The Dragons of Krynn Review

Join me as I review The Dragons of Krynn edited by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, live! Share your thoughts on this first anthology in the Dragonlance Dragons series, released on March 1, 1994. You can buy a copy here: https://amzn.to/4eCQIUo

About The Dragons of Krynn

In this one-of-a-kind collection, you’ll find:

An elite corps of bridge-building draconians.
A solamnic stalking a dangerous spectre.
A minotaur captured by a dark wizard and put to a cruel and unusual test.
Kender who pilfer magic, gully dwarves who cook a delicious rat stew, and gnomes who invent whatchamacallits that wreak spectacular havoc.
Plus, all manner and hue of dragons, good, evil, and just plain mischievous.

These exciting and other-worldy short stories are by authors of the Dragonlance saga, one of the world’s best-selling fantasy series. Authors include Nancy Varian Berberick, Jeff Grubb, Richard A. Knaak, Roger E. Moore, Douglas Niles, Nick O’Donohoe, Michael and Teri Williams, and Margaret Weis.

Review

Welcome to another DragonLance Saga review episode. It is Bakukal, Gildember the 4th. My name is Adam and today I am going to give you my review of The Dragons of Krynn edited by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. I would like to take a moment and thank the DLSaga members, 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 year is the 40th Anniversary of Dragonlance, so join in on the celebration by submitting a video, piece of art or writing about Dragonlance to info@dlsaga.com. It will be added to the dlsaga.com/40th-anniversary celebration landing with all other contributors! This is my perspective only, and if you have any thoughts or disagree with mine, I invite you to share them in YouTube chat.

Seven Hymns of the Dragon by Michael Williams

The seven poems in this series are Approaches, Dragonhoard, The language of dragons, Hymn of the lair, Paladine, The journey, The Dreams of dragons. They are more style over substance, abstractly creating an atmosphere over an image of anything specific. Only Paladine was a bit substantive, but even that was nebulous. I enjoy reading them, but I would enjoy them more if they were about something substantive.

The Final Touch by Michael and Terri Williams

This was a wonderful story about the druidess L’indasha in Taman Busuk. A gardener named Mort came and brought her a flower he cultivated and she told him a story about a dragon egg. Just before the War of ht eLance, L’indasha noticed evil dragons flying overhead, and an egg fell from one of their grasp. It was a bronze dragon’s egg. She knew she was supposed to ignore it as is the Druid way, nature will take its own course, not to be meddled with. But she couldn’t help look into it and see it for what it was. THen one day it hatched and rather than let it die alone in these rough mountains, she took it in, and named it Oliver. L’indasha and Oliver had a lot of time together and eventually she knew she had to teach it how to be a dragon, but Oliver was a bit of a scamp and was always getting into trouble. One day a Solamnic Knight was traveling through looking for evil to thwart and came across hunters who killed a deer. He demanded to know who owned the forest to see if they were poachers and they said the druidess. The knight was sure this was a baby thieving witch of a druidess so he hunted her lair and entered, challenging her. The only problem was that she was gone and Oliver was there getting into her food stores. Oliver breathed gas which took out the knight, turned and knocked his head into a stalactite knocking himself out, and L’indasha arrived to see the sorry scene. She took care of the two until they were healthy, sending the knight on his way now grateful and informed about the mercy of druids. The dragon was told to find his kind as she knew they were coming. It left but would return to visit and make sure L’indashsa had water. IT was nice to see a baby dragon being silly and learning, also becoming aware of a war torn world and needing to find its own kind.

Knight of the Falling Stars by Nancy Varian Berberick

This was a wonderful story about a mercenary named Ryle who watched his father die because he was too afraid to help him. This haunted him and he did everything he could to prove to himself and others that he wasn’t a coward, but deep down he felt like one. One day a dwarf named Tarran came to town looking to hire him. A Copper dragon named Claw had killed his entire party as they were trying to steal his hoard. The dragon used Tarran as bait and then let him go. He wanted revenge more than anything. Ryle agreed to go with him, and eventually they made it to the dragon’s lair, and the dragon was out. It turned out the dragon’s favorite possession was the skull of his dead mate that was all dressed up with jewels. The dragon came back when Tarran was destroying the skull. They hid as the dragon consumed its meal, then it discovered them slinking away. It grabbed Tarran and used him as bait again, looking into Ryles head and seeing that he believed he was a coward. Ryle turned his bow on the SKull which allowed them to leave and as they were on their way out, Ryle hit the skull crushing it once and for all, and they heard the dragon’s wails of sorrow the whole way out. This was a story about loss and fear and pain. Each one of the characters were scarred and in emotional pain. It was painfully real and I really liked it.

Honor is All by Mickey Zucker Reichert

This was a touching tale about a knight of the crown who lived for his oath and measure. So much so that his devoted wife left him as he only has a place in his heart for his honor. He went off looking for ways to gain renown and came across a village who was supposedly terrorized by a dragon. He knew that by defeating an evil dragon he would bring glory to his name, and went in search of it. He came to the cave and called out to the dragon. It appeared white in the dim light and the dragon refused to fight, saying that it had harmed no one. This didn’t matter to the knight, if it was a white dragon, then it was evil and should be killed. He snuck in a back way and fought and ultimately killed the white dragon. In its dying breath it asked the knight to look after its young, as it and she are not what they appear to be. The knight was certain that this beast’s offspring should also die and when it was about to kill it, he stopped. The breath weapon the dragon used was gas, not cold. The size was much larger than a white should be. He realized that he killed an albino silver dragon and almost killed its offspring. He killed a good dragon! This sent him spiraling, questioning everything. His honor and desire for glory led him to an evil act. It caused his marriage to end and almost kill an infant. He decided he would take the baby dragon to his wife who loved all animals and beg her to take him back and protect this creature. I love a story that forces you to rethink evil and good, honor and glory. Justice and what is right are colored heavily by perspective and when you are forced to see things differently, you often come to new conclusions and grow as an individual. It’s great!

Easy Pickings by Douglas Niles

You will always enjoy reading one of Nile’s stories. This was about an ogre in the Third Dragon War who ambushed a group of knights, then were driven off by a squad of dragon mounted knights. The ogre fled into the mountains looking for easy pickings and came across a gold dragon. Terrified, it took him a while to realize the dragon was dead. He approached it bravely, kicked and spat on it, and it didn’t move. Then he saw a hatchlink approach. He crushed the hatchling with his club and immediately realized the dragon’s lair would be nearby. If there dragons’ lair is near, there would be treasure! THe ogre examined the area and saw claw marks leading up to a cave. He entered and started moving through it feeling as though he were watched. He spotted one more hatching and scared it off before climbing through some precarious places, only to notice many more hatchlings around him. He felt urgency to get out of this area and get the treasure that must be here, only to dodge another hatchlings bite, fall and break his limbs as the hatchlings all slowly climbed down to consume him. He was the easy pickings. It’s so much fun to see a story from a bad guy’s perspective then have them get their just deserts.

A Dragon to the Core by Roger E. Moore

What a tale! This focused on a gnome named Gilbenstock who lived in Palanthas after the War of the Lance. He invented a dragon shaped drumming machine, but it broke. He was approached by three men who hired him to dig out a collapsed mine. They paid him in diamonds so he was very happy about it, and wealthy. So he agreed, but was visited by a mercenary type named Zorlen. It turned out that Zorlen was hunting Sivak draconians that killed his wizard friend in Kalaman, and tracked them here. He initially thought Gilbenstock was one, but learned otherwise. Gilbenstock was terrified of the man and thought him dead at one point, but Zorlen just killed one of the Sivak’s. He took his machine out of Palanthas to the location in the canyon, en route he was met by Dalamar who was going to stop him till he destroyed a statue of Elistan. Dalamar was pleased and let him go, but told him not to return unless he was on foot, as the dragon drilling machine was incredibly loud, large, and destructive. So the gnome met the remaining two men at the site and used his machine to dig a hole, breaking into a cavern. It turns out the men who hired him were Sivak draconians who learned that an ancient Dragon named Bloodglitter from the second dragon war was buried under here. Later discovered by dwarves who reburied him. The dragon was anxious to get out and wreak destruction, so the gnome discovered the truth and ran out of the tunnel into Zorlen who fought one draconian and was wounded. He was helped out and the gnome used his machine to reseal up the mine, burying the dragon and killing the draconians. It was a funny, exciting, twisting story where you weren’t sure who was good ro bad, and I really enjoyed it. There was a great Gully Dwarf named Squib that was the gnome’s helper that brought a bunch of care and humor as well.

Dragon Breath by Nick O’Donohoe

This story is about friends who live in a run down town and made a batch of incredibly potent ale. It actually set the inn on fire, and in the morning the town was convinced it was a dragon, so they sent the friends off to kill or run the dragon off. Many of them had loves but couldn’t marry them as they were broke, but the town offered a reward, so this was their chance. But the only problem was, there was no dragon. They accidentally lit the inn on fire. So now they needed to find a dragon and kill it or drive it off with witnesses to come back and collect. They traveled to a nearby town and saw a farm house destroyed. The mad old woman inside said it was a dragon and the group climbed a hill into mist to find it. They were attacked but it ended up being a gnome in a mechanical dragon that needed fuel to take himself back to Mount Nevermind. The party gave them their alcohol and it worked! The dragon flew off, and the friends returned to the village as heroes. It was a fun story about consequences and the fear of committing to love for not having the ability to take care of the person you love, even if they don’t need it. I enjoyed it.

Fools Gold by Jeff Grub

What a wild tale! This focused on a stranger coming to town with a dog called fools gold. The stranger named Jengar is cursed by a dragon to tell the truth, which has forced him to leave town when honesty is not always appreciated. The baron of this new town wants to get rid of a gnome because the gnome’s assistant is the love interest of the waitress the baron wants to marry. So he hires all mercenaries who enter town to get rid of the gnome. The only problem is that the home is a delightful fellow! All the mercenaries return to the baron telling him the gnome is not a threat and then the baron uses a wand to capture the mercenaries and watches them starve. Jengar is told to look into the Gnome and when he returns telling the same tale, the Baron shrinks and captures his dog. Now he is forced to get rid of the gnomish threat. This forces Jengar to examine the situation closer. He brings plans to make a speed boat to the gnome so the gnome can leave but after building it, they wanted to show it off to the village. As everyone including the baron arrives to watch, they marvel at this wonderful boat that works! The Baron demands to use it and not knowing how, and ignoring all warnings by Jengar, he rides it to the horizon and is never seen again. Thereby removing the threat of the gnome and making everyone happy. Somehow the dog was let loose and they lived happily ever after. It’s a great story about honesty and how a solution to a problem is not always what is expected.

Scourge of the Wicked Kendragon by Janet Pack

This silly story is about a kender named Mapshaker Wanderfuss who steals or borrows a magical dragon statue that turns him into a brass dragon. He flies all over the land, learning what it means to be a dragon, and that birds and insects don’t care what you are, they still annoy you. Then he inadvertently terrified a knight’s horse who swore to kill him. The mage wakes to find his statue gone and goes in search of it with his assistant. They find a farmer whose home is broken due to the kendragon, and points them in the direction of a knight chasing the kendragon. It all culminates in the knight fighting an ogre and the kendragon helps but puts himself to sleep with his breath weapon. When he wakes the knight is ready to slay him, but is stopped by the mage, and he is turned back into a kender after having given the statue back. Then he goes off on another adventure as the mage and knight go off on their own way frustrated. Just a fun little bite-sized kender tale.

And Baby Makes Three by Amy Stout

What an odd little story. It is about a mercenary named Stoic John and his companion Copper Dragon Croesus. The dragon likes to eat small children of all races and species. The story suggests a lot of truly nefarious activity between the two of them, but stops short of saying much out right. The meal the dragon is about to eat is a young boy who is fearless and screaming back at the dragon. This throws them both for a loop as it should be terrified. It turns out that the child’s name is Jax and he is a she. Moreso, the child was left at the cave by a woman that John had fooled around with, a lot. This woman is a mage and she warned John about leaving her. It turned out she had a child and the child liked to set things on fire. Including her village. So the mother sent her to her father. Abandoned her more like, but still. The dragon and John decide to keep the girl as she makes them food. Turns out the child is a good cook. It was just an odd little story that I don’t really know why, but I enjoyed it.

The First Dragonarmy Bridging Company by Don Perrin

This was a great short story. It is about Kang and his engineer regiment, and the second short story that I have read about the regiment. In this story Kang is brought to Highlord Ariakas and ordered to build a bridge for the armies to cross into Elven lands. Ariakas demands it be built overnight, which is an impossible task, but tired of building latrines, Kang says it can be done and leaves to go do it. The regiment is excited to do their actual job so they happily head out. As they are building it, elves attack and SLith crosses the river to attack them, hunting elves while the bridge is completed. A SIlver Dragon notices them and Slith kills two Bozak’s that were carried off by the dragon to kill the dragon as they explode, and the dragon dies. Finally the bridge is complete with casualties, and when the officer arrives Kang reports it complete, and now the Dragonarmies don’t need it as the Golden General is close, so Ariakas wants to adjust tactics. Then draconians cross the bridge, bury their dead and return to camp. The whole story is about troops ordered to do the impossible and when its done, its not needed. I feel like I lived through this exact situation my entire military contract. It’s one of the many reasons I didn’t reup.

The Middle of Nowhere by Dan Harnden

This story had an interesting twist, that I will spoil in a second. It begins with a town in the middle of nowhere. It is populated by scribes but we don’t discover til the end that they are scribing the Dark Queen’s teachings. I told you I would spoil it. But there is more! This group is tormented by a dragon that appears, and it’s coming again, so the mayor goes to a local wizard and asks for help. THe wizard is willing to aid but requires a 60% tax of all the towns profit for as long as he lives. The mayor agrees out of desperation, and they are given stones which will capture the dragon, so when it breathes fire, it will only kill itself. THe plan goes off without a hitch and the treasure is taken. Years go by and there is a festival commemorating the day annually. The town is sick and tired of giving their money away for seemingly nothing, and they are going to vote out the mayor. The mayor then hears a bard playing and brings him into his home. He tells him that he will pay him to play at the festival, and that he has a job for him. He uses him to distract the wizard then kills him, bringing the treasure back to town to surprise everyone. What he doesn’t realize is that the bard is a gold dragon, the child of the slain dragon from years before and as the townspeople are dying they ask why the wizard isn’t protecting them, and the mayor knows it’s because he just killed him. Great twist, and great story.

Kaz and the Dragon’s Children by Richard A. Knaak

A wonderful return of Kaz the minotaur. Kaz is traveling after the war and comes across a mysterious beast that he barely fends off. THen he is caught by a black robed wizard named Master Brenn. The wizard doesn’t know who Kaz is an dKaz plays up that he was on the Dark Queen’s side of the war. He is brought into the wizards lair as a servant and shown that the wizard captured a weakened silver dragon and her eggs. He was inspired by a dark cleric of Takhisis who wanted to turn dragon eggs into monstrosities, proto-draconians. The wizard was doing the same with the silver dragon eggs. He used an illusion to make the dragon believe her eggs were safe out of reach as the wizard used her magic to experiment on her real eggs. Kaz tried to release her only to be caught by the wizard and was trapped, preparing to fight the monster proto dragon-man the wizard created. The dragon man broke through the prison and attacked the weakened wizard as its form started to deteriorate. The wizard now panicked and let Kaz loose, hoping he would save him, and Kaz fought the dragon-man to the death. After killing it he turned to the wizard who ended up being trapped in his own spell and died. Kaz found the silver dragon dead after having realized what was happening, and Kaz took the dragon eggs to find her mate and deliver them safely. This was a great story about the original attempts at creating draconians, which does date back to the third dragon war.

Into the Light by Linda P. Baker

This was an emotional story about a Plains of Dust tribe that was slaughtered by dragons. The only survivors were a warrior named Torin, an apprentice mage named Biar and an outsider who was married to a tribesman, now dead, named Mari. They found eachother in the aftermath of the destruction and began to travel together to an oasis as all the water was poisoned. The rumors of dragons were not believed by them all, but they had to focus on the task at hand. At night they felt the fear of the dragons overhead and a crystal artifact the mage carried grew hot to the touch when the dragons flew overhead, as it did when the tribe was attacked. Torin wanted to go to Silvanesti when he learned Mari was an elf from there, but she refused as she’s a dark elf. She died in the Thon Thalas river and was told to go back to the world and tell them the gods have returned as have the dragons. Then she told Lorac he banished her, as only the higher classes in their culture could speak of the gods. She was welcomed by her husband in the tribe, but she never spoke about the experience. No one really believed her, so they headed to the Khalkist mountains. Torin was wounded and weary so he was lagging behind and they saw a river so Mari and Biar ran toward it. Mari was abducted by a draconian and Torin rushed to help her after seeing Biar with a sword wound that was fatal. He defeated the Draconian which turned to stone, trapping his weapon. Then another draconian came and nearly killed him, but Mari used the crystal artifact to shield his body, and when it was struck, it blew apart the draconian and revealed a holy symbol of mishakal. She used it to heal Biar and Torin and realized she had to return to Silvanesti with this proof to save her people. This is bitter because we know what has happened to Silvanesti in the interim, but the love that built over the story between Torin and Mari was beautiful and really touched me. It was a lovely tale.

The Best by Margaret Weis

I have read this short story a handful of times and it never gets old. I have even reviewed it before on this channel in another anthology. What makes the story so great is not the twist at the end, which itself is great, but the characters and their interplay with each other. They are a great party of believable characters interacting in a stressful situation. The setup is that a dragon has been raiding the treasure from the entire area and multiple kingdoms. The king was kidnapped and being held for ransom so his seneschal called out for the best to join at a tavern and go after the dragon. THey all met up and the seneschal explained the task. He alone knew where the dragon’s lair was. So the whole crew went together to the lair, snuck in and found their way into the lair. Fought some skeleton guards and entered the lair proper, seeing all their stolen treasure and more besides. That is when the seneschal revealed that he was in fact the dragon and killed them all in their tracks. It was a wickedly satisfying tale that I can’t imagine ever tiring of reading.

The Hunt by Kevin Stein

What a strange and somber way to end this anthology. This story is about a Solamnic Knight that is hunting a black dragon named Borac. He is obsessed, and driven. He has been hunting it for as long as he can remember and encounters a shade in the swamp which he slays, then finally finds the dragon. It is ancient, and dying. It asks to be murdered and granted peace in death, but Galan doesn’t want to grant him death like this, he wants a fight. The dragon asks if he remembers his life and the knight doesn’t. He is told that he died a long time ago and he is just a specter, and the knight is shocked, realizing the truth. The dragon dies, and the knight butchers it in fury as his prey is dead, but he will live forever. It’s a story about our passions, our hatreds taking over our lives. We have to stop focusing on the negatives in this life and instead take ownership, and find joy in what and who we can. The internet and social media is just a machine of hate and anger. It fuels negativity and yet we as a species are addicted to it. We grow frustrated with it but are drawn back. But we don’t have to live in this cycle of pain. We can walk away. Take a walk, a hike. Get in nature, disconnect. It’s a choice we make. Find joy. Read a book, like this anthology. Connect to what it actually means to be human, through adventure and exploration, connection with other people in real life, search for love, have some sex! We are so much more than that which brings us down. That is what this story reminds me of. For that, I truly loved it.

This entire collection is great. There is not a stinker of a tale herein. I highly recommend it to everyone who loves dragonlance, and dragons, even if the tale is only tangentially about them. You will not regret it. And allow me to reiterate, seek out joy in your life, and if you find yourself consumed by negative emotions, stop what you are doing. Examine where they are coming from, and make the choice to change your behavior.

Outro

And that’s it for my review of The Dragons of Krynn edited by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. What did you think of the dragon centric stories? Do you have a favorite kind of dragon? And finally, have you ever fought a dragon in a roleplaying game? Feel free to email me at info@dlsaga.com or leave a comment below.

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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).