Join me as I give my review of Dark Thane by Jeff Crook live! Share your thoughts on this third novel in the Age of Mortals trilogy. It was released by Wizards of the Coast on November 1, 2003. You can pick up a copy here: https://amzn.to/4i1ywZn
About Dark Thane
The latest title in a series based on characters from the best-selling War of Souls trilogy. This title is the next in the series that explores the lives of key characters from Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman’s current Dragonlance trilogy. Dark Thane describes events that directly overlap events during the War of Souls. Author Jeff Crook also wrote the kickoff title for this series, Conundrum.
Review
Intro
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga review episode. It is Misham, Paleswelt the 13th. My name is Adam and today I am going to give you my review of Dark Thane by Jeff Crook. 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 an interesting era for dwarves. This is post Chas War when the dwarves were run out of thorbardin. It is when the Qualinesti elves reached out to the dwarves of Throbardin to dig tunnels and evacuate elven citizens. Simultaneously, Mina is leading armies north. So the War of Souls is on. There are a few inconsistencies I noted thus far. The King of Thorbardin, Thane Tarn Bellowgranite said that he went against the other Thanes in order to help the elves. But the Lioness novel, just before this one, said they were all in agreement. Also, it stated that Skullcap was once a Tower of high Sorcery, which it wasn’t. Zhaman was a mighty fortress that Fistandantilus practiced his magic out of. Those are only in the first third, so hopefully there aren’t any more.
The story is interesting. The dwarves were tunneling below qualinost to help in the elves’ plan to trap and destroy Beryl. Tarn was with Gilthas when the tunnels collapsed, sending water rushing in and nearly drowning all of the dwarves. Tarn climbed topside to see the devastation of the Lake of Death, the Nalis Aren, what was once Qualinost. He found a great green scale recently town from Beryl, which many of his soldiers believed to be proof of Beryl’s death, though Tarn is not so sure. Devastated at the loss of dwarven lives, he marches to Pax Tharkas to refresh his troops and return to Norbardin, the newly formed tunnel city the dwarves in Thorbardin live in. The damage during the chaos war prevented many of the dwarves from returning to their old kingdom, so they dug new tunnels and started anew.
Meanwhile in Norbardin, an arena battle was occurring. Looked over by the Hylar thane Jungor Stonesinger, the arena is the new method of dealing with grievances, rather than clan blood feuds, only the two parties involved would fight to the death or defeat and squash the matter legally. With so few dwarves remaining, it was imperative to stop death in order to ensure their race did not perish. A dwarf calls out Thane Stonssinger who nearly dies in the brutal battle. He is scarred by acid on his face and loses an eye, but with the help of the Thiewar thane, Brecha Quickspring, he defeats the dwarf and curses his soul to wander the mountain outside Thorbardin. The sorceress Thane Quickspring reinforces that she witnessed the spirit bow to Thane Stonesinger, and a new cult starts to form around him.
The true threat is that the Hylar Thane Stonesinger is actively trying to usurp King Bellowgranite and hires Ferro Dunskull to see the task done by hiring a group of draconian mercenaries and have them attack Tarn as he is returning home from Pax Tharkas. They meet in the mountains between Thorbardin and Pax Tharkas and the draconians agree that for payment of Skullcap, they will kill the king. They very nearly succeeded, but the captain of Pax Tharkas was following the king and saved him with his men. They all returned to Neibardin in the council, and Tan told everyone of the staggering loss of dwarven lives in the collapse of the tunnels and city of Qualinost, and tried to resign his crown. No one but Stonesinger wants him to step down however, as they must discover the true fate of Beryl.
Tarn discovers that Crystal, his wife, is pregnant and that it will be a boy, and Stonesinger pays him a visit about the coming Festival of Lights on the Isle of the Dead. The urkhan sea suffered massive damage by the chaos dragon and wights and part of the tree of life fell into the sea. Now every year, the Hylar travel to the island and honor their dead. Stonesinger said Crystal, the queen, is not allowed to go, as she is a Neidar, and this pushed Tarn’s buttons, as one could imagine. As a diplomatic king he doesn’t beat Stonesinger, though I think he should, and even after the insults, his wife Crystal calms things down and says she will stay behind. What we learn is that Stonesinger has hired a bunch of Aghar to dig above the isle to fulfill a prophecy so that Stonesinger can fulfill his plans of turning the Hylar against the king.
They all arrive at the isle and perform the honor and song. The Death Skald performs his duty in the ritual and suddenly Stonesinger starts convulsing on the floor. He is claiming to receive a vision and warning. Tarn can see through the pathetic theatrics, but Stonesinger has been laying the foundation for this for months and his Hylar clansmen believe him. Then the ceiling begins to collapse on the aisle. Aghar’s work, and everyone flees, including the king. Tarn tries to rescue Mog, his captain but is unable in the chaos, and he is believed to be dead. Mog wakes to have been brought back to life by the Death Skald, Ogduan Bloodspike, who lives in old Thorbardin in the Isle of the Dead. He took care of and healed Mog and Mog learns that he actually has the Hammer of Kharas! Desperately wanting to get the hammer to Tarn so he can end this nonsense caused by Stonesinger, he is faced with the reality that he is miles in the urkhan sea without a boat. Stuck for the moment.
Simultaneously the sivak draconian, Zen, who Ferro hired to kill tarn, then tried to kill himself when the plan was backfiring has been living in Neibardin this whole time, ending up in a gully dwarfs body. He has been tracking Ferro and studying him, as Ferro has been having his minions searching for Zen. Ferro has an assassin named Marith Darkforge who entertains him, and Zen tracks her and ambushes her. He is torturing her and will take her form to find and kill Ferro. We don’t see Zen again until near the end. Much of what occurs from here leads st a direct war in the streets of Thorbardin, err neibardin. Thorbardin suffers an earthquake, which feeds into Tarn’s fear of losing his family, but when people are being seen for damages, he heads to the construction site of the new council chamber after a worker returns with massive burns. He discovers a chaos dragon slumbering, but seeming to wake.
He immediately tries to warn Stonesinger to put aside their differences, but Tarn quickly realizes that he is much more interested in ruling at all costs than protecting anyone. He heads home to nearly be killed by Ferro, but saved by Zen in the form of Marith. Crystal has him arrested immediately and sent to the dungeons after he turns into the appearance of Ferro. Stonesinger sees his opportunity and sends his army out to claim neibardin. They battle all over and it is one of the best scripted, city wide battles I recall reading. It ebbs and flows between sides, and ultimately Tarn is captured.
Mog is nearly set on fire by Ogduan and chases him outside only to discover Klar searching for feral klar to join Tarn in battle. They would never have found Mog if it weren’t for the fire, which leads us to believe Ogduan is more in touch with the gods than ever believed. He takes the hammer of Kharas and is fighting to find Tarn and give it to him. Tarn escapes captivity and meets up with Mog while Zen is nearly killed by a klar in prison and turns into his would be killed and goes to murder Crystal for imprisoning him. She ends up defeating him, but in the scuffle their son, Tor was seized by Stonesinger as the war turned fully against his attempt at taking the throne. With the prince in captivity, Tarn gives up the hammer of Kharas for his family, and with 300 other loyal dwarves leaves Thorbardin in exile.
Ogduan tells him he should go to Pax Tharkas and live there as the gods have finally returned. This means the War of Souls is over. With the Chaos Dragon missing in Thorbardin, and Stonesinger in power with the gates resealed, it seems darkness has finally taken the great dwarven kingdom. I never would have thought that would be the end, but it follows suit in this era. Minotaurs have taken Silvanesti, Goblins and Knights have taken Qualinesti, evil dwarves have seized Thorbardin and the world is in upheaval. Talk about an era ripe for storytelling!
I really enjoyed this quick read. It is probably my favorite dwarven novel thus far and it had genuine stakes, consequences and dire outcomes. So damn good! If you like Dragonlance, the Age of Mortals, The post War of Souls era or Dwarves in general, you should definitely read this novel!
Outro
And that’s it for my review of Dark Thane by Jeff Crook. What do you think of Stonesinger taking the Hammer of Kharas? Do you think Tarn will ever try to reclaim Thorbardin? And finally, what do you think will happen with the chaos dragon? Feel free to email me at info@dlsaga.com or leave a comment below.
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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).
