Join me as I give you my spoiler filled review Dragons of Fate by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, live! Share your thoughts on this second novel in the Dragonlance Destinies Trilogy, released on August 1, 2023 by Wizards of the Coast. You can buy a copy here: https://amzn.to/3DxfRze
About Dragons of Fate
A courageous heroine trapped in the distant past is determined to return to her own time—without changing the shape of the world forever—as the New York Times bestselling Dragonlance series continues in this thrilling sequel to Dragons of Deceit.
A clash of powerful magical forces sets off the Graygem of Gargath, sending Destina Rosethorn and her companions deeper into the past than she intended—to the age of Huma Dragonsbane and the Third Dragon War. Now, with the Device of Time Journeying shattered, they must find another way back to their own era before the Graygem irrevocably alters history and the Third Dragon War ends in defeat for the forces of good.
While the battle rages on, Destina tries desperately to make amends and prevent disaster. Raistlin and Sturm encounter their heroes Huma and Magius, and must reconcile the myths with the men. And Tasslehoff, shocked that the Knights of Solamnia have never heard of dragonlances, sets out to find the famed weapons.
But as the forces of the Dark Queen close in on the High Clerist’s Tower, Destina’s party must return to their own timeline together—or not at all.
Review
Intro
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga review episode. It is Misham, Paleswelt the 10th. My name is Adam and today I am going to give you my Spoiler review of Dragons of Fate by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. I will be spoiling the story, so if you don’t want to know what happens, stop watching this video now! I do have a spoiler free review you could check out. 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 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
We begin where we left off in Dragons of Deceit. Dalamar is given the pieces of the broken Device of Time Journeying by Astinus of Palanthas. He takes them to Justarius, the Master of the Tower of High Sorcery in Wayreth to have it repaired. They realize that without all of the pieces they would be unable to put it back together, then reflect on information about it in Justarius’ Silver Book. I do like how there is continuous world building in each of Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman’s novels, even when it seems to not be fully developed. These Silver Books are an example of something totally new that was fleshed out just enough. They reflect on Ranniker’s clock from the previous novel and Justarius mentions Alice Ranniker, a failed student.
Then we move to the past where Destina, Tasslehoff, Raistlin and Sturm are. They had overheard Huma and Magius in the previous novel, and are hiding in the plains not terribly far from the High Clerist’s Tower. This is the first point of contention that I would like to bring up. The Knight’s Spur in Canon was built after the Catacysm by the city of Palanthas for protection in the absence of the Knights of Solamnia. But in this novel it was built after Vinas Solamnus died, but is present a thousand years earlier. Something that has no bearing on the story, so why change it? The second error is that Magius made the Staff of Magius. It was taken from the Obsidian Chest by Shadara four thousand years before Magius was born. Why change it? It wouldn’t alter the story at all. But back to the story.
The group is sitting around explaining to Tas how Destina was Mari and how there is no Mari. Tas finally accepts it and the party splits. Sturm goes to protect a human beset by goblins that Raistlin doesn’t trust for no reason whatsoever, and Tas goes searching for water, wth Destina in tow. They are also attacked by goblins and saved by Gwyneth, the Silver Dragon, in Qualinesti elf form. She casts a spell on Tas to prevent him from saying the Graygem and clarifies a wonderful point of interest I have had. The Greygem has been called the graystone and graygem. Gwyneth says it is known as the graygem by humans, or something to that effect, saying that dragons know it as the greystone, as if its true name is referenced differently amongst different species or cultures. It was a small touch but one I liked.
She then sees Huma and flees. In this timeline, they never fell in love or traveled to the Dragonlances. As Huma and Magius connect with the party, Sturm realizes that Huma is much more pragmatic about the Measure than the legends lead him to be, and Raistlin is impressed by Magius, and this is where the book stops being led by Destina and is led as a more buddy cop fantasy between Raistlin and Magius. I don’t mind, but it did seem odd. What transpires is a bunch of back and forth of Tas leaking out information that he should not know and Raistlin, Sturm and Destina trying to convince Huma and Magius that Tas is crazy or lying. It’s pretty ridiculous as later on Raistlin just tells Magius nearly everything anyway, so why the pretense earlier?
They all plan on traveling to the High Clerist’s Tower, however there is a goblin army between them and their destination, so they have Magius teleport them there. Once inside they meet with the Commander, Sir Titus Belgrave, who is eventually convinced they are friends and can stay in the tower. They mention the Knights Spur, which is a thousand years out of time. It was built by the people of Palanthas in the absence of the Knights during the Cataclysm. It’s a pretty bg error to make and not one explained away by Chaos being present. But that is just the first of a number of errors I found. Magius and Raistlin become besties, and Gwyneth is caught sneaking around and imprisoned, where everyone goes to talk to her. She eventually breaks herself out and returns to Foghaven Vale to collect some Dragonlances after realizing she is in Love with Huma and she has no real choice if mankind is to survive the coming war.
The Commander informs the party that they had a thousand men, but hundreds of them died escorting refugees to Palanthas. Apparently the Minotaur nation invaded and is occupying Palanthas. Tasslehoff knows that the Knights need the Dragonlances and since the Song of Huma is not fully realized at this time, he travels to the Gnomes to find it, believing that his Uncle Trapspringer helped the Gnomes make the Dragonlances. What he discovers is that they made a mechanical ballista device that was supposed to be destroyed; however, Tasslehoff made it work! And it begins traveling to the Dragonarmy.
In this version of history, there is no Kaz the Minotaur, or Galen Dracos. It seems that Immolatus, the Red Dragon, is in command of the Solamnia front, and Magius and Huma are much closer. Magus even is supposed to follow the Measure, but I have no idea why, as the Knights don’t even know who he is or trust him. Raistlin decides to confide in Magius as he hopes that Magius knows where the Device of Time Journeying in this time resides. They believe its in the Tower of High Sorcery in Palanthas, and Magius learns of the Dragon Orb in the future in the basement of the High Clerist’s Tower, but that is also wrong in this time, suggesting Magius is the one who leaves it there, but what about the dragon trap construction? Right now it’s a temple.
Raistlin and Magius travel to Palanthas and see it is filled with Minotaurs, they anger some and fight their way to Shoikan Grove. They eventually enter the tower and the towers Master, Snagsby, yea, that is his real name, refuses to help Magius as he is not a member of the order. But if he’s not a member, is he a renegade? Why is he allowed in the towers if he’s not among their orders? It doesn’t make sense. An apprentice named Anitra Belgrave, daughter to Commander Belgrave, gives them the Dragon Orb, but tells them that the Device of Time Journeying is in the Tower of Wayreth, and they are unable to get it. They return to the High Clerist’s Tower with the Dragon Orb and talk about the coming battle, bro-ing it up together.
We get a flashback of the creation of the Dragonlances which, much like nearly everything else in this book, is different from established lore as far as I can tell. A dragon named Sharpfang came up with the idea of making the Dragonlances, and the first was made by Reorx himself. The rest were made by dwarves. They even go over the history of Gnomes and Scions which differs a bit from all other sources I know of. At this point, I am sure they are just willy nilly changing what they want with no regard to anything. They can always fall back on the Graygem if they want, so I don’t really know how I feel about it.
Then in Book Two, we return to the present with Dalamar and Justartius who visit Alice Ranniker, the Great Great Great Granddaughter of the famous Ranniker who made the Clock that Dalamar used in the first book to see past the Chaos War into the Fifth Age. This was odd since Tas couldn’t see that future until he was trapped in it, and couldn’t see back, and his first glimpse was a peaceful future before Takhisis stole the world away. But hey, the Graygem right?
Alice remakes the Device of Time Journeying, improving on the design, making it a sphere this time, and shortens the poem to activate the device, even allowing more people to travel with it. She uses it to prove it works and they have Brother Kairn from the first novel, travel back in time to collect the party…This is my second reading of the book, to write this and I have to say, I don’t mind the new device, but I do mind the occasional sticking to canon when convenient.
Brother Kairn travels back in time to the High Clerist’s Tower, only to be collected by the Knights of Solamnia. Sir Titus summoned Destina to his office where she recognised Kairn, and Titus finally has had enough. He demands to know what is going on, as he clearly is in the dark about what the companions are doing here. He is called out, and Huma and Sturm overhear Kairn and Destina talking about Gwyneth being a silver dragon and the Graygem. Huma confronts Magius about Gwyneth and he tells Huma that it is her secret to reveal but it would make sense if it were true.
Destina is attacked by Mullen Tully who overheard them all talking about the Greygem when they first discovered him, and his hand was severely burnt, so he returned to Immolatus and told him about it. Immolatus summoned a new species called the Gudlose, who seem to be stand-ins for the Tarmak, without the magical blue paint. They don’t believe in the gods, but their wizard is incredibly powerful, so she must be a sorcerer using wild magic? I don’t think the authors care about Dragonlance’s rules much at this point, so I just roll with it. They are tasked with finding and collecting the red robe mage who knows about the greygem and Destina who holds it. They leave ready to execute their charge, and Immolatus leaves to create a diversion.
Gwyneth returns with the Dragonlances and shares their existence with Huma as well as her true identity. I was moved by their love and passion for each other. I am a romantic at heart and their love has been part of Dragonance lore from the beginning, literally in Dragons of Autumn Twilight, so it’s beautiful to read. Magius begins to try to use the dragon orb but stops, and then Immolatus attacks. He is forbidden from destroying the tower by Takhisis who wants to use it, but he ignores her demand and breaks in, as the Gudlose sneak into the Tower. Magius sends the Dragon Orm to the Basement, which will be discovered by Tas in the future, and Immolatus destroys the ground level, to be rebuilt as the dragon trap. The Gudlose find Magius and Raistlin, subduing them both remarkably fast, and take Magius to the Dragonarmy camp. Meanwhile another group of them go after Destina. Immolatus breaks into the Temple where Gwyneth and Huma are and attacks them. Huma strikes him with the Dragonlance and Gwyneth point blank blasts him with a cone of frost. They fight as Immolatus wounds Gwyneth and Sir Titus arrives. He takes up a Dragonlance like a badass, spearing Immolatus but the dragon bites him, nearly killing him. Immolatus retreats, and other knights arrive to witness Titus’ last moments.
This was yet another in a long string of moments where my eyes misted over. This man was doing his best to stand up against the Queen of Darkness’ forces, knowing he would fail, but refusing to abandon his post. He faced a dragon, knowing he would die, but refused to back down. Standing up to bullies is something I have always done myself, and I can’t help but appreciate seeing it in others, fictional or not. Will took center stage here to deal with Titus’ remains, and Huma was given command. Destina was confronted by the Gudlose and threw the Gemstone at them, which fried their brains, killing them instantly. Raistlin and Sturm decided to go after Magius, knowing if they were successful it would change history.
They snuck into Immolatus’ camp and killed the last two Gudlose, who died remarkably quickly compared to the power they presented earlier. They spoke with Magius in his last moments, and Magius force ghosted to Huma after death with Greta. Raistlin talked to the Staff of Magius as if Magius’ soul or ego was still part of it, which made no sense to me. Anyway, Immolatus sent Mullen Tully to kill Destina, Huma and Gwyneth with the evil artifact Deathdealer. Tully left to see it done, and Tas showed up riding the Gnomes mechanical ballista. It fired and took Immolatus’ horn off, then exploded, destroying the entire camp, except for Immolatus. Sturm and Raistlin reunited with Tas and returned to the Tower as the Dark Queen was arriving with knowledge of the Greygem.
They all play cat and mouse trying to find each other in the High Clerist’s Tower, and end up in the Temple when Mullen Tully attacks and kills Gweneth, Huma, and seemingly Sturm? Though he wasn’t confirmed dead, so he must have been mostly dead. Anyway, with the Dark Queen winning the Third Dragon War, they all used the Device of Time Journeying to return to the meeting of the Innfellows. But not all is as they expected.
Brother Kairn arrived alone, and traveled to the Inn of the Last Home to see Draconians there looking for the Blue Crystal Staff. Kitiara the Blue Dragonarmy Highlord is there, as are Goldmoon and Riverwind. Rastlin arrives as a black robed wizard in the Blue Dragonarmy with Kit and Caramon to tell Kairn the Queen won and has been in control of Krynn since. Kairn leaves to tell Astinus and seek his counsel, and the book ends.
Talk about an insane cliffhanger. Now, of course I skipped a ton of moments that any Dragonlance fan would love to read, so definitely read this book! If you didn’t enjoy Dragons of Deceit, read this book. If you just like the authors, definitely read this book. All of my gripes aside, it was great both times, and arguably better the second reading.
Outro
And that’s it for my review of Dragons of Fate by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. What did you think of the ending? Has the Cataclysm occurred since the Queen of Darkness has ruled since the Age of Might? And finally, how does Raistlin in the present recall what occurred in the past when they went to great lengths saying no one would remember once they left? You can email me at info@dlsaga.com or comment below.
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