Read Online Dragons of Summer Flame Margaret Weis Tracy Hickman Books
Read Online Dragons of Summer Flame Margaret Weis Tracy Hickman Books
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Dragons of Summer Flame Margaret Weis Tracy Hickman Books Reviews
- After the brief introductions of new characters in The Second Generation, Dragons of Summer Flame unfolds into an epic conflict that rages across Kyrnn. This is tight story that does in one volume what is often broken up into two or three. Weis and Hickman follow the children of the heroes of the War of the Lance (it is now 20 years after the war), as they figure out who they are, which side the are on, and their role in the Chaos threatening to destroy their world. A transitional volume between the previous trilogies and the next, but also serves as a capstone to the adventures of the classic heroes. They have passed the baton and this book definitely will want you to see what comes next.
- It's been a while (1985) since the Dragons of Spring Dawning (Chronicles Vol. III) was written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. That book left the planet of Krynn and the land of Ansalon at peace. Now some ten years later comes "Dragons of Summer Flame (Chronicles Vol. IV)" in which of course the world of Krynn is at war again.
The now fabled and much sung about War of the Lance is long over; some twenty-five years have passed since the last DragonLance was thrown, the last evil red dragon slain. The seasons on the planet of Krynn have come and gone and the people on the continent of Ansalon have known a lasting if not troubled peace.
But now the drums of war beat once more, and a summer of uncharacteristic heat is roasting the land. It is a heat that has never been felt by the people of Krynn and it is unrelenting, foretelling more hard times for the populace. The uneasy peace and tenuous balance between light, and dark, good and evil, begins to shift in favor of darkness. But the people of Ansalon are pre-occupied by fractious in-fighting as old partners turn on one another; warnings go unheeded, disunity is the new enemy and into the breach comes war. But this war will be like no other because it will fundamentally change Krynn and usher in a new era, the so called Age of the Mortals in which all Gods have quit the planet, and abandon the world and races they created.
"Dragons of Summer Flame" starts with a visit to the island of an old race of people heretofore unknown to most on Krynn, called the Irda. The Irda have held themselves away from the other races on Krynn thinking themselves too beautiful to congregate with others outside their species. They are so introverted that they rarely congregate among themselves. And the Irda are the foremost practitioners of magic on the planet. Their world is shattered however by the chance visitation of the Dark Knights of Takhisis, mortal champions of her dark majesty the evil goddess Takhisis.
Two days after the visitation of the Knights of Takhisis, the Irda send the human woman Usha--who they have been raising since she was a baby--away from the island for her own protection, but of she feels betrayed. And later that same night the Irda break open the Graygem, a stolen ancient artifact fashioned by the lesser god Reorx (Champion of the Dwarfs) in order to bring some neutrality to the world. The Irda were hoping that the magic contained in the GrayGem would help them fashion a way to forestall another visit by the Dark Knights; what they did instead was release Chaos, the Father of Everything and Nothing. Chaos is the father of the three principle gods of Krynn; they being Paladine (God of Light and goodness), Gilean (God of neutrality), and Takhisis (Goddess of Dark and Evil). After Chaos destroys the Irda, he sets about marshalling his forces to destroy the world. Thus begins the War of Chaos.
Meanwhile, elsewhere on Ansalon the young mage Palin Majere is distressed by a grievous loss of his two brothers Tanin and Strum Majere, Knights of Solamnia, at the hands of the invading Knights of Takhisis. Now a prisoner, the young white robed mage seeks to enter the Abyss, realm of the Gods, in search of his lost uncle, the infamous archmage Raistlin Majere, who wore the robes of black, but long thought dead. He is given into the care of a dark paladin, his cousin Steel Brightblade with instruction to ransom the young white robe.
The Dark Queen Takhisis having lost the War of The Lance has now won new champion to her cause; the Knights of Takhisis modeled after Knights of Solamnia, are wholly devoted followers of Takhisis and are governed by the Vision. Following the Vision the Knights bring Takhisis the victory she seeks, but it is short lived.
Checking in at 608 pages, "Dragons of Summer Flame" is a long book, certainly longer than any other DragonLance book to date. The book is the fourth in the Chronicles series and continues the DragonLance series of fantasy based book most of which were written by Weis and Hickman.
"Dragons of Summer Flame" has many, many references to books in the series that came before it, not only the other books in the Chronicles series, but those in the DragonLance Legends series as well, in which Raistlin enters the Abyss in a failed attempt to become a god. I highly recommend reading the Legends series--all three books--before reading this book. Also, you might want to read The Second Generation in which the children of the Heroes of the Lance are introduced.
Weis and Hickman once again offer up a gem of a book with detailed characters descriptions--though they are not as well developed as in last offerings. At times I felt as though the book was rushed; e.g. the relationship between Usha and Palin was certainly hastened, and there were a few loose ends that needed more development. Despite the lack of in-depth character development I thoroughly enjoyed "Dragons of Summer Flame"; in fact I found it hard to put the book down. The formula is an old one, the oldest in fact, good vs. evil, but the outcome is surprising.
Conclusion
If you enjoyed the other books in the DragonLance series (Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night, and Dragons of Spring Dawning) "Dragons of Summer Flame" is a must read. It introduces the next generation of heroes and ushers in a new era on Krynn, setting up a whole new raft of stories. Check out the following books, part of the DragonLance War of the Souls series Dragons of a Fallen Sun; Dragons of a Lost Star, and; Dragons of a Vanished Moon.
Other Books in the Series
Dragons of Autumn Twilight (DragonLance Chronicles, Vol. I)
Dragons of Winter Night (DragonLance Chronicles, Vol. II)
Dragons of Spring Dawning (DragonLance Chronicles, Vol. III) - "Dragons of Summer Flame" was a depressing novel because it was the end of all-mighty Krynn as we know it. I have been a faithful fan of most of the Dragonlance series and was lucky enough to have picked up "Dragons of Autumn Twilight" as my very first Dragonlance book. After reading the Chronicles Trilogy, I thought it was all pretty much over and felt moved by all of it. When I heard about "Dragons of Summer Flame", I was mostly reading out of curiousity. I mean, to me it already ended in the best possible way...yet they wrote another novel to "really" end it. I felt the novel was beautifully written as all Weis/Hickman novels, however, it started out rather slowly and suddenly speeded up. It was too easy to resolve the conflicts in this novel and fight the infamous "bad guy" Chaos. I think if Weis and Hickman wanted it to really end, they should have killed off EVERYONE. That way, the book would really all come to a close. I really adored Steel and Palin though. Usha was annoying. The new, second generation characters were all modeled too much after the original Companions. That showed Weis and Hickman's inability to "let go" themselves and therefore, they kind of ruined the it a little. Don't get me wrong though, the novel was definately worthy of carrying the "Dragons of..." name and was a brillant conclusion to our beloved Chronicles Trilogy. It was sad and depressing though. Oh well, i'm done w/ it now and I'll have to think about whether to read the War of the Souls Trilogy...I have a feeling that will just ruin it. "Dragons of Summer Flame" was a wonderful book and a must-read. Definately not as brilliant as the original Chronicles Trilogy though. The Chronicles Trilogy is unprecedented!
- Amazing return to Krynn. Tastefully done with old characters and new. Now for 9 more words so I can post the review. Thanks for your dumb requirements.
- Great writing. Book is not the full-sized hardcover. My fault for not paying attention.
- Part of a series and this has been fun. The idea of Chaos as the "Father of All" was interesting and made me think of chaos theory which had nothing to do with the story but is not a place I would have thought a fantasy novel would take me. The character of Raistlin is somewhat different then the other Dragonlance novels and it was interesting to see that.
- Classic fantasy reading! If you need a new series to dive into, you will love Dragonlance.
- my son loved this
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