The Ring of Five Dragons

By Eric Van Lustbader

Book Overview

A towering epic of fantasy, The Pearl, is launched in The Ring of Five Dragons . Filled with action, color, and the myriad details of another world, The Pearl is the first great fantasy series of the new millennium, set to rival Robert Jordan, David Eddings, George R. R. Martin, Terry Brooks, and Terry Goodkind in popular appeal. This astonishing first volume opens as the Kundalan people have suffered for a century under the viciously oppressive, technologically-superior V'ornn invaders. In the resulting crisis of faith -- why hasn't their goddess Miina saved them? -- Kundalan religion has fallen under the control of evil forces from within who forbid the teaching of traditional sorcery, pretending to have no magic of their own. The V'ornn's mysterious leaders, the Gyrgon, know better, and search for the lost Ring of Five Dragons, the key to the door of the fabled Kundalan Storehouse, and perhaps to Kundalan sorcery as well. But misused, the Ring is the trigger of seemingly inexorable annihilation for V'ornn and Kundalan alike. Now from among the oppressed must arise the hero of prophecy, the Dar Sala-at, who alone can wield the sorcerous power to save the world. Thus begins a huge epic rooted in the conflict between spiritual and technological cultures. The twisting plot raises difficult and provocative moral questions in the course of a constantly surprising, sometimes shocking, fantastic adventure that will transport fantasy readers to new heights of enthusiasm, and make them ask for more.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812572335
• ISBN13: 9780812572339
• Release Date: July 2002
• Publisher: Tor Books
• Length: 688 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 4.1" x 6.7"

Customer Reviews

Very pleasantly surprised!

I'm normally a scifi reader rather than fantasy, but my wife picked this up for me in a used bookstore so I gave it a try. I certainly wasn't prepared for how enjoyable and interesting this story was! It's really a mixture of fantasy and science fiction, and dwells on the debate of faith vs. reason. I found the writing superb as well, sometimes transporting me solely by its literary merit. The other reviewers who panned the writing in this book must be used to a different style; but coming from a background of enjoying scifi, classics and mystical poetry, I found Lustbader's prose to be exactly what I was looking for in a pleasant evening-time read. I went on to finish out the whole series, and while I wouldn't rather the next two books quite as highly, I would certainly recommend this one to anyone who enjoys the fantasy and scifi genres.

Spellbounding

The cover caught my eye and i thought that looks like an interesting book. Firstly i was going to give it away the beginning was quite dull. Im so glad i didnt the story is fabulous the fight of freedom from the powerful V'ornn. The kundalans who dont give up. There are alot of twists it has a great plot and my favourite character in Giyan she sound stong beautiful and committed to the fight. I cant wait for the next book. I hope its as great as the first one.

Alice in Kundalaland

Being a Lustbader fan (what's with the 'van' coming in and out of his name?), I looked forward to this new series. After the first few pages, I almost gave up and was going to donate the book to ther terminally bored. However, I persevered a little longer and became too involved to let go. I let go of the correct pronunciation of names and places (who cares) and just plowed on. I found a great deal of similarities to Alice in Wonderland, taken to new Freudian heights.Think Thigpen's smile. The story is compelling and the characters had wonderful Jungian overtones (Freud and Jung can co-exist). The story ended just as it should -- unresolved. I can't wait to see the next volume. Mr. van Lustbader certainly has a way with aliens.

Very nice balance between science and magic

The V'ornn have conquered the Kundalan people and are raping their planet but are unable to get to the bottom of their secrets. Yet, secrets are what the V'ornn are truly seeking. Although the Kundalan feel abandoned by their goddess, still, their magical powers give them the a limited ability to resist the advanced science of the V'ornn. Some day, their prophesy holds, a savior will come to reclaim their ancient religion.Eric Van Lustbader does a great job developing a well balanced match of science and magic which, before the end of this series are certain to come together into something more holistic. The internal politicing, murder, feuds, and jockeying for position within the V'ordd is also well developed. I especially liked the development of the unscrupulous Kurgan. While most of Van Lustbader's characters are fairly flat (they are always heroic, or cheating, or drunk, or sadistic), Kurgan is a bit more complex, filled with hatred but capable of learning and changing. Given that most of this books villains are dead at the end, I suspect we'll see a lot more of Kurgan in furture volumes.Van Lustbader mixes up the action with mysticism, giving the reader a fast moving melange of treats.

Excellent

Over a century ago, the vicious V'ornn conquered the peaceful Kundala as the military superiority and the amoral ability to kill overwhelmed the more spiritual people. Brutally enslaved by their conquerors, the Kundala cannot understand why the Goddess Miina abandoned them. The younger Kundala are leaving the ancient beliefs for a new religion as the V'ornn force their culture on the losers with little counter absorption. Unlike their drones, the V'ornn leadership covet whatever is hidden inside the Kundalan Storehouse where they expect all sorts of sorcery secrets to be found, including eternal life. However they need to find the RING OF FIVE DRAGONS to open the door to the mystical storehouse. If they succeed, will the V'ornn obtain their desires, will they set in motion a doomsday scenario destroying everyone, or will they inadvertently begin the fulfilling of a prophecy that forecasts a Kundalan freedom fighter leading a resistance? When the RING OF FIVE DRAGONS concentrates on the social interactions and upheavals between the two distinct societies, the novel is a superior fantasy tale. That part of the story line is incredibly insightful as it feels like the German blitzkrieg of Europe, especially when the bellicose V'ornn impact the culture of the pastoral Kundalan. When the story line returns to traditional epic fantasy, it retains its high level of quality and remains a fun to read adventure, but the plot is not any different from some of the other well-written genre tales. Eric Van Lustbader has written a fabulous book that fantasy readers will find entertaining and insightful, but could have been a cultural milestone if it stayed the interrelationship course.Harriet Klausner