Dragons of Spring Dawning by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Book Three in the Dragonlance Chronicles.

I have completed three books for the Once Upon a Time Challenge! Go me! Last year, that would not have been a big deal, but for this year it is a great thing. It means I am sort of reading again, so hopefully I can start to really tackle my TBR pile. It would be a great thing.

Anyways, the reason I read this book was because Deslily is reading this trilogy and another Weis and Hickman trilogy for the Once Upon a Time Challenge. It got me thinking it had been a while since I read any of the Dragonlance books, so I decided to make at least one of them a part of this challenge. I was looking at some of the others I own, and I would like to read another one soon, but I don't like setting rules for reading. It tends to just make me want to read the book less.

The war against the dragon minions of Queen Takhisis rages on. Armed with the mysterious, magical dragon orbs and the shining, silver dragonlance, the
companions bring hope to the world. But now, in the dawn of a new day, the dark
secrets that have long shadowed the hearts of the friends come to the light.
Betrayal, treachery, frailty, and weakness will nearly destroy all that they
have accomplished.The greatest battle they have left to fight is within each of
them. Yet, in the end, they will be heroes.

This is not a book that you should read at work, let me tell you. I am sure that people think I am crazy because there were some scenes where I was sitting here laughing my head off. Tas and Flint are such a wonderful literary pairing. They compliment each other so well that you cannot help loving both of them. Tas is the fun-loving kender and Flint is the gruff, old dwarf. When you put the two of them together, laughter is not usually far behind. One of the main reasons that I love this trilogy so much is for these two, so you know I had to mention them first. They are more than enough reason to crack open a volume and enjoy a good story.

One of the things I like about this trilogy is that Weis and Hickman recap what happened in the previous books, but they do not shove it in your face. Sometimes trilogies spend too much time refreshing your memory and little time actually developing the story. Weis and Hickman insert information in such a way that it is not obvious that they are filling you, and the story is progressing at the same time. They do not waste their words, and I like that. I hate long, drawn out descriptions. They just tend to bore me. Lyrical writing is fine and everything, but sometimes writers waste too much time explaining the littlest thing and really should just work on getting the story on to the next chapter. I am not always a patient person.

This book in essence cleans up all the loose ends left over from the first two books. The characters reconnect in some ways, but other ways drift apart. There are many instances in this book where you honestly fear that a main character is going to die. Some authors refuse to kill central characters, but Weis and Hickman do not worry about things like that. That's another reason why these books are not great to read at work. They also will bring you to a cliff-hanger and then start talking about other characters, so then you have to wait several chapters to find out their fate. That is probably a good thing, but since I am also supposed to be working too, it is annoying to have to put down the book to work and then have to wait forever to find out what happened! After three books you sort of get attached to the characters, so it is not the best feeling in the world when you have to be parted from them.

Anyways, this book has a lot going on. I think it was a great third book, a third book that for many years was the end. There is a sort of fourth book, but it is not a necessary read. Most people don't really consider it when they talk about the books. I plan to read it one of these days, but I think this original trilogy will always be my favourite. I can see rereads in my future because I will need to visit with Tas and all the other characters that make this series so great. I want to read more in the series before I start rereads, though.

I strongly recommend this trilogy. It is a fun series, and I am sorry that I waited so long to read it! People have been recommending it to me for years, I was just too slow to get around to it. I am glad to have remedied that and I strongly recommend others do the same!

Two Reviews

I actually posted reviews, but not on here.

On Twisted Kingdom, I posted a review of Dragons of the Winter Night by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.

Now the people know that the dragon minions of Takhisis, Queen of Dragons, have returned. The people of all nations prepare to fight to save their homes, their lives, and their freedom. But the races have long been divided by hatred and prejudice. Elven warriors and human knights fight among themselves. It seems the battle has been lost before it begins.

The companions are separated, torn apart by war. A full season will pass before they meet again--if they meet again. As the darkness deepens, a disgraced knight, a pampered elfmaiden, and a rattle-brained kender stand alone in the pale winter sunlight.

Not much in the way of heroes.

To read the review, click here.

On Historical Tapestry, I posted a review of The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander.

Though the events are almost a century old, the imprisonment and execution of Tsar Nicholas and his family still hold an aura of mystery that fascinates. In haunting prose, Robert Alexander retells the story through the eyes of Leonka, on the kitchen boy to the Romanovs, who claims to be the last living witness to the family's brutal execution. Mysteriously spared by the Bolsheviks, the boy vanished into the bloody tides of the Russian Revolution. Now, through Alexander's conjuring, he reemerges to tell his story. What did the young boy see in those last days of the Imperial Family? Does he have answers to long-standing questions about secret letters smuggled to the Tsar, thirty-eight pounds of missing tsarist jewels, and why the bodies of two Romanov children are missing from the secret grave discovered in 1991?

To read the review, click here.

Dragons of the Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Books Completed: 48
Completion Date: March 2007
Publication Year: 1984
Pages: 439
Book One in The Dragonlance Chronicles

Lifelong friends, they went their separate ways. Now they are together again, though each holds secrets from the others in his heart. They speak of a world shadowed with rumors of war. They speak of tales of strange monsters, creatures of myth, creatures of legend. They do not speak of their secrets. Not then. Not until a chance encounter with a beautiful, sorrowful woman, who bears a magical crystal staff, draws the companions deeper into the shadows, forever changing their lives and shaping the fate of the world.

No one expected them to be heroes.

Least of all, them.

This is my first book read and reviewed for the Once Upon a Time Challenge. To read the complete review of this book, click here