Hey Jared,
I am deep in the nostalgia having finished this book. I don’t think I’ve ever read this trilogy in such quick succession. Which has given me a good perspective on them as a whole. Now it’s on to Dragonlance Legends.
Title: Dragons of Spring Dawning
Series: Dragonlance Chronicles; Vol. 3
Author: Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
Genre: Fantasy, High Fantasy, Epic Fantasy
Audience: Adult
ROTS Setting: UU, Medieval, Higher Magic, Dragons
Synopsis: The conclusion of the first Dragonlance trilogy. The companions are still separated but fate would see them together at the end, just as they had been in the beginning. Will the plans of the Dark Queen come to fruition or will the balance be maintained?
Recommendation: Adult, maybe late teens. Any admirer of high fantasy should be familiar with this series.
Holy exposition Batman!
The first half of this book was almost pure exposition and those few places that weren’t felt false and forced. Definitely the worst part of all three books, combined. And it took forever to get through!
But the ending was good. I won’t say great or really good because after slogging through the first half I couldn’t wait for it to be done. This leaves me mildly unsatisfied.
As for the trilogy as a whole the biggest issue is the exposition and the time jumps. There are some big things that happened that were just glossed over. These are mostly taken care of in the Lost Chronicles but it’s still something that affected my read through.
The love triangle was also very poorly handled but that just means it’s like most love triangles. It also is why Tanis is my least liked character. If he’s not self flagellating then he’s thinking about the woman he’s not with. Laurana takes a bit of dive in this last book too, but is still the character with the most growth and that puts her high on my list. The Brothers Majere are fan favorites for a reason, especially with what they go through in this book. Tika is ok……ya, that’s about it for her. Nothing good or bad. Tas is amazing as always and he’s just crazy enough to be fun and just clever enough to be compelling. Sturm filled his purpose. Flint felt generally unneeded but his experience and maturity often allowed the voice of reason to be at least spoken if not heeded. Kitiara was…..perfect. A solid antagonist with complexity and depth beyond most of the companions.
The over all plot was really, really good. Other than the jumps and exposition, I feel it had a lot to say and conveyed many ideas and concepts on multiple levels. Yes, it’s mostly a story about Good vs Evil but also more.
Lastly, the world of Kyrnn is one that I can never truly get away from. This is my Middle-Earth, my Hogwarts, my galaxy far-far away, and my Alpha Quadrant. For all it’s faults and cliches…..it has shaped who I am and my views on life.
And I love it.
Robert
<< Review of Dragons of Winter Night; Vol. 2
Coming Soon Dragonlance Legends >>
Reading Over The Shoulder 
Wow I didn’t realize such heated and interesting discussions could spring up from a 32 year old book.
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It’s always heated when it involves things you love.
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Alrighty, hope you don’t mind a long reply. (Laurana is my favorite fictional character, so I can get rather verbose when discussing her.)
I think Weis and Hickman had to have Laurana be intoxicated and exhausted in that scene to make it work because there was just no other way to plausibly have her fall for such an obvious trap.
As for Laurana being exhausted, here’s the relevant quote from the books:
“Throwing herself down on the bed, she thought hazily about getting up and closing the shutters, but the moon’s light was comforting. Laurana detested lying in the darkness. Things lurked in the shadows, ready to spring out at her. I should get undressed, she thought, I’ll wrinkle this dress… and it’s borrowed….
There was a knock at the door.
Laurana woke with a start, trembling.”
For her to fall asleep like that mid-thought and within seconds of hitting the bed shows she must have been utterly exhausted.
And if that’s not proof enough remember she also came very close to fainting earlier in the day during the Spring Dawning Festival (which was attributed in part to her exhaustion from the battles). We know Laurana is a tough cookie (this is after all a woman who has crossed glaciers, fought in day long battles while wearing plate armor, and controlled a dragon orb on sheer will power), so for her to nearly faint in the middle of a celebration shows she must have been exhausted.
As for Laurana being intoxicated, here’s the relevant quote:
“Her head ached from the stuffy atmosphere, the smell of strong perfume, and too much wine. She shouldn’t have drunk so much, she knew. She had a weak head for wine and, anyway, she didn’t really like it. But the pain in her head was easier to bear than the pain in her heart.”
If her head was hurting from how much she drank then she must have been significantly intoxicated.
So I don’t think her action there shows that she was still a spoiled little girl. Yes, she made a bad decision while not in her right mind, but it was a one time failing of judgment brought on by intoxication and exhaustion rather than any sort of indication of bad character. She certainly wasn’t acting from any bad motives (wanting to provide comfort to a dying man is a compassionate impulse not a selfish one). She simply trusted the wrong person. (And I really don’t think a sober Laurana would have ever fallen for Kitiara’s trick.)
And yeah Flint and Tas demonstrated really poor judgment in that scene themselves by letting her go to the exchange site. (Even if they didn’t realize how exhausted and intoxicated she was, why would they let their friend go to a meeting that they both were certain was a trap when they could have so easily stopped it?)
As for the Neraka chapters, they show that even though Laurana made a terrible mistake, she didn’t let that one bad moment define her. She could have just given up after getting herself captured, but she didn’t do that. She stayed defiant, waited for the right moment, and, as soon as she had an opening, acted boldly to free herself and due to her courage, determination, and skill she not only managed to escape but also succeeded in inflicting devastating damage on the Dragonarmies in the process. (Remember it was Laurana’s actions in Neraka, not Raistlin’s or Tanis’s that set the Dragonarmies to fighting each other.) A “spoiled little girl” could never have accomplished what Laurana did in Neraka.
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That’s quite the comment and I’m humbled that you would spend the time and effort (even for a favorite character) on me and my review. Thank you.
However I would still respectfully disagree. I’ve re-read the scene in question and I could counter point-for-point but that isn’t likely to change either of our minds. We both clearly love the series and the characters so I think we could leave it at that.
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Why do you think Laurana was lessened by this book? Yes she does have that one weak moment where (while intoxicated and exhausted) she makes a very foolish decision, but I thought she rebounded from that low point rather well with how awesome she was in the Neraka chapters.
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First I don’t think she was lessened but she didn’t continue the growth she had in the previous books. In fact I think she grew the most of all characters.
As for the choice in question, I don’t consider her exhausted or intoxicated. (I might have missed either of those. Coming down off the exposition high may have muddled my concentration.) Every choice since she ran after the companions if the first book has been to prove that she isn’t a spoiled little girl…..until the very foolish decision that you mention. For me she clearly showed that she was still that spoiled little girl and I didn’t feel the Neraka chapters counteracted that. If she was just intoxicated or exhausted I don’t think Tas or Flint would have let her go. No, she chose to fall into an obvious trap and endangered the lives of her friends and the world.
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