A solid first book to a fantastic series
Dragon Wing is the exciting first book in the seven volume series of The Death Gate Cycle. I've been a Weis and Hickman fan since Dragons of Autumn Twilight. I don't believe I've ever disliked a book these two have written together.
Dragon Wing introduces us to our world but not as we know it. The earth has been sundered and rebuilt into four different world by beings known as the Sartan who are incredibly powerful in the art of magic. Arrayed against the Sartan are their ancient enemy the Patryns who have been imprisoned within a 'rehabilitation facility' (called the Labyrinth) by the Sartan.
A powerful Patryn named Haplo has won his way out of the Labyrinth and sent on a mission by his lord to find out information on their ancient enemy the Sartan. Haplo travels to the first of the worlds known as Arianus and that is where this story takes place. Arianus is populated by humans, elves, and dwarves but not the humans, elves, and dwarves that were made popular by the likes of Tolkien and Feist and even Weis and Hickman in the Dragonlance Saga.
Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman are consummate world builders. They put incredible amounts of time into research to create their worlds. The magic presented in the Death Gate Cycle is amazing. Both the Patryn and Sartan use Rune Magic and an entire appendix is used to explain the mechanics of the magic.
This story presents the universal dilemmas of absolute power corrupting and the very human emotions that the Sartan and Patryn have. The story also reveals the hubris of the supposedly good of the Sartan's and how they can be easily corrupted.
But my opinion is pick this up and read it (along with the rest of the Death Gate Cycle). One of my favorite characters in fantasy fiction ever is presented in this book, an assassin known as Hugh the Hand.
![Dragon Wing [the Death Gate Cycle Volume 1]](https://www2.alibris-static.com/isbn/9780553402650_t.gif)
