Join me as I review Winterheim by Douglas Niles live! Share your thoughts on this final novel of Icewall Trilogy, released by Wizards of the Coast on January 1, 2003. You can buy a copy here: https://amzn.to/41BQk4c
About Winterheim
Shrouded in ice, the stronghold of the ogres has stood for eons as an impregnable bastion of the Icereach. But now Strongwind Whalebone, king of the Highlanders, has been imprisoned in the ogre fortress. Outside its walls, a band of his compatriots plots his rescue. Within the fortress, ogre king Grimwar Bane faces royal treachery and desperate revolt.
It is time for the ogre king to decide if the greater threat lies outside Winterheim—or within.
In the third book of his epic trilogy, Douglas Niles weaves a tapestry of magic and adventure into a climax that will affect the destiny of all those who dwell in the cold land of the Icereach.
Review
Intro
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga review episode. It is Majetag, Fleurgreen the 14th. My name is Adam and today I am going to give you my review of Winterheim by Douglas Niles. I would like to take a moment and thank the DLSaga members and Patreon patrons, and invite you to consider becoming a member or patron. You can even pick up Dragonlance media or get $10 by signing up to StartPlaying.Games 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
Back in Icereach, we pick up right where the preceding novel ended. Moreen and Kerrick rushed to the gnome’s ship, but it is in no state to return them entirely to their home and they are forced to abandon ship. Unfortunately Kerrick is wounded, possibly with a broken leg. Moreen drags him and swims to a boat she sees in the distance. It is captained by their own people and are returned to the relative safety of Brackenroock. King Grimwar of the ogres returns to Winterheim with his queen and priest of Gonnas, Stariz. They have with them the King of the Highlanders, Strongwind Whalebone. He believes Moreen is dead, and everyone believes he was taken captive. He is taken as a slave and sees Grimwar’s mistress Thraid watching the ship come into port. This definitely makes me think the two of them will be hooking up with the inner monologue of Whalebone as he sees her.
He is taken to get cleaned up and will be sacrificed to Gonnas in their autumn celebration of Autumnblight. He is cleaned up by other slaves and asks about them rebelling since they outnumber the ogres. Many have tried and were publicly punished brutally, so no one wants to act out. However there is a cook with some sort of plans. Grimwar sees Thraid and she asks if she can have the human slave they arrived with. Grimwar acquiesces. Grinwar and Stariz are still at odds with each other. She blamed Grimwar for not acting when she told him to stop the humans, but believes the sacrifice of the highlander king will be enough, as they believe Moreen and Kerrick to have died in Dracoheim’s explosion. Grimwar threatens Stariz to mind her business and plots to get rid of her, while Stariz is plotting to punish Grimwar through his mistress.
Back in Brackenrock, chieftains from the Highlanders are demanding to see their king, and are informed of him having been taken as a slave. They all agree to go rescue him, but they will have to pass through Thanoi territory, so it will be dangerous. Kerrick once again sees Coraltop who says he’s going with them, and in total they have four hundred and twelve humans, one Aghar dwarf and one elf. They head out in a few days with the help of a captured ogre who has taken a fancy to one of the human warriors. They are ambushed by Thanoi by three to one but still fight through them. They move past their territory only to be attacked by a Remorhaz! They end up destroying it by feeding it potent alcohol which explodes in its fiery belly.
With the road to Winterheim now seemingly clear, and a possible uprising from the slaves in Winterheim, this may prove to be a straight forward ogre defeat. But we haven’t seen anything from Coraltop since the initial statement of joining them, so it may end up being a god vs god situation at the end. I was definitely wrong about Whalebone and Thraid hooking up. He is led around by a chain as she visits the market, and he ends up running an errand and connecting with the very distrustful, Black Mike about an uprising. It doesn’t lead anywhere initially, but they have a tenuous connection now. Thraid is enjoying showing off her new slave, against Grimwar’s wishes and Stariz learns about it and is initially furious, but then realises she can turn it into her advantage.
Stariz starts having visions from Gonnas about her husband getting rid of her, so she puts a plan into motion. Whalebone learns of the secret path Grimwar takes to see Thraid and goes to Black Mike to report it, but Stariz sent her slave to assassinate Thraid as Grimwar sent some grenadiers to capture the rebels. Whalebone gets caught up in the violence. Grimwar arrives to spend time with Thraid and finds her throat slit. Back with the ice barbarians, they head toward Icewall pass only to meet a massive brute of an ogre nearly the size of a giant called Keryl Drago. He is the captain of icewall pass and attacks them until he is overwhelmed then alerts his troops. Many of the humans are killed but with the help of Gonnas’ axe, the humans defeat Keryl who falls into a crevasse.
Keryl does not die, and miraculously climbs out only to be enthralled with the axe, wanting to claim it for himself. I believe he will end up fighting Stariz for it. The humans continue on looking for the Moongarden. Kerrick falls asleep out of weariness of battle and dreams of Coraltop, but wakes to his absence. He believes he watched over him in his sleep. They all eventually find a path to the Moongarden and are discovered by an ogre with a little girl slave. They defeat the ogre and the girl agrees to help them enter Winterheim. This is a great second act, and with so much distrust among the ogres and restlessness with the slaves, a full scale revolt seems imminent. I am not sure we will even see Autumnblight.
Well, now that I am finished I can report that we did not see Autumnbright. I also did not see that ending coming. As the humans move deeper into Winterheim they decide to split up, with some staying behind. Kerrick, Moreen and their group move into the city and are attacked, with some being captured as Moreen and Kerrick retreat. The captured are sent to the prison where they find Whalebone, having been arrested for killing Thraid. Grimwar learns of this murder and seeks his wife Stariz out. He knows she had something to do with it, but she pleads innocence and blames Whalebone. Unsure how to prove she murdered his lover, he is moved to action as a great horn is blown signalling an invasion of Winterheim.
Stariz is receiving visions of the axe of Gonnas getting closer and is eagerly awaiting it. Eventually the axe is reclaimed by Keryl from the humans and he brings it to the king, but is stopped by Stariz who casts a spell on him and takes it. She demands to have the captured humans taken to her temple and she will kill them there. The king has Stariz lead a counter attack on the slave uprising which joined the invaders. Coraltop appears to Kerrick and this time Moreen can see him. He says he can lead them to the royal chambers. Before the captured humans are taken to the temple, Grimwar has a bit of one on one time with whalebone and the human female Bruni who fought with the Axe of Gonnas.
Grimwar is fascinated with her, knowing he should hate and kill her but having no desire to. He walks away from them to think. The human shaman turns into a bat and flies to the royal house, observing everything, and eventually meeting up with Kerrick and company to lead them with Coraltop to Thraid’s chamber with the other human slaves. They meet others there and move into the temple. Stariz is filled with the might of her god and nearly cuts whalebone in half with the axe. As Grimwar rushed in to stop her. Then the other humans and coraltop arrive and battle.
THe human shaman turns back into her real form, and the power of Chislev collides with the power of Sargonnas. It leaves Stariz aflame in unholy fury and before she can kill them all the statue of Gonnas falls on her crushing her. This is where the story takes an odd turn. Grimwar demands a cease to the fighting. Coraltop reveals himself to be the god Zivylin, Keryl uses the axe to confirm the god Sargonnas is also tired of all the fighting between the humans and ogres. Grimwar released all the slaves, many of which stayed in Winterheim. Bruni marries Grimwas and for generations there is peace between humans and ogres in the Icewall. Then the cataclysm strikes and buries them all, where they purportedly still exist in peace waiting to be uncovered.
It’s a very odd and abrupt one-eighty turn to a story that I don’t really enjoy. I mean, I like that they found a way to make peace, but the gods working together in the time of th eKing[priest for peace is really out of left field from what we have known of this era. I do like the idea that there can be a mixed culture nation or region of Krynn where they can learn from mistakes and live in harmony, it is just not something I expect from Dragonlance. I’ll have to think about this some more before I know where I land on it.
I will say the whole infiltration of Winterheim and the battles were fantastic. The writing is the best I think Niles has done thus far. If you have read the preceding two novels, I think this is a must read. If you enjoy the region or the battle between cultures in dragonlance, I would recommend this novel to you. If however, you don’t like the subversion of expectations in your fiction, you may want to stay away from the final act of this story. It is really different in tone, motive, everything.
Outro
And that’s it for my review of Winterheim by Douglas Niles. What do you think of the shift at the end? Did you like the reveal of the gods being so heavy handed in the story? And finally, would you like Winterheim to be discovered in the Age of Mortals? 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).
