When Tanis Half-Elven returns to Solace after 5 years abroad, he expects to sit down with some of his closest friends for a chat about the state of the world. When he arrives at the designated meeting place, he finds some of his companions are already there: Sturm, the solemn knight who serves an order almost forgotten, Flint the old dwarf, Tas, an irrepressibly curious kender whose light fingers often get him into trouble, Caramon, a warrior by all stretches of the imagination, and Caramon's twin brother, Raistlin, a sickly but powerful mage who recently underwent a transformation that left him bitter and cynical to even his brother. The adventurous group, each pursuing different goals, made an oath years ago to meet at Solace to discuss how the world is changing, but one of them is missing; Kitiara, Caramon and Raistlin's half-sister and the object of Tanis's favor. The breaking of the oath is bound to be a bad omen, and sure enough, not long after their arrival, trouble breaks out. Sturm, adhering to the Code he values above all else, picked up two barbarian on the way to the meeting, a man and a woman bearing a strange staff that seems to be the talk of the town. To make matters even worse, Solace has been overrun by hobgoblins claiming to serve a Dragon Highlord of the dark queen Takhisis, despite the fact that dragons haven't been seen in Krynn for ages. The combination of these two factors result in a fight in the inn and the companions are forced to flee with the barbarians and the strange staff in tow.
Unsure of how to proceed now that they know that someone is after the staff and evil is making its way through the land, the friends once again band together for a common cause; find the origin of the magical staff and its healing powers, and deal with the threat presented by the armies of the Dragon Highlord. Unfortunately, the latter presents problems for the former, with strange, lizard-like creatures called draconians patrolling the paths for any sign of the magical staff. Their flight pushes them into Darken Wood, a forest feared for the evil presence lurking within its borders. Inside the wood, they encounter the fabled ghost warriors, who, surprisingly, recognize the staff. Just in the nick of time, a band of centaurs appears and leads the group to the Forestmaster, a unicorn who has also sensed the rising evil in the land. She insists that the companions travel to Xak Tsaroth, an ancient city that fell when the gods were believed to have abandoned Krynn. There, they would discover the key to the staff. In spite of some opposition, the group travels to the old city hoping to settle the mystery once and for all. When they finally reach Xak Tsaroth, they discover the horrifying truth; dragons are back in Krynn, and they're on the wrong side. Goldmoon, the bearer of the staff, finds herself in the temple at Xak Tsaroth, where she discovers that the staff is a sacred symbol of a cleric of Mishakal, the goddess of healing. She becomes a disciple of Mishakal, giving her healing powers that come in handy when the group is almost killed by the dragon that lives in the city, and learns that she must recover the disks of Mishakal if they want to have any hope of driving the Dragon Highlord's forces from Krynn. In the underbelly of the city, the companions must work with gully dwarves who have been enslaved by the draconians to help secure the disks. Eventually, however, they manage to retrieve them and begin the long journey back home.
To their shock, Solace has been all but burned down by draconian armies, and they, along with the barmaid Tika, are captured at the inn after a fight. On the way to the slave mines where they are to serve their sentence, they meet up with a befuddled old magician named Fizban who seems to be more than he appears. Another stranger turns out to be Gilthanas, an elven prince who used to be friends with Tanis and was on a scouting mission when captured. When they travel through the woods on the way to the mines, they are rescued by elves and taken to the House of the Speaker of the Suns. There, Tanis has a painful reunion with his first love, a beautiful elf princess named Laurana. Despite his efforts to turn her away, Laurana follows the group on a rescue mission to the mines, where men, women, and children are being held captive and overseen by dragons. While journeying to the mines, they come across a band of men that had been slain by the draconian armies; one man, Eben, managed to survive, and he journeys with them for revenge. By the time they reach the mines, some of them will be lost and others will betray them. Read the book to find out if they manage to rescue the captured citizens and defeat the Dragon Highlord!
As I'm sure you can tell by the veeeeery long summary, this book is veeeeery long. Reading it almost feels like you're reading a whole series compacted into one novel. That being said, it's got plenty of humor (thanks to an oh-so-tumultuous-but-actually-caring relationship between the dwarf and the kender) and the plot has enough twists and turns to keep you interested. Additionally, this novel is like an essential oil of fantasy; it's highly concentrated in the usual fantasy tropes. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes it's can be a little too much fantasy. If you don't like long, drawn out stories, I wouldn't advise this novel. If you do like long, very fantasy-based books, I'd say give it a go. Worst case scenario, you hate it and never have to waste another second on it. Best case scenario, you love it and decide to add it to your collection!
Pros:
- Epic quest narrative
- Fairly balanced plot
- Unicorns (obviously)
- Very lengthy
- Plays up fantasy tropes A LOT
- A teeny bit sexist in a couple of parts, but I wouldn't say it's overpoweringly so
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