Shirak

 And we finish the Lost Chronicles with Dragons of The Hourglass Mage, again written by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis. This one concerns Raistlin, the Mage twin of Caramon, whom in the context of this story was last seen in Palanthus prior to appearing in Neraka during the finale. As such, there's a large gap they're covering here. 

Given these were written in the late 00's, Raistlin's fate was well known prior to this, thanks to the trilogy set after the original Chronicles, as well as the War of Souls trilogy. (As I recall, Raistlin didn't play much of a part in the Chaos War that came between Legends and War of Souls. I only ever read that one volume once, and had to remind myself that I think book burning is an abhorrent practice. Maybe I'll try reading it again eventually, since I know they went and fixed the worst of it.)

Anyway, here we have the Gold skinned Mage with pupils like hourglasses changing from Red Robes of Neutrality to the Black Robes of Evil not long after leaving his companions to drown in the Blood Sea. From here, he discovers the endless scheming among the forces of Darkness, including his half-sister Kitiara; Emperor Arakis's witch, Iolanthe; The Nightlord; the Council of Mages, et cetera. As such, most of what Raitlin does in here is to do as a Kender tells him early on, "Change the Darkness". Raistlin knows if Tahkisis wins, he'll have to beg her for scraps, instead of being able to live independently, which is, at this point in the chronology, his entire goal. (That his goal becomes to depose the Gods themselves and take over is a story for the next blog entry, as I'll be starting Legends next.)

On one hand, this gets interesting, since it does a deep dive into Raistlin's pact with Fistandantilus, which becomes a major focus of the second book of Legends, pretty much solving a riddle that pops up in that volume. (Sort of. We'll return here next time.) On the other hand, it's still fun in its own right, trying to shed light on characters introduced wholesale into the plot that weren't part of the original story. This volume, moreso than it's immediate predecessor, also feels much more like part of the original, as we follow events we know part of from a different viewpoint, showing us how certain events came to happen. 

I am concerned for my memory though, since I thought this book dived in to the whole "Black Robes restoring the Tower of High Sorcery of Ishtar", but that may be The Dark Disciple trilogy. (It's been years.)

At any rate, it's a good finish to the trilogy that fills in many gaps left by the original trilogy, and really helps express the odd nature of it's main character.

Toade-y

 So, after reading a few reviews, and searching used book sites, I finally got to read Jeff Grubb's Lord Toade. one of the books detailing the lives of minor characters from the DragonLance campaign setting. Unlike some of the others, this one is written in a very very dry and deadpan style, and has the effect of being funny. 

You can see he's quite fetching.

 

 

Toade is an odd one, since it's set AFTER the War of the Lance and after the events in the Legends trilogy. Indeed, it's set after Toade's ignominious death becoming dragon chow thanks to some quick thinking Kender prisoners. Indeed, we open in the Abyss, where in two demons, the Abbot and the Castellan (One thick and short, the other quite tall and skinny), make bets on whether or not an evil person can be noble. (This obviously predates Dragons of the Summer Flame, which brought the concept of Evil Paladins to Krynn.) As such, Toade is sent back to Krynn to be Noble. Or become A Noble as he first thinks. By which he assumes to mean that he should return to his Lordship over that wretched hive of scum and villainy, Flotsam.

Any rate, his first attempt ends poorly, and he comes back again 6 months later. (Killed by a Draconian.) Second attempt (eaten by a swamp dragon) ends just as poorly. Another 6 months, and he gets run over by an abyssal demon. His last attempt, though...

Oh lord. His former second in command who was doing well cooking for a tribe of Kender has taken over Flotsam, and everybody he's interacted with throughout the book wants to overthrow Groag (Toade's old friend.)  (That everyone, from the Necromancer to the Kender to the Scholars to the Gnolls also want to stick a knife in Toade's back as well doesn't matter much.) It's quite amusing how many things Toade is given credit for come back to haunt him in this incarnation, like some erotic Ogre poetics being given as a book of leadership...

At any rate, when we finally reach the very end, our Protagonist does indeed become our Hero. As someone once said, he's back with a joyous malice in his heart and a worse tune being whistled. 

If you can find it, it's a fun read, and an unexpected departure from the generally deadly serious High Fantasy (with occasional lighthearted Kender moments). It's good to be bad.

Toasty

 So, finished Dragons of the Highlord Skies by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis, volume 2 of their Lost Chronicles today on lunch.

The premise, much like book 1, is to go fill in gaps in the narrative from the original Chronicles Trilogy, this time focusing on the women in Tanis's life, Kitiara uth Matar and Laurana. Although honestly, Laurana is not the focus of much of the narrative, beyond the final battle of the book, as her parts are overshadowed by Derek Crownguard, Knight of the Rose. 

It works out, to my mind, since we see what we need from her.

But really, the focus is on Kitiara, whom we meet briefly in Dragons of  Winter Night during Sturm Brightblade's finale. We do see more of her in book 3 and in the legends finale, but really, she's an enigma for much of the series. 

Here, we see her as the commander of the Blue Army, waiting for the order to attack Solamnia. Her commander, Ariakis, has his own ideas, sending her to do busy work, like promoting Lord Toade to Dragon Lord over the Red Wing, trying to get Feal-Thas (the White Dragon Lord) on board with the plot to corrupt Derek with the Dragon Orb, and dealing with Ariakis's witch, Iolanthe. We do cross into familiar territory, as Kitiara was involved in the burning of Tarsis, so we get to see her one encounter with Laurana prior to the battle of the High Clerist's Tower in Palanthus. (Not that Laurana is aware of it.)

In terms of Laurana's story, we finally get more than a poem about how the Orb was recovered from Feal-Thas, including a wonderful use of prisms to melt the defenses around the ice castle. We also get a wonderful bit wherein Laurana finally accepts her destiny with a sacred ax. 

And, we close on Kitiara escaping Neraka, accused of treason, after promising Takhisis that she would take up Lord Soth's challenge to join the war. Kitiara is a strong female character, and it's good to see her get her due. (She, like Laurana, has issues with being a lovesick ninny at various points in time.) 

Yeah. Again, reading these prior to reading the originals would be bad, but they make for fun reading after.

Rewind

 Having just finished the Chronicles trilogy by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis, I picked up Dragons of Dwarven Depths, Book 1 of the Lost Chronicles. This trilogy was written after most of the rest of the official novels, and really only serves to cover things that got left on the editing room floor in the original trilogy. (Indeed, one of the annotations in the original mentions the finale of this one... So I assume that while they wrote this out, they had old material to go off of to do so.)

We pick up not long after the original trilogy ends, after Goldmoon and Riverwind's marriage. Tanis Half Elven and Flint the dwarf head south of Pax Tharkas to find the legendary home of the mountain dwarves, Thorbardin. The twins, Raistlin and Cameron drag Sturm, the human knight along with them to Skullcap, since Raistlin is convinced the key to the long ago sealed off Thorbardin lies there. 

Of course, this sets off Tika and Tasslehoff, who follow behind the twins and the paladin. 

Sturm finds a helmet in Skullcap that winds up containing a Dwarf ghost who possesses him, this leading everyone to Thorbardin. The refugees they left behind start following the trail blazed as the red dragons start attacking their cave sanctuaries. (It should be noted here that Verminaard, who died in the battle of Pax Tharkas, is now being impersonated by a Draconian who wants to be a Dragon Highlord.)

Anyway, everyone in Thorbardin gets involved in Dwarven politics. Flint and Pike the dwarf together go to quest for the legendary Hammar of Kharas, which Sturm also wants, since it was used to forge the legendary Dragonlances.

Since we all know how this all eventually plays out, the ending is not a particular surprise; it's still a lot of fun to see how the Dwarves react to the return of Reorx and finally getting a tale of what happened in the gaps between books.

Not quite LOTR

 More years ago that I feel like counting, a friend of mine convinced me to read Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis's Dungeons & Dragons tie in series. Mind you, being a geek for a very long time, I was aware of them, but I never got around to reading them. (Frankly, in High School I was much more into Ravenloft than some of the other Fantasy worlds. Although I did enjoy Dark Sun.)

Anyway, I fell in love a decade or so after they were released. 

Then, back in 2004, I happened to meet Ms. Weis at Origins here in Columbus, and she signed a copy of The Annotated Chronicles for me. 

For those not versed in such geek esoterica, DragonLance is/was a D&D setting on the world of Krynn. Basic high fantasy, but unlike other worlds, Dragons played a much bigger role in the world. They also made changes to playable races, such as turning Halflings into Kender, Gnomes into engineers, and of course, Draconians, horribly transformed baby metallic dragons shaped into humanoid forms. 

In the annotations, the original authors and a few developers chime in with the world building they did prior too the novels and the modules that came out of the story. Indeed, they mention a seminar on Tolkien and Campbell as inspirations for the general flow of the novels. 

As this is an omnibus with annotations, let's start with book 1, Dragons of the Autumn Twilight. This gives us some standard D&D tropes, such as all the major characters meeting in an inn. (Minus Kitiara, whom we meet late in book 2. Her shadow is long, however, as she is both Tanis Half Elven's former lover and half sister to Caramon and Raistlin.) In Krynn, the Gods have been gone since the Cataclysm. Into the bar, and a reunion of the characters walk two barbarians with proof of the Gods' return. Adventure ensues.

In book 2, Dragons of the Winter Night, more adventure ensues, as the party splits in twain after the Evil Dragons attack the city of Tarsis. 

In Book 3, Dragons of the Spring Dawning, adventure ensues as the Good dragons return and the party mostly gets back together. 

(This is the short version. The plot is a bit involved to accurately summarize in the space I have.)

Specific plot points still hit all the right notes, as two deaths occur that, while foreshadowed, still are hard to get through, particularly the paladin, who starts off as an unlikable character but becomes a much more engaging character the longer it goes on. The gnomes, with their catapults and nets in place of stairs or elevators remain a fun part. (Indeed, one of the excerpts in the annotations mentions the Gnomes trying to light the entrance to their volcanic home, first by dropping steel into the magma, pouring water from the glacial lake to cool down the hall, then building a big fan to try to clear the steam.) Fizban, the crazed magician, Lord Soth, the scene stealing Death Knight...

The annotations also talk about when the novels catch up with the game materials and contain a few author confessions where they discuss how they would have written a few scenes differently. There's also a revelation about how much of the set up of the return of the Gods was based on the foundations of the Mormon church.

So, on the off chance you like fantasy and D&D and haven't read these, start with the originals, then read the annotated version, since there be spoilers in the side texts.

Wrapping up

 In what looks to be the end of the 11 book Megs cycle, Mercedes Lackey has given us Spy, Spy Again, book 3 of The Family Spies. This one follows the youngest sons of Megs' and the Royal Families sons as they end up adventuring across Karse. sort of.

We open on Tory and Prince Kyril as they explore their oddly twinned Farsight gifts that allow them to see members of their families, wherever they may be. Then we switch to Meg's cousin Bey's daughter Sira, who takes care of Karsite incursions into territory close to the Sleepgivers' Mountain. Eventually, Sira gets careless, and gets taken by Karsite priests. Which sets off alarms on the part of Kyril and Tory, who gets a brief glimpse of it. Bey sends his son to Valdemar to call in the Life Debt owed by Megs, and sweetens the pot by making Valdemar untargetable by the Sleepgivers in perpetuity. 

With a bunch of negotiating, Kyril and Tory end up helping track Sira into a Southern Karse prison, while Sira learns to break medallions used by ancient Sleepgivers to bind Afreet (various elementals) to help them. This becomes bittersweet, as much of the focus is on the relationship between Tory and Kyril, as Kyril is in love with Sira, and she with him, and Tory must learn to live with the loss of his best friend who is also Mage gifted and therefore not likely to be able to live in Valdemar after that awakens. 

While this hews closely to the tropes long ingrained in a Lackey novel, it remains entertaining reading, and again showcases her love of character. I look forward to her new trilogy, which will evidently finally tell the tale of the Founding.