copy-pasted from my Librarything account: At times a bit hard to get through, but overall this is a very nice book, though I had thought Sturm to be a bit stronger(-willed) towards the end. ( )

One of the spin-off series from the original Dragonlance trilogy. This one concerns itself with what happened to the characters before the major story, delves into how their personalities were shaped. Volume one follows Kitiara Uth Matar and Sturm Brightblade on a trip north to seek mercenary work and solve the mystery of a family’s history respectively. They encounter many strange things, chief of which is a group of gnomes in an airship. This leads them to fly to one of the world’s three moons among other things. As is the case in other spin-offs, the material suffers from the interpretation of secondary authors. Here, character traits and cliches abound, as the writers ape material from the originals. Not that they are bad writers; it was just that even the new settings, materials and characters were written in such a way that it felt like the authors were trying too hard to claim a legitimate piece of history in the Dragonlance series. ( )

Back to the world of Krynn in the first book of the Preludes Trilogy. The series follows the main characters from the DragonLance Chronicles trilogy in the years before the series starts. Darkness & Light follows Kitiara, the fiesty female mercenary, and Sturm Brightblade, the honorable Solamnic knight, as they set off on an adventure to find Sturm's home and family. A home which was ravaged and burnd when we was a small child, a family that has scattered to the winds. Along the way they run into an interesting group of gnomes and their flying ship. The flying ship, a gnomish invention that actually works, whisks them off and up even better and further than anyone suspected it could....right up to one of the moons. The moon, called Lunitari, is full of surprises and its own brand of magic. As the group tries to find its way home, they are put to the test physically and mentally.

This story could have been fantastic. It's all there. The crazy storyline and the unique characters should have been a slam dunk of a book. Unfortunately it wasn't. The writing style was a little choppy, with lots of action happening far too quickly and down time that seems stragely out of place. The conflicts between the characters are almost comical at times, but it lacked a serious side that I had become used to in the series.

2.5/5 ( )

Well this one didn’t impress me much. Here are some familiar characters that were key in the main Dragonlance storyline in a time that we’ve heard about in the past but this is the first I’ve seen the details of what occurred…I was excited to get into this one as I thought some questions would be answered. Well I was disappointed. I’m not even sure if the continuity was upheld in this one when taking into account later novels. Not necessarily the author’s fault, but I just felt there was a disconnect here. Read it if you you’re keeping up with all the Dragonlance novels, otherwise you could pass this one by. ( )

After a brief reunion with the rest of the gang in Solace, Sturm and Kit head north; Sturm to find his father and his heritage, and Kit to find ways to entertain herself. Along the road they bump into a gaggle of gnomes who are having a bit of trouble with their flying ship. Obviously, Sturm and Kit and help, but once in the air, calamity strikes again sending the passengers and crew on a one way ticket to Lunitari, the Red Moon of neutrality. Adventures abound. Finally, like all good sitcoms, the team makes it back to Krynn without any proof or telling signs that they actually landed on Lunitari...

There were a couple of good running jokes with the gnomes. Kit was just always too traditionally chaotic/neutral, and Sturm always too lawful good to have any real growth opportunities. In the end, the foundation is laid for Kit's eventually impaling Sturm (as described in the Chronicles). But far too much of the book was absolutely worthless in terms of the story - large (several chapter long) excursions that don't advance the plot at all and may provide a single, small nugget of insight that simply backstory or narrator-given insight could have easily provided.

In all, I wasn't terribly impressed. The book seemed too long by a half, and the basic premise of the main storyline seemed too outlandish for me to swallow.

Read 10/1007 ( )