Dragonlance: Dragons of Winter Night (Chronicles #2), Vol. 2 Book

"I saw two roads stretching before us. If we take the easiest, it will appear the best at the beginning, but darkness will fall at the end, never to be lifted. If we take the other road, it will be hard and difficult to travel. It could cost the lives of some we love. Worse, it might cots others their very souls. But only through these great sacrifices will we find hope."

The Queen of Darkness and the Warrior constellations are missing from the sky because the gods returned to Krynn and are locked in the ultimate fight of good against the evil. Our protagonists won a battle but they are a long way from winning the war, and it seems that their odds turn from bad to worse. Please note that my rating disclaimer* still holds for the second volume of the Dragonlance Chronicles.

The forces of darkness command armies of draconian and the hosts of dragons, the forces of good are essentially reduced to a band of companions including half-elf Tanis; Flint the dwarf; Sturm, a paladin aspiring to the knighthood in the ancient order of Solamnia; twin brothers Caramon and Raistlin combining the strength of muscle of the former and the power of magic in the frail body of the latter; Tika a feisty ex-tavern girl; an elflord Gilthanas and his sister Laurana (badly infatuated with Tanis); Elistan, a cleric of Paladine, and a cleric of Mishakal Goldmoon with her husband Riverwind, and, last but not least, Tasslehoff Burrfoot of the kenderfolk.

The main argument against the Dragonlance Chronicles, frequently repeated in several reviews, implies that since the whole plot was conceived during a RPG session, it renders the whole thing worthless or, in the best case, it places the series on the level of bad fan-fiction. I'd like to remind you that the Malazan Book of the Fallen, which many believe to be the best contemporary epic fantasy, also resulted from hours of game-play between friends. Thus, it is not the about where the ideas of the book comes from, but rather about the idea and how it is executed. The truth is that the Dragonlance Chronicles are badly written. The main characteristic feature of this prose is the absolute abuse of adjectives and adverbs that does not leave a shroud of doubt whether given character is good or evil. All the good ones are gentle, have strong albeit delicate arms, soft and sweet voices, grieved faces, are lithe and delicate with quiet gallantry whereas all the bad ones laugh in an unpleasant way, have sinister looks, rasping voices and so on and so forth. I will be the first to admit, that compared with Malazan the Dragonlance is like a child's drawing juxtaposed with the frescoes in the Sistine Chapel. Still, it has it charms.

Arguably, the first book was very character driven and told us how the adventuring party was formed. What do you do once you compose your adventuring party? You break it up, of course (even Professor Tolkien knew that). The companions separate pursuing the new quests; they need to find the dragon orbs - three of those artifacts survived the Cataclysm and need to be recovered if the dragon armies are to be defeated. There is also the mystery of the fabled dragonlance to be uncovered.

While the tale is more plot-centred this time (clumsily, as huge chunks of the story are omitted and readers will be lost, particularly at the beginning of the book, and then again when starting part II), there is still character development, especially when it comes to Sturm and Laurana. We finally get to meet Kitiara (overall, the romance subplots are much more pronounced in this instalment), have the chance to visit fascinating new locations - the elven city of Silvanesti, a city of Tarsis the Beautiful, the gnome mountain of Nevermind, and an ancient tower of Palanthas. You will also, undoubtedly, be thrilled to read about "the first, last, and only time" when Tas was struck speechless and sad to say goodbye to some for whom fighting for things bigger than your life is worth more than life itself.

The Dragons of Winter Nights is my ultimate guilty pleasure: a gripping adventure, not too profound, some melodrama mixed with silly humour and a heart-warming message. You can always ask for more but sometimes this is enough.


*Disclaimer: My rating is purely sentimental. Dragons of Winter Night is a read down the memory lane. If I were to rate it on the basis of my current standards and preferences, it would score 3 stars the most.

Also in the series:

1. Dragons of Autumn Twilight
3. Dragons of Spring Dawning