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Dragons Of The Highlord Skies (2007)

Dragons of the Highlord Skies (2007)

Book Info

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Rating
4.01 of 5 Votes: 4
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ISBN
0786943335 (ISBN13: 9780786943333)
Language
English
Publisher
wizards of the coast

About book Dragons Of The Highlord Skies (2007)

This book, one of the 'Lost Chronicles' that fills in some of the gaps in the original series, really tells us two main stories. It tells us how Kitiara came to get Lord Soth to work for her, and it tells us more of the story surrounding the Icewall dragon orb. The focus of course is on Kit, as the title would suggest, although there is of course an emphasis on Laurana as well, and some interesting point of view scenes with one of the knights that accompanied them to get the orb.All in all, I wasn't really all that impressed with this book. It was okay, but it didn't pull me into the story as much as the previous book in this series. I liked learning more about Kit and what was happening to her, but I really think they could have put a bit more emphasis on what happened with her and Lord Soth. For me that part almost seemed to be a throw away effort that was thrown in at the end of the book as a climax of sorts, and I would have preferred to know more about that than about what happened in Icewall. I did however enjoy getting to see the point of view of Brian Donner, one of the Solomnics. It gave a bit more insight into the insanity that seemed to have taken hold of Derek Crownguard, even before his run in with the dragon orb. Given my general dislike for the character, it was interesting to see what some of his fellow knights and friends, thought about his behavior at this point in time.All in all it was a decent enough addition to the world, but definitely not one of my favorites.Favorite quotes/passages: Feal-Thas went on as though he hadn't heard. "I know myself. One doesn't live three hundred years without searching one's soul. I know my strengths and weaknesses. It takes a remarkable person to dare to try and control a dragon orb-a person with absolute confidence in himself, who, at the same time, cares nothing for himself, for his own personal safety. Such a person is willing to risk all-his life, his soul-on a gamble. Brian glanced down at the alter, trying to think of some way to change the subject, which made him uncomfortable. He looked at the book, thinking it must be some holy text, and said in astonishment, "The pages of the book are blank. Why is that?" "To remind us that our lives are made up of blank sheets waiting to be filled," Lillith replied. "The book of life is open when we are born, and it closes on our death. We write in it continually, but no matter how much we write, what joy or sorrow we experience or what mistakes we have made, we will always turn the page, and tomorrow's page is always blank." "Some people might find that prospect daunting." said Brian somberly, looking down at the page, so starkly white and empty. "I find it filled with hope." said Lillith.

Book 2 of the Lost Chronicles was rather disappointing. Rather disappointing coming off from reading book 1. Book 1 made me feel nostalgic; book 2 felt dragging at certain places and didn't make me feel like wanting to keep going.The second book focuses primarily on Kitiara and Sturm I would say; the former of how she ended up with Lord Soth in her service and the latter of how he ended up with Derek Crownguard and the dragon orb.I didn't particularly like Kitiara so my enthusiasm was already down. Sure, it was interesting to see her role within the dragon army - but too much was spent her trying to locate Tanis, and way way way too little spent on her locating (and winning over) Lord Soth. It almost felt like it was glossed over fairly quickly. Spend one night at Dargaard Keep? She just used an hour of it. Wasted potential I would say.As for Sturm's side - well, I disliked Derek Crownguard. Having him so prominent made for rather difficult reading. Brian Donner's reflections and thoughts felt like attempts to excuse Derek's behaviour, but it just didn't click for me.There are certainly gems to be found, such as filling in some details of the lead-up to Dragons of Winter Night; Laurana's side of the story when the Companions were split up were particularly interesting for me.Still, I recommend this to those who read the Chronicles, if only to fill up the storyline gaps, especially for those who happen to like Sturm and/or Kitiara. Just don't get your hopes too high as per book 1.

Do You like book Dragons Of The Highlord Skies (2007)?

Although its probably not fair to lump together a second-rate Dragonlance and A Song of Ice and Fire, I can't help but compare Dragons of the Highlord Skies to A Feast for Crows. Like AFFC, Highlord Skies focuses on a significantly less interesting batch of characters: the group that traveled south to Icereach when the companions were separated in Tarsis. That means no Tanis or Raistlin. And even though Sturm, Flint, and Tas are around, the authors choose to focus more on Derek Crownguard and his Solamnic cronies. Laurana gets a little attention towards the end of the book, but she is never presented as a particularly interesting character. She's pretty much just getting dragged along, ostensibly to fulfill her 'destiny'.The decent parts of this book are the chapters that focus on Kitiara. Like the Jaime chapters of AFFC, the Kit chapters give us insight into a sometimes misunderstood antihero. I wish there had been more focus on her interactions with Lord Soth, but that plot line stopped abruptly at the end, giving way to the dreadful frame story being told by a character who doesn't really matter.
—Shawn Towner

Set after the events of book one of this trilogy (The Lost Chronicles), this books covers a number of adventures that were untold or just hinted at in book two of the original trilogy (Chronicles).The first third of the book covers the initial story of Kitiara and her time in the evil army, after that until about half way through the book we here about the story of three Solamnic knights and their quest to recover the Dragon Orb in hopes of winning the war. The remainder of the book switches between to two groups at regular intervals.Kit's story is very interesting she is sent on various missions by the Emperor. All the time she is sent dreams my her evil Goddess, who is trying to get Kit to spend one night in the castle of the Death Knight Lord Soth, so he will join them in the war. It was great to see Kit's character developed and to see she is not as evil or heartless as we once thought (she is still a bad ass though!) She has genuine thoughts and feelings. She is an interesting characters with a strong personality, the various twists she goes through keep her story interesting and you want to see her do well.The other storyline is also interesting. Of the three knights one is very serious, traditional and follows "the Measure" to the letter, the other two are more fun loving and realistic. They are old friends but they do sometimes squabble and argue and at times their friendship seems threatened but they always come through for each other in the end.The knights eventually team up with Flint, Tas, Sturm, Laurana and Giltnanas from the original books. The personalities of Flint and Tas are as fun and exciting as ever, and the dynamic between the two is fantastic. Sturm has a good showing too as he is plunged back into a Solamic life he thought he had lost and his secrets are revealed to his friends. Laurana's story is also interesting as she is in the process of changing from the childish, somewhat weak character she started of as in the original book and moving towards the adult, strong leader she eventually becomes.Overall this was a great book and it was great to see some of the story that we missed out on. The characters are all excellent and the interactions they have is fantastic.
—Richard

The Lost Chronicles continue to provide fill-in stories that didn't really need to be told and the authors half-heartedness continues to show in the laziness of their plotting and prose writing. Everyone's lost interest in Dragonlance at this point and all that's left really is to squeeze a few more pennies out of a dying franchise.Nevertheless, despite the lack of real commitment here, this one, once the dust settles, falls out on the right side of entertaining Dragonlance romp. THat's mostly thanks to the fact that Kitiara is my favourite character in the series, in a series that isn't afraid to showcase a multitude of villains as much as its heroes (and has mostly become famous for them. She struts around being kinda cool and even when the plot seems trite and her dialogue stupid, I'm still thinking inside "go kick some ass Kitiara". The tale of how Kitiara is betrayed by Feal-Thas is a little clunky and an overextended prelude to her ultimately under-cooked meeting with Lord Soth. Hardly edge-of-the-seat stuff but it diverted me pleasantly on a Sunday afternoon. As a side story we also finally get to see Laurana, Sturm, Derek and some other Solamnic Knights retrieving the Dragon orb from Icewall. The story jars alongside Kitiara's, but it was necessary padding and again, it's entertaining enough.If you love the Dragonlance Chronicles don't be fooled into thinking you *have* to read this. Weis and Hickman have written non-essential fill-in stories for those that want them and can tolerate - or even enjoy - these books as a wistful looking back to greater days, when Dragonlance was cool. Read this if you love Kitiara and wanted to have her babies.
—Alex

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