Join me as I review Amber and Iron by Margaret Weis, live! Share your thoughts on this second 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 Iron here: https://amzn.to/3dzERsQ
About Amber and Iron
The thrilling second adventure in the Dark Disciple trilogy, from the international bestselling author and co-creator of the Dragonlance universe
The world of Krynn is ever changing, and even the gods can be taken by surprise. And if that’s true of the gods, what chance can a mere mortal have? Caught up in forces none of them could hope to face alone, a small but determined band of adventurers come together in a desperate attempt to stop an invasion.
Mina, as enigmatic as ever, escapes imprisonment to set off on a quest that will test even her considerable will. All the while, evil spreads across the land, gaining ground with each new day. With so much at stake—and with the very soul of Krynn on the line—champions must be found even in the darkest places.
Review
Intro
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. It is Misham, Frostkolt 16th, my name is Adam and today I am going to give you my Spoiler review of Amber and Iron. 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.
Book One repeats the Khas game between the Death Knight Ausric Krell and Rhys Mason, ending in Rys jumping off a cliff with Lord Ariakan’s souls as a Khas piece and Nightshade as a pawn in his pocket. He is rescued by Zeboim who sends him after Mina and teleports them both to Solace. There they meet up with Gerard again, and Rhys reclaims his dog Atta that he lent to Gerard to herd Kender in Solace. They share their entire story with Gerard who wants to help after hearing of Mina being the cause of the Beloved of Chemosh.
He asks Rhys and Nightshade to stay in town for a few days while he comes up with a plan to stop the Beloved of Chemosh. Rhy’s staff that transformed into a Mantis and attacked Krell magically appeared with Atta in the jail, it appears Majere isn’t ready to give up on Rhys just yet.
Book Two had Rhys meeting Mistress Jenna, now Head of the Conclave of Wizards and Dominique, an ergothian Paladine of Kiri-Jolith, both summoned by Gerard. They discover Cam, Gerard’s friend, has become a Beloved of Chemosh and devise a way of capturing him. They discount Rhys and Nightshade’s ability when they say the Beloved are immortal. They wait for Cam at the meeting place he set to seduce another young woman, and try to capture him. Gerard nearly gets the life choked out of him by Cam but Atta, Rhys dog knocks him down attacking him, to protect Gerard. Cam twists the dog’s neck, and discards its body and I audibly gasped. I forgot about that scene entirely and immediately thought back to my dogs that died, reliving the pain and knowing exactly how Rhys must feel in that moment with tears falling down my cheeks. There is something about the shared love and bond we can have with animals that is only rivaled by those we choose to love in relationships and our kids.
Nightshade goes to help Atta, while Dominique attacks Cam with his holy avenger, eventually cutting Cam’s head off; which Cam puts back on, taunting them all the whole time. Again, this is very Death Becomes Her in spirit. Jenna then casts a powerful spell on Cam that should leave him as ashes, but it has no effect and Jenna, exhausted, is too stunned to cast another. Cam walks away saying they are able to be killed but the price would be too much for them to be willing to pay to do so. Dominique goes to report his findings to the Holy Orders of the Stars and the Knights of Solamnia, while Jenna convenes an immediate council of the Wizards and tells them what she has discovered. Atta was brought back to health by Nightshade. I had already liked this character, but now I love that rascal of a Kender. Rhys and Nightshade leave to find Lleu.
Zeboim visits Chemosh who tells her about the Tower of the Blood Sea and asks if he will return her son Ariakan’s soul, if she brings him Mina. With Nuitari away from the tower at the conclave with his siblings, the two black robe wizards in the tower are supposed to escort Mina for an hour out of her room, but decide to kill her instead. This happens just as Zeboim arrives outside the tower and starts rocking it with the sea, causing massive destruction inside. Mina realizes the wizards are trying to kill her, and in the tumult grabs their knife and threatens their lives. She finds herself worried which is strange. She defeated a Death Knight with one strike of a crowbar, but two black robe wizards worry her? This is a massive inconsistency in her character. Chemosh creates two stone coffins and she forces the two into them. She travels to the bottom of the tower where an ancient sea dragon named Midori is protecting the holy artifacts which Mina is trying to take one of, and it recognizes Mina! It asks where she comes from and where she has been? The dragon allows Mina entry and she is struck by the awful power of the gods upon entering.
Nuitari arrives at his battered tower and Zeboim demands Mina as payment for him building his tower in her domain. He agrees to collect her and Midori is now furious at Nuitari for lying to him, but Nuitari has no idea what the dragon is talking about. He enters the hall and sees Mina praying. He realizes there is something truly special about her, but also that she is more trouble than she is worth and delivers her to Zeboim. We have had so many hints that Mina is not a mortal, and that she is ancient, to have been recognized by the sea dragon Midori. When I first read this, I remember wracking my brain at what she could be, and tortured at not knowing when I would find out.
Book Three finally gives us the answer to how to kill the Beloved. First, we find Lleu being trailed to New Port by Rhys and Nightshade and find out that he intends to turn a young widow. Rhys approaches the widow who is desperate for a husband and believes Lleu will marry her so she ignores Rhys’ warnings. Rhys and Nightshade are found sleeping in an alley where a Cleric of Mishakal invites them to his temple to sleep and eat a meal. They hit it off well and the next day when Rhys returns he tells them about his brother and that they need to summon the city guards and stop his brother from turning the young woman that evening.
Rhys is in a bar watching Lleu with Nightshade when Zeboim bursts in with Mina, just to introduce her to him, and Lleu begs Mina to take his curse away. Mina barely recognizes him and tells him it’s Chemosh that owns his soul, not her. Zeboim tells Rhys she’ll return and that night Rhys gets lost in the city when he should be taking the priests and city guard to protect the young woman. He is accosted by clerics of Majere asking him to return with them to the temple. He fights them off, saying a life is in danger and he runs away. He arrives to find everyone waiting and they go to the young woman’s house. Lleu has arrived and is threatening that he will kill her son if she doesn’t swear her life to Chemosh. She is terrified and cries out for help when they knock on the door.
They bust down the door and the young boy runs to his mother and strikes Lleu with his hand, telling him to leave his mother alone. The innocent striking the Beloved instantly decays the flesh and with another strike, Lleu ignites and burns up, leaving oily ash over everything. The son immediately has a seizure, and the mother, in shock, faints. They are taken to the temple of Mishakal and cared for, as Rhys realizes only innocence can kill the Beloved which in turn kills innocence. The city guard suggests trying it again, as Nightshade claimed there were ten other Beloved he has seen in the city, but everyone is shocked by the suggestion. How could they torture an innocent child with the act they just witnessed?
Rhys leaves devastated and frustrated at how the gods are toying with mortals and throws his robe and staff away. Nightshade and Atta are running after him and they are all captured by Minotaurs and led to be believed they are taken as slaves for the crew. The ship ascends to the sky, so clearly this is a god at work.
Book Four has the minotaur ship delivering Rhys, Nightshade and Atta to a cave by the sea. They are chained up with food in reach. Zeboim delivers Mina a necklace that will take her to her heart’s desire. Mina wants nothing more than to understand the truth behind the questions posed by Midori the Sea Dragon, who are You and where did You come from? She allows the necklace to guide her and it takes her to the cave. She aggressively asks Rhys the questions saying she saw him in orange robes of Majere not the sea foam green of Zeboim he is in now, and is infuriated that he doesn’t know what she is talking about. She threatens torture and death if he doesnt answer her, but he honestly doesn’t know; He had given himself back to Majere, so he is content to die if he must. She leaves saying that she will return that evening to torture him.
Krell had followed her on behalf of Chemosh who is jealous of her interaction with Zeboim and believes she is cheating on him. Krell tells Chemosh that she will meet her lover and that she is conspiring with Zeboim, who Krell heard from outside the cave. Chemosh puts Mina on house arrest and plans on visiting the cave that night. He is infuriated as the Beloved only listen to Mina, and ignore Chemosh and Krell as they are only concerned with dulling the pain by turning more Beloved or killing. When Zeboim confronts Rhys about who Mina is, he explains that he doesn’t know and Zeboim furiously leaves to confront Majere himself. Majere ignores her, but she realizes that Majere does know who Mina is, and that Mina was seeing Rhys in the future, not the present, hence the orange robes.
Rhys convinces Nightshade to take Atta and get help, knowing he will find none. When Nightshade has left and realizes the fool errand he was sent on, he pleads to Majere for help on behalf of Rhys. Beloved come and try to kill Nightshade and he flees. Locusts are raised and attack, providing cover for Nightshade to flee. He runs into a monk, who turns out to be Majere, who is looking for Mina and he blesses them to help Rhys. Majere is sad and confused by the amber glow in the sky. Krell decides to kill Mina now that she is out of favor with Chemosh and Mina is torn up inside because she doesn’t understand why Chemosh no longer loves and trusts her. She tears off the necklace, and when Krell tries to kill her, something inside her snaps. She commands that Krell return to mortal life, and he does! We now know Mina is a god, even if the gods themselves do not. She then turns her eye to the sea, and raises the tower from its floor! The gods are stunned and she passes out from the exertion. Chemosh went to confront Rhys and realizes that he is not her lover. Chemosh is confused as Atta arrives and attacks him, Rhys stabs him with a shard from his destroyed Emmide and the ground rumbles from Mina’s lifting of the tower.
Rhys is knocked unconscious from the crumbling cave, and Chemosh leaves. Nightshade tries to escape and eventually picks the locks and is aided by monks fromMajere who rescue them. The gods all appear around Mina, where Majere reveals his secret that Mina was once a good of light, who was turned to darkness by Takhisis unknowingly. How? When? No one knows as the book is concluded.
This is a terribly exciting end to the second act, as we now understand how Mina has done what she has done, why Takhisis was so careful and jealous with her in the War of Souls, and why the gods are enraptured by her. I was frustrated with Atta and Rhys harming Chemosh’s avatar, even though they explained how. It felt off and diminishing to the god. Now that Mina is revealed to be a god, there is an imbalance based on her decisions and the final act will be an interesting one!
I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys the Fifth Age and the War of Souls. The Dark Disciple is turning out to be another world altering series and one I am truly enjoying.
Outro
And that’s it for my review of Amber and Iron by Margaret Weis. What do you think of Mina as a God? Do you enjoy the reviews I am putting out there? 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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