Dragonlance: War of Souls: Dragons of a Vanished Moon by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
So this is the final volume of the trilogy meant to rectify many of the issues with the “Age of Mortals”, and it manages to set things up a bit better than I might have imagined. A lot of the problems with the franchise “reboot” are reconciled, like the disappearance of the gods and the issues with magic, but some of the solutions feel contrived.
I love Mina as a character, and it should be interesting to see how the character evolves from here. I’m actually glad that Takhisis is out of the picture, and that Paladine is no longer a god, because this brings the series back to basics without leading to a retread. A number of challenges remain, but the magic is back and the rest of the gods will be vying for control. It’s a reboot with differences.
Much of the world is still at war by the end of the story, which gives the rest of the writers some room to maneuver. The Elves are exiles, the minotaurs have taken possession of Silvanesti, the Dark Knights control Qualinesti and much of the former Solamnic territory, the Knighthood is in tatters, and the orders of magic need to be re-established. That’s just scratching the surface! It should be enough material to explore for years before another major trilogy is sought (if that is even necessary).
If there’s one complaint, it’s how the plot thread with Tasslehoff, an annoyance throughout the entire trilogy, fizzles out in the end and gets resolved “off screen”. For something that was so important, it wasn’t really explained. Sure, it was the plot device to allow the reboot to take place, but after the pain, a reward would have been nice!
I was also struck by the fact that so many characters found their final rest (including the original companions, finally out of the picture), yet it never felt satisfying. Then again, since this was supposed to be the final statement on the franchise by Weis and Hickman, I really can’t complain too much. The new generation is lot more complex than the archetypical Companions, and that’s something I enjoy.
Rating: 8/10
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