Dragonlance
The Lost Chronicles, Volume Two
Dragons of the Highlord Skies by Margaret Weis and Tracey Hickman
The Lost Chronicles series is an informal sequel to the Dragonlance Chronicles that reveals untold tales from the original, classic epic.
So much for the brief synopsis I pinched from the dustjacket.
This is a series of three books published in one volume written from the point of view of three Solamnic Knights and also the view of Kitiara. We see her riding Skie, the blue dragon and how she gets the support of Lord Soth. We understand how she has risen so far and why she is so great. We begin to understand some of the problems Sturm had in Solamnia and see some knights following the The Measure to the letter and how much trouble it gets them into which is shown in other books.
I was so excited to read this book. Most of the books I’ve read recently have been mysteries, biographies or autobiographies. While I love reading about other people and what they’ve done with their lives, my first love is fantasy while my second is science fiction. While reading this book, I felt I was home again.
What I loved about it. There’s so much I loved and so much is unquantifiable that it’s hard to know where to start. I think I need to start with Dragonlance. I actually don’t like the whole of Dragonlance. I really only like the stories with certain characters, such as Tanis, Raistlin, Caramon, Tasslehof, Kitiara, Flint, Sturm and any of their close friends. It’s hard to know why, but my guess is because they are so well drawn and each one has flaws just like people in real life. Except, Tas, of course, who is just perfect as he is and has absolutely no flaws whatsoever, or so he’d have you believe.
I liked being able to see how the details in these books dovetailed with some of the other books. We get to see the opposition’s point of view with the assassination of Verminaard and how that changed their strategy for the war along with several other points that dovetail very nicely.
It is fabulous being able to actually see Kitiara from her mind and not through Tanis’ eyes. He is very biased about her and this shows her as she truly is, a really formidable character.
One of the parts I like the most is seeing Laurana mature and take her own part in the destiny of Krynn, rather than remaining a hanger-on and being in the way. In the early books and throughout most of these, she is just there getting in the way, but this shows the beginning of her journey of self discovery which is continued in Dragons of Spring Dawning.
What I didn’t like about it. That’s an easy one. I borrowed it from the library at the same time as an Andre Norton and there’s just not enough time in three weeks to read both books properly, especially as they’re both three-parters. I totally overestimated the amount of time I’d have to read.
Warnings:
This is Dragonlance, how many warnings do you need about blood, gore and violence?