Join me as I review Amber and Ashes by Margaret Weis, live! Share your thoughts on this first novel in The Dark Disciple trilogy. This trilogy is a continuation from the War of Souls trilogy and continues Mina’s tale after Takhisis’ death. You can pick up Amber and Ashes here: https://amzn.to/32RCAXO
About Amber and Ashes
The first book in the Dark Disciple series: With the War of Souls now over, Mina aids the seductive God of Death in his quest for power
Standing at a tomb where she has buried her Dark Queen, warrior-woman Mina believes her life is at an end. Her belief is confirmed when she sees Chemosh, God of Death, come to claim her. But Chemosh does not want Mina’s death—he wants her faith.
Mina is immediately attracted to the handsome and darkly charming god, who has ambitious plans to become the ruler of the Pantheon of Evil. She joins his cause and begins to entice followers to do the same—followers who are young, strong, and soon devoted to their god’s designs. Her commitment endears her to Chemosh, stirring up feelings he never thought he’d have for a mortal woman.
Meanwhile, the brother of a monk of Majere falls victim to Mina’s seduction and becomes one of the vampiric followers of Chemosh. Appalled by the crimes his brother commits, the monk abandons his faith and pledges himself to the evil goddess of the sea, Zeboim, who has her own reasons for wanting to thwart the God of Death. Accompanied by a kender who can talk to the dead, the monk starts upon a dark path to try to find a way to stop Mina and her disciples.
Review
Intro
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. It is Misham, Frostkolt 9th, my name is Adam and today I am going to give you my Spoiler review of Amber and Ashes. I will be spoiling the story, so if you don’t want to know it, stop watching now! I would like to take a moment and thank the members of this YouTube channel, and invite you to consider becoming a member by visiting the link in the description below. You can even pick up Dragonlance gaming materials using my affiliate link. This is my perspective only, and if you have any thoughts or disagree with mine, I invite you to share them in YouTube chat or in the comments below.
Book One picks up with Mina and Galdar in the hidden tomb of Takhisis. They have stayed there several months. Mina was afraid others would find the tomb and make light of the body, even steal jewelry or artifacts and desecrate the tomb. In truth, the gods have hidden the mountain and Galdar is being reminded by Sargonnas of his bargain for his life. Galdar is unsuccessful at getting Mina to leave and when a figure approaches from the distance, he moves to intercept it. It is in fact Chemosh, God of the Undead who is looking for a youthful follower to draw in youthful worshippers. He has chosen Mina, knowing that she must have something that drew Takhisis to her, that he could use or exploit. Chemosh throws Galdar as far as Silvanesti where he is met by a party searching for him, sent by Sargonnas. Galdar is to be the liaison between the minotaur and human nations.
This is where the book differs from every other Dragonlance novel, in a really good way. Chemosh seduces Mina, and by the end of Book One, actually has feelings for her! There is more sex in the first book than there was in any of the other trilogies. I, for one, welcome it. He reveals Mina’s hidden self. Since she was washed up on the shores of the Citadel of Light, she had no memory of her past life. Then she worshiped Goldmoon, and was drawn away by Takhisis and worshipped her. Chemosh tells her to know herself, and think for herself. He doesn’t want a mindless follower, he wants an empowered High Priestess. Because of that, and his seduction, she agrees to worship him. In the Age of Mortals, the gods need followers, but the mortals don’t need the gods. They have mysticism and sorcery, seperate from the gods, so the gods must be enticing and strategic with their influence.
Mina asks for a test to prove her loyalty to him, and Chemosh tells her to free the Death Knight Ausric Krell from Storm’s Keep. Mina agrees and travels to the coast, buys a ship and sets out to the Keep. Zeboim tries to drown her, and when she comes back up to her boat from falling overboard, Mina sees Zeboim and tells her that she is going to enact revenge on Ausric Krell for killing her son, Ariakan; All for the late Takhisis. Zeboim doesn’t like Takhisis, her mother, after stealing the world, and is glad she is dead, but sees something in Mina and eventually allows her safe passage to Storm Keep. Little does Mina Know that Krell sees her coming and prepares to capture and torture her for his amusement, as he is stuck on the island as punishment by Zeboim.
Mina arrives and sneaks into the keep through the granary, catched Krell off guard as he starts a game of Khas, and Mina strikes him with a crowbar, knocking his helm to the floor. Zeboim steps in, not believing Mina could do such a thing and sees that there is truly something special about her. Zeboim wants her as a follower now, and allows her a reward. Mina chooses Krell’s Helm, and leaves. When Mina makes landfall on Ansalon, Zeboim goes searching for Krell’s soul and cannot find it, realizing that Mina took it on behalf of Chemosh. She is furious.
Mina arrives at the temple to Chemosh in a mausoleum and Chemosh takes Krell’s soul, bringing him back to Krynn and takes him on as a servant. As Krell leaves, Chemosh and Mina make love, and Chemosh finds himself dumbstruck that he could fall for a mortal.
Book Two has Mina arriving in a town called Staughton for the spring Dawning festival. A young cleric of Kiri-Jolith saw her entering with four large, beautiful women carrying her in a palanquin. The cleric, a man named Lleu, was asked to discuss religion by Mina with her, and he didn’t want to appear fearful, as he was new to the town as well, so he put it off. Then he was invited to her room where she seduced him, and invited him to join her worship of Chemosh. After some discussion and the promise of eternal youth and love, he relented and was turned into a Beloved of Chemosh. Mina sent him off to turn more souls over to Chemosh, which he did until his parents caught him, and drug him to a monastery of Majere to meet with his brother Rhys Mason.
Rhys’ dog, Atta bites Lleu on meeting him, sensing something wrong with him, and Rhys’ master says his brother is his own shadow. Not understanding, Rhys takes him to the fields to practice fighting, and sees his brother has changed from his memory of him. He is dressed as a priest of Kiri-Jolith, but not acting as one. As Rhys meditates before supper, he arrives late to find that his brother has poisoned the monastery and his parents, demanding that he too must die. Rhys fights him off and his brother flees. Rhys prays to Majere, arguing why he let this happen, and Zeboim confronts him. Offering him a role as her worshipper. As Rhys is upset with Majere, he accepts and leaves looking for Mina and his brother on behalf of Zeboim. She sends him to a cemetery for assistance, and he meets a Kender called Nightshade. Nightshade can talk to the dead, and together they travel to Haven then Solace in search of Lleu. They meet Gerard, who is now the sheriff of Solace and eat at the much expanded Inn of the Last home. Rhys leaves to the worshipping alley of Solace to investigate Chemosh’s temple and then visits an inn on the outskirts of town where he finds his brother, who doesn’t seem to recognise him.
Nightshade tells Rhys that Lleu is dead and Rhys starts to understand his master’s comment. They follow Lleu and find him converting another young woman to Chemosh. They both attack the pair and force them to run as they cannot be killed. They are dead, but not undead. They are the Beloved of Chemosh. They realize that his brother has turned many young women, who will in turn, turn many young men, and they are nearly unstoppable. The gravity of Chemosh’s plan is finally realized.
Book Three concludes the story, revealing a part of Chemosh’s plans. He sends the Death Knight Ausric Krell back to Storm’s Keep, but with Ariakan’s soul in the form of a Khas game piece. He threatens Zeboim that if she interferes with anything Chemosh is doing, he will send the soul to oblivion. Zeboim, terrified at the threat to her son, goes into hiding. She appears in the newly built Solace jail, and asks for Rhys. Gerard finds him and Zeboim tells him to collect her son’s soul. They come up with a plan to shrink Nightshade to pawn height, and while he is on the Khas board, he will locate Ariakan’s soul and they will leave the island.
Zeboim teleports them to Stom’s Keep and Krell forces Rhys to play, but for every piece he loses, Krell breaks one bone. Rhys is barely able to remain conscious when Nightshade charges the piece with Ariakan’s soul, knocking it off the board. Ariakan doesn’t want to leave, but would rather find a way to make Krell pay. Rhys’ staff turns into a giant mantis and attacks Krell’s head, who freaks out a la Home Alone with the tarantula on the robber’s face and I laughed out loud. The image was priceless. As Rhys is escaping with the pieces, Krell is shouting to Zeboim that Rhys doesn’t have the right piece and Ryhs is telling her he does, so he decides to jump off a cliff rather then face the wrath of the Death Knight. He hopes Zeboim will help him.
Chemosh stops Mina from turning followers into the Beloved of Chemosh, and takes her to the Blood Sea. In ancient Istar, the Kingpriest stole many artifacts from the gods and locked them into the Tower of Istar. It was believed to have been destroyed in the Cataclysm, but Chemosh knows his artifacts are still there and needs them for a yet unknown reason. He takes the breath from Mina, so that she can breathe water and they journey into the sea. They discover the Tower of High Sorcery has been rebuilt by Nuitari in secret and as Chemosh is trying to bargain and threaten Nuitari into getting his artifacts back, two Black Robe wizards catch Mina in a net, who suffocated nearly to death as they bring her into the air filled tower. They keep her alive, but use magic to convince Chemosh she is in fact dead and that her spirit is traveling to him. Chemosh is truly filled with sorrow for Mina’s supposed death and Nuitari tells his wizards to keep the illusion going as long as they can.
We end with the Beloved of Chemosh traveling to the East without a leader. Rhys and Nightshade with Ariakan’s soul plummeting into the ocean outside Storm’s Keep, and all of the gods focused on their own machinations, vying for power, influence and control over the mortals of Krynn. This is a great beginning to the trilogy and I am excited to revisit where it goes in the subsequent novels. It paints the Fifth Age as a place of possibility rather than defeat as it was under the Dragon Overlords. It adds sensuality with the Beloved, Mina and Chemosh’s interactions and honestly, It’s my current favorite Fifth age book. Until I read the next ones, lol. If you like Dragonlance, Mina or the Fifth Age, this book is a must. If you just like vampire-esque mysteries, you may want to check this out, and if you are obsessed with Margaret Weis writing Dragonlance, you should do yourself the favor and read this book.
Outro
And that’s it for my review of Amber and Ashes by Margaret Weis. What do you think of Mina in this new trilogy thus far? Do you like the Beloved of Chemosh? Would you use the Tower of the Blood Sea in your game sessions? Feel free to email me at dlsaga@pm.me or comment below.
I would like to once again invite you to consider becoming a member of this channel, and remind you that you can pick up Dragonlance gaming materials using my affiliate link, all of which are in the description below.
This channel is all about celebrating the wonderful world of the Dragonlance Saga, and I hope you will join me in the celebration. Thank you for watching, this has been Adam with DragonLance Saga and until next time Slàinte mhath (slan-ge-var).
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