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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780786935819
ISBN number: 0786935812
Label: Wizards of the Coast
Manufacturer: Wizards of the Coast
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 352
Printing Date: January 04, 2005
Publishing house: Wizards of the Coast
Release Date: December 28, 2004
Sale Popularity Level: 358934
Studio: Wizards of the Coast
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
The second in a new trilogy of novels from R.A. Salvatore's War of the Spider Queen author Richard Lee Byers.
The Rite is the second title in a trilogy exploring the ancient secrets of dragon society in the Forgotten Realms world. Author Richard Lee Byers will write the entire trilogy, and the cover art for the trilogy and the associated anthology will be rendered by award-winning fantasy artist Matt Stawicki.
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Rated by buyers 
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"The Rite" is the second book in the Year of the Rogue Dragons trilogy by Richard Lee Byers. I must say that the very first book failed to impress, although it wasn't bad. I gave it three stars.
This novel is really not what I hoped for. I expected more mystery, intrigue and some details behind the Rage of Dragons. What I got, is 230 pages of boring, repetitive, pointless slaughter, and fairly interesting last 100 pages. I felt the author had absolutely no idea what to make of this bridge book, so he filled the page-count in the easiest possible way - with fighting. The problem (besides the obvious pressing quantity of battle scenes) is their repetitiveness. They differ from one another only in the variety of the dragon waiting to get slaughtered. As I already said, very first 230 pages lack any substance. The protagonists are split in three groups and sent on different errands to try and learn something of the Rage. The problem is that they learn absolutely nothing, and then start having inexplicable epiphanies towards the back end of the novel. No feeling of progress in this book.
If you expected to see more of Sammaster and the Cult in this book, you'll be disappointed once again. The lich appears only in the prologue, and once towards the end, and that is all you see of him.
Next, the descriptions of people, places and their customs protagonists meet in their travels are minimal. You won't learn anything about Thentia, Monastery of the Yellow Rose or Damara in this book. Instead, you'll see at least 10 different kinds of dragons get terminated in the same way, with sword and sorcery.
Character development is minimal, again, and obviously everything that we had to learn about the characters happened in the very first novel. Dorn is even losing his gruffness and phlegmatic habits (I came to like in the very first book), and becomes more and more of the washed-out hero we see in the novels over and over again.
Another thing that bothered me is the constant use of game terms in the novel. I do understand that D&D game (which I immensely enjoyed in my time, and would recommend to everybody who hasn't tried it out) and these FR novels are strongly connected, but I think there is really no need for references such as "I can use this power only a couple times per day" in novels. On the other side, he stomps all over some of the more important aspects of the game, such as paladin's code of conduct.
IF there is a redeeming quality of this book, it must be the introduction of the wizards of Thentia and the mystery Taegan has to solve around them. Again, I would have liked to see more of that, but I understand that the author didn't have the space to really fit it in beside all the dracocide in this book.
I hope the third book will be better than this one, or at least as mediocre as the very first one, but I must confess I'm a pessimist. Enjoy.
Rated by buyers 
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It is not a masterpiece, but I like the trilogy so far. Epic happenings and battles are always thrilling. But, I think it is too many battles in the book, as goes for many of the latest forgotten realms novelles. It is almost as if you haven't finished one battle until the subsequent starts. The book is divided in three different sitings, and on every siting there is just as much battle as on the last. More intrigues, and insight in the villains minds could have made the book more interesting.
Rated by buyers 
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Action, dragons, all the things I enjoy plus a well done story. A good read for any fantasy reader.
If you like books like this one, might I suggest another I've recently come across. The Unsuspecting Mage by Brian S. Pratt. It's another fantasy adventure sure to please. I highly recommend it.
Rated by buyers 
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I think this was better than book one in the series :) I never thought that combat scenes could last that long and still retain their excitment and my interest. An execellent work and well worth it. My only regret is my lack of sleep before finishing it :P
Rated by buyers -
This is the middle book of the Year of the Rogue Dragons trilogy. As such parts of the story need to be moved along and things set up for what will surely be a great final installment.
Byers follows through on all accounts and does a fantastic job of keeping the story going without recycling things used in the very first book. As you read this one you can sense things coming to a head in the subsequent book. You can almost anticipate what is going to happen in book three, the the second you do there is a twist that makes you rethink all that you thought before.
All-in-all this is a very good middle book and makes me eagerly anticipate the third in this very good trilogy.
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