Legends of the Dragonrealm, Vol. I

Legends of the Dragonrealm #1

by Richard A. Knaak

An omnibus of the first three novels in New York Times bestselling author Richard A. Knaak’s epic fantasy series Dragonrealm —collected for the first time in one incredible volume.

In addition to writing one of the bestselling Warcraft novels of all time, Day of the Dragon , Richard A. Knaak is the author of the legendary fantasy series Dragonrealm . Now available for the first time in one fantastic collection, the first three novels from this riveting series

Firedrake • : In the ultimate war between humans and fiery shape-shifting beings, Duke Toma has unleashed every conceivable evil upon the world of the Dragon Kings. Only one dares to challenge Cabe Bedlam, a youth with a magical sword that promises its bearer total mastery over man and beast alike.

Icedragon • : Pitting his magic sword against the glittering scaled armor of the Dragon Kings, young Cabe Bedlam drove the shape-shifters back to their origins. But from the Northern Wastes, the merciless Ice Dragon implements a lethal scheme to sweep mankind into oblivion. Now Cabe must embark on a perilous journey toward an epic confrontation.

Wolfhelm • : The Death of the Dragon Emperor leaves both the Dragonrealms and human kingdom in ruins. Tomorrow’s hope—the Emperor’s hatchlings—live, protected by the human warrior Cabe Bedlam. But the future teeters on the brink of disaster, and only Cabe and his good friend, the Gryohon, can save the dragons from losing their magic forever.

Genres: Fantasy, Dragons, Fiction, High Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy, Adventure

680 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

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

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though it looks like the three novels work as a trilogy, they are actually separate stories that link closely - a bit like half-siblings, if books have genetics.

Firedrake by far is the most exciting of the three - a good opener, but leaves the other two lacking. It's the story of Cabe Bedlam in a typical Hero's Journey arc: attacked by powerful villains who know more about him than even he does, find and rescue the girl - Gwen - and get to meet a renowned legend - the Gryphon (who I must say I pictured as an actual gryphon for the first book and a half)

Ice Dragon is the next in line, more adventures following Cabe. I was slightly put off by how much of a time-skip occurred between the two books, but this was when I still thought they were a trilogy.

Wolfhelm is interesting... The Gryphon is now the main character, and battling it out with a secondary villain from Ice Dragon - D'Shay.

While Knaak is one of my favourite authors (if not my overall favourite), I didn't enjoy these three stories as much as some of his newer stories. However, I'm willing to give them some slack, as the first two stories were released in '89. Some of the descriptions were too detailed and distracting from the events, but made for a very visual read.

[Frost · Rating 2 out of 5]

I realy liked the world and setting this book was in and to be honest I really wanted to like this book but I couldnt. the title should've been "except for" because more then the realm of dragons you're told about someone or something that contradicts a previous plot device.
example, the more powerful a wizard the more silver in his hair except for reacuring characters. the darker color a dragon or magic the more evil it is except for the fact that the two lightest colors white and clear are the worst. the purple seeming more knowledge seeking then anything else and blue and green seeming the nicest . the list goes on it gets to the point several times were a sentence contradicts the one before it.
all in all it seems to be etheir poor writing or a rushed job

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now anyone who has spoken to me longer than 5mins has heard the words "dragon","magic" ,& "wizard" erupt form my mouth.
I love the magic
After all the long and arduous theories/long european tomes /quantum physics rubbish that makes me cry...
I JUST WANT SOME FIREBALLS THROWN AT TROLLS !!!!
Being immersed into a already well crafted world where the only thing I have to do is let my mind paint whatever the words say.
All the Elves, Dwarves, Mages, Dragons (especially the Dragons), and completely Medieval Euro-Centric modeled universe
Sometimes the Old ones are the Best ones

[Jason Waltz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this entire series and several memorable characters. I used to own the individual titles but a move forced cutbacks. I am now returning this series to my library, but in omnibus form.

[C.P. Cabaniss · Rating 3 out of 5]

My sister gave me this bindup after she picked it up at a library sale a couple of years ago and I finally picked it up at various points over 2017. And I'm really glad that I did. I had a lot of fun with these stories and hope that I can get my hands on the next volumes in the series. I know the library doesn't have them, so I will be searching the local bookstores for them!

I reviewed each of the novels for this separately on their book pages here on goodreads. The reviews are linked below if you would like to read them.

Firedrake: 3 stars
Icedragon: 3 stars
Wolfhelm: 3 stars

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome book! I loved the connections between the characters, and the third in this collective trilogy was my favorite. The Gryphon is a huge surprise, and it was entertaining figuring out he's my favorite character. The world building was pretty good, and I loved different elements each dragon represented. Especially the Crystal Dragon. Read this!

[Sylvester Olson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a tricky book to review because it is, in fact, three distinct novels. Each has its own flavor and quality to it.

The first novel, Firedrake, is clearly an author's first novel, and bears the hallmarks of a beginner, namely inconsistencies in character and developing plot. The best example I can think of is that of the Green Dragon. He appears in the first half of the novel as a throwaway character, then is reintroduced later in a role pivotal to the story's conclusion.

What rescues Firedrake is a quick pace and a strong imagination. Shape-shifting dragons felt original. I was sad to see Shade, the entire volume's most interesting character, knocked off. I feel that was a mistake. I haven't looked ahead to the synopses of the subsequent collections in this series, but Mr. Knaak would be a fool to not bring him back somehow.

Ice Dragon demonstrates the maturity of an author in his second novel. Mr. Knaak seems to have had more of a plan in place before beginning to write this one. This is good because shows more thoughtfulness, but the pace suffers so it lacks the fun of Firedrake's unpredictable nature. The plot follows a more typical Lord of the Rings-type of tale, involving a hopeless quest to stop a dark lord (in this case, an "ice dragon") from covering the world in darkness (in this case, endless winter). The love story between the male and female protagonists, which started in the first novel and has developed here into a marriage, is laughably naive.

Wolfhelm brings a much-needed break from the primary character and settings of the first two novels. I applaud Mr. Knaak for taking a risk in branching out with something new, but there's so much description of magic and ethereal matters that I found myself losing my interest.

For all my criticisms, I DID enjoy the heck out this volume. Mr. Knaak's growth is evident here, and I expect that he has continued to get better over the 26 years since these three novels were published. I look forward to reading the next volumes in the "Dragonrealm" series.

[William Bentrim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Legends of the Dragonrealm:Shade
This book chronicles a period in the life of Shade, a Vraad semi-immortal spellcaster. Shade is a case study of fantasy schizophrenia, he can not decide if he is good or evil.
The cast of characters and their colorful natures provides a rich setting for this tale. I enjoyed the Bedlam family although they were aptly named. Dysfunctional doesn’t begin to describe this well intentioned group of spellcasters.
The plot was complicated and involved and the action was non-stop. The wealth of characters and their dynamic nature made it difficult to identify the combatants and their allegiances.
This was a good fantasy, action and questing adventure.
I recommend the book.

[Kendra · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 in 1 omnibus.

Firedrake and Ice Dragon, the first two stories follow a main character Cabe Bedlam. The third story follows the story of the Gryphon from the previous 2 stories. It's a somewhat disjointed read, but I get the feeling the omnibus is more pulling the author's books together, then having a real flow to it.

However, it was one of those books that, for me, was a really good read, but I couldn't stick it to finish it in one setting. It took me almost a week and a half, and for me, that's a long time. But, I did enjoy it, and look forward to jumping in the next book, and awaiting the third omnibus to come out in the fall!

[Roger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somewhat weak writing in places and some annoying cliches such as "he was...but he wasn't..there wasndarkness ..but still oddly light" etc..type of things. Overall great word imagery, and interesting characters. Wolfhelm seems to be his strongest book in this one. Character development is very good here and the action is paced with good world development and backstory. The whole book is well written and enjoyable. Action picks up within the first few chapters of book one and diesnt really slow down. The second book builds in the world and brings somewhat better character development to the plot. Wolfhelm is definitely the strongest book in this omnibus

[Russell Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

At 50, I thought that my interest in swords and sorcery had all but dissapeared, the last one I read was, I believe in 1978. This edition comprised of the first 3 novels in the author's Dragonrealm series drew me in, practically from the first page. The author jumps right into the story as though it was the middle chapter of the book, counting on the reader to connect the dots himself until the backstory is filled in. I would heartily recommend this series to any who enjoy the genre. I have already ordered more volumes.

[Jeffrey Stump · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love to read and do read as often as i can and i must say this is hands down one of my favorite series ever the lead characters have an amazing balance between power and weakness no one is a totally dominating force for very long they also have an amazing verity of characters and Richard Knaak's writing just has a way of sucking you in and not letting you go i would recommend this to anyone who is interested in fantasy novels and just fiction all together

[Jerome Mccluskey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This trilogy is about a young warlock who is being hunted down by dragon lords. They are the ones who rule the land with absolute control.
In book three it is about the Gryphon who rules Penacles that was once lead by one of the dragon lords. He is trying to find who and what he is, and where he came from.

[Marco Fallermo · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best fantasy books I've ever read. I could not stop reading.

You can also see how Richard's writing style develops through the three books. I don't want to spoil anything but you HAVE to read these books!

Best one had to be Wolfhelm!

Go for it!

[Ashley Blodgett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I personally love the legend of the dragonrealm books. The world created and the time spent to each character is amazing. They are one of my favorite books on my bookshelves. In fact, they are in the "never to be borrowed" shelf.

[Ronald · Rating 2 out of 5]

As an omnibus, this is three books in one, and if not for a general stubbornness on my part to finish what I begin, I think I'd have given up on this right at the very first book. As I have fond memories of Richard Knaak's Legacy of Blood novel for Diablo, I was expecting to be well-entertained and to enjoy myself. However, I found that not to be the case here. "Aggressively mediocre" is probably my summary of this omnibus, which I will attempt to review without spoiling too much.

I think my first problem starts with the first protagonist, Cabe. He's... not very smart. That's always a massive deterrent for me, but I hoped that perhaps there would be something for me to empathize with here. Unfortunately, there wasn't. In video game terms, Cabe walks through most of his two novels (more on that anon) with cheat mode enabled and the strategy guide a quick google away. There are very few stakes with him that feel like stakes because given I quickly pieced together his big secret and how well it worked for him. In terms of comparison, I far prefer Rand al'Thor, since the big guy at was at risk of death throughout most of his first few books, and his victories were more by the skin of his teeth then anything else. I never felt like Cabe earned his victories properly.

The protagonist of the third novel, Gryphon (who served as a supporting character in the first two novels), absolutely worked harder for his victory, and there were enough clues scattered throughout his novel that the ending sequence made perfect sense. However, there were so many questions in the worldbuilding sense that I kept feeling like there were holes, especially since there was a certain sense of excessive meddling that was justified in plot, but still antagonized me greatly. In fact, I felt a lot of sympathy for the supporting character Morgris, as I wanted to rip apart something long before he did.

I personally don't recommend it, but that's only because I don't recommend books that I consider mediocre. If all you want is to kill an afternoon in an ok-ish fantasy realm, I suppose I won't stop you.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Firedrake: A man who is green behind the ears in everything but bartending is kidnapped by a shapeshifting lizard man and self proclaimed King of a bunch of cursed land. This inexperienced man manages to kill this otherwise undestroyable King because, as you can imagine, he's no ordinary boy, he's a wizard (Harry!)....and also the bodily host to his dead grandfathers mind and soul. As luck would have it, he's able to acquire all the skills he needs to fight an upcoming war by transference while being possessed by said grandfather. Our enthralled hero makes friends before the battle too which is nice considering we're jumping in right before a massive war with the dead King's brothers/conquerors of other realms. One of these characters is "a very emotional lady" (insert eye roll) who is a powerful sorceress but also fantastically stupid that it's hardly shocking she gets caught as many times as she does though more shocking her sadistic captors haven't just killed her. Oh and she's also the former lover of our hero's dead grandfather but has quickly moved on to become our dewy eyed warlocks love interest.

The best characters are a demon horse that talks like Tom Bombadil and constantly saves everyone from their bad choices, and the Gryphon who is smarter than all these fools and deserves all the happiness in the world.

Not a bad story. It was fun and dragons/lizard boi's are cool. The author isn't afraid to kill characters off either which is always interesting.

Ice Dragon: currently reading

[Meghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

uh, I guess I should say, finally!
This beast took more time than I thought it would. It is 3 books in one but sadly is only going to count as one on my goodreads challenge.

I really enjoyed the first two books in the collection, i felt an instant attachment and eagerness to learn more for both cabe and shade . They are incredibly dynamic and full of surprises, I loved reading about their adventures and roles in the dragonrealm.
The third book however did not do it for me at all and definitely contributed in taking so long for me to finish. I do like the gryphon but I felt the third installment to just be yoo much gryphon and by the end of the book we really don't learn a whole lot more about him than we did in the first place. The events felt anticlimactic and monotonous.
I have hopes that when I come back to this series with the next collection that things will have picked up pace again!

[Zachary Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good introduction to the series. I think the books do suffer from some slight writing mistakes. Some things require a brief re-read because you thought something happened to someone else. The second feels like the weakest of the bunch. Getting into the first was the only negative part.

The third is definitely the better one of the first three in the series. I enjoyed exploring this area of the world in comparison to the Dragonrealm. The ending was kinda anti-climatic even if I liked it. I can see why they call it weird. Altogether this book actually made me LIKE The Gryphon. Lord, I despised him after the second book because I felt his plot was pointless and drew way too much focus. All in all, I'm excited to see where the story goes from here!

[Christ · Rating 4 out of 5]

As others have noted, this is not a trilogy so much as three closely linked books. Altogether it's an amazing story with a very straight-forward, fast paced plot. There are minimal writing gimmicks, like flashbacks and changes, instead focusing on delivering a classic storyline with tremendous high fantasy flair.

The characters are my favorite thing about these books, with very relatable protagonists and integrating mythological characters from the lore into the story. Knaak does not reinvent the wheel here, as so many writers try to do nowadays, but does a tremendous job of sticking to fantasy elements with his own flavor.

[Zimba · Rating 2 out of 5]

I will start of by saying these three novels are not well written. Knaak has a knack for butchering the characterization of his female characters and I wonder about his personal life because he cannot for the life of him write a romance. There's never any falling in love they meet and are madly in love after never speaking a word then get married offscreen after saying less than a hundred words to each other. Despite the technical failures of this series, the ideas behind are quite fun and interesting so it isn't quite as much of a slog as the subpar writing would have you believe. The third book in this omnibus was far and away the most enjoyable.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Memorable characters! Political Intrigue, magic powers, and epic military campaigns! Fun yet Intricate!

If you enjoy fantasy Knaak should be in your reading list just like Raymond E Feist, David Gemmell, Terry Goodkind, Robert E Howard, Brandon Sanderson, and Robert Jordan.

So very, very better than the likes of piers Anthony, Darcy Coates, Alice Feeny, JK Rowling, or the Landover series!

[Johnyfive · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing is good and the chapter segments were done well. The story is interesting and entertaining, however, the book gets an overall three stars because it seems to trail off at the end. The ending chapters are the most boring part of this book in terms of storyline.

[Garren · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was confusing... I like magic, but it needs some order... this book had none and the main characters were always near death and mysteriously saved way too many times for my liking.

[James Giordano · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you ever want to get swept away to a distant land and connect with seemingly regular character with extrodinary abilities unbeknownst to even themselves, then buy this book!!!

[Agus Hym · Rating 3 out of 5]

not bad. I like the concept of the dragon regin and the battle of humans vs dragons

[K.D. Bissonette]

Great story!

[Brian Peterson · Rating 1 out of 5]

I frankly could not keep reading it. It just didn't speak to me. I tried two different times.

[Big Bear Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just good fantasy. Nothing too deep or life changing, but definitely enjoyable for those who love dragons, magic, and swords.

[Brent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not phenomenal, not bad either.
Exactly what I’d expect from 1980s Knaak.