Dragons of Winter Night (Dragonlance Chronicles, Volume II) (original 1985; edition 2000)

A favorite series from my youth. ( )

This is the second book in the Dragonlance Chronicles trilogy, which I originally started because they were some of my husband's favorite books when he was in high school. I thought the first one was ok, but this one was a memorable adventure! I now see that some of simplicity in the first book was actually building a foundation for the second book.

The crew starts off on another quest for the Dragonlance in this tale. They aren't together for long before they are split into two groups after a dragon attack. One group continues the mission to find the Dragonlance while the other is left to fight the evil army trying to take over the land. I enjoyed it so much that my husband felt compelled to reread the series so we can read the last one together. ( )

Great book, loved it during high school! ( )

My feelings about the second book in this, the original Dragonlance trilogy, mirror my reactions when reading the first. The story is fun, plot-driven with a myriad of characters; the fantasy is filled with tropes and cliches, but the irritation of predictability is alleviated because the cliches are done so well; the writing is adequate, at times clunky, but the focus is on action, not literary quality, so it worked.

Books evoke different ideas and interpretations, usually even two books in the same series, but sometimes a series feels like one big story sliced in pieces and my response to each novel can be surprisingly similar. Sometimes that can be a great thing - the story is so epic, you don't want to take a breath between reading each novel. Sometimes that can be a bad thing - the stories start to feel repetitive and I tire of them. This series falls somewhere in between, I feel. I wasn't consumed with a desire to move from one novel to the next; actually, many years passed between readings, and I had to skim the first one to remember what came before. On the other hand, I found both reads to be highly enjoyable, and acknowledged why so many fantasy fans consider this a staple of fantasy literature. How can I explain it? If you are looking for an example of the completely typical epic fantasy, with all the trimmings that might appear in that genre, then this is a series to peruse.

For my own records, I am appending a synopsis of the novel here (next time I won't need to skim, hopefully). Spoilers will certainly ensue.

This series picks up with the companions from the first novel in the series witnessing a historic moment: the dwarf clans are reuniting now that they have the might Hammer of Kharas. Apparently, in the interim between books, the companions went on another epic quest to retrieve said Hammer, but this is only referenced in the current story. (I saw from looking online that a book of lost adventures details the exploit.) Despite this triumph, everyone is concerned about the advancing Draconian armies, so the companions are dispatched to Tarsis, to see if they can use the legendary white-winged ships to seek places of refuge or help.

Nothing goes as planned, of course. Tarsis is hostile to foreigners, and Tanis, Flint, Sturm, and Tasslehoff are arrested. That becomes a moot point when the town is attacked, and quickly destroyed, by dragons. The companions are split in two groups: Tanis leads some to help the elven Lady Alhana, and Sturm gathers others to join with the Knights of Solamnia. Both groups succeed in acquiring dragon orb, and learn that these tools are fearsome objects of magic, potentially as destructive as they are helpful. Tanis and his group head to Flotsam, hoping to find safe passage to Southern Ergoth, but the Draconian armies are still searching for them. They pose as a group of traveling magicians and entertainers and accumulate enough money for renting a ship. Once in, however, Tanis runs into one of the Dragonlords, who happens to be his old lover, Kitiara. We leave that half of the companions in Flotsam, unsure of their eventual fate.

Meanwhile, Sturm and his group are marooned on Southern Ergoth, after a white dragon attacks their ship for stealing the orb from an ice palace. Laurana thinks that they will be safe, for her people are on Ergoth, but the elves are not friendly. The three different tribes are nearly at war with one another, and completely hostile to humans, who they blame for everything. Sturm and his fellow knights are not better; the Knights of Solamnia are split by bitter factions and rivalries. Nonetheless, Sturm and Laurana manage to help everyone escape the friendly imprisonment of the elves, and flee to Northern Ergoth, where the Knights have a stronghold. En route, they learn that Silvara, a member of their party, is actually a dragon in human form. She teaches them how to make the mythic Dragonlance, which comes in handy, because soon they are entrenched in a battle to save Palanthas from a huge Draconian army. It seems all is lost - over half of the Knights are slaughtered in an ill-advised attack that Sturm refuses to join - until Tasslehoff discovers another dragon orb. They use it, and are able to control the dragons and drive off the Draconians, but not before Sturm is killed in a battle with a Dragonlord. Who happens to be Kitiara. The novel concludes with a stirring account of Sturm's funeral, and Alhana's grief.

The first book ended with a wedding, the second ended with a funeral; how shall the trilogy end? ( )

DRAGONLANCE CHRONICLES