Dragonlance: Chronicles Volume IV: Dragons of Summer Flame

by: Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman

Weis & Hickman were brought back from other worlds to write their last Dragonlance book.  The one to finish off the saga.

This time.  Until they were cajoled to come back again.  And again.  And again.

One thing I have to say though is that Summer Flame would have been the perfect send off so for all the other books that took place later on, they seem almost as if they are pretend and somewhat forced…just because it is the perfect ending.  That the saga continued on for years and novels afterwards did cheapen the tale a bit.

Overall the strengths are the usual Weis&Hickman strengths.  A very well defined and explored struggle of good vs. evil with epic arcs and powerful drama.  They manage to top the Queen of Darkness’ attempt to subjugate the world in the War of the Lance and even Raistlin’s attempt to achieve godhood in sheer insanity as the father of the gods returns to destroy his children and their creation in the world of Krynn.

The overlying problem is that this time around unfortunately, the characters just aren’t worth the time and effort to explore them so you care little about what happens to them.  Of course the older, pre-established characters are fine.  Tanis, Tas, Raistlin, and Dalamar.  But newer characters like Palin Majere, and Usha both fall very flat. Both are more important for their relationships (or in some cases non-relationships) on the surface level rather than who they really are.  There is little real explanation for anything they do.

Steel Brightblade is the antithesis of this as he is a new character that is given enough time to explore and feel so that his nobility and honor are strongly felt by the end of the novel.  In a way though he is more the continuation of Tanis than Tanis’ son Gilthas…or Steel’s own parentage of Sturm and Kitiara.  His warring within himself over whether to choose the greed and ambition of his mother or the honor and sacrifice of his father, is handled actually better than the way Weis&Hickman displayed Tanis in the original Chronicles Trilogy.

Another minor gripe I have is that the pacing is somewhat off.  It starts a little too slowly, taking a long time to build even despite beginning in the thick of things and then the ending comes rushing out of nowhere to an explosive climax.

One thing I was unsure of whether I liked or not was the ghosts.  Long dead characters returning from the grave seemed almost (and note I said almost) cheapen their deaths.  And it’s not a new thing in DL to have that happen, but it was less subtle this time around.  Kitiara and Sturm appear Obi-Wan like in a way they never have before, especially considering what Kitiara’s fate was supposed to have been.  Flint, who has always been appearing as Tas’ conscience is more real this time around and I don’t know how I react.

Raistlin’s return, I did like even though I didn’t think I would.  His comeback is treated well and is plausible in a sense.  Caramon and Raistlin’s reunion was a strong scene.

The death of so many characters made it clear that this was intended to be the last novel and it was almost too much.

BIGGER SPOILERS THAN USUAL:

Steel’s death, was almost too quick.  I wanted more novels to explore him, but it was well done.  Tanis’ death was almost cheap for having been the central character of the Chronicles, but his time had been done and the fact that he never got to see his son fight through adds a weight to it.  The best though is Tasslehoff.  Emotional and the epilogue is worth the book alone.  Touching touching scene.

Again his return later on does cheapen his demise here…although I can’t help but want to read about him.

END SPOILERS.

The only other nitpick I have in the book is Weis & HIckman’s overt style.  Usually overt, this time they go above and beyond the call of duty.  There is little subtlety to the novel as conclusions are drawn by astute and even not astute readers long before they are truly revealed.

Overall though, it’s the story and in that Weis & Hickman still have it.

B+