The Odyssey of Gilthanas

Dragonlance Universe

by Stan!, Steve Miller, Stan Brown

Gilthanas, legendary Hero of the Lance, has loved and lost. He drove his beloved away, unable to accept the fact that Silvara is not an elf, but an ancient dragon. Too late, he realized that she is the only person who can make his life complete. Now the elven prince quests to find his lost love. Assassins dog his trail as Gilthanas travels across an Ansalon scarred by Chaos and the coming of the Great Dragons, searching for his heart's desire. Will Gilthanas find Silvara, or will death find him first? This novella explores for the first time the fate of the DRAGONLANCE Saga's most famous lovers. An appendix in the tradition of Leaves from the Inn of the Last Home provides details on Gilthanas's Odyssey, as well as the complete rules to the DRAGON WARS card game.

Genres: Dragonlance, Fantasy, Fiction, Ebooks, High Fantasy

316 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published July 20, 1999

About the author

Some say Stan! is an author who has published over a dozen short stories and two novels. Others say he is a game designer with more than 60 credits to his name. Yet others say that Stan! is a cartoonist whose work can be seen online and in major hobby games products.

Rumors abound that he is currently plying his trade as a freelance writer and illustrator, and that he is a founding member of Rogue Genius Games. Faceless voices whisper that he's worked for such industry-leading companies as Wizards of the Coast, TSR, Harper Collins Children's Books, and Viz Media.

A few conspiracy theorists say Stan! is all these things and more . . . including a prize-winning karaoke singer and raconteur par excellence. All we know for certain is that you can find him online at Stannex.com (which remains the Home of All Things Stan!) and track his current activities on Twitter @stannex.

Reviews

[Kenneth Chu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being a fan of Gilthanas (As is everyone who purchase this book is I presume.) This was a heart wrenching book to read. The story takes occurs after the events which took place in the Dragons of Summer Flame and spans over a 15 year period. We find that Gilthanas during the period of the War of the Lance, was the beloved governor of Kalaman, where he flourished as a great leader. By his side was the silver dragon and one of the most sacrificial characters in all of Dragon Lanre lore, Silvara. We find out that during this time, Gilthanas rejected Silvara because she had lied to him about being a dragon. In fear of having his heart broken further, he ignores and mistreats the silver dragon whom eventually leaves his company in attempts to find her own happiness.

The odyssey begins in Silvanesti, where he is the prize prisoner of a Silvanesti lord. During this time, Gilthanas has time to reflect and think about his grievous error of mistreating Silvara. A common theme in this book is fate, and as fate would have it, Gilthanas eventually escapes from the Silvanesti prison and embarks on a journey to find him and to live life. Originally, he plans to journey to his homeland and assist his brother in recapturing the ancient elven forest from the hands of the Dark Knights. But he comes across a crossroad and eventually figures that there is only one person...one thing which could give his life true meaning..one pursuit which would lead to happiness...and that was finding his love, Silvara.

So our hero embarks on a 12 year journey around the world of Ansolan in search of the silver dragon that he hurt long ago. What unfolds is a tragic, yet gripping story full of lies, deceit, heroism, chivalry, humility, assassins, friendship, romance, destiny, and of love. As you can tell from the negative reviews, Gilthanas never does find Silvara. And as a fan of the romance between the two estranged lovers, it will piss you off to no end. The ending of this book may not be great, but the characterization of Gilthanas as a hero is wonderfully portrayed. In this book, Gilthanas is portrayed in a light that I have to say is the best depiction of a heroic elven male protagonist that I have ever read in a science/fantasy fiction book. He is heroic, humble, chivalrous, charismatic, charming, strong, intelligent, and honorable. This novel shows the product of the his growth as a living being after rejecting Silvara and dealing with the emotional and physical pain and guilt that decision resulted in.

Many of the reviewers dislike this book because the ending. Indeed the fact that Gilthanas and Silvara never do find each other is painful. After all of the hardships that Gilthanas endures in this novel, he comes soooo close to finding Silvara, but destiny once again intervenes and prevents that from happening...perhaps because Gilthanas has one more lesson to learn before he is rewarded with eternal love. The book jumps from first person narrative, to third person. And the book is never told from the first person perspective of the elven prince. Instead the first person narratives come from all of the people whom are impacted greatly from their meeting of Gilthanas. The book is well written and is a unique book to say the least. There are sections of this book which are very emotional such as Gilthanas meeting with his brother Porthios and the final few pages where we finally read about happened to Silvara. Don't let the negative reviews this book received detour you from reading it. The ending might not be what we all wanted, but "The Odyssey of Gilthanas" certainly does justice to the character we all know and love.

[Mikaël · Rating 2 out of 5]

That was a weird novel. It explores what happened to Gilthanas, but in a disjointed way that makes the story (what little of it there is) feel like an afterthought, the main focus being dumping as much exposition and new places as humanly possible.. heck, a whopping 25% of the book is a full-on appendix, with stats for the boardgame and everything

Do they really think the boardgame players read books?

[Jenny Hoards Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very lovely read! I love the multiple POV, short story vibe. It was a wonderful little journey that took you in so many different directions. I did NOT love the unresolved ending. I knew it was going to happen, I was mentally prepared, but I'm still unsatisfied knowing that there is no resolution. That being said I would still read it again.

[Jim C · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review is based on the short stories and not the gaming part of the book. I am not a gamer so I cannot tell if that part was good or bad. This is a collection of short stories set in the Dragonlance world. Some of the stories are only 2 pages long. All the stories have something to do with the character Gilthanas. In some of them, he might make only a cameo appearance. This is a nice collection. It shows the tragedy of his life and his quest to reunite with Silvara. While reading this book, you actually feel for Gilthanas and you are hoping he finds Silvara. Even the stories that have nothing to do with him are tragic and you feel for the characters. After reading this book, you will have a more sympathetic view towards Gilthanas and his tragedy.

[Sean Winzer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uniques style to this book as there were three authors writing it. Perspective changed every chapter. Some story lines were random (no real back history) but other than that, it was entertaining. Only a once read book for me however. Last thris of the book was tied into creating game experience for AD&D...and not part of the storyline (however, there was more indepth description of the locations visted during the story).

[Adamp123 · Rating 5 out of 5]

best dragonlance book imo and i rarely give more then 4 stars

[Adon Coya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice read, in an RPG campaign world!