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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
Wow... well finished that in a matter of hours... This final installment in the Legends trilogy is quite the ending. All of my favorite people are in it. And I enjoyed emerssing my self in this world of Krynn once more. The book picks up right where the last one left off, with the brothers each taking the next steps to separate from each other. Raistlin and Crysania head on to take on the Queen of Darkness herself, while Tas and Caramon are off time traveling with Par-Salan's device. They end up in the future seeing what happens if Raistlin will triumph in his quest. The story follows back into the present time where Tanis and Dalamar are trying to deal with the twins sister and her dragon armies that want to be on her twin's side if he can win the battle.... or does she? She is still one of the characters that I hate to root for but since I know the "second generation" reasons make up for her bad character she seems to be in all the other books. I find myself distracted by Tas's cheery self and no matter how dark things get, there will hopefully be a kender there to light the way :)
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A good conclusion to a slow starting trilogy and is it wrong that I'm glad Kitiara finally got what she deserved? Yeah I didn't think so another wonderful addiction for me. :)
3.5, more like. The time travel stuff really makes no sense, but this model never does. I tried not to think about it too hard and just enjoy it for what it was. The character stuff is great, but the action is far less interesting to me here than in previous books. Still, a pretty good, if not amazing, end to this trilogy.
The beat goes on... this time Raistlin and co transport themselves into the future! I said it before, I think the book and series should have ended last book when Raistlin ‘died’...
But here we are.
The story now seems to be centered on the other characters..a LOT on Tas and Caramon trying to find their way and undue what Raistlin has set. They try to follow him and end up in another time as well.. All of the time travel seriously gets confusing as to what group is when and where...
Caramon and Tas arrive in a Back to the Future II like land where everything is dead and rotten. They even find Caramon’s dead corpse, Tika, and ...Bubu(thank god maybe it’s not all bad)
They seem out the sorcerers of Istar and have a meeting with them. Also they see that an hourglass constellation (hourglass being the symbol of Raistlin) dominates the sky. They see that only two members remain, Par-Salian, master of magic, and Astinus, the immortal being that chronicles all of time as it passes, later recording the final moments of the world. Glad to see Astinus back, any parts with him are really a joy. I just love the idea of someone who simply observes and writes the events of the world. He’s not impartial..but still has this aire of ‘do what you must’.
We get a pretty lengthy backstory / soliliquy by Lord Soth, the DeathKnight. We see his history of how he was a knight of Solomnia, and with an affair, pride and broken vows, he was put to death in life.
This book is like an un-needed Coda to the 2nd book... In fact the first book in this series to me has 90% filler... the 2nd book is where legitimately everything you need happens, and the 3rd is turning out to be a nice fairy tale tour of some themes. There is so much talking in this book... Characters exposit to each other in every chapter and it’s wearing thin. Crysana is such a wilting violet, she has lost all sense of agency, self conviction and power. She came into the series, strong, resolute, ready to make Raistlin bow (for whatever reason she seemed hellbent on taking him out) only to have her stripped and crumbling, almost groveling for him. She’s such a disgusting shade of herself. I don’t say that lightly, seeing her debase herself and clamour with “Oh don’t leave me raistlin I’m such a poor scared girl in his big dark abyss”,.. my god it’s sickening to read...
To make some lemonade from lemons, the book shows us some highlights from what’s to come in “The Soulforge”. We get glimpses of Raistlin and Caramon’s young life, him being teased, not asked to play with the other kids etc. Later we see him mock and step up to his master at the magic academy and even his peers there despise him.
These are few and far between, what happens mostly so far is a dizzying back and forth between characters all in different times and it’s hard to keep up. Tanis returns to the story and it’s good to see him but he’s just sort of there...With him comes his discussion of Kitara...and it brings up another thing...why do so many people have these completely baseless love affairs? Tanis and Kitara are supposedly a thing, since the Dragons Chronicles series...and it’s so unfounded. They just screw around but it’s supposed to mean something to us? No...it really doesn’t.
Raistlin finally (finally.... jesus christ this is slow) gets to his plan of going through the portal in the abyss to the Queen of Darkness. They go through these...vision trials for lack of a better word. All characters we knew before like Sturm and Flint put them both on trial and...yea it sort of just ends.
There’s the final embarking of Caramon into the portal to challenge Raistlin. This feels very ‘final’ and it’s well done, but jesus, the lead up to this was so padded... I feel like this entire 3 book trilogy could EASILY have been one book. The first book in this series was to be honest a complete waste. The story elements could have been plucked from it, and most of the story here felt so padded out, that it just dragged. The final portal crossing is nice, and I really like how it’s written in that Caramon crosses over, looks back and see’s and unmoving portrait of Tanis and Dalamar on the other side. Crysana, left for dead by Raistlin is rescued, and the final showdown! Raistlin ends up sacraficing himself to stop the Queen of darkness, consuming his soul.
The ending of the book has a nice scene of Tas sort of going through and unpacking all of the items he’s found along the way and it serves as a nice melancholy little ending. It’s really nice to see Caramon back to his senses...but jeez the guy while he was away from Tika, pretty much was lusting and coveting Crysana...
All in all...it’s..okay. It lost me in many parts...recaptured my attention in others. It was a good series but way way too drawn out for it’s own good.
I finally finished re-reading the Legends series . . . not bad, though I preferred the Chronicles . . .
EDIT: Re-read again in 2023. Still preferred Legends. But the ending is especially poignant, and bittersweet, and neatly wrapped up the original stories. You knew there were more stories to be told, but you felt that you had really reached an end to what began in the Legends.
EDIT: Re-read again in 2023. Still preferred Legends. But the ending is especially poignant, and bittersweet, and neatly wrapped up the original stories. You knew there were more stories to be told, but you felt that you had really reached an end to what began in the Legends.
In the vast universe of Dragon Lance books, this is my absolute favorite.
10 hour glassed mages out of 10
10 hour glassed mages out of 10
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I wish I could go back and review this book from the first time I read it.
It's a wonderful end to the trilogy but, years later, feels trite and the characters still fall a little flat.
Tas makes this series. As does any scene with a gully dwarf. :)
It's a wonderful end to the trilogy but, years later, feels trite and the characters still fall a little flat.
Tas makes this series. As does any scene with a gully dwarf. :)
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes