Join me as I review Children of the Plains by Paul B. Thompson and Tonya C. Cook live! Share your thoughts on this first novel in the Dragonlance Barbarians series, released by Wizards of the Coast on September 1, 2000. You can buy a copy here: https://amzn.to/4tSIQGJ
About Children of the Plains
From the mists of Krynn’s earliest history came the Barbarians.
A young brother and sister escape a pack of predators and strike out on their own, their lives taking parallel courses linked to the destiny of different tribes.
But dark powers watch the rise of civilization with cold calculation and deadly intent.
Best-selling writing team Thompson and Cook make a long-awaited return to the fantastical world of Dragonlance with this new epic trilogy.
Review
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga review episode. It is Misham, Deepkolt the 26th. My name is Adam and today I am going to give you my review of Children of the Plains by Paul B. Thompson and Tonya C. Cook. I would like to take a moment and thank the DLSaga members and Patreon patrons, and invite you to consider becoming a member or patron. You can even pick up Dragonlance media or get $10 by signing up to StartPlaying.Games using my affiliate links. This is my perspective only, and if you have any thoughts or disagree with mine, I invite you to share them in YouTube chat.
Review
This is such a great opening to a story. Not knowing anything about this novel, or trilogy, it is so refreshing to be surprised by the direction the authors are taking us in. It begins with a plainsman hunter, this is early before the expansion of Silvanesti into the plains in the west. When Silvanos is defining his territory. It focuses on this hunter named Oto, who is leading his family on the trail for game. They are nomads, living in single family groups, rather than tribes. Apparently this is common. For context, the humans of this era do not use fire or metal of any sort, they are incredibly primitive.
The family is hunted by beasts never before seen which look like massive grey wolves with human hands. I have no idea what they are supposed to be, other than terrifying, and I am okay with it. They kill the father, mother and a young son. The older son Amero hides up in a tree and the older daughter Nianki nearly dies of her wounds after killing the creature. Amero can hear the creatures thoughts somehow and names them Yevi. And this is part of what is so fun about the novel. It tells you their names for things, including the moons and constellations, and the characters slowly get involved with the rest of the world and learn their names for things. It’s great having tribal knowledge that is informed by exposure to the world.
So Amero sees a Storm Bird, or Dragon in the sky, which changes into a human and kills the Yevi hinting Amero. It introduces itself as Duranix, it is a bronze dragon, and after learning that Amero can hear the thoughts of the Yevi, he keeps him around to learn more about him. He has never met a human who can hear thoughts. It turns out there is a green dragon named Sthenn, who is extending its territory west, using the Yevi, creatures it has supposedly created. These two dragons know each other and Duranix fights off Sthenn’s creatures and attempts to encroach upon his territory. This is another theme that is present as I mentioned the Silvanesti which the plainspeople call the good people, are expanding west into the plainsmen’s territory like the dragon.
I can’t tell the exact era, but this must be in the age of dreams, in the time of light as Balif is in the tale. So Amero goes with Duranix and they kill Yevi together, learn from each other and gather more humans to protect them from the Yevi. Meanwhile, Nianki wakes to find herself alone. She begins traveling and hunting on her own and comes across many people. Some have heard tales of her father as he is a known hunter. Nianki is also very good at hunting, others see her as a spirit warrior. It makes me wonder if Otto’s family was one of the original inhabitants from the gods on Krynn, and have some form of favor from Paladine. She hears about the good people taking and killing humans, but dismisses the tales.
Then she is captured by them. Shocked that they tame and ride animals, horses, and have oddly shaped ears and dress strangely. She is captured and being delivered to an encampment, but escapes and evades recapture. She comes across more humans who supposedly escaped too and they return to free the other slaves. Nianki rescues everyone, encouraging the people to work together even though they aren’t in a family, and they all want to follow her now, seeing her as blessed by the spirits. She concedes and takes them north. Ten years have now passed with Nianki’s tribe fighting the elves and Amero’s tribe working together to live more peacefully. Duranis learns of this elf fighting force and decides to investigate which leads to him speaking with Nianki.
He speaks of his peaceful village and that no harm should come to them, and Nianki asserts no desire to harm them, they are fighting the elves. THey part and she has two warriors follow Duranix to find out if she was telling the truth. Duranic comes across powerful stones which are being harvested by Vivedsica the high sage. He is using the stones to give him power. The two plainsmen attack the elves and duranix takes a stone from Vidvedsica before he vanishes. He keeps it in his mouth as he as one of the plainsmen return to tell Nianki of the elves being this far west and north, and the other joins him to return to the tribe.
They learn more about each other and as duranix leaves to investigate more, the tribesman Pa-alu heads to Amero’s tribe. He brings word of Duranix and sees Amero trying to learn the craft of forging. Something humans have not yet learned. When duranix returns he is unable to return to dragon form and does not understand why. Meanwhile Niank is forces defeat the initial attack of the Elves but are run off by a massive cavalry led by Balif. Nianki demands a duel which bailiff wins as she is the only human left fighting, and he clearly respects her and believes there could be peace between humans and elves but many in Silvanos’ inner circle believe otherwise.
He lets her go with her life, and she returns picking up random human clans and dispersed tribal followers as she heads to this new camp Duranix told her about. Meanwhile the deserters of Nianki arrive at Ameros camp and Amero insists they obey the laws of the tribe while they are there. They agree, and Pa-alu leaves to see if she can find Nianki as he is in love with her. He is captured by Sthenn in human form and nearly killed but Vedvedsica saves him, asking Pa-alu to retrieve the gold gem Duranix took from him as repayment for his life. Pa-alu agrees and leaves. He returns and it is discovered that the stone is the reason Duranix is stuck in human form. When he removes it from his mouth, he forcefully returns to dragon form. Pa-alu offers to hide the gem for him, and Duranix agrees.
Nianki finds the camp and is welcomed in and confronts the deserters who refuse her leadership. They plan to fight at dawn. The next morning when they fight, Nianki ends up the victor and Pa-alu accidentally reveals to Amero that she is Nianki, his sister. Amero confronts Nanki and reveals who he is, showing that he knows her. They embrace and get to know each other as siblings. Weeks pass and Niala’s tribe grows restless and some of them plot to take command. Pa’alu leaves and deposits the stone, now demanding that Vedvedsika make Nianki love him. The elf gives him a medallion and he returns to camp. A great feast is thrown and celebrations last into the night. The wine is flowing and Pa-alu tries to give Nianki the medallion, but the dragon senses the power believing it to be the gem and tries to stop pa-alu. The medallion falls to the ground and Nianki and Amero both touch it and Nianki is immediately in love with her brother.
This pushes Pa-alu out of the tribe, as he is angry and frustrated. Amero has no idea what is happening but Nianki is clearly troubled and acting strange now. The group that is trying to usurp Nianki try to bring in Pa-alu are not successful and continue sowing seeds of distrust among the followers. Then Vedvedsika abducts Nianki to show her the might of the Silvanesti. He takes her to their town, shows her their massive city and buildings and tells her of their lifespan, three to four times that of a human’s. She is slow to believe but it is all to dissuade her from attacking and trying to stop the elves’ expansionism. It seems to work as she is no longer trying to stand against them.
The tribe ends up splitting and attacking the peaceful people of the lake valley led by Amero. Nianki defended them, and the dragon broke his wing and was away scouting the area. He returns to help fight off the tribesmen and Nianki decides to leave with the remainder of her people. She takes up with a devoted follower, the brother of the now slain Pa-alu, and while still in love with her brother, is doing what she can to ignore it. Amero bids her goodbye, and they travel north. Amero continues to develop blacksmithing and they begin to build a wall around their village for protection. You can really see the development of the nomadic tribesman vs the settlers and the discord between them. But the worldbuilding is great as the elves are still a very real threat, as is Sthenn, the green Dragon to the west. He must be in Qualinesti, or nearby.
It seems the village of the large area is near modern day Blode, but the pre-cataclysm world is hard to discern for me out of context. This was a great story about family and finding your tribe. Also how humans develop in a world where their lives are short compared to all others. They fight with the world and even themselves. I am very much looking forward to reading the rest of the trilogy. If you are a fan of Dragonlance or its history, you should definitely read this novel. It is great.
Outro
And that’s it for my review of Children of the Plains by Paul B. Thompson and Tonya C. Cook. What did you think of the humans turning on each other? Do you like how the elves were portrayed? And finally, what do you think Sthenn has in store for them? Feel free to email me at info@dlsaga.com or leave a comment below.
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