Book Review - 'Dragons of Winter Night' by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

‘Dragons of Winter Night’ cover, art by Larry Elmore, depicting (L-R) Tasslehoff Burfoot, Laurana, and a Dragon Highlord.

There will be some MINOR SPOILERS relating to the first book, mainly to do with the characters.

‘“Do not fear, knight. The lives of those you leave in our care are safe… if any are safe… Farewell, my friends,” Raistlin hissed, his strange, hourglass eyes gleaming. “And a long farewell it will be. Some of us are not destined to meet again in this world!” With that, he bowed and, gathering his red robes around him, began to climb the stairs.
Trust Raistlin to exit with a flourish, Tanis thought irritably, but there was no more time for talk. The sound of booted feet was nearing the door…
The world grows more dangerous, and now the heroes have been separated. This dark prediction and even darker dreams haunt them as they search for the mysterious dragon orbs and the legendary dragonlance.’

By the end of the first book, the group of reluctant heroes had increased in number to include Tika, the young serving woman from the Inn of the Last Home, and the elf princess, Laurana, and her brother, Gilthanas.

Their father, the leader of the Qualinesti elves, had raised Tanis, the son of his sister.

Laurana had run away from her home to join Tanis and the others because she wants to be with the half-elf, the one she loves.

But, faced with his rejection which Laurana eventually forces herself to come to terms with, she strives to prove herself a capable member of the group and not a spoiled elven princess.

The second novel begins in a dwarven city where the group have brought refugees whom they’d helped in the first book.

There’s much discussion as to where the refugees will be able to settle and rebuild their lives.

Grateful as they are to the dwarves who’ve allowed them to stay, the refugees aren’t keen on living in the mountain, away from the sun and fields to grow crops.

Eventually, the group agree to go to Tarsis, a city by the sea, to scout out a permanent home for the refugees.

Once they get to Tarsis, however, they find things aren’t at all what they should be, and plans must be abandoned and remade.

The companions are eventually separated into two groups, neither group knowing the fate of the other.

All they know is, they have to put their fears aside to find the weapons capable of defeating the dragons.

While the first book was very character-driven – understandably so, as we get to know the companions – this book is more plot-centred.

Yet, there are chunks of plot that are given to us in summary form, which I found annoying as I wanted to know more details of those parts.

More characters are introduced – a princess of the Silvanesti elves, a small group of Solamnian Knights, and another elf from a third branch of elves.

There’s also a mystery man, a man with a green gemstone, who’s being hunted by the minions of evil.

Despite the focus on plot, there is still some character development especially for Sturm and Laurana.

It was in this book that Laurana became another favourite character of mine, alongside Sturm.

Her progression from spoiled princess to one capable and willing to fight and protect those she cares for is very believable.

The romance sub-plots are brought to the fore in this book and, for the most part, are written well.

However, there is quite an obvious example of ‘insta-love’, which I always find galling…
‘“I loved you when I saw you lying injured on the sand…”’

To which I say, really? You don’t know anything about the person… guess I’ve gotten too cynical in my old age.

This ‘insta-love’ pales in comparison when compared to another attraction, which, in my opinion, is written beautifully.

Another thing I appreciated is the presence of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ in all the races of Krynn; no one race is depicted as better than others.

Again, I found the abundance of adverbs and adjectives rather jarring and more annoying than the first book, but I guess that was the style back then.

Also, there is a lot of ‘telling’ as a way of moving the plot forward via different scenes; again, probably a sign of the times.

Even though the writing veers close to cheesy on more than one occasion, there are well-written scenes.

One particularly striking scene is when dragons attack Tarsis:
‘… the dragons struck. One after the other, they… dropped from the sky… their fiery breath engulfing building after building with flame… Choking smoke filled the street, turning twilight into midnight. Ash poured down like black rain. Screams of terror changed to screams of agony…
‘… a sea of fear-crazed humans surged through the flame-lit streets… The human sea broke over Tanis and the companions, crushing them into the street, swirling them apart, smashing them up against buildings. The smoke choked them and stung their eyes, tears blinded them as they fought to control the dragonfear that threatened to destroy their reason… The heat was so intense that whole buildings blew apart…
‘… Flame filled the street; the screams of the dying were heart-rending… The dragon passed, and suddenly the streets were horribly, unbearably still…’

Compared to ‘Dragons of Autumn Twilight’, this book is much bleaker.

Yet, ‘Dragons of Winter Night’ is arguably my favourite of the three not only because the cover is my favourite of the three books, it also includes my favourite scene.

The emotional impact of that one scene makes it, for me, the best scene in the trilogy.

Despite its flaws, I still enjoyed reading this, and I think it’s mainly due to the comparative innocence of the tale compared to what’s on offer in entertainment, be it film or book, these days.

Next week, I’ll conclude with the review for the final volume, ‘Dragons of Spring Dawning’.