Join me as I review the Legend of Huma by Richard A. Knaak, live! Share your thoughts on this reimagining of the Legend of Huma shared in the Dragonlance Chronicles trilogy. This is the first volume or six in the Dragonlance Heroes series. You can pick up The Legend of Huma here: https://amzn.to/31wb0yT
About The Legend of Huma
New York Times bestseller: In the realms of Dragonlance, the legend of one heroic knight is larger than life . . .
When word spreads that goblins are roaming nearby, Huma Dragonbane, a Knight of the Crown, is sent to patrol the woods and fend off chaos. It is there that he stumbles upon a tortured minotaur, Kaz, who he swiftly frees from vicious goblin captors. So beings an unlikely but powerful friendship—one that will plunge Huma and Kaz into a deadly battle against the treacherous Knights of Solamnia and the dark goddess Takhisis. Even with the power of the legendary Silver Dragon at their side, Huma and Kaz face overwhelming odds . . .
Only fragments of the account of Huma survived the Cataclysm that broke the world of Krynn. His story has never been fully told—until now.
Review
Intro
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. It is Misham, Newkolt the 13th, my name is Adam and today I am going to give you my Spoiler review of The Legend of Huma. 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.
We are introduced to Huma and the political state of affairs of the Knights of Solamnia immediately. Huma is sent on a mission with Rennard, his immediate commander, and they rout some goblins in a desolate town in Solamnia. There are a lot of towns like this near the frontline of battle between the Dark Queen’s forces and the Knights of Solamnia. They battle some goblins and Huma is separated from his squad. He comes across goblins torturing a minotaur, and with concealment from the mists rescues the minotaur, Kas. Kas killed his slaver, ogres in the east, and says he owes Huma his life. This is a lot like Chewbacca’s life debt to Han Solo, and their relationship is also very similar, but as I am a Star Wars fan, I don’t mind it.
They try to return to Huma’s knights and come across a group of diseased and recently pillaged villagers who choose to attack Kas as an act of vengeance. Huma tries to intervene, but it is a Silver Dragon that prevents the battle, and it offers Huma and Kaz a ride back to Huma’s unit. On the way they see a squad of dragons flying toward them, searching for Magius, and the dragon has them jump off, but Huma stays on and fights Crynus, Takhisis’ warlord and leader of the Black Guard, her elite troops, on his black dragon Charr. Huma wounds Crynus in the back severely and rather than the other dragons coming in to kill them, they safely guard the retreat of Crynus.
Solamnic Knights ride up, and its Rennard and Huma’s squad. They bicker over Kaz, but ultimately accept Huma’s word about Kas, and all ride to the front lines, which has shifted in their absence. The Silver Dragon leaves and as they ride further they see a battle ongoing and join in. In the battle Huma is knocked from his horse and trampled. He wakes and a half-elf-ish woman named Gwyneth, the silver dragon in disguise, is caring for him. After a few days of healing, Huma is assigned as captain of the night watch. On his rounds, he sees a missing post, and enters into the forest alone, only to be confronted and attacked by a renegade mage, who says Crynus would be happy to have him, and that he is not the one they are looking for. Huma kills him, as Magius, his childhood friend reveals himself, saying the dreadwolves Huma has seen and the wizard are from Galen Dracos, Takhisis’ renegade wizard leader; the only renegade wizard more powerful than Magius. Magius leaves, believing the evil will follow him, and Huma is brought up on charges for dereliction of duty. He is cleared and sent to rest. The camp is attacked by wizards using weather and elemental magic. The Wizards attached to the Knights try to ward off the spells but eventually fail, as the Knights retreat from the onslaught.
Kaz and Huma wander through the storm and are summoned by Magius’ light, who then takes them secretly to his citadel in Ergoth. I really love how this story is one told as legend from the Dragonlance Chronicles, and the citadel is built from legend, possibly Irda ogre construction from legend. The layers of ancient history is what makes Dragonlance feel so lived in and fantastical. I love it. Magius tries to explain things to Huma and the citadel is assaulted by Crynus and his dragons and dreadwolves. Magius sends Huma and Kaz away and they split up to divide those chasing them. Huma eventually fights his way away and rides his mount to exhaustion as he faces off with many enemies and in a rage, defeats them all.
He stumbles for days through the forest and comes to a deserter who he chases into an Ergothian Knights camp. Their leader Lord Guy Avondale out of Durendi, invites Huma to his camp and cares for him for a few days on their way to Caergoth. Huma tells him of a secret in the mountains to the south west and Avondale says no one returns from there. Huma is ambushed by a cult of Morgion while wandering ruins in Caergoth and is given the plague, only to discover he has been marked for protection by someone. This mark saved his life as Aveondale rides in with warriors and kills the cult leaders. Huma is whisked away by Magius and they end up by a lake where a nymph is trying to lure Huma to her watery home as her other bo comes, another Knight of Solamnia!
Huma is met by Buoron from a nearby outpost of Solamnic Knights. They all travel together and are allowed to stay, when the outposts’ knights capture Kaz. There is a trial and Kaz is released to Huma. Magius, Huma and Kaz travel to the mountains and are split up. Huma comes to the Dragon Mountain where he meets Gwyneth. She tells him he must go through three trials. His first is to face off against the Wyrmfather, the first Dragon to answer Takhisis’ calls in the first Dragon War. Kiri-Jolith was the only one who could best him and imprison him in the mountain for millenia. The dragon asks Huma to get him out and Huma tricks him into giving some information about a magic mirror in the wyrm’s hoard. As the dragon comes in to kill Huma, he picks up a malevolent magical sword and is swallowed by the Wyrm long enough to thrust it into his head from the inside. He is spit out, thinking of Vingaard and is transported there through the mirror.
He is welcomed into the keep where the Grand Master has died of a plague. Lord Oswal is going to be contested by Bennet for the vacant position until Rennard is discovered by Huma as a traitor and agent of Morgion. Rennard reveals that he is Humas uncle, and that his father Durac, who he marked for Morgion, was holding a pass and lost his life. Rennard killed Huma’s mother and brought him into the knighthood, thinking he could take his fathers role. Bennet came in and chased Rennard off. He appologized to Huma and thanks him for unmasking his father’s murderer. Lord Oswal recovers and is named Grand Master. Huma leaves to find Dragon Mountain again to complete the trials, and comes across Renard in a village sowing distrust. He defeats Rennard who is abandoned by Morgion and he slits his own throat.
Huma gives into his emotions and when he opens his eyes he sees himself back in the treasure room of Wyrmfather. He begins to long for the sword he used to kill him, and realizes Wyrmfather is now solid dragonmetal. The sword appears next to his feet and Huma gives into the malevolent power of the sword. It is much like the power of the one ring in Lord of the Rings. He is prevented from leaving the chambe by a gray robed figure and as the sword battles with Huma’s will, Huma finally overcomes its influence and throws it down. The robed figure hides the sword and allows Huma to proceed, revealing he completed the three tests. He defeated Wyrmfather, then Rennard, and resisted the Sword of Tears, the very sword that corrupted the original Irda ogres.
Huma approaches the smithy and encounters Duncan Ironweaver who takes him to the hall of Dragonlances. A dragon and knight gifts Huma the Dragonlance and Huma collects the twenty total lances and discovers a secret entrance to leave through. As he emerges, Gwyneth appears and tells him that his friends are waiting and that she will help them transport the lances. Kaz and Magius are fighting and Kaz reveals that Magius was using Huma to kill Wyrmfather for the Dragonlances as he saw that he would die by trying it himself. Huma accepts the truth of Magius’ Test of the Orders High Sorcery and forgives Magius. The silver dragon appears and takes Huma while Kaz and Maguis transport the Dragonlances with a wagon back to Vingaard Keep. En route they come across Buoron who waited for Huma, who joins them. Huma is attacked by two red dragons with Black Guard riders, they kill one and Crynus, riding Charr kills the other so he can face Huma in solo combat. The dragons take a lot of damage, but Huma does enough to kill Char with the Dragonlance and as it falls, Crynus leaps from the dragon and falls, smiling at Huma. As the silver dragon crashes, Huma wakes to find it gone, and is suddenly attacked by Crynus. Crynus reveals he is immortal and cannot die. Huma eventually beheads him and Crynos still won’t die. The Silver dragon reappears and incinerates Crynus in horror. They race to the wagon to battle the Black Guard ground forces who are trying to seize the Dragonlances. Galen Dracos opens a portal to his keep, and as the knights, Kaz and Magius battle, Magius is captured and taken to the portal.
Saddened but driven by purpose, Huma delivers the Dragonlances and is praised as a hero by the Grand Master and other Knights. They want to create fake lances to scare the dragons they will fly against, but the Knights refuse to entertain the idea as they have no faith in them. They give up the ruse and twenty knights and dragons fly as darkness descends on the Keep. They arrive at the portal to the Abyss being opened by the renegade mages and battle and kill many, closing the portal. Galen appears before Huma revealing the dragons from all over Krynn coming to aid Takhisis. Huma orders the knights to fall back to the keep and sees a Black Robe mage summoning him. He offers the Black Robes aid to Huma, and Huma accepts an orb that will reveal Galen’s tower and allow Huma to fight Takhisis.
He returns to Vingaard Keep to share the news and discovers Duncan is the smith making the Dragonlances, and they are all real! As many saddles have been made as Dragonlances so the Solamnic force is ready to fight back. The dragon hoards and evil armies of the Dark Queen are approaching and they mount up to join the first wave. Huma is wounded in the ferocious battle and is brought back to the rear for treatment. Gwyneth is forced to reveal herself by the other knights who saw her transform from Huma’s mount to her humanoid form and she begins to share her love of him, and Galen Dracos appears and murders Magius in front of Huma to demoralize him.
It only emboldens Huma and they take to the skies again to find Dracos’ citadel. En rout the Black Robes rebel against the renegade wizards and Huma and his silver dragon fly down to the citadel only to be knocked out of the air by the Black Robes to save Huma from Dracos’ security measures. Huma meets up with the Black Robes in the citadel and heads to Dracos’ chamber to find him instructing Cyan Bloodbane! Galen dismisses Cyan and Huma sees Takhisis in the orb the Black Robes gave him. It’s really starting to feel like Lord of the Rings at this point to me. We’ve had a lot of similar connections thus far, but I am seeing a ring wraith in my head when Galen Dracos is around. And Takhisis is very much like Sauron. Galen traps Huma with a gargoyle and begins opening a portal to the Abyss for Takhisis to enter through. Huma is reminded of the Staff of Magius and it appears in his hand and he frees himself with it. He hurls it at the orb Galen is using to open the portal with and the staff shatters the orb, returning to Humas belt. Green flame erupts and the Silver Dragon comes to aid Huma.
Galen Dracos obliterates himself rather than face Takhisis for his failure, a pretty crazy thing for the character to do in my opinion. He could simply murder Huma at this point, but chooses to kill himself. It doesn’t match the vengeful character we have been presented thus far and effectively gets rid of one of the two big baddies in an overly simplistic way. Huma and his dragon flee the eruption only to see Takhisis partially in the world. She is constantly trying to seduce him as Kaz and Bennet fly in on their dragons. Huma gives the Staff of Magius to Bennet and tells him to lead the resistance and deliver the staff and news of Dracos’ death to the Orders of High Sorcery. Kaz joins Huma to hold the Dark Queen off until Bennet can bring more dragons.
Kaz is buffeted by wind attacks from Takhisis and is forced to take refuge, as Huma and Gwyneth face the Dark Queen themselves. They struggle with the battle and decide to sacrifice themselves to kill her. He lodges the Dragonlance in the Dark Queen and Gwyneth succumbs to her attacks and falls from the sky, bringing Huma with her and breaking the Dragonlance inside Takhisis. Huma miraculously wakes in agony with broken bones and probably a healthy amount of internal bleeding. He crawls to the polymorphed Gwyneth and professes his love for her. She gives him the footman’s lance and dies. He crawls to the ledge of a cliff, below which the Dark Queen is dying and pleading with Huma for help.
He is attacked and falls to her level, now nearly dead he forces the Queen to leave the mortal realm for good and if she does he will have the lance removed. Kaz arrives and Huma tells him he must remove the lance. Kaz doesn’t want to but he does and the Dark queen leaves as Huma dies. We end the novel with the Knights building a garish shrine for Huma and Kaz leaving to wander Krynn on his own terms.
This was an epic story that despite its flaws is still powerful, emotional, exciting and very much a must read. I would highly recommend this for anyone who loves fantasy, epic tales and of course Dragonlance.
Outro
And that’s it for my review of The Legend of Huma by Richard A. Knaak. What do you think of the story? Do you enjoy the reviews I am putting out there? Feel free to email me at info@dlsaga.com or comment below.
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