Emperor of Ansalon (Dragonlance: Villains, #3) by Douglas Niles

Emperor of Ansalon (Dragonlance: Villains, #3) Reviews

• 
  Jim C

  This book is part of the Dragonlance world. It is a prequel to the original trilogy. One doesn't need to read the original trilogy for this novel but it does help. This book tells the story of Ariakas and how he comes to be the leader of the Queen's army.
  
  This was a decent book that had good parts and not so good parts. The beginning was terrific as it details Ariakas becoming in favor with the Queen. It was well done with a nice mix of action and cleverness. The ending was very good as this part strikes home with readers who have read the original trilogy. Unfortunately, the middle lagged. There were some action scenes but they were not captivating. The author tried to put the main character in perilous situations but there was never any doubt he would survive.
  
  This author has contributed some terrific books for this world but this isn't one of them. It was readable and had some nice background information of how a character becomes a integral part of the original trilogy. If this character was fleshed out a little more I believe this book would have garnered a higher rating.
• 
  Ronald Wilcox

  Very good recounting of the early rise of Ariakas, as he begins to serve the evil Queen of Darkness, Takhisis. A little slow at first, as he develops power it draws the reader in more and more. Niles is probably my favorite writer in the Dungeons and Dragons novels series; he really understands how to take the game play setting and make good stories from the material.
• 
  Alex

  The best book I've read from Douglas Niles so far. Granted that's not saying much since I've loathed the other three, but here his penchant for slightly more colourful prose than other Dragonlance writers serves him well and despite the fact that this narrative could have ambled literally anywhere the author manages to keep it fairly focussed - granted there's little relation between the schoolboy adventure of part one (a bizarre romp in an ogre castle to save a damsel) and the far more interlinked events of Parts Two and Three.
  
  Like other books in the villains series this one provides some nice backstory we didn't need, that leads in to the main Chronicles series. This time it's a little colour on how the Draconians were discovered and created by Ariakas and the mission he had to go on for this to happen. Psychology and politics are almost entirely lacking and it's weird to sometimes think that Ariakas seems like an Ok guy and have a sense of camaraderie about someone who was nice to him, and then for him to cruelly run someone through, or to not care that every woman he beds is doomed to die within a year. Takhisis is an odd mistress at times, it seems ...
  
  There's a parallel universe where this book is pretty damn epic but that, sadly, wasn't to be. It's easy to forget that this was written in the 90s though, and politically charged fantasy was still an emerging prospect - shame, because I can see a more complex book about Ariakas subtly manoeuvring disparate parts of Krynn under his command until he's ready to strike out with his dragonarmy as providing some really good colour to the saga. I had some stupid fun with this little adventure, though, which was probably more than I was expecting.
• 
  Justin Kern

  I used to like villains with cool scary armor. Look at the guy on the cover of this book. Not only does he have cool armor - he has a scary helmet/mask and his hands are shooting lightning. So, yeah. That's what's going on here.
• 
  Bradley

  Fascinating and grim. Definitely fun dark fantasy. =)
• 
  Andrew

  This was a complete surprise as I have no experience with the series but this was legitimately a great time.
  
  It's like the Villains Journey instead of the Heroes Journey and it was a lot of fun with some surprisingly good character work.
• 
  Katie

  Just made it through this for the first time today. It tells the story of the rise of Ariakas, his arrival in Sanction, the creation of draconians, and his first step (or flight) as a highlord. I enjoyed the first part with him in the tower because it reminded me of allegorical King Arthur tales, but I thought the rest of the book spent just a little too much time on people wandering around in dark caverns and underground paths, although it was interesting to see Sanction pre-dragon armies. I also never felt a connection to Ariakas as the main character. He just lacked a little bit of charisma that would have made him more engaging. Since I always end up comparing Dragonlance books to others in the series, I felt a treatment of Ariakas that mirrored Knaak’s Golgren would have made me get invested in him as a character. But I just really like Golgren. Anyway, it was still a fun read that I would recommend.