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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Three stars. Average. It has some problems in pacing and character development, and needed a little more editing. In my heart, this is a four star book. We'll see if I revise upwards or downwards after the completion of the trilogy.
My first new Dragonlance in 20 years (I haven't gotten around to reading the War of Lost Souls yet.) A return to Krynn, home of much of my teenage years, and my first non-Tolkien foray into adult fantasy. A return by the authors that birthed the world and gave it to me and millions of other teenagers.
And... it's okay. I loved the first part of the book, where we laid a background story for the protagonist around events from the original War of the Lance. The second part was fun. The third part where we are ripping the fabric of the world apart to kick off another adventure... I wish we could find a way to have adventures in this world without returning to the same 9 heroes, and in this case,
The book could have used a little bit of editing to pare down some of the repetitive text to make sure that readers new and old know about the orders of wizards, about how much honor means to the Solamnics, about how playful and inquisitive kender are. The first few times I was happy, it made me feel at home. Then we had the same information conveyed in almost the exact same way a hundred pages later. Almost like as things got moved around as they moved from rough draft to final edit, things got introduced in different places and the duplication didn't get caught.
But for my frustration at the climactic twist here in book one, and the repetition, I love this book because it is coming home again, in a very real way, for me and so many others.
My first new Dragonlance in 20 years (I haven't gotten around to reading the War of Lost Souls yet.) A return to Krynn, home of much of my teenage years, and my first non-Tolkien foray into adult fantasy. A return by the authors that birthed the world and gave it to me and millions of other teenagers.
And... it's okay. I loved the first part of the book, where we laid a background story for the protagonist around events from the original War of the Lance. The second part was fun. The third part where we are ripping the fabric of the world apart to kick off another adventure... I wish we could find a way to have adventures in this world without returning to the same 9 heroes, and in this case,
Spoiler
ripping Raistlin and Sturm's souls out of the afterlife and throwing them back 300 years, meaning not only are they not a rest, they might alter the course of history that earned them that rest in the first place! Okay, okay, we know they'll get back to the afterlife, the question is how. But STILL! I both want wider and more diverse stories, and I feel like they've earned their rest and we are committing some sacralige by disturbing it. Even if disturb it is EXACTLY what a kender would do.Spoiler
The book could have used a little bit of editing to pare down some of the repetitive text to make sure that readers new and old know about the orders of wizards, about how much honor means to the Solamnics, about how playful and inquisitive kender are. The first few times I was happy, it made me feel at home. Then we had the same information conveyed in almost the exact same way a hundred pages later. Almost like as things got moved around as they moved from rough draft to final edit, things got introduced in different places and the duplication didn't get caught.
But for my frustration at the climactic twist here in book one, and the repetition, I love this book because it is coming home again, in a very real way, for me and so many others.
Look... Its a dragonlance book. I am a sucker for these. This is an interesting way to "reboot" the series for a new generation of young dorkuses but if you are like me and have read the original 6 over and over again, you will still get something out of it. That said... its still a Dragonlance book so you know... you probably know what you are getting when you crack this bad boy open.
Destina has lost all: her father, her home, his legacy. When she learns of a mysterious artifact that allows the bearer to travel back in time, she embarks on a quest to find it. Destina meets dragons, dwarves and kender on her travels. She is blind to the dangers of her plan though, and soon everything becomes chaos.
This was a solid fantasy novel: world building; fantastic races including staples like dragons and goblins; mysterious magical artifacts, and an exciting quest.
The build up to Destina's quest beginning did a great job of introducing the world, including some of the pantheon of gods that become quite important further on. The world building here was very cool, with a vivid fantasy world described in detail.
All the characters are well written, with Tas the kender being my absolute favourite. He had such a bouncy personality and was just fun to read about. He was genuinely comical. Classic traits of the dwarves, elves and goblins were captured well. I liked Destina as a character, although I was desperate for her to just stop and think about what she was doing. Her logic was sound, but she just made all the wrong decisions for the right reasons. She was likeable though and had some great development.
I found the pacing a points a little off - bits of Destina's quest felt a little anticlimatic and just too easy, like they needed to be over quick. I am excited to see where the second book takes us.
This was a solid fantasy novel: world building; fantastic races including staples like dragons and goblins; mysterious magical artifacts, and an exciting quest.
The build up to Destina's quest beginning did a great job of introducing the world, including some of the pantheon of gods that become quite important further on. The world building here was very cool, with a vivid fantasy world described in detail.
All the characters are well written, with Tas the kender being my absolute favourite. He had such a bouncy personality and was just fun to read about. He was genuinely comical. Classic traits of the dwarves, elves and goblins were captured well. I liked Destina as a character, although I was desperate for her to just stop and think about what she was doing. Her logic was sound, but she just made all the wrong decisions for the right reasons. She was likeable though and had some great development.
I found the pacing a points a little off - bits of Destina's quest felt a little anticlimatic and just too easy, like they needed to be over quick. I am excited to see where the second book takes us.
Ignore the overly negative reviews on this. This book isn't going to win a literary award but it will take you back to that time and place where you first discovered Dragonlance.
I once had the pleasure of hosting a panel with Tracy and I told him in the intro that I owe my love of reading to him, so it's hard to say this review is unbiased.
But if like me, Dragonlance played some important part in your love of reading and fantasy, this book will deliver. This is the beginning of another great Dragonlance story, and you won't regret reading it and taking another journey with Tracy and Margaret
I once had the pleasure of hosting a panel with Tracy and I told him in the intro that I owe my love of reading to him, so it's hard to say this review is unbiased.
But if like me, Dragonlance played some important part in your love of reading and fantasy, this book will deliver. This is the beginning of another great Dragonlance story, and you won't regret reading it and taking another journey with Tracy and Margaret
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Had this on the shelf for a while, and I was kinda intimidated when I realised there’s a whole series set before this. Luckily the book holds your hand a bit, to the point where the latter half of the book read as copy paste just to remind you (didn’t bother me too much due to the gaps I leave between reading). Still plan on getting the rest in this trilogy then going back the the original trilogy. Very obvious recommendation for old and new D&D fans, next to the film tie ins and legend of Drizzt series.
This is really a three star book for those not familiar with Dragonlance, but for those that love the setting and characters, it could almost be a five star book!
This book starts off a little slow, but it's necessary as it's introducing new characters to the world of Krynn. As the book progresses, you are treated to little fan service nuggets through mentions of old occurrences and characters from the original novels. The last quarter of the book is where things really get going as old characters show up! There's some time travel stuff that happens, and it's all pretty cool in that D&D / Dragonlance sort of way!
This book was a nice treat and I'm looking forward to the rest in the series.
This book starts off a little slow, but it's necessary as it's introducing new characters to the world of Krynn. As the book progresses, you are treated to little fan service nuggets through mentions of old occurrences and characters from the original novels. The last quarter of the book is where things really get going as old characters show up! There's some time travel stuff that happens, and it's all pretty cool in that D&D / Dragonlance sort of way!
This book was a nice treat and I'm looking forward to the rest in the series.
adventurous
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A bit of a mess of a reboot here, that just about saves itself in the last third.
Weiss and Hickman still write better than a lot of RPG tie-in material (especially if we throw Warhammer into that mix as well), but you could tell they stuggled to figure out how to piece this one together into their narrative.
The first half of the book is really rather painful. I wasn't against the idea of a recap of events, given I haven't read Dragonlance since 2002. But the 'semi-recap' from Destina's perspective is the first of a series of very odd decisions: it's not clear enough to be a recap, as it introduces new ideas and characters into the mix alongside recapping old ones, and skips around, often leaving me very confused about any events that aren't already burned into my memory; yet I also think it doesn't add enough to be interesting for anyone's who's recently read the War of the Lance. That's not to mention that Destina is an extremely annoying character and we don't get other perspectives until around the halfway mark, when they gradually become more common until by the end she's one of several.
The plot is also a weird mix of messy and basic. It follows the standard boring pattern of a D&D scenario, I suppose: set up context in part one, a sort of 'mini-quest' in part two, and then really taking off in part three. But it's also all over the place in what it's trying to achieve in terms of tone, characters, information and so on, obviously grasping at how to set up a lot of context for the third part where things start to move.
However, as we start getting into more of the heroes we know, as well as some who are being expanded on like Dalinar, I started feeling warm and fuzzy. Even Tas: I know people hate him, but he's OK by me (possibly teen nostalgia). He feels like a very genuine D&D PC and his babbling is written surprisingly well when it could be utterly painful. We start to get a lot more POVs, and a lot more fun, genuine insight than Destina's unreliable and frustrating voice, and it all started to come together for me.
In contrast to our powerful, knowledgeable heroes and anti-heroes (and Tas), I started to see what the authors are going for with Destina: a sort of 'anti-player character', bumbling around making selfish and stupid decisions that are quite uniquely bad in a D&D player character. Typically we either see good, evil, intentionally stupid, or comic relief in D&D novels, but very rarely 'inept'. Which is what she is; she's like a bad player, who's bad not because she makes bad dice rolls or actively tries to do the wrong thing, but because she plays the game badly, and as if she's competing with everyone around her, yet thinks she's great. And that's kind of... refreshing, in a way, as I can't think of anyone else like that. But it really needed the contrast from the other POVs to make this work, because she's a real drag to read about on her own for 200 pages.
I probably would have given this 2 stars... generally well-written, and Krynn still being my favourite setting, but otherwise urgh. But I ripped through part 3 of the book in an afternoon, and it feels like Weiss and Hickman *just* managed to turn it around into an opening of a new saga I'm excited to read.
Weiss and Hickman still write better than a lot of RPG tie-in material (especially if we throw Warhammer into that mix as well), but you could tell they stuggled to figure out how to piece this one together into their narrative.
The first half of the book is really rather painful. I wasn't against the idea of a recap of events, given I haven't read Dragonlance since 2002. But the 'semi-recap' from Destina's perspective is the first of a series of very odd decisions: it's not clear enough to be a recap, as it introduces new ideas and characters into the mix alongside recapping old ones, and skips around, often leaving me very confused about any events that aren't already burned into my memory; yet I also think it doesn't add enough to be interesting for anyone's who's recently read the War of the Lance. That's not to mention that Destina is an extremely annoying character and we don't get other perspectives until around the halfway mark, when they gradually become more common until by the end she's one of several.
The plot is also a weird mix of messy and basic. It follows the standard boring pattern of a D&D scenario, I suppose: set up context in part one, a sort of 'mini-quest' in part two, and then really taking off in part three. But it's also all over the place in what it's trying to achieve in terms of tone, characters, information and so on, obviously grasping at how to set up a lot of context for the third part where things start to move.
However, as we start getting into more of the heroes we know, as well as some who are being expanded on like Dalinar, I started feeling warm and fuzzy. Even Tas: I know people hate him, but he's OK by me (possibly teen nostalgia). He feels like a very genuine D&D PC and his babbling is written surprisingly well when it could be utterly painful. We start to get a lot more POVs, and a lot more fun, genuine insight than Destina's unreliable and frustrating voice, and it all started to come together for me.
In contrast to our powerful, knowledgeable heroes and anti-heroes (and Tas), I started to see what the authors are going for with Destina: a sort of 'anti-player character', bumbling around making selfish and stupid decisions that are quite uniquely bad in a D&D player character. Typically we either see good, evil, intentionally stupid, or comic relief in D&D novels, but very rarely 'inept'. Which is what she is; she's like a bad player, who's bad not because she makes bad dice rolls or actively tries to do the wrong thing, but because she plays the game badly, and as if she's competing with everyone around her, yet thinks she's great. And that's kind of... refreshing, in a way, as I can't think of anyone else like that. But it really needed the contrast from the other POVs to make this work, because she's a real drag to read about on her own for 200 pages.
I probably would have given this 2 stars... generally well-written, and Krynn still being my favourite setting, but otherwise urgh. But I ripped through part 3 of the book in an afternoon, and it feels like Weiss and Hickman *just* managed to turn it around into an opening of a new saga I'm excited to read.