The Rebellion

The Rebellion is the first book in The Stonetellers Trilogy by Jean Rabe, and Jean's third trilogy I the world of Krynn. To begin, I must say that a lot of the reviews I had seen regarding the book scared me a little bit. So going into this first book I was a bit hesitant. Now having read the novel, I am glad that I decided to read the book. For me, it was pleasantly surprisingly a good book. There are no returning characters from Dragonlance in this novel all are new. The book takes place in Steel Town for a portion of the book, and the rest of the book in the Khalkist Mountains. I felt that the pace was a bit slow at times, but it was all just set up for the second book. I did not have a hard time at all getting a feel for goblin characters. I did feel a bit sorry for them, having grown up in slavery their entire life. They desired freedom, same as any "intelligent" race of Krynn. The book follows the desired of a hobgoblin named Direfang, who is the main character of the novel. There are several other goblins, and a few Dark Knights that are the central characters of the novel. There one thing of note that I found very interesting with this book. We get to see a goblin shaman who is able to use earth magic. She then finds other goblins that are able to use this magic also, and they are able to combine their magic to make a more powerful spell together. I was very happy to see something like this in a novel, rather just being in the gaming sourcebooks. The major thing I did not like about this book is that it tried to show itself off as the "first goblin nation on Ansalon". Wizards of the Coast tried to sell it like that also, but it seems they all forgot about the goblin nation of Sikk'et Hul over on Northern Ergoth. This is where I thought the book series was going to take us too, but now having read the book I can understand a shaman's manipulations as to where they are going and why. Overall, I enjoyed this book. Any Dragonlance fan out there should read this novel, but if you are just starting out with the series I highly suggest you do not pick this book up. You should instead focus on the core novels, while this is a good supplement to those and will be a good series once Death March and Goblin Nation come out.

I luckily picked up this book before I went on vacation. The only thing I didn't like about this book was that I found myself staying up late to read just one more chapter. Needless to say, my vacation outlasted the book. It was a wonderful read, granted it was about goblins, but this is Dragonlance and it's refreshing to see things from the prospective of something usually considered dragon snacks or fodder for the next fight. Even though I was left shocked at the end of the book (and a bit sad that I couldn't run out and pick up the second book in the series) this is something I am looking forward to reading more of.

I did not expect to enjoy this book as much as I did, goblins and hobgoblins not being high on my list of interesting creatures. But with the first chapter, Jean pulled me in to the Dragonlance world. By the end of the book, I was caught up in the plight of the rebellious slaves and their struggling masters. I'm afraid that the next book will bring more sorrow than joy for them, but I can't wait to read it and find out what happens.