Join me as I review Galen Beknighted by Michael Williams, live! Share your thoughts on this third novel in the Dragonlance Heroes II series, released on December 19, 199 by TSR Inc. You can buy a copy here: https://amzn.to/460RkOW
About Galen Beknighted
The world’s most reluctant knight, Galen Pathwarden, returns for another misadventure in this exciting sequel to Weasel’s Luck
Becoming a knight has changed the Weasel very little. Galen Pathwarden is still wary of seeking adventure—and still out to save his own skin at virtually any cost. But when his brother Brithelm vanishes mysteriously, Galen sets aside his better judgment and embarks on a quest that leads him under the earth, deep into a conspiracy of darkness, and to the very end of his courage.
Once more, this reluctant knight returns to the imperiled nation of Solamnia, where he will learn if he has what it takes to be a true hero.
Review
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga review episode. It is Bakukal, Darkember the 17th. My name is Adam and today I am going to give you my review of Galen Beknighted by Michael Williams. 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.
I have to say, now that I am a hundred pages in, this is not as good a beginning as Weasel’s Luck was. As that novel began with the ridiculousness of the Pathwarden family, this begins with the mundane activities of Castle di Caela. It is not a welcome change. Even the humor in this novel isn’t landing as well as the first one. I don’t know if it’s because I am not in the right mind frame, or if it’s worn off, or simply not there. There are moments when the characters are laughing or suppressing laughter and I am sitting here reading it wondering what I missed. We open with Galen Pathwarden-Brightblade at the end of his Night of Reflexions and the beginning of the ceremony that will honor him as a Knight of Solamnia.
While the night of reflexions are supposed to be just that, Galen found himself staring into one of the opals turned Brooch from the Scorpion. He sees plainsmen in the brooch and they in turn see him and tell him, or rather, show and tell him that they have his brother Brithelm and that if he wants him back, Galen needs to bring the opals. They allude to a return of the opals, so perhaps the Scorpion took them from the plainsmen and now that he’s dead, they’ve come for them. In either case it’s odd that they are able to communicate through them, and even more odd that they would know who Galen is, or that he has them at all, so as to abduct Brithelm, and then ransom him off.
With the convenient contrivances in place, the setting is amid an unusual massive storm that is drowning the countryside. Sir Bayard Brightblade is embarrassed when Galen doesn’t show up for his knighting, and he finds Galen passed out in his room. He berates him, as Galen tells Bayard about the vision and his brother. Bayard laughs hysterically about the story. It wasn’t even remotely funny, so why is he laughing? Then he berates him for not putting his armor on fast enough. It’s like Bayard is so frustrated over castle management and married life that he’s taking it out on Galen. Galen is seen as a weasel still by all other Solamnic Knights and no one respects him at all.
Bayard later tells Galen that they need to go on a quest to recover Brithelm, and that Galen needs a squire. He ends up settling on his older brother Alfric, which makes no sense other than for convenience of the story, and Bayard falls from his horse and breaks his leg, appointing Galen as the mission commander. Naturally, no one wants him, but with Galen’s gift of gab and apparent kiss up talent, he changes the mind of Ramiro the Maw, and they plan their outing. This is when Dannelle re-enters the picture. She wants to get away from washing duties her uncle put her on and so she stows away with Galen’s permission.
We learn that Galen has been having sex with the baker Marigold, and that she sends him pastries in embarrassing shapes. This actually reminds me of my own baking gifts. For a male friend I made cherry pie which featured a meringue vulva, and for a female friend, I made a chocolate cake in the shape of a man’s twig and berries. You know, fun…. Anyway, the journey is tedious, as tedious as the commentary, and it is prolonged by Ramiro’s insistence on stopping early and leaving late every night and morning for food. He is quite prodigious. There’s also nearly an entire chapter about Dannelle complaining about doing laundry, and everyone hiding their snickering over it. I have no idea why it would be funny, other than to suggest she should be content doing women’s work or something, but it really doesn’t land for me at all.
This is all capped off by a visitation from a Troll. The troll was a brutal fight, but ultimately they fought it off and sent it running from torches. Sir Ramiro gave flight, forcing the others to also try and hunt the troll to extinction but they were all jumped by pale plainsmen who were intent on not only stealing Galen’s opals, but killing the group as well. They had not expected as much resistance as they received however, and they also were defeated and forced to retreat. However, Alfric sacrificed himself for Galen in a touching moment that was not returned by Galen’s reaction until much later. This bothered me, as we had no scene of a burial or fire or cairn. Nothing. They all continued on in search of the plainsmen when they ran across a blind juggler named Shardos and his dog.
To be fair, Shardos threw a rock at Galen, nearly hitting him, but again, this juggler is blind, so who knows if it was intentional or happenstance. As the story progresses it is revealed to be nearly prophesy as the tale of the black opals is unraveled through exposition by the Plainsmen and Shardos. Shardos also shares tales of the Dragonlance Chronicles, Legends, and Huma. This leads me to the obvious conclusion that either Shardos is the author, or a god, as some of the events won’t happen for more than a hundred years, and others happened up to a thousand years before.
They proceed in search of the plainsmen with Shardos in tow to find some of them. You see, the plainsmen were granted opals inset into crowns. There are twelve opals per crown and twelve crowns, one for each plainsman tribe. I know, very Lord of the Rings. Anyway, the tribes were granted these by the gods in the Age of Drams to communicate with each other and share their histories. This was effective until nearly four hundred years ago. One of the priests, called namers, wanted an extra stone which would give him power over life and death. This is the actual crux of the story, as this namer, named Firebrand, was outcast from his Que-Nara tribe, who removed one of his eyes to show others that he was an outcast, and he went to form or take over a new Que-Nara tribe which is now called the Que-Tana.
This is all a scheme by Sargonnas by the way, or so we are led to believe. Anyway, the Que-Nara split their stones for those above and underground, and Firebrand wants them all and more, to fulfill his goal of power, per Sargonnas’ instruction. Since half of the stones were stolen by the Scorpion before the cataclysm, they are luring Galen, the current owner to them by kidnapping his brother. Is it a convoluted story, hell yes it is. But if I am being honest, I ‘m kinda diggin’ it thus far.
The narrative switches from first person with Galen, to third person with the plainsmen and Bayard who is still back at Castle di Caela, growing increasingly restless. He finds in the library reference from the Scorpion that there is an underground threat that will take out the castle whether he succeeds in taking it back or not, and so Bayard delved deep under the castle with some knights and his wife Enid to discover what the threat is. They find a massive creature, not sure what it could be, as Galen and his companions also go underground, finding the tunnels to Firebrand.
Galen and companions wander the dark tunnels being attacked by local creatures, and end up climbing a shaft only to end up face to face with the Que-Tana. Ramiro’s squire runs off the way they came so Dannelle can be led by Shardos to the surface and go fetch help, while Galen and Ramiro fight the plainsmen. They are defeated and confronted by Firebrand who demands the opals. Galen demands Brithelm and when he is seen, Firebrand reveals he never planned on releasing any of them, takes the opals and turns to leave as Shardos returns.
He tells them he is a juggler and begins performing for the Que-Tana, confusing and mesmerizing them. Then creates a distraction and they all attack the plainsmen. Galen and Brithelm run after Firebrand who is intent on becoming a god with the new opals, but they quickly get lost in the tunnels. Back at Castle di Caela they delve into the caverns beneath the castle further, seeking a device that will stop the great Dale Worm Tellus from awakening and destroying ansalon. This was implanted by Sargonnas as a way for the gods of evil to escape the Abyss and enter Krynn. Another earthquake drops much of the party and buries other parts. They fall deep into water and resurface to see the machine, but remain unable to get to it. This is when we read a bit about Sargonnas’ plot and his elation that they won’t stop it in time.
As Galen and Brithelm search for Firebrand they discover his room only for Firebrand to run off and summon a troll. They evade the troll, find him again only for Firebrand to summon a ghost of the baker and Alfric. Alfric’s ghost runs off the baker and Galen attacks Alfric, who then is absorbed into the rock and yet is pleased with Galen. Remember how I said I was diggin’ this? Well, the bloom is now off the rose… This is the most nonsensical part of this entire novel, and that is saying something. I feel like there should be Benny Hill music playing as they run around the caverns. There are only a couple chapters left and there is a ton to clear up, primarily of which is the story! Why would Sargonnas tell the plainsman he can be a god if his plan is to just destroy Ansalon and enter Krynn? Why does Firebrand believe he will be a god when nothing is corroborating it when he gets the opal. Even his plainsmen followers forget that he is the namer and end up following Shardos. And oh yea, who the hell is Shardos really? Why can Brithelm use magic when it’s convenient and not all the time? How can Galen pick up a ghost’s sword when the ghost was absorbed into the rock? It doesn’t make any sense!
This contrivance is personified early in the story, it spends a couple pages talking about a horse that was never tamed. Well it got away in the last earthquake and conveniently found its way to Dannelle who just hopped on it and rode back to the castle. This type of nonsense is what turns me off of a novel. I don’t mind convenience, but the whole point of the animal was that it couldn’t be tamed, then the first gal who came along could ride it bareback with no problems?
The group under the castle see what appears to be a target of some sort, assuming it is the mechanism, and take shots at it with a bow until Bayard realizes that is what the Scorpion wanted all along. That’s why he mentioned the creature. It wasn’t a mechanism, but rather the creature’s eye! If they successfully hit it, it would awaken completely and tear up Ansalon. So they didn’t. Dennelle gets back to the castle to see the moat filled with water and the horse takes it upon himself to jump the moat with ease. Isn’t that the point of a moat, so you can’t just jump it or cross it without a drawbridge? She is taken to the ruined basement where they began excavating from the earthquake and found Gileandros, thought dead. And ultimately the rest of the buried party. There is a quick note about Sargonnas who, now defeated, harrumphs that Firebrand is now useless.
What was this ultimate plan? Why include the plainsmen at all? So Galen is still chasing Firebrand, who is hurling illusion after illusion at him, then a massive earthquake happens, and Firebrand says they need to fight as magic isn’t enough to defeat Galen. What? None of this makes any sense at all and frankly I am just getting mad reading the nonsense. So they square off, Solamnic Knight against Plainsman Priest. I wonder who will win? Galen beheads him in one stroke with the illusion sword. Sigh. Then Brithelm appears and tells Galen the troll must have been an illusion because it’s not following him anymore.
A massive earthquake wrecks the land, knocking them down, then the plainsmen all come up from the earth led by Ramiro and Shardos. Ramiro leads Galen and Brithelm home and the Plainsmen reunite with the other half of their tribe, making Shardos the new namer. How could Shardos use magic? Dunno. Why would he be the new namer and not Longwalker? Dunno. It’s never answered, or even addressed! They return to the castle to share stories and arguably the best part of this novel is Galen telling his father about Alfric’s death. I am a sucker for loss and sacrifice and it always hits me in the feels. So as they were singing the Solamnic prayer I shed a tear. Galen hooks up with Dannelle and they are now expecting. And Bayard and Enid are expecting as well.
Thus ends the novel. As abruptly as it started, and I am left wondering, why? Why did the plainsmen take Brithelm in order to get the opal when the opal didn’t give Firebrand any new powers? Why would Firebrand only be useful to Sargonnas if Tellus woke up? Why would he ever need Firebrand at all if the whole scheme hinged on the Scorpion tempting a Solamnic Knight to do what they do and shoot an arrow at a creature’s eye, using reverse psychology? And finally why hinge it all on the behavior of an unknown individual, four hundred years later!? Sounds like the stupidest divine plan ever!
I will not recommend this novel to anyone. While there were fleeting moments that were enjoyable, it was too random and disjointed to be worthwhile.
Outro
And that’s it for my review of Galen Beknighted by Michael Williams. What do you think of Sargonnas’ plan? Were the plainsmen added just to pay off the white savior trope? And finally, did this make any sense to anyone who read it? You can email me at info@dlsaga.com or comment below.
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