The Rose and the Skull

Dragonlance: Bridges of Time #4

by Jeff Crook

Gargantuan dragons soar over Krynn, battling for control of the lands below. On the isle of Sancrist, the weakened Knights of Solamnia ask their old enemies the Knights of Takhisis, for help. At the insistence of Lord Gunthar, the knights renew the alliance forged during the last days of the Chaos War. But when the Grand Master of the Knights of Solamnia abruptly dies, the leadership of the knights -- in fact their very existence -- is challenged.

Jeff Crook's novel tells a tale of the Knights of Solamnia, the greatest knightly order on Krynn, faced with what may be their greatest challenge.

Genres: Dragonlance, Fantasy, Fiction, Dungeons and Dragons, High Fantasy

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 1, 1999

About the author

Jeff Crook and his lovely wife, Lady Jessica, live in the Quinn family home among Jeff's ancestors -- not in the Native American or even the John-Boy Walton sense, but in the Stephen King sense. As their niece Nickie said, "Those stairs are spooky!" There, Jeff grows tomatoes and grass (more grass than tomatoes), sometimes he works, and he writes the rest of the time, neglecting most everything else, except the cat that must be fed from time to time.

Jeff's first Dragonlance novel, The Rose and the Skull, hit the shelves in March 1999. He also worked on a second Dragonlance novel for the Crossroads series. One of his stories was also included in the 2000 Dragonlance anthology, Rebels and Tyrants. His story, "The Fractal," appeared in Relics and Omens, poetry in "The Final Word," and five AD&D adventures in Dungeon Magazine. He is currently the editor of Campaigns, the newsletter for the Southern Realms region of the RPGA.

When not writing or working or gardening or feeding the kitty, Jeff occasionally likes to mingle with humanity. He enjoys his food a bit too much, and wine is an expensive hobby he could probably do without, except life wouldn't be worth living. And when everything is quiet and the house is dark, the cat is asleep and the computer is turned off, Jeff lies in bed listening to things go bump in the night. He tries to turn off his brain so he can go to sleep, but it doesn't always work.

Reviews

[Kevin Potter · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, as I usually do, let me talk about the narrator.
Honestly, for me he was a little lackluster. Not bad, per se, but nothing great either.

Now, the story.
Jeff Crook has done it again!

Okay, let me preface this with the fact that I tried to read this book when it first came out and I just couldn't do it. I couldn't get into it. I didn't like where it seemed to be going.

Now, coming back to it after all these years, I almost skipped this book. But I loved the last Jeff Crook novel I read, so I decided to give it another chance.

And let me tell you, I'm so glad I did! This was a fantastic addition to the Dragonlance Saga!

Gunthar and Crysania were well (and accurately) presented, the other characters were well developed, and the writing is true to the source material.

That said, the story started off a little slow but once it picked up the pace gives any thriller a run for its money with equally high stakes and disasters around every corner.

Obviously, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it to any Dragonlance fan.

[Jeff Jellets · Rating 3 out of 5]

She thought of Lord Gunthar down in the cold of the grave, alone for all eternity, and she began to weep for him.

With more than 200 books in the Dragonlance saga, I don’t think I’ll ever find the time to read them all – especially outside the spine of essential novels penned by the realm’s creators Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. Still, because the original novels were so good – truly classic fantasy – it’s always fun to dive into the ancillary books and see how other creative voices expand the world.

Jeff Crook’s The Rose and the Skull centers on the knightly orders of Solamnia and Takhisis. Set in that murky period when giant dragons were taking over the land of Krynn – a part of the story that I am less than familiar with – Crook (to his credit) keeps his story readily accessible to even a lapsed reader. The aging solamnic knight Lord Gunthar Uth Wistan is feeling his mortality and keen on combining Krynn’s two preeminent knighthoods into one order before he shuffles offstage to the tomb. Gunthar’s brainchild seems to be a good idea -- notwithstanding, of course, that the two chivalric orders have in fact been trying to kill each other for quite a few of the previous books.

Not surprisingly, Gunthar’s plans don’t work out well and the rest of the tale is a fairly straightforward fantasy plot as the rival knights track down the witnesses to their Lord’s murder and uncover treachery in their midst. While the plot isn’t very complicated, Crook captures the spirit of the Dragonlance chronicles well, does a good job expanding the milieu into a few new nooks and crannies without spoiling it, and deploys a pretty good set of characters. To be fair, the book also has its flaws, taking a bit too long to get to Gunthar’s murder and then wrapping things up way too quickly, as the major baddies are hastily dispatched in a handful of pages (and main character Nalvarre disappears entirely from the final chapters).

While far from essential reading, for Dragonlance fans this isn’t a bad part of the expanded universe. And as Jeff’s Crook’s debut novel, it makes for an enjoyable start to a writing career and a pretty good read overall.

[Sherrill Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Knights of Taklisis (and their dragons) are trying to join up with Lord Gunther's Knights of Solamnia. "Papa" Gunther uth Wistham died at the hand of the draconians, the only witness being the stupid gully dwarf, Uh-oh, and a faithful dog, Millicent. Three gully dwarves, including Uhoh, [they were SO dumb I often couldn't even read about their antics] are headed to their Town, hiding from the patently ugly draconians. They are tracked by most of the other characters, including Nalvarre, who seems to exist to be the only sane and reasonable person.

The other characters are: Valian Escu, an oddball dark elf; Jessica, a wanna-be knight(?); Lady Alya, who serves her purpose and does tell some backstory in Chapter 19; Sir Liam, who tries throughout this book to transcribe Lord Gunther's Revised Measure into a book; and there are an odd assortment of colorful dragons, elves, bad guys who seem good, etc. to keep a fantasy reader happy. Some things popped up for no reason, like the silver bell, the piece of the silver orb, and the fight between Glabella and Mommamose, that I found REALLY startling. (Don't the gully dwarves THINK they MIGHT make some food for themselves?!!) On the other hand, some parts WERE humorous.

[E J · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars.

[Jim C · Rating 3 out of 5]

A novel set in the world of Dragonlance. In this book the Knights of Solamnia know they are outmatched by the dragon overlords and the head of the knights extends an invitation to the Knights of Takhisis to become one. Not everyone is on board with this idea.

I loved the idea of this book as two enemies combine their strengths to defeat a greater foe. I figured this was going to be exciting right from the beginning but it wasn't. It had such a slow start. There was a secondary storyline concerning gully dwarves and this storyline took up too much of the beginning. When the author went back to the original storyline this book was exciting. The last third of the book was terrific and I am glad I stayed with this book.

As of the characters the author did an excellent job with their individual personalities. There were several characters that I really enjoyed. In my opinion some of the minor characters outshined the major characters and I would love to see a sequel to this novel with those characters. Also there is a cameo by a well known character from the "holy six" Dragonlance novels that was well done and a nice surprise.

If you are trying to recapture Weis & Hickman this novel doesn't reach that atmosphere but it was a nice addition to this world.

[Alexander Faria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bastante predecible

[Oscar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un libro que si no fuera por los Gullys, sería muuuuuuuuy aburrido... creo que no hay más que decir.

[Girish Mani]

Merging of two entities.....it didn't work out as expected...maybe it'll....