Saturday, August 10, 2024

Kind of surprised the Sacred Timeline hasn't been destroyed at this point

 So, Dragons of Eternity showed up right after I finished the second volume up, so yay!

Let me start this by saying this volume is much better balanced than the previous installments. Again, we're dealing with time travel in a fantasy setting, which tends to get a bit confusing, particularly since the "present" setting is mostly unaffected by changes further in the past, with a caveat that the River of Time doesn't rise at all once, thus with one setting being roughly 5 years prior, and another 5 centuries prior (or so)...

On the other hand, it's a great opportunity for fan service, as Tanis ends up getting sent back to the dawn of the War of the Lance in the "Chaos Timeline" to serve as bait while Destina and Brother Kairn travel back to the Third Dragon War to try to fix what they screwed up in the last volume. 

Which means, we get treated to re-imagined moments from the first ever book in the entire series as Tanis and the original Heroes of the Lance meet at the Inn of the Last Home on the night Riverwind and Goldmoon show up with the Blue Crystal Staff, only this time in a world where Takhisis won the Third Dragon War and the other Gods are now returning to try to free the world. 

There are some really great moments in there, like Tasslehoff bludgeoning Flint with the Blue Crystal Staff to cure him of his heart problems and Fizban being Fizban. There are some really confusing moments, since going back to a period where you were alive replaces that you with current you, or the fact that the return to the Third Dragon War suggests that people who traveled there in book 2 aren't there when two others return to the period. There are also a few WTF moments in there, like when Chaos Time Caramon winds up hitching a ride with Zeboim to get to the High Clerist's Tower. 

They do leave the timeline opened ended, since Dalamar has foreseen the Chaos War and the "5th Age", although it's never quite defined if it will still come to pass by the end of this.

Honestly though, something Raistlin says partway through helps, about how even if they have no memories of what happened in the alternate timelines, their hearts will remember, which does better explain how the Companions managed to work together long enough to win the war. 

While I understand the current owners of the setting have no interest in publishing novels, this will likely be the end of the saga for a while. And it is a pretty good place to end.

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