Jax's Book Nook: Dragons of Spring Dawning by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Title: Dragons of Spring Dawning
Authors: Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
Narrator: Paul Boehmer
Genre: High Fantasy

I purchased this audiobook and chose to do an honest and unbiased review. The authors and Audible Studios neither requested nor are associated with this review.

Dragons of Spring Dawning (Dragonlance: Chronicles, #3)

Goodreads Description:

Finally armed with dragonlances, a group of heroes, composed of a knight, barbarian, dwarf, and half-elf, faces a deadly showdown with the evil dragons and Takhisis, the Queen of Darkness.

Here's What I Thought:
Oh, boy. My thoughts on this book are so complicated. I finished it a week ago and it has taken me until now to sort them out and write this review. Initially, as I was listening this audiobook, I was enthralled. I was on the edge of my seat. It was amazing. I finished it and was satisfied. Initially.

The more I think about it, the more I struggle with this initial impression with the book. This book, along with the series as a whole, has a lot of holes. You could argue a couple points here. First, I still haven't read Dragons of Summer Flame. I will, but not for a little while. That book is kind of a part of the Dragonlance Chronicles but is also a part of essentially the next generation. From my impression, this series was originally meant to be a trilogy. Meaning, this was supposed to be it. The end. The other argument is that there are numerous other series within the Dragonlance realm could fill this holes.

And I agree. But...

As this was initially meant to be a trilogy and this book wraps up the main conflict with a nice little bow, I really expect more out of a concluding book. Leave some endings open to be able to come back to the world? Yes. But this was more like, "I'm bored with this now, so I'm going to wrap it up and hopefully the readers won't notice all the things we don't address."

First off, lets talk about my favorite character Laurana. She had so much growth. She became a general. She was strong. And then she wasn't. She became a damsel in distress. She kind of redeems herself. I mean, she halfway gets herself out, but it still boils down to Tanis being there to save the day. This was a huge let down. I really thought she was bigger than that.

Speaking of Tanis, I actually liked him in this book. He had to make some really hard decisions and go against his morals. I like flawed heroes. I thought he was more relatable in this book than the previous two. Of all the characters, he had the most significant development, in my opinion.

Raistlin... Raistlin had significant development, too, but it is totally glazed over. What's worse is that his development plays a key role in the final altercation, but I have very little idea of how he got there. I get it. He is a mysterious character and has been since day one, but couldn't we get a little bit more about his transformation? I felt cheated.

Although, at least he had some transformation, unlike his brother, Caramon. You can take Caramon at the inn in Solace and put him side by side with Caramon outside of Neraka and they are exactly the same person. I actually felt bad for him because of this lack of development.

Kitiara was a bad guy that I wanted to like. She showed promise with her first appearance. But her character did not expand from that at all. She is manipulative and sleeps with everyone. That is it. I wasn't expecting her to be the bad guy turned good, and quite honestly, I didn't want her to be. But again, I was hoping for more depth from her. I thought Ariakas had more depth and he had a fraction of the page time that she did.

The other issue I had is how they just wrote off major supporting characters. I was totally expecting Alhana Starbreeze to make a comeback and address Sturm's death. Nope. Sturm is barely mentioned as well, come to think of it. Tika is basically thrown into the background as Caramon's arm candy. Goldmoon and Riverwind are just written off. Tanis and the gang literally waved goodbye and that was the end of them. I have no idea what happens to Elistan. Laurana mentions him once and that's it. The entire order of the Knights of Solamnia are just gone. Sturm is dead, so their role is done. Gilthanas and Silvara, you ask? Don't know that either! They showed up briefly at the Great Library and that's the last they are heard from. And then there was the blacksmith... What was his name again? He did forge the dragonlances, afterall. He should play some role in the finale.

How about the dragons... The good dragons? The evil dragons? This is a book about dragons after all. It's in the title. They're there... I think. This series is called Dragonlance, but from my reading/listening, the dragonlances themselves played little role in the outcome. The dragons themselves didn't play much of a part in the end either.

As I am writing this, I keep thinking of more and more plot points that are never revisited. The refugees of Pax Tharkas, the dwarves they take refuge with, the refugee elves. The longer I think, the more I come up with. However, I think I will let it rest.

There are so many plot elements and characters that are introduced simply to further the plot and then just forgotten about. It's like the authors were hoping that we weren't paying attention. Which is a shame, because the premise of the books had so much promise.

Initially, I rated this book four stars. It was by far my favorite of the three, and despite all of these misgivings I stand by it being my favorite. But upon further reflection, I am going to demote it down to two and half stars. I want so badly to keep it as a four star book, but with all of these holes, I can't. I will eventually go back to Krynn, and I hope these characters get the resolution that they were cheated, but as the end of an era with this band of heroes and the official end of a trilogy, it was not a solid ending. A lot was left to be desired.

As a series, I would recommend picking it up as an easy read, especially if you are just getting into fantasy for the first time. It's a good starter series for the genre, but does not compare with other writers such as J.R.R. Tolkien or Robert Jordan.

Any Thoughts?

I would love to hear what you think! If you have any additional thoughts or want to talk more about the book, be sure to leave a comment or send me an email!

About The Authors:

Fantasy novelist who, along with Tracy Hickman, was one of the original creators of the Dragonlance game world. I've written numerous novels and short stories set in the world of Krynn, as well as series in other, original worlds. These include: Darksword, Rose of the Prophet, Star of the Guardians, DeathGate, Dragonvarld, Sovereign Stone, Dragonships, and the Dragon Brigade. I also wrote two paranormal romance novels, Fallen Angel and Warrior Angel, with my daughter, Elizabeth Baldwin. I graduated from the University of Missouri–Columbia and now live in Wisconsin with dogs, Max, Dixie, Joey the Thug and Clancy the Hooligan.

I am currently working on the third book in the Dragon Brigade series, the Seventh Sigil. The first book is Shadow Raiders. The second book is Storm Riders, coming out from Tor in July 2013.

My hobby is flyball racing with my dogs, Dixie, a border collie, and two crackhead Shelties, Joey the Thug and Clancy the Hooligan.

I am the owner of the company, Margaret Weis Productions, publisher of RPGs. Our newest project is creating the RPG for the wonderful TV series, Firefly. Shiny!

NYT Best-selling fantasy authors Tracy Hickman, with his wife Laura, began their journey across the 'Sea of Possibilities' as the creators of 'Dragonlance' and their voyage continues into new areas with the 'Drakis' trilogy, 'Wayne of Gotham', a Batman novel for DC Comics and his 'Dragon's Bard' collector's series . Tracy has over fifty books currently in print in most languages around the world. A record of both Tracy and Laura's DNA currently orbits on the international space station and he is the writer and editor of the first science-fiction movie actually filmed in space.