Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Funny gnomes but not the best, 3 April 2007
Following the success of the better-known Dragonlance saga and legends, the world was expanded via a series of spinoff novels, many concentrating on the histories of characters from the earlier stories. This prequel focuses on Sturm, a noble knight who numbers among the Heroes of the Lance, and Kitiara, the lost member of the Heroes' company better known as a major villain of the original saga. For fans, it will have foreshadowings of the momentous meeting of these characters in this saga. It also explores a unique location - the moon Lunatari - creating the unusual need for the author to incorporate explanations of interplanetary travel into a high-fantasy world.
The Dragonlance series is the literary equivalent of a special effects movie. Like many Dragonlance stories, this book does not exactly excel in characterisation, subtlety and plot. Usually this is compensated by the epic quality of the story, but in a prelude such as this, the world-shattering import of other novels is also missing. As is typical of the series, the book reads like a series of RPG encounters and mini-quests, linked by the passage of time and the narratives of the characters. The story's main interest is in filling in the past of characters from the original saga. To this are added a smattering of usual and unusual monsters, tricky situations, ethical dilemmas and an often humorous supporting cast of gnomes and other secondary characters.
The book is divided into a series of short adventures. Firstly, Sturm and Kitiara head for Solamnia, encountering elves, draconians, bandits and finally the gnomes with whom they spend most of the book. Second, the book chronicles their life aboard a gnome flying ship, facing technical problems such as survival at sub-zero temperatures. Third, stranded on Lunatari, they encounter a mad king and an army of tree-men. Fourth, they face the dilemma of whether and how to free a brass dragon imprisoned in an obelisk. Fifth, returning to Krynn, there is a storyline aboard a haunted ship. Finally, Sturm reaches Solamnia and the story culminates in his attempt to recover his heritage.
The story's leitmotifs - embedded in character development and the recurrence of mystical talismans - focus on the dilemmas surrounding Sturm's tense negotiation of honour and friendship and Kitiara's descent into darkness. The latter is handled as well as the book's "PG certificate" tone allows, though it remains unclear where ruthless pragmatism and pursuit of glory slip over into out-and-out evil. The suggestion of an ambivalence built on a denied love between the protagonists - unknown to them, but visible to the gnomes and dragons - adds some depth to their relationship. While the gnomes lack depth as characters, they function effectively as light relief and as a foil for the main characters; the typecasting of gnomes as AD&D characters is developed in individual cases to good effect. The monsters - glass-wielding tree-men, giant ants and an oversized, regenerating ghoul for instance - are not as original as could be expected from the otherworldly setting of much of the novel. The story also builds up mysteries (over the origins of the dragon and Lunatari's magic for instance) which it leaves frustratingly unresolved.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not a bad book but not a very good book, 27 Sep 1998
By A Customer
I picked this one up at a second hand book store for 2 reasons. 1) It was a Dragonlance book 2) It was cheap. I read it and at one point I thought, " Hey this is pretty good so far" Then the part of draconians came up and that ruined it for me. I couldn't help but think the author was winging this one. I sat there thinking," Didn't the companions first run into the draconians in the chronicles books?" as in the first books of the Dragonlance series??? Hey if you love Dragonlance read it, but only if you can't find a better book in the series first.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A good book but not correct with the actual saga, 11 Aug 1998
By A Customer
A very good story. Any true Dragonlance fan would enjoy reading about the trip of Sturm and Kit on their journey. The only problem that I had with the book, and for that matter any of the preludes that I have read, is that the book contradicts the actual storyline of the chronicles. Sturm had never seen a dragon before the first Chronicles book nor had he heard of Draconians. Yet they are both in this book. Other than that though a very good book.
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