The Sovereign Stone Trilogy
By Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

The Redhead suggested these well-known fantasy authors after reading theirDeathgate Cycle books. The Sovereign Stone trilogy consists of Well of Darkness, Guardians of the Lost, and Journey into the Void. I found the entire trilogy to be rather unsatisfying, although the authors did create a complex and fascinating world in the novels. After reading the first book, I didn’t know who was supposed to triumph in the end because all of the characters had profound flaws. I was surprised when no one won and everyone died—perhaps a more realistic ending, but somewhat unexpected. While horridly depressing, the first book did a masterful job at developing the history and motivation behind an extremely bad villain who came back in the last two novels. If George Lucas had done a similarly good job in developing Anakin Skywalker’s demise, all three movies in the new Star Wars trilogy would have won Oscars. Sadly, this achievement was insufficient to save the trilogy, and the Sovereign Stone never attained any level beyond moderately interesting.