Join me as I review Dragons of a Lost Star by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, live! Share your thoughts on this second novel in the War of Souls trilogy. This trilogy was intended to merge the fans of the fourth and fifth ages of Dragonlance. You can pick up Dragons of a Lost Star here: https://amzn.to/3c6mWJf
About Dragons of a Lost Star
New York Times bestseller: Amidst the chaos of the War of Souls, a band of brave and selfless heroes struggles against an immortal power
Crying the praises of the One God, a mystical young woman named Mina has appeared out of a magical storm and overrun the land with her army of dark-armored knights. The elven land of Silvanesti has fallen prey to their might. The young elf king has fallen prey to Mina’s amber eyes.
Meanwhile, the great dragon overlord Beryl launches an attack against the people living under her rule. As her dragonarmy swarms the Citadel of Light, Palin and Tasslehoff are forced to flee and are rescued only by the interference of a mysterious person from their past. The elves of Qualinesti must choose between exile from their beloved homeland or death by a dragon’s wrath. Even Goldmoon leaves her people, compelled to follow a growing river of souls that flows northward to a dark and dreaded land.
It seems no one can stand against the powerful and relentless entity guiding the devastating events on Krynn. At last, one lone dragon seeks out an old enemy, vowing at any cost to find the answers to the mystery that is the One God.
Review
Intro
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. It is Misham, Darkember 18th, my name is Adam and today I am going to give you my Spoiler review of Dragons of a Lost Star. 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.
Chapters 1-9 picks up right where Dragons of a Fallen Sun left off. Beryl is attacking the Citadel of Light and drops Draconians to find Palin and the Device of Time Journeying. They spot him, and he begins to use the pieces of the broken device to allow him to cast magical spells again, attacking the Draconians to make an escape into the maze. They ascend teh crystal stairs to escape the burning maze after the dragons attack it to smoke them out, and Dalamar rescues them at the top teleporting them away. Beryl destroys the towers out of rage.
Marshal Medan tells Laurana who the spy in her employu is and Gilthas insists on confronting him. He tries to murder Laurana when his brother kills him. He did slice her arm and the Marshal bandages it up as the King leaves to address his people, no longer pretending to be the puppet they believed. He goes to tell them about the coming army of Beryl’s and the evacuation plan of Qualinost. Goldmoon and Conundrum finally make shore, breaking the submersible, as Goldmoon continues following the sea of the dead, and Conundrum follows her.
Silvanoshei is obsessed with Mina who is indifferent to him, and Lord of the Night Taronne sets into motion a plan to murder Mina, using Silvan as his unknowing agent. Alhana is traversing the SIlvanesti forest, not able to enter the city but being kept informed by the Kirath. The young elves are worshipping Mina and the Dark Knights are treating the elves with respect, further confusing the Dark Knight leadership, and the Kirath who want to reject the knights.
Chapters 10-18 have Mina knowingly walking into the trap and being killed by the ring gifted to her by Silvan, who in turn got it from Lord Targonne. Targonne arrives in person to see her funeral and as they bring Silvan, beaten and bruised unrecognizable to also witness the funeral pyre, they light it up, and an enormous death dragon comes and the pyre is put out as mina stands triumphantly alive, and orders Targonnes death. Galdar happily cuts off his head and Mina orders Gaptain Dogah to hold Silvanesti by force, killing elves who won’t give tribute to Malys, and takes the rest on dragonback to Solanthus in two days time. The sky is filled by colored dragons answering the call of the one god. It is at this point everyone reading should know who the one god is. There are so many hints that it seems obvious, though inconceivable because of the one moon and no other gods.
It is here Silvanoshei becomes the whiny baby. He starts believing in the one god and actually abandons his mother Alhana and Samar to follow Mina. The One God wants Silvan for her own, for if he was independent, he would lead a rebellion against her. His love of Mina is blinding him to the truth. We see Mina as a Christ like presence now ahtt she has returned from the dead and demands obedience and devotion more fervently than ever as she becomes the Lord of the Night and the game pieces start to come together.
Marshal Medan meets Beryls new messenger who attacks Laurana in her cell and is incapacitated by Medan, laurana and Planchet. Medan sends him back to Beryl saying he will not kill laurana on orders of Targonne but he will hand over Qualinost as ordered. He also had to execute many elves, who were actually evacuated, after hearing of the coming army.
Palin tries to escape the Tower and is attacked by the dead, draining his life from him, so he returns to understand Dalamar is trapped in the tower and can only leave via Astral Projection. They begin working together to figure out what is going on with Tas and the Device. The pieces of which returned to Tas, who was bored of the tower, climbs up the chimney and escapes, running into his own spirit! This tells us that he already died, and he is from another timeline than this one.
Gerard arrives on the outskirts of Solanthus and is captured by a knight who takes him to the prison, believing him to be a Nerakan Knight. She promises to look for those who may know him or his name. Gerard is hopeless and afraid that he will be killed as a spy.
Chapters 19-27 brings a flurry of events as the story nears its conclusion. Mina arrives in Nightlund to meet with Dalamar where she demands use of his tower to meet with someone in the short future. Dalamar, shocked and humbled by her presence, must accept. Palin watched and recognised Mina from the Citadel of Light when she was a child. Dalamar asks that if Mina sees Tasslehoff that she bring him to Dalamar. Mina grows furious that Dalamar had Tas and lost him and the device, saying the One God wants him. Her armies are now on the lookout.
Tas arrives at Solanthas looking for Gerard and runs into Goldmoon and Conundrum. Goldmoon speaks on Gerards behalf at the Knights council and they demand everyone stay while they check on the validity of stories shared. Goldmoon is being pulled to Nightlund and breaks Gerard out with the song of Sleep from the one god Mina has used, and they all walk out of Solanthas. They are going to travel on dragonback to Nightlund.
Mirror, convinced that he recognizes the One God’s voice, travels to Skie’s lair to confirm his suspicions and he arrives when Mina is confronting Skie. Skie refuses to go along with the One God, knowing who it is, and feels like he has been lied to. He reveals he is not from Krynn, but was brought there to rule, then promised Kitiara and was never delivered either promise. He is infuriated by Mina and blasts her with lightning. She drops, then rises and sends the energy back to Skie, who becomes trapped in his mind as he slowly dies. Mina leaves with the other dragons and mirror goes to confer with his old enemy.
Qualinesti is being raided and Gilthas and the Lioness leave the city with the majority of Qualinost’s residents through the dwarven tunnels which are guarded by the dwarves that built them. Marshal Medan and Laurana devise a plan to stay and try to destroy Beryl with the Lost Star and a Dragonlance. Laurana admits that she abandoned the Knights of Solamnia in their time of need for the love of Tanis, a point I have made over and over again and Laurana superfans have argued against. Well Laurana admits it and is shamed by it, so deal with it people!
We now know that the dragons and more know who the One God is. That they can’t believe it is true due to the state of the world. Mina has been struck dead twice now, so we should know who and what she is, though that won’t be confirmed for another trilogy, and we know that the Shadow Sorcerer taught Dalamar necromancy to get his power back and inadvertently started this whole ball rolling with the removal of the Tower of high Sorcery to Nightlund.
Chapters 28-36 briggs terrifying conclusions and truths to many characters. Lady Odelia follows Gerard and Goldmoons tracks out of Solanthus to the cave where she overhears Gerard telling Goldmoon that the dragon will take her to Nightlund at dark, but that he must return to defend Solanthus from the coming army that appeared on the horizon. They leave together and are approached by Galadar and sent to Mina’s tent where Gerard tells partial truths about Qualinesti to Mina and Mina shows the mind of hte One God to Odelia. They break out of the encampment at night and the Solamnic Knights are ready for battle the next morning. As they ride out of Solanthus the sea of the dead swarm in and terrify them while the living Knights of Neraka army attacks them. Mina and the Dragons take the city telling the knights to flee before dawn or die. She says Sanction is the next city to fall, so many kight plan on journeying there to warn them. It is a fitting end location as it is where Mina first showed her true power.
As Gilthas and the refugees flee Qualinost, Marshal Medan and Laurana climb the Tower of the Sun to face off against Beryl, when Laurana’s servant attacks and kills Medan for corrupting his brother. Laurana looks to Sturm Brightblade’s memory for courage and herein is a beautiful realization that he stood against the dragons to allow the army to defeat them, and now Laurana was doing the same thing, certain of the same fate awaiting her. She uses Lost Star to freeze Beryl as the elves and humans cast their magical net across her bloated body, dragging her down, and though many died, they were successful as Laurana plunged the Dragonlance into his skull. She is lifted off the ground and drops paralysing herself in the fall and the dragon crushes her with its weight. As it falls to the ground, the tunnels the dwarves dug collapse under her immense weight as the dragon dies, the city falls down on top of her, and the river floods the crater creating the Nalis Aren. Gilthas is told by runners and is uncertain of the elven exile’s fate.
Goldmoon arrives at the Tower of High Sorcery and is welcomed by Dalamar. Tas and Conundrum are locked in a room by Palin who hears that Tas saw his soul, and realizes that the Gnome and the Device of Time Journeying coming together are part of a larger plan. Golmoon is met by Mina in the laboratory where Mina explains she did all this for Goldmoon, to emulate what Goldmoon did. In a time of isolation, she found a god and brought healing to the world. Goldmoon understood the god as Takhisis through Mina’s false narrative and rebukes her. Takhisis strikes down Goldmoon with the Portal to the Abyss and Goldmoon finally dies, unfortunately we all know her soul is going to join all of the others. Mina is devastated, and we close with a mysterious figure crossing Shallsea with his horse.
This was fantastic! I don’t know if it’s better because I know what will happen but all the highs and lows, humor and dread are hitting me at 100. The first time I read it I was full of confusion and frustration, and now it’s like a beautiful drama. I am really enjoying this revisit. Gerard and Galdar, Mina and Conundrum, Marshal Medan and Lady Odelia are all great new characters. Goldmoon and Laurana were wonderful to return to and they stayed true to their characters, though having shown growth, faceing their destinies with exactly the grace expected of them.
The truth about the One God being Takhisiis was revealed early on in the story, but only laid out plain at the end. This was really frustrating to me the first read through, but this time, with perspective and time, it makes perfect sense. Paladine, Gilean and Takhisis brought gods from the outer planes to help them govern the world. Why wouldn’t Takhisis do the same with Dragons in the gods absence? She used Dalamar to start what she was too weak to start with the dead and ultimately used Mina as her missionary. It’s almost painfully obvious and brilliantly Takhisis in it’s device.
If you are a fan of Dragonlance, the Fifth Age OR the Fourth Age, then this trilogy is a must read!
Outro
And that’s it for my review of Dragons of a Lost Star by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. Do you believe the authors successfully united the disparate fanbases? What do you think of Mina? 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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