Dragons of Spring Dawning in Sword & Sorcery: "An earthier sort of fantasy"

Apr 10, 2014 Markus rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: dungeons-and-dragons, 2015, fantasy, dragonlance

Dragonqueen she was called in elven; Nilat the Corrupter, to the barbarians of the Plains; Tamex, the False Metal, so she was known in Thorbardin among the dwarves; Mai-tat, She of Many Faces was how they told of her in legends among the sea-faring people of Ergoth. Queen of Many Colors and of None, the Knights of Solamnia called her; defeated by Huma, banished from the land, long ago.
Takhisis, Queen of Darkness, had returned.

A disastrous defeat has all but destroyed the free nations of Krynn, a Dragonqueen she was called in elven; Nilat the Corrupter, to the barbarians of the Plains; Tamex, the False Metal, so she was known in Thorbardin among the dwarves; Mai-tat, She of Many Faces was how they told of her in legends among the sea-faring people of Ergoth. Queen of Many Colors and of None, the Knights of Solamnia called her; defeated by Huma, banished from the land, long ago.
Takhisis, Queen of Darkness, had returned.

A disastrous defeat has all but destroyed the free nations of Krynn, and all hope appears to be lost. And now the dragonarmies are amassing at the ghastly Temple of Neraka, preparing to subjugate the whole world to the domination of the Dark Queen. But in a final act of defiance, a small band of heroes travel in secret to this stronghold of evil to rescue a lost friend, and to strike back one last time...

Dragons of Spring Dawning saved the series. The second book (and honestly, much of this one) proved to be a huge disappointment, but in the end it deserves most of the love it gets. As usual, quality is low, entertainment value is high. The characters are shallow, the setting is amazing. And unlike the one in Winter Night, the storyline here really picks up again, almost going back to the level of Autumn Twilight.

One group of characters that were particularly good in this final book were the villains. The villains in the first two books were perhaps even more one-dimensional than the protagonists, but that appears to have changed here. The only villain getting a considerable amount of spotlight is the Dragon Highlord known as the Dark Lady (who has become one of my favourite characters in this series), but the others are probably even better. Ariakas, the self-proclaimed Emperor of Ansalon, the death knight Lord Soth, and Takhisis herself are all memorable.

In the end, I am glad I chose to give this series a try after nearly putting it aside because of all the negative reviews. It has tons of flaws, but there is a reason why it’s one of the most popular and influential fantasy series ever written.
...more

28 likes · Like · see review

Feb 25, 2018 Frank rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

No spoilers.
This dark third entry and conclusion of the Dragonlance Chronicles is very character driven, with no real major battles of the armies or dragons from the previous entry.
Here there is much betrayal, treacherous doings. we see weakness and frailty in our characters, amd some new ones along the way. Really enjoyed Fizban.
Each (Raistlin, Tasselehoff, Tanis, Laurana) of them grow into different people by the end of the book, realizing and asserting their true identities.
Of course there ...more

6 likes · Like · see review