It's been a long while since I've last touched a Dragonlance novel. After reading many other fantasy books during the interim, I finally can see why many readers desperately wanted the original authors of the Dragonlance novels to write the next trilogy of books and hopefully, beyond that as well. It's definitely not the case that I think the other fantasy authors are not good. It's just that every good author(s) should have a distinctive writing style to make their book unique and both Margaret and Tracy have done an excellent job in reminding me of why I started reading fantasy novels in the first place.For the most part, the authors have done a pretty good job of filling in the readers of what happened during the Dragons of a New Age trilogy (the one I skipped over). This is very important because events do carry over. In this fifth age, the occupants of Krynn find themselves without magic power for their Gods have abandoned them in order to save them. One of the main focuses in Dragons of the Fallen Sun consists of the elven nations of Qualinesti and Silvanesti. We get to meet new characters such as Mina, Galdar and Gerard (he might have made an appearance in earlier series but I can't remember). Other more familiar characters such as Tas, Palin, Goldmoon and Caramon return as well. It's hard to imagine a world where dragons rule over humans and non-humans as well but yet that is exactly what becomes of Krynn in Dragons of the Fallen Sun.It's always hard for me to write a review of a book because I always fear of spoiling it. With Dragon's of a Fallen Sun, this is even more so because there are many plot lines and things can get complicated very fast. Suffice it to say, this book is very plot-driven. However, it doesn't get boring at all in my opinion. The one minor gripe I have is with some of the dislikeable characters. At certain times, I feel like wringing the necks of Mina, Gilthas and Silvan. They are not necessarily bad characters, but there's just something irritating about them at times. Mina is a young girl who came out of nowhere one stormy night and quickly awed and shocked an entire army due to her healing powers. Throughout the book, not much information is given about her other than the fact that she's young, has magical healing abilities, is beautiful, and is on some secret mission. Good or evil, you can't really make her out yet you're suppose to think of her as some sort of divine being sent down by some nameless God. Yes, it does get irritating.The story in Dragons of a Fallen Sun is complicated like I have mentioned above. It's very hard to summarize it in a simple paragraph because there is so many back history to the world of Krynn. Although you technically can choose Dragons of a Fallen Sun as the very first Dragonlance novel you read, I really don't recommend it. The ending definitely sets up a cliff hanger of some sort and many questions are left unanswered until the next book comes around. I've read other reviews stating that the authors did a much better job with some of the dislikable characters I mentioned above so that's definitely a good sign. While I do feel that Dragons of a Fallen Sun is a pretty long book, I don't consider it a drag or bore. I never found myself even having the urge to skip any pages. This I attribute of course, to the awesome authors of this book/series. Long live the Dragonlance chronicles!
The first big trilogy from Weiss and Hickmann since Legends. I have read it once and I think I have tried reading it a couple of times since but not really getting into it - not sure why because this time around, I really liked it.A new player stands on the face of Krynn, Mina, a young girl, follower of the One God. Able to predict the future, heal the sick and look into the hearts of people around her, Mina soon gets a huge following of Knights of Neraka and mercenaries.Meanwhile, Tas suddenly appears in Solace after being presumed dead for 30 years and a young knight, Gerard uth Mondar, travels with him to Qualinest to meet up with Laurana, Palin and the young king Gilthas. Qualinest, being controlled by the dark knights, are not so easily entered but Gerard and Tas manages, setting events in motion they hadn't even dreamed of.In Silvanost, young Silvan, son of dark elves Porthios and Alhana Starbreeze, suddenly finds himself inside the shield the elves have risen to keep out everybody else and finds himself on the throne of Silvanost, a country rapidly dying because of the power of the shield.As always, Weiss and Hickmann manages to keep many storylines in the air at once and keeping you guessing as to what will happen and how it all will come together.
Do You like book Dragons Of A Fallen Sun (2001)?
First off, this is VERY different from all the previous Dragonlance books I have read, and when I say different, I mean DIFFERENT. The world that I once knew has been completely tuned upside down. The government has changed, the laws have changed, the factions have changed, heck, even the land itself has been changed. All of the familiar characters have been completely changed as well. Palin, for one, used to be all heart but now, he is turning into what his uncle Raistlin turned into, deceiving, angry, and hateful.Now, everything that I just said is why most people hate the books, but I gotta say that it made me enjoy the experience even more. It opened my eyes to just how real this world is, and how everything can be changed with a few small mistakes. So yeah. This book is awesome! And it even introduced a new favorite character to me, Mina.
—Jasher Drake
The book started off really slow, and I wasn't really happy that of all the characters they chose to bring back, they chose the most annoying. However, if you can make it to about the halfway point of the novel it starts to pick up. The character of Mina in this book is extremedy interesting, and you find yourself reading the rest of the chapters just so that you can get to the next chapter that has Mina in it. In all I wasn't that impressed until they presented the plot twist. The fact that I had to wait so long to get interested was kind of a let down, but the twist itself was interesting enough to make me want to read the next novel.
—Chris
I didn't like this book much. The story is interesting but there are a) too many characters and story-lines to follow and b) too many characters that are simply annoying, Mina and Silvanoshei to name just two. There are some characters that I did like, like for example Gerard or Tasslehoff but overall, these two didn't save the book. But maybe it's just me and the fact that I like smaller ensembles better than huge casts that are kinda hard to follow. If I didn't have to read this book as a part of my job, I wouldn't have picked it out :(
—Kati
