The Companions

Dragonlance: Meetings Sextet #6

by Tina Daniell

Flint, Tanis, Tasselhof, Kitiara, Raistlin, Caramon and Sturm band together to undertake a perilous mission that will test Raistlin's powers to the limit and the courage of his companions.

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

312 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dégouté de pas avoir aimé. J'adore l'univers dragonlance mais là ça n'a juste pas marché. Trop de persos, les seconds couteaux sont inutiles et on ne s'y attache pas. Un volume très moyen.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was secretly hoping that the Meetings Sextet was going to build to a stonking finale and it tried ... boy did ittry but, whilst Tina Daniell has buckets of enthusiasm for the world of Krynn, she just doesn't somehow have the toolkit to ever truly engage us on an adventure which spans three sets of characters (Tas/Sturm/Caramon, Tanis/Flint/Raistlin, Kitiara in case you were wondering) coming together to do battle against Minotairs trying to raise up the Minotaur God.

I do have a lot of patience with these books skewing towards Young Adult territory, but other authors have shown that this can still be done with epic grandiosity (Knaak) or good humour (Kirchoff) and presenting situations, characters etc in such a bare bones manner as Daniell ends up doing feels like an unnecessary dumbing down. The book is, of course, much better when we get original ideas rather than the mundane scenes of slavery to gladiatorial combat, or meeting an Ogre to buy a spell; the big contribution here is "Evil Tas" an idea so obviously fun and brilliant I can't believe that Weis & Hickman didn't pull off this one themselves. It could have been funnier but by and large these scenes delivered enough to get me through slower sections (birdmen Kyrie, I'm looking at you) and not make me regret the time I spent with this.

Nevertheless, a disappointing conclusion to the series (admittedly, I haven't read books 4 and 5 yet) and good evidence that it was now time for the core War of the Lance characters to be left alone and for the saga to move on, despite fanboy moaning. Never mind, young Raistlin is coming back again in The Soulforge, isn't he?

[Jim C · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book takes place during the Dragonlance universe. It is a prequel to the original trilogy and has our heroes from that trilogy. This tells the story of how minotaurs are trying to conquer this world but our heroes attempt to stop them.

I imagine the outline of this story was enjoyable but I did not like the complete story. My biggest problem with this story is it is too epic for our heroes. Part of the attraction of the original trilogy is that our heroes are forced into this epic adventure. This book negates that aspect because this adventure is so epic and the original trilogy would have been another day at the office. I believe the author did a good job with the characters but I question her use of them. Tasslehoff is a personal favorite of mine and in this book the author had him act not as his normal self and this was on purpose as it was vital to the plot. I did not enjoy this plot arc at all. I believe this was an nice story but it needed a totally new cast of characters. It did not work with our established characters.

This wasn't the best supplemental book for this universe. I was looking forward to visiting these beloved characters but by the end I was wishing that they were not in this novel. I believe this book needed a breath of fresh air to be enjoyable.

[J.C. Cauthon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once again, a Dragonlance novel that is nowhere as fulfilling as the original series. As this was part of a prequel series, I was not expecting it to go so overboard on the epic-quest concept. With the original series, the characters were supposedly thrust into their first epic adventure together, so with this prequel series sending them on one before the other happened chronologically--yep, series contradiction. That made it hard for me to get into.

And then the characters were nothing like the original characters created by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. Same names, supposed the same characters, but their actions and personalities made them come off as completely different people. And to have Tasslehoff behave completely out of character simply to satisfy a plotline--ugh. Absolutely angering.

The adventure was a decent one, and I was about to enjoy it now as an adult, but I feel that the author could have taken more time with the original cast of Dragonlance and done a better job.

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is either the best of the meetings book or second to Kindred Spirits. All of the gang is here. It is beyond amazing until about 160 when it turns to Tanis's journal. After that it gets a bit mired but I still loved it.

The minotaurs capture Caramon, Sturm and Tas because of the jalopwort. They decide since Tas has it in his pouches that he must be the mage. A kender mage. I want a book about that. Inconceivable!

From there Tas does a lot of "evil" things that left me wondering if he was faking on every page. I laughed so much everytime evil Tas interacted with any of the gang.

Sturm was the most upset by his antics. Kit strangely was the one who got over it the fastest. Maybe because she finds Tas so annoying in any form.

I find Dogz to be the strangest name for a minotaur and would love to talk to the author about that choice. I know there is a story there.

Evrery single one of the companions were their best version. I enjoyed this book so much. I didn't love the battle but I assume that lovers of fight scenes would find this one entertaining.

[Ubiquitousbastard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aww...I wish this book was longer. Everybody all together, before crap starts getting real... I especially (of course, big shock here) love Raistlin. He's such a little badass, and not quite the enormous dick that he is slightly later in Dragons of Autumn Twilight. Okay, the badguy isn't the greatest or most threatening, but I really love the gang and their interactions, and that falls apart after DoAT. There's also a bit of foreshadowing for the events that occur later, including the deal with Kitiara.
I'll probably go reread this, because sometimes I like ridiculous, silly awesome fantasy.

[Scott Marks · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a prequel.
Raistlin hasn't had The Test at the Tower Of High Sorcery yet, as mentioned on page 6 of this book.
So why is the author, on page 21, describing Raistlin's hourglass eyes?

[Yasmin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cerrando con broche de oro

La serie de los Compañeros de la Dragonlance comprende seis libros. En cada uno de ellos se exploran las aventuras de uno o dos compañeros de las novelas originales (publicadas a principios de la década de 1980), y es previa a la trilogía original. Aquí se cuentan las historias del origen de esos personajes y cómo se conocen; así que lo más lógico es que acabara así, con una gran aventura final en la que conviven todos los personajes principales.

En esta historia, en lugar de enfrentarse con un mago poderoso que utiliza criaturas a las que en cierta medida ha esclavizado, se enfrentan a una de las razas más temidas en Krynn: los minotauros y su sumo sacerdote, el cual intenta, por medio de un poderoso hechizo, traer al dios Sargonnas (dios de la venganza) de vuelta al mundo para conquistarlo.

Es interesante que se logra encajar el final de esta serie con el inicio de las Crónicas de la Dragonlance, en las que vemos un reencuentro de los compañeros después que se separaran para encontrar vestigios de los dioses; por lo tanto, ese encuentro cercano con Sargonnas tuvo un efecto e influencia significativa en los personajes, y al avanzar en las novelas se vuelve evidente que esto fue especialmente significativo en Raistlin. En conclusión, estas historias estuvieron bastante bien planeadas, a pesar de que prácticamente cada novela de la Dragonlance puede leerse por separado, ya que cada una tiene elementos suficientes para entenderla sin que conozcamos las otras.

[Sherrill Watson · Rating 1 out of 5]

See Jim C's review.

I picked this up, looked at the cover, and thought, well, why not. And then NONE of the characters bore any resemblance to the cover, nor those at the start of each chapter; they looked old and weather-beaten, instead of young and fresh, which is how they acted in the story. But still, I thought, maybe the artist didn't read the story. Where was the dwarf with the broken leg? And which one was Tasselhoff Burrfoot (the only reason I kept reading). Caramon and Sturm chained to a log in the ocean for days? NAH.

And just when you thought they were safe, or could eat a meal (which seldom happened - although they hadn't eaten in days -) some brand-new, unforeseen monster (maybe friendly, maybe not) appeared, from the skies or the dirt clods, which had no foreshadowing AT ALL. It just didn't make any sense. Double YUCK! Toss this one into the trash!

[Matt Littrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't a terrible book, but for some reason it seemed to drag on. I didn't really like the story told, not in and of itself, but in relation to what I know of the companions. It seems some mention of fighting off tons of minotaurs and keeping a dark god at bay would have come up later on.
It's a good enough tale, not horribly written, though the authors style isn't really for me. It seems, meandering maybe. It never gripped me.
Having now finished the Meetings Sextet, I can say overall I enjoyed the series, but the last two didn't really engross me. If you like the characters and want to see a bit more of them, definitely give these tales a try.

[Lahti · Rating 3 out of 5]

This ended up being a munchkin campaign that was well beyond what the characters should have been able to handle. While the plot was amusing and entertaining, it didn’t really work with the characters from the original series.

I will also add that the explanation of how Raistlin figured out what was going on was extremely implausible, like the author just didn’t even bother trying to create anything believable. “I found a spell, and because my friend said some guy died, I totally figured out that some other guy was trying to bring a god into corporeal form on the other side of the world!” Because that’s definitely a logical conclusion.

[Todd R · Rating 2 out of 5]

After enjoying Dark Heart by Ms. Daniel I thought I would try this one by her next. To say I was disappointed is an understatement.
Where Dark Heart meandered through Kit's life, bringing in odd characters and events, Companions simply gives the reader a linear tale, very RPG, that presents our heroes as spoiling the plans of a big bad dude at the end.
I expected more, but such is genre fiction.

[C McCrimmon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was ok. The storyline was cute and dramatic (I know those adjectives don't really go together), but I almost had the feeling at times that everybody was on a huge picnic telling camp stories. Character personalities were so different that they were not believable. It was an interesting read with some good elements, but there was something missing that needed to be there.

[R.K. Cowles · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/4 stars

[Jessica Lower · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great overall story finally having all the companions, but this one does kinda just end

[H. Alvarez · Rating 2 out of 5]

El más flojo que he leído de los Compañeros. Las tramas son muy convenientes para meter a los Minotauros. Pobre creación de mundo.

[Mikaël · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cultural appropriation aside, this was pretty good

[Tom Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

Felt like coming home to old friends

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zeker een aanrader en wel verrassend in zekere zin om te zien hoe Tas in een evil kender verandert, maar toch nog speels en hyper blijft, hoe een minotaur vriendschap opbouwt met Tas hoewel minotaurs dit gegeven niet kennen. Raistlin neemt op zeker ogenblik het spreukenboek/spellbook van The Nightmaster en gooit het weg, terwijl ik dacht dat ie het voor zichzelf wou houden om eruit te leren. Misschien indien Weis&Hickman het boek hadden geschreven was het zo gegaan, maar bon. Het is soms langdradig vooraleer er tot actie wordt overgegaan, maar ik snap dat Tina haar verhaal wilde opbouwen. Het einde was voor bepaalde elementen ietsje te eenvoudig uitgedacht, m.i.

Hoedanook, Meetings Sextet is een aangename reeks. Niet 100% top, wel entertaining genoeg.

[Paulo "paper books only" · Rating 3 out of 5]

Before departing and each one going separate ways it was a nice adventure but not that well written and almost characters behave differently from Hickman's and Weis's ones. I read this book 7 years ago and I remember enjoying but not feeling fulfilled by it.

[Michael Ware · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great ending/beginning for the Chronicles

[Thain · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is where the meetings tend to go downhill. There is a lack of depth in the latter ones.

[Nimrod Daniel]

I read it many years ago.

[Layne · Rating 4 out of 5]

pretty good book i dont remember much but still i know enough to say read this its worth it

[Patrick · Rating 1 out of 5]

this whole series was a big let down.

[Sue-Ellen]

It was a good finish, with unexpected scenarios happening and joining in together. Really enjoyed how lots of small events combined to the outcome.

[Abdalla Awad]

The Companions was a book I selected solely for the purpose of finishing The Meetings Sextet, the series which it belongs to. I had thoroughly enjoyed the previous book and had expected a finale consisting of action,adventure, suspense, and thrills. My overall reaction to the book is this book was a pleasant surprise. Its written in alternating third person accounts of the six companions and switches just after a suspenseful event just happened, which creates a theme of constant suspense. The book had strengths of lore, and weaving the tales of the characters nicely, yet had the problem of in some scenes adding little to no action which created boredom for some parts. All in all, it is a great and I would recommend it to you.