12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great ending, but a bit of a fragmented story., 1 Aug 2002
This review is from: Dragons of a Vanished Moon: Dragonlance (Dragonlance: The War of Souls) (Hardcover)
I don't think anyone would disagree that the previous volume in this trilogy, Dragons of a Lost Star, left more than a few dangling threads after its gut-wrenching conclusion. And I probably wasn't alone in wondering how Weis and Hickman could tie them all together in the final installment.
The book opens moments *before* the last left off, seen this time through the eyes of Palin in the Tower of High Sorcery, but doesn't linger there long before moving off to other territories, exploring what happens with Mirror and Skie, how the Qualinesti cope with their losses, and Mina's inexorable march on Sanction. Successes and failures carry the feeling of being influenced by the unopposed will of the One God, and the heroes of the story always seem to be fighting a losing battle against hopeless odds. Which is, of course, the stuff of heroic fantasy.
Unfortunately, the scope of the tale requires more than a trilogy. The story simply seems to lack focus, and jumps about between Palin, the Qualinesti, the Silvanesti, Mina, Silvanoshei, the Great Dragons, Sir Gerard, and so on without lingering on any one of them long enough for the reader to really _care_ about any of them. Crises of faith that could be explored in depth are solved almost immediately after having arisen, monumental battles dissolve in a single chapter, and the feelings of the characters involved seem like a distant concern. Instead of feeling their emotion at their triumphs and failures, the reader is left feeling like nothing more than an observer passively wondering how the heroes will get out of this one rather than fearing for them.
This aside, there's no escaping the grandeur of the tale being being told. Weis' and Hickmans' style remains fluid and graceful, and they've certainly lost none of their flair for bringing on the shocks. The final chapters of the book are absolutely amazing, bringing the story to a neat, complete end but leaving much to be explored later.
All in all, this is an excellent, well written piece of work, but with a breadth of material that should have covered a trilogy of its own.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Solinari, Liunitari, Nuitari are magic!!!!, 7 Oct 2003
I was shocked, stunned and not to say a little bit amazed at this novel. We are all familiar with what has gone before and this book just throws alot of new ideas out. The main that any true dragonlance fan should read this book is that RAISTLIN appears in it. Enjoy and pray that Weis and Hickman will keep producing such fantastic fantasy. P.S. Flint is still at his forge!!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
4.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining enough, 17 Sep 2010
Vanished Moon could almost be read standalone rather than a tumultuous end to a trilogy. New ideas blossom in to central themes with strands from the previous two entries becoming almost background story and plausibility is stretched somewhat with the time-travelling McGuffin, which removes any predictability at the cost of suspension of disbelief. Such weaknesses are absorbed by the strengths of the narrative, it's engaging characters and the epic scale of the trilogy. Entertaining from start to finish, the story of Mina and her One God is riveting stuff. It could have been great, however it is still good enough.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No