"A fitting installment to this great fantasy"

Dragonslayer Lord John Aversin waits death for the hideous crime of trafficking with demons though his cause was noble and honorable. Still, his fate may seem helpless, but John tries to figure out a way to escape his incarceration before the executioner completes the task of killing him. Perhaps at one time his beloved Jenny Waynest could have saved him through her magic, but she lost that when he chose humanity, specifically her husband, in a previous battle.

The Demon Queen Aohila visits John in his cell informing the condemned man that his spouse Jenny is dying from the poisoned arrows of the gnomes. The dragon comes next and takes John away from certain death even as war between the armies of hell and humanity explodes. Will John find and save his Jenny and if so will they finally comprehend friend from foe in a realm in which magic makes it impossible to delineate who will amiably dine with you while plotting to kill you?

Though a fine recap opens the exciting epic fantasy DRAGONSTAR, to fully savor the tale the audience needs to read previous novels in the series (see DRAGONSBANE, DRAGONSHADOW and KNIGHT OF THE DEMON QUEEN). The story line continues the adventures of John and Jenny yet retain consistency through these two heroes. The action packed story line provides closure to previous threads while containing the belief that good and evil depends on the relationship between the transmitter and the receiver. Barbara Hambly has another winner that will more than satisfy her fans.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted July 2, 2002

Summary

The novels of New York Times bestselling author Barbara Hambly have broken new ground in the realm of fantasy. With a sweeping cast of characters whose powers are both awesome and heartachingly limited, the Dragon series is built around the touching relationship between a husband and wife separated by a flood of violence and chaos. Condemned to die for consorting with demons, dragonslayer Lord John Aversin sits in a dank prison cell and calculates the odds of escape, while smelling the smoke of the executioners' pyres. In Winterlands, Jenny Waynest pays a heavy price for choosing to be human, mourning the loss of her husband, Lord John, and the dangers that engulf her family. But in a season of the Dragon Star, strange miracles are about to transpire. As a pitched battle between the Hellspawn and the human rages, Jenny and John will be reunited in a city under siege. And there, they will have one last chance to understand all that has happened to them and why, who their true enemies and true allies are, and most of all, for what magical purpose each has been chosen. A vast adventure and a powerful mystery teeming with demons and witches, gnomes and dragons, Dragonstar explores profound issues of faith, fate, and technology--while obscuring long held boundaries between good and evil, love and hate, what is human and what is fantastic. With this glorious finale to a breathtaking series, Barbara Hambly establishes herself as one of the most visionary and inventive storytellers in the field of fantasy fiction today.