. It's also really nice to see marriages where both people in them are head-over-heels in love with their spouse.
There weren't any massive loose threads that left me, at the end of the book, convinced that they'd never be resolved like there had been in the previous two books.
Now onto the bad: First of all, there were far too many characters (well over 30!). Hawkbrother, who got a fair amount of development in the first half of the book and should have been an important character all but disappeared in the last half. Gerik barely showed up at all - nearly everything we know about him is what other people said about him and the like, five lines he has in the story.
Like the other two books in the series, the last few chapters involve good guy characters dying, this time practically en masse and for no real reason (whereas in previous novels I didn't get the sense that the deaths were completely pointless). I imagine so many of them died because Green realized having that many characters in the next book would be untenable.
The kender subplot was rendered all but pointless by having some unnamed bald dude killing the main villian. Likewise, I couldn't see any point to Aurhinius being in the story at all.
Rynthala has a love triangle that ends up getting resolved, but I'm still not sure how. Also, how does one give someone a long kiss on the mouth in a "brotherly" fashion??
Finally: If both Rynthala's parents are half-elven, how on earth is she a quarter elf? Does Green have no idea how genetics work? Or are elf genetics somehow different? I'm going to go with the former.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 1, 2024
The inconsistencies continue, with Tiradot now being known as Tirabot.. seriously, both the 2nd and 3rd books were apparently written at the same time. How do you keep fucking up, you senile old fool? Speaking of which, this book is incredibly horny, even by DnD standards. Young people, middle-aged people, cows, old people (especially old people), everybody is shagging pretty much every other page; it doesn't matter if there's a war going on, yer city is under active siege, yer entire family just got murdered, there's a famine happening and you just got a spear through yer lung.. everybody's horny all the time, and it really ruins an already mediocre story
Guess the writer was in that phase seemingly all writers hit in their final years, where they turn into pervy old men who can't do anything but ruin the end of their series with cheap smut. Well, time to see how awful the final book is
Guess the writer was in that phase seemingly all writers hit in their final years, where they turn into pervy old men who can't do anything but ruin the end of their series with cheap smut. Well, time to see how awful the final book is
May 21, 2020
Why oh why am I still trying to power through this scattered mess of a story?!
July 4, 2021
I continue enjoying reading about Sir Pirvan and his fellows, though this one wasn't quite as engaging. It was still a quick, fun read that I can recommend to Dragonlance fans.
June 16, 2014
My actual rating is 2.5 stars.
This is the third book that continues the story of Sir Pirvan. In this one, Sir Pirvan meets up with a local tribe and together they ride to a fortress that will be soon under siege. Along for the ride are familiar faces from the first two books and also his son and daughter who are on the precipice of adulthood.
I liked this one more than its predecessor. I am not crazy about this author's writing style. Luckily the writing style was not overbearing as it was in the previous novels. I enjoyed the other characters and their storyline as it showed love, loyalty, and sacrifice. The reason my rating is low is that this author tends to mention several subplots and he fails to have a resolution to them. I noticed this in the previous novel as well.
This isn't the best or worst Dragonlance novel and if you are looking for a battle story with knights, this story fits that description. I would recommend reading the first two novels before diving into this one.
This is the third book that continues the story of Sir Pirvan. In this one, Sir Pirvan meets up with a local tribe and together they ride to a fortress that will be soon under siege. Along for the ride are familiar faces from the first two books and also his son and daughter who are on the precipice of adulthood.
I liked this one more than its predecessor. I am not crazy about this author's writing style. Luckily the writing style was not overbearing as it was in the previous novels. I enjoyed the other characters and their storyline as it showed love, loyalty, and sacrifice. The reason my rating is low is that this author tends to mention several subplots and he fails to have a resolution to them. I noticed this in the previous novel as well.
This isn't the best or worst Dragonlance novel and if you are looking for a battle story with knights, this story fits that description. I would recommend reading the first two novels before diving into this one.
July 9, 2018
This book is another improvement again over the first two. The story is more complex and compelling than the first two in the sequence, even though everything starts coming together a little too conveniently later on in the book. At least there are more knights in the story than just Pirvan, and even a Knight of the Rose. Green still jumps around way too frequently, and in this book, where there are so many characters and events occurring simultaneously, it becomes too distracting having to change context every page or less. This is definitely the best of Green's books yet, but I think keeping the characters straight would be difficult without first having read the earlier books in the sequence.
March 5, 2009
This is the greates of the order of the Knights of Solamnia and continues to chronicle the experience of Sir Pirvan the Wayward.
August 8, 2019
A brilliant mix that keeps you involved in many characters at once. Leaves you cheering with tears in your eyes.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews