Join me as I review The Lost Chronicles; Dragons of Autumn Twilight, live! Share your thoughts on this return to the Heroes of the Lance, as the authors fill in the gaps of the original Chronicles trilogy. You can buy a copy of the book here: https://amzn.to/2RtoGpz
Transcript
Intro
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. My name is Adam and today I am going to give you my Spoiler review The Lost Chronicles: Dragons of the Dwarven Depths. I will be spoiling the story, so if you don’t want to know it, stop watching now! Don’t forget to like and subscribe to this channel, ring the bell, and you can support this channel by becoming a Patron on Patreon, a Member of this YouTube channel, and you can pick up Dragonlance Gaming materials, using my affiliate link. All links are in the description below. This is my perspective only, and if you have any thoughts or disagree with mine, I invite you to share them in YouTube chat.
This is my second reading of Dragons of the Dwarven Depths. My first was when they were originally released, and that was after I had read around a hundred Dragonlance Novels and played the Dungeons & Dragons and SAGA version of the game. I felt like I knew the trajectory of the Heroes of the Lance and I was immediately struck by a perceived tonal difference in how the characters spoke, interacted and projected their sensibilities in the world. Though I enjoyed the story, and the spirit of its creation, filling in the gaps of the original Chronicles Trilogy, I felt as though something was off.
This reading that I just finished today was a dramatically different take. I had just finished reading The Annotated Chronicles: Dragons of Autumn Twilight, and right off of that novel, I felt all of my perceptions in my first reading were completely wrong. I was judging the characters after having read through their character arcs and most had died. I read through their children’s stories as the Dragonlance world completely changed a number of times, so my recollection of them in their early careers of adventuring was wrong.
I do have to say, though I know this isn’t a children’s book, I did miss the chapter heading illustrations that were featured in the Chronicles Trilogy. Besides that, I was drawn into not only the meshing of the novel with the original trilogy and the original modules, which were slightly different due in part to Verminaards death in Dragons of Autumn Twilight, but not in the module in the same timelines. The way the authors addressed this potential problem, reminded me of how years later, Director Mike Flanagan would reconcile the differences between Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining film, and Stephen King’s The Shining and Doctor Sleep novels with his Doctor Sleep film. They turned to creative writing and altered the narrative just enough to pull you deeper into the mythology and world, while tipping their caps at the earlier released sources.
This book is broken into two books, much like Dragons of Autumn Twilight. The first book deals with Dray-Yan, an Aurak Draconian who hatched a scheme with Grag a Draconian commander to pose as the Dragon Highlord Verminaard so he can be in a position power and go after the prisoners of Pax Tharkas and heroes that rescued them. The Refugees led by the Heroes of the Lance realize they are temporarily safe but will soon be trapped in the coming winter and decide to search for the lost kingdom of Thorbardin. Raistlin Majere is convinced he can find the key to Thorbardin in Skullcap, an ancient fortress of Fistandantilus’ from the Dwarfgate Wars. Tanis Half -Elven and Flint Fireforge believe they can find it themselves, and leave a reluctant Riverwind to ast as leader in their stead.
The Second book focuses on the politics of Thorbardin and the heroes’ search for the Hammer of Kharas, each having different motivations for its discovery. Sturm Brightblade believes it is essential to create the legendary Dragonlances to be used in the defeat of the Dark Queen’s Dragonarmies. The Dwarves of Thorbardin want it to unite their people under the mountain, and Dray-Yan wants it to take control of Thorbardin for the Dark Queen.
What we are given is a nostalgia driven tale that leans heavily on foreshadowing and the readers previous knowledge of the Chronicles Trilogy. I don’t necessarily think this is a bad thing, but it is a bit hamfisted for a first time reader to understand, and for a long time reader to take.
Flint Fireforge shines in the second book as the father figure to the Heroes. He looked after them in their youth, he fought beside them in their maturity and now he is truly feeling his age. Though in AD&D terms, he’s not old for a dwarf, they set up that his father died of an ailment Flint himself is feeling early signs of. Again, foreshadowing. We are treated to the reverence of a deity for its ‘children’ in the form of Reorx looking to a Neidar or hill dwarf, as the hero to find the Hammer of Kharas over the other mountain dwarf clans, as they have all forgotten their patron deity, or at least don’t actively worship him since the Dwarfgate Wars and the Cataclysm. This is another echo that is seen in every culture on Krynn in this Age of Despair.
As a reader we are all simultaneously cheering for Flint, and saddened with the knowledge of his ultimate fate. It is touching to get such deep insights from his inner dialog and the connection between him and Tasslehoff Burrfoot is strengthened and reinforced for the readers. It struck me as odd that we were introduced to good dragons for the first time (If you are reading this in chronological order as I am now) in that, the good dragons were supposed to be totally absent from Krynn at this moment. Yet Raistlin, Caramon and Sturm run across one in its final moments of life in Skullcap in book one, and Tasslehoff runs into one that is protecting the Hammer of Kharas in book two. Though the second dragon’s presence was not as jarring as the first, possibly because the first took the sting out of it, it still seemed like if they knew of the Dark Queen’s actions, they would get involved with the war.
Now, I know the reason, they had their eggs being held hostage by the Dark Queen, but still, it doesn’t feel right as a reader. Either way, the presence of the red dragons in book one felt diminished in use and effect as well. They were treated as spies in the sky and airdrop planes for draconians. It all felt like a waste. They reinforce the sense of dragonfear those present feel, even if the dragons cannot be seen, which is one of the wonderful additions to dragons in Dragonlance that I thought made perfect sense; and added to the power and presence of a dragon. It was diminished as well by those who had felt it before. Again, I understand the rationalization of this, exposure to anything sensory will eventually be dulled, but what is it , the third or fourth time they were exposed to it? It should still be in full effect.
Skullcap was a good bit of fun in book one, focusing primarily on Tika Waylan and Caramon Majere’s relationship, which made sense since it was a relatively poignant part of the first book as far as character development is concerned, but it ended in the only place it could, an expected one. Carmon lives to protect and serve his brother Raistlin. Everything else is secondary. A lesson I thought Tika took away in Dragons of Autumn Twilight. Yet it is echoed here over and over again in the first book. It ends with Tika’s acceptance of the fact, but where else could it have ended? We already know they are going to get hitched and have kids! What I do want to talk briefly about is the near rape of Tika Waylan by a random Drakonian who follows her out of Skullcap as she leaves in the dead of night to warn Riverwind of an advancing Draconian platoon set to attack the refugees camp. I felt this was treated as delicately as possible considering the subject matter. Tika fought off the monster, which ended in its death, but the experience left her scarred and traumatized for a long time. This is not something that should be swept under a rug, even in a fantasy novel, and I feel like they handled it as well as can be expected. It marked a moment of terror and vulnerability that will ultimately lead to a stronger woman despite her assault.
Sturm and Raistlins relationship is explored and softened a bit as well. I always hated how badly Sturm treated his childhood friend Raistlin, simply because he wants to be a Solamnic Knight and they distrust Magic, and Raistlin is a Mage. They grew up together, shared life experiences together. That causes you to overlook and move past bigotry and bias, not reinforce it. But Sturm explains that he looks down on Raistlin in large part because of how he treats his twin Caramon, and I think we can all understand his position there! Later in book two, Sturm and Raistly agree to convince Flint Fireforge to swap the real Hammer of Kharas with a fake one so they can use it in the greater war outside Thorbardin. This is a deeply dishonorable act that Sturm hesitatingly agrees to, for the greater good, and is a note to the reader about the greater pragmatic good the Solamnic Knights will eventually adopt over their rigid Measures.
All in all, I really enjoyed this, admittedly flawed return to the heroes of the lance, and the character development shared. It adds desperately needed world building, time with the mountain dwarves and their kingdom of Thorbardin, and gives us a glimpse into the minds of draconians for the first time. Rather than them being mindless killing monsters, they are conscious creatures with individual motivations and desires. I like my villains fleshed out, sometimes even more than I like my heroes fleshed out. It’s one of the reasons I love the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy and The Clone Wars cartoons. They help flesh out the best fictional villain stories of all time, the tragedy of Anakin Skywalker and his fall to Darth Vader.
I highly recommend this novel to any Dragonlance fan, but if you aren’t a Heroes of the Lance junkie, you could probably skip it.
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