Join me as I review Dragons of a Vanished Moon by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, live! Share your thoughts on this third and final 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 Vanished Moon here: https://amzn.to/3Dzq0tD
About Dragons of a Vanished Moon
In the sensational climax to the War of Souls trilogy, a mystical warrior leads her army toward conquest while a band of heroes leads the fight against overwhelming odds
The invincible warrior Mina, not content with her army’s occupation of Silvanost, moves against Sanction. Exiled by a dragon’s wrath, the Qualinesti elves flee the destruction of their homeland, heading toward what they believe to be a safe haven in Silvanesti.
Hoping to find a way to stop the onslaught, the Solamnic Knight Gerard volunteers to return to the army of Dark Knights as a spy. Though brave, it is a move that could prove disastrous for him and the side for which he fights.
Desperate for help, the small band of heroes looks outside their group to an unlikely ally. The Dragon Overlord Malys has not taken kindly to Mina’s army despoiling her territory with their invasion. But the heroes also look to one of their own, someone who may hold the secret to the past and the key to victory: the kender named Tasselhoff.
Review
Intro
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. It is Misham, Frostkolt 2nd, my name is Adam and today I am going to give you my Spoiler review of Dragons of a Vanished Moon. 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 opens with a retelling of the Death of Goldmoon, but from Dalamar and Palin’s perspectives. After Goldmoon dies, they know they are in danger, but before they have time to do anything about it, the Dark knights are pounding on the door. Mina eventually busts it down and as they try to cast spells to defend themselves, the magic is stripped from them and they are both killed by Mina! This was a terrible end, for now, to two rather fantastic characters, but being killed by Mina and Takhisis is better than falling from a Valenwood tree. She ends up raising them from the dead as zombies and has them sit on her cart where she brings Goldmoon encased in amber with her beauty once again restored in death. Goldmoons spirit traveled to Wanderer, her and Riverwinds son, and told him to travel South. It is where he met Gilthas as the Qualinesti Elves are traveling through the Plains of Dust, coming close to Death. Wanderer promises aid, and tells Gilthas that Silvanesti has also fallen to the Dark Knights.
Tasslehoff and Conundrum time travel to the distant past after Conundrum fixed the Device of Time Journeying. They actually met Huma and Magius themselves! This is a HUGE moment, as they were able to find the lost river of time! This means there is hope for the gods and dragons to return. Samauval has taken control of Qualinesti and offered land to all who enter his service on behalf of the Dark Knights, so Qualinesti is an occupied territory much like Silvanesti.
Back at Khellendros’ lair, Mirror and Skie are talking as Skie is dying, and Skie reveals his past to Mirror and that Takhisis trapped the Silver Dragons when they went looking for the other gods. Takhisis used Skie to bring the other Dragon Overlords and has been using their totems for power. Malystryx appears, intending to take Skies totem and finding him alive, patiently waits for him to die as he attacks her, harming her slightly and she destroys him immediately, tearing his corpse to pieces. This is such a better death for Khellendros than slowly bleeding out from Mina’s attack. When Malys takes the totem and leaves, Mirror looks for water and food in dragon form and Rasor, Marshal Medan’s blue dragon, shows up and questions Mirror about Skie, Malys and Takhisis. Razor is loyal to Takhisis but his loyalty is fading as she allowed Razor’s mate to be killed by the Overlords. They leave to get answers with Mirror as a human on Razor’s back.
Gerard offers to be a spy and infiltrate the Dark Knights so the Knights of Solamnia will have some inside intel prior to Mina attacking Sanction, the knights last stronghold. The order isn’t thrilled with the idea of a spy, but they know they need every bit of help they can get, so Gerard travels to Salanthus and meets a kender who reveals that Mina is looking for Tasslehoff. Clearly Takhisis wants Tas killed and to gain control of the Device, as it’s the only key to stopping her.
Gerard enters Solanthus secretly, intentionally gets himself imprisoned so he can pretend to still be the Dark Knight who brought Odila to Mina. He sees Palin and Dalamar sitting in the next cell together, but they are not quite alive. Takhisis is keeping their souls tethered but not in their bodies, though Dalamar has severed his cord, and roams freely. Palin decides to try and communicate with someone but is unable to do so. Gerard discovers from Odila, who entered Solanthus and was brought to Mina, wanting to learn from the One God, that Takhisis is testing undead soldiers with Palin and Dalamar for the coming battle of Sanction.Mina is very open with her plans and when Galdar brings Gerard before her, convinced he is a spy, Mina tells him her plans and enters him into service. Gerard and Odila discuss the One God and eventually Odila decides to leave, but is being held captive by Takhisis. Gerald should have left but stays for Odila and travels with Mina’s army to Sanction.
Razor and Mirror travel to Solanthus as beggars and discover the truth of Mina moving to attack Sanction from Gerard. They travel after the army to learn more. Meanwhile Gilthas arrives to Silvanesti and meets Alhana who reveals that Silvanoshei ran after Mina. He traveled to Solantus too and then to Sanction after her. Gilthas is sworn to secrecy and the Silvanesti only listen to Alhana because they believe Silvanoshei, their king, is with her. If they knew the truth they would reject her leadership. Gilthas is welcomed in and they know they need to attack the Dark Knights who are outnumbered and weakened, but without Silvanoshei to lead them, Alhana can’t do anything. She sent Samar after Silvan.
Tas and Conundrum travel to the Temple of Neraka during the War of the Lance and see Raistlin and Ariakan. Something is holding Tas back from revealing himself, but he doesn’t know what it is. Then we see the gods of Krynn meeting to discuss the lost world, and Raistlin tells them about Takhisis stealing it and that he heard Tas and can find him. They agree to wait to reclaim the world as Takhisis is stronger than ever and they are weakened. They allow Raistlin to try and connect with the world.
Tasslehoff is transported to the Citadel of Light’s maze where he leaves Conundrum and is teleported to Dargaard Keep where Lord Soth talks with him as Mina enters. She tells him that Takhisis wants to have him lead her army of the dead, but Soth, much like Skie before him, has been away from her for so long that he recognizes how she lied to him. How she never honored her promises and now he no longer fears her or oblivion. He has finally atoned for his mistakes and as Mina, furiously leaves, Lord Soth is made mortal and destroyed by Takhisis. Tas is held out of the exchange by a black cloak that smells of rose petals. After the Chaos War, I have to admit that I am a bit tired of Raistlin coming back to save the day. Surely there are other heroes that are alive that can fulfil his role. If Goldmoon’s voice was heard by Paladine a universe away, why can’t the gods who are actively searching for the universe, or a dragon who is searching for the gods be the one to adopt the role?
Gerard is assigned to protect SIlvanoshei who finally caught up to the army. Mina shows no affection for him and he finally seems to accept that she will never love him, but he is a servant of the One God. After the quick, and hardly mentioned at all, defeat of Sanction, he is placed in a prison cell for his own protection and gives his ring and cloak to Gerard, so that he can convey to Samar, and by proxy his mother, that he is dead. On Gerards way out of the city, Galdar stops him, they both admit their roles, and Galdar says that everything Gerard is doing is the will of Takhisis. She wants him to get the elves and Solamnic Knights to come to the city to witness her return on the night of the pale eye.
The souls of the dead steal Malystryx’ skull totem which is being used by Takhisis to enter the world. She plans to enter Goldmoons corpse and rule immortal on Krynn with Mina as her live army general. Dalamar tells Malys about the Dark Queen taking and using her totem, and asks to be granted his body, should Malys defeat Mina. She agrees, then Dalamar travels back to Sanction and tells Mina that he will rule the Army of the Dead for Takhisis if he gets his body back. She promises him the magic he once controlled and his body IF he destroys Palin’s plans. Palin met with Razor and Mirror and is making plans with them to stop Takhisis.
Samar returns to Silvanesti with the news of Silvan’s capture and Alhana admits that she has been lying to everyone and employs them all to stand next to the Solamnic Knights and stop Takhisis and save her son, their king. Gilthas warns them that they should reclaim Silvanesti from the Dark Knights before they leave, to make sure they have a home to return to. This is the wisest move Gilthas has made, and it is frustrating knowing what is to come in the face of the decision to ignore him. There are so many poor decisions the Elves make to their own detriment because of tradition and reaction, when they are supposed to be thoughtful and patient with their long lives. This action to attack Sanction is being fueled by Takhisis and it goes to show the true might of the Dark Queen while she is the only god.
The elves leave for Sanction, and in their absence Blood Sea minotaurs sail the river and eliminate the remaining elven resistance to reinforce the Dark Knights. The chromatic dragons flee as Malys is rumored to attack Sanction. Odila prays to Takhisis for aid as Mina is intent on fighting Malys, and Galdar enters with a Dragonlance from the Tomb of the Last Heroes Samauval raided. Galdar tells Mina he wants to join her and she says if he can find a dragon she would welcome him. Meanwhile Mirror and Razor have snuck into the temple and Razor leaves to tell Galdar he would take him into battle. Mirror stays and plots the downfall of the totem with Palin.
Malys arrives and Mina meets her in the air with an undead dragon and the Dragonlance. Galdar and Razor are with her and they all battle. At the moment of defeat of Malys, Takhisis is pulled by Dalamar from Mina’s aid as her totem and Goldmoon are being destroyed by Mirror’s magic. The citizens attack Mirror and Odila rescues him and they fly to the Solamnic Knight Council. Takhisis turned Gerard around in his ride to the knights council which makes no sense as she supposedly wanted the elves and knights to come to Sanction, but he was outed by an innkeeper as a Solamnic in the Dark Knights territory and a platoon came to investigate. He was rescued by Raistlin’s advice, which… How is he doing what he is doing? And finds Tas chained to a bunch of other Kender by the same Knights… which, how did that happen? Gerard rescues Tas as the Knights hear that Mina killed Malys and died in the battle. The Knights rush to Sanction in the power vacuum.
Galdar and Tas use the Device of Time Journeying to travel to the Knight council and meet Odila and Mirror there, who agree to go find the missing metallic dragons to help the elves get to Sanction and then to fight the returned chromatic dragons at Sanction. They disappear with the Device of Time Journeying. They arrived in a frozen plain where the metallic dragons sleep. Tas busted through a frozen wall that kept the dragons sleeping and fell into oblivion only to have Mirror grab him just in time. Mirror said the dragons needed to discuss whether they would join the fight as they have already sacrificed much. This struck Tas to his core and he realised that he must go back. He said goodbye to Galadar, telling him to fix the Tomb of the Last Heroes lock, and Galadar finally saw him for the hero he is. Tas left and once again I shed a tear for that damned kender.
The elven caravan became surrounded by ogres and as they were attacking the dragons came and rescued them. Then they flew to Sanction where Mina, shocked and unknowing what to do, focused on returning to the Temple of Duerghast so Takhisis could return. Silvanoshei and the now mortal paladine followed Galdar and Mina into the sacrificial arena where the enemies of the One God were transported, forced to watch her return. Mina declared supremacy and offered her body to the Dark Queen after she broke the Dragonlance she killed Malys with, in half. Takhisis accepted the offer and when she tried to enter Mina, she was rejected and the visitors were banished, replaced with the gods of Krynn. Takhisis tried to kill Mina, claiming this was her doing, and Galdar stepped between, once again losing his arm and dropping to the floor bleeding out. Silvanoshei picked up a dragonlance half and threw it, striking Takhisis in the chest, killing her. Furious, Mina cut down Silvan and took the Dark Queen’s corpse away. Galdar was given his life by Sargas, Palin and Dalamar were given their lives by the three gods of magic at Raistlin’s request, though Palin refused the magic, choosing to return to his family instead.
Paladine, now Valthonis, returned Silvan’s body to Alhana, and blessed Gilthas as the ruler of the Elven Exiles. The novel explains the political areas of Ansalon in the Age of Mortals and leaves its future open ended for players to define…. For now. This was a beautiful ending that again, I know I say this a lot, hit me harder this time than the first time I read it. When Raistlin says he needs to return to his brother and friends, because Tanis is impatient, it hit me hard in the feels. Knowing that all of the Heroes of the Lance are moving into the afterlife together, puts a beautiful capstone to the Chronicles and the characters these two authors have loved, been frustrated with, and regretfully killed for the sake of the story. It righted the wrongs of the Fifth Age by explaining how it got there, and returned Krynn to the fans, finally.
This was a wonderful story that I am very happy to have reread, and I never would have if it weren’t for this channel. If you are a Dragonlance fan, read this novel and trilogy. If you are a Fifth Age fan, everything you loved is still here, with fewer Dragon Overlords, but it brings back what the fourth age fans loved as well. For me, this was a very successful uniting of fan bases and ages for the gamers out there.
Outro
And that’s it for my review of Dragons of a Vanished Moon 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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