Book Review: Dragons of the Dwarven Depths by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
Warning! May contain spoilers!
The companions return! After slaying Dragon Highlord Verminaard and freeing the slaves of Pax Tharkas, Sturm, Tanis, Raistlin, Caramon, Flint, Tasslehoff et al, deal with the trials and tribulations that go along with leading a rag tag group out of captivity while still being hunted by the forces of evil. Dragons of the Dwarven depths tells a story that takes place within the original Dragonlance Saga. I enjoyed thoroughly how Weis and Hickman brought the original cast of characters back to life with their typical flair and prose. There were not any sort of surprises as characters are attempted to be reinvented which is something that sometimes happens with series that are as long as Dragonlance is.
While the story was not bad however, it certainly does not live up to the original series. Honestly, the whole series has been so over expanded with books upon books upon books now set in the world of Krynn that maybe it is just burn out for me to read another Dragonlance novel. You don’t really learn anything new about already well flushed out characters themselves and the interactions between each of them is almost too well defined and leads to expectations that simply cannot help but coming true. You learn about what happened after Pax Tharkas, but there are reasons why certain parts of a story are not told the first time around.
Sure, if you are existing fan of the original Dragonlance Saga you will get some enjoyment from reading this book and it is not poorly written. But, if like me, you are potentially Dragonlanced out it could be a painful slog at several points.
I give Dragons of the Dwarven Depths 3.5 stars out of five.
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