When I first heard about the existence of Dragonlance Destinies, two of the three books in the trilogy were already completed and released to the world. It’s a remarkably convenient way to consume a trilogy of books, because not only were two of the three out, but the third was about a month away from release. Being unplugged from the world of Dragonlance meant that I could go in without much knowledge of what was to come. It was almost like walking into a random movie theater for a film I had never seen a trailer for. It’s my preferred way to take-in just about any piece of entertainment. The less I know going in the better. And when I started reading that first book, Dragons of Deceit, and found it took place after the book Test of the Twins, but before Dragons of Summer Flame, it had me wondering why that was? Was this trilogy a way for authors Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman to take their precious characters on one more adventure before moving on from Dragonlance? Or, considering the fact that time travel was set to play a prominent role in the trilogy, was this going to be a way to reboot the series? Now that I am done with the third book, I can safely say I feel like I have the answer to both questions.
I say that as a mild warning, because if you’re like me and you don’t know much about this trilogy going in then you may want to avoid reading about it at all. Especially if you loved Dragonlance at any point in your life because I can safely say if that is true then you’ll have a good enough time with this new trilogy. If you want a simple recommendation, a yay or nay, to Dragonlance Destinies then consider this a “yay.” It’s not perfect, but it’s a nice nostalgia blanket. The books are breezy, easily consumed within a week when reading casually, or consumed much faster if that is your preference. The cast of characters is a bit large, but they’re also largely familiar so there’s no real fear of getting lost even if your speed of consumption is much more deliberate.
With that out of the way, lets recap quickly where Dragons of Fate left off and Dragons of Eternity begins. Our time displaced heroes Raistlin, Tas, Sturm, Destina, and Kairn, had just escaped the past where they had been sent in the first novel in the trilogy. They had found themselves in the age of Huma, or the Third Dragon War, along with the embodiment of the god Chaos that had been trapped in the Graygem and hung around the neck of Destina Rosethorn. She had wanted to use Chaos to travel back in time and save her father, but through a calamity of errors she and the rest ended up much farther back than intended. Everything went wrong at the end of Dragons of Fate. Huma and his silver dragon lover, Gwyneth, were both murdered by an assassin. The Queen of Darkness, Takhisis, was on the verge of victory in a battle she wasn’t supposed to win. The heroes escaped, but the Device of Time Journeying took them to a future they didn’t recognize. Kairn found himself at The Inn of the Last Home just before the The War of the Lance was supposed to break out, only instead of a reunion of friends he found a city occupied by the Dark Queen’s forces. Dragon Highlord Kitiara was there as were her brothers, Caramon and Raistlin, now wearing the black robes and both acting in service to their older sister.
Time travel in Dragonlance is its own thing. The same person cannot exist twice at the same time, so when a person travels back in time to a time and place where they also existed then they simply take over the body of their past self (a warning to would-be time travelers: Don’t travel to a setting where you existed as an infant). Because of this, Raistlin knew what happened and he knew who Kairn was. He advised the monk to flee back to the present where he personally originated from where he could consult with the god of neutrality, Gilean, and seek counsel on how to fix the past. Because of their actions in the past, The War of the Lance now never took place. Instead, there was The Lost War in which Takhisis finally defeated the other gods who opposed her and established her rule for all time. Since a god exists in all times, the plan hatched by Kairn and the others is for him to travel back in time with Tanis Half-Elven to the time of The Lost War. There, he will reunite with Destina, whom he left behind, and the two of them will travel back to The Third Dragon War again and try to fix what they so badly broke. Meanwhile, the Heroes of the Lance in the age of The Lost War will do their best to distract the Dark Queen in that time in a bid to help Destina and Kairn go unnoticed for if Takhisis were to seize hold of the Graygem there would be no telling how powerful it would make her.
The other rule of time travel in Dragonlance is that it’s always equated to a river. It’s less a metaphor, and more just a truth of how time works. When someone travels back in time and actually manages to do something to alter the flow of the river of time, it takes a little while for that to impact the present. In other words, this isn’t Back to the Future where changing the past immediately changes everything to come. It also means that when traveling back in time again there’s no chance of running into one’s past self. Should Destina and Kairn return to the time of Huma once again, it’s basically like they were never there previously with Raistlin and Sturm. And if they’re successful, it will almost be like they were never there at either time. No one in their party will remember what happened and time will move on just as it did before. That is why Kairn is able to leap ahead of the river of time back to the present to even hatch this plan to save time itself.
That’s the general setup and for longtime fans of Dragonlance it’s almost like reading an alternate version of The War of Lance. We get to adventure with Tanis, Sturm, Caramon, Tas, Flint, and Raistlin on a quest to thwart the Dark Queen. And their maneuverings in this new Lost War era makes up the bulk of the book. Once again, the apparent protagonist of this new trilogy, Destina Rosethorn, is more or less sidelined. She obviously has her part to play in what happens, but it doesn’t consume a whole lot of ink. As a result, she’s hard to care about and her romance with Kairn is hardly what one would call steamy. It’s established quickly the two find each other attractive, but following that there’s no real insight into why they fall in love and are even discussing marriage at times. Perhaps it’s merely a relationship of lust and convenience for the both of them.
My criticisms of the Destina character are nothing new, so I’ll put a pin in that topic now. As for the rest, it’s very enjoyable to read about these characters together. I was worried it would play out more like a relay race when Dragons of Fate ended. Sturm and Raistlin’s part would be over and it would be onto Tanis and maybe Flint. Instead, we get basically the whole crew and it works. It’s fun, and while it isn’t an entire trilogy of these characters running around the world of Krynn, it’s substantial enough as a nostalgia trip. And the inclusion of Chaos, an entity that can actually alter time, and the interesting era in which this story began does create actual stakes.
I’m not going to spoil the ending of the book, but let’s just that the chronology of Dragonlance is forever altered by this book. And if you read the two previous, then you already knew that was going to happen. The Device of Time Journeying was changed in Dragons of Fate so it could no longer exist as it was supposed to in later books when it showed up. And if you are someone who is more plugged into the goings on of Dragonlance then you probably also suspected as much. Recently, I stumbled upon the below Tweet from author Margaret Weis concerning what would be the next book in the chronology, Dragons of Summer Flame:
As someone who doesn’t keep track of all things Dragonlance, that came as a surprise to me. That book was a bit divisive in the fandom, not because it’s bad or anything, but because of the change it brought (We fear change). I assume Tracy Hickman has similar feeling towards the book, but don’t know that for certain. Needless to say, if one were to reboot Dragonlance then the time of Dragonlance Destinies is a logical place for that reboot to take place. I was also under the impression that Dragons of Eternity was to be the last in the series for Weis and Hickman. I am not certain of where I read that or if it was my own assumption, but once you get to the end of Dragons of Eternity there is a note that both Weis and Hickman will be back with more works in the series. And at GenCon last month, it was confirmed that the next book from the duo will be about Huma and Magius set before The Third Dragon War. In other words, if you close this book wondering what’s going to happen next then you’re in for a wait.
And perhaps that wait could be forever? Maybe the point is to reset the timeline from a certain point and then let the readers imagine what comes next? It is my belief that Weis and Hickman approach their novels as their own entity. It’s a story they want to tell so even though they are tied into the game Dungeons & Dragons it doesn’t mean they’re writing something for the sake of said game. If they were to though, leaving players to adventure in a post Destinies Krynn wouldn’t be a bad spot. As for the trilogy itself, I enjoyed getting reacquainted with this world and its characters. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it fan service, but I do think Weis and Hickman share a lot of the same desires when it comes to these characters as their fans. They enjoyed putting them in a new adventure, some of the pairings we saw, and yes, some of the changes. There was an interaction of sorts teased throughout that didn’t come to play and I suppose I was left a little dissatisfied at that, but perhaps it’s for another story? Time travel stories can be messy, though they’re rarely boring. Dragons of Eternity is a good capper to this trilogy and is probably the strongest of three. If you’re a Dragonlance fan, especially one for a bygone era, then I do think you owe it to yourself to go on one more journey with these characters. It’s likely to a put smile on your face and keep it there for the whole duration of the adventure.
For more Dungeons & Dragons fun, give these a read:
Dragonlance – Dragons of Deceit (2022)
My favorite series of books as a youth belonged to Dragonlance. The Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting that spawned numerous novels was a world I enjoyed inhabiting. I didn’t fall into Dragonlance until I was in middle school and my very first book in the long-running series was Dragons of Summer Flame by Margaret Weis…
Keep reading
Dragonlance – Dragons of Fate (2023)
What’s this? After only doing one novel review in the 10+ year history of this blog we have two in the span of a week? That’s what happens when yours truly stumbles upon new stories in a beloved franchise. I outlined my experience with Dragonlance in last week’s review of Dragons of Deceit so there’s…
Keep reading
NECA Dungeons & Dragons Strongheart Ultimate Action Figure
It was roughly a year ago that I added Warduke to my collection from NECA Toys’ Dungeons & Dragons line of action figures. Warduke is basically a modern rendition of the character as featured in the vintage D&D toyline from LJN in the 80s. While I wasn’t a fan of that old toyline, I could…
Keep reading
The Nostalgia Spot 