Dragons of Spring Dawning by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Dragons.

Creatures of legend. Stories told to children.

But now dragons have returned to Krynn. The darkness of war and destruction engulfs the land.

Hope dawns with the coming of spring. Armed at last with the dragonlances, the heroes lead the people in the final desperate battle against the dragons.

Knight and barbarian, warrior and half-elf, dwarf and kender and dark-souled mage; they must overcome their own doubts and resolve their own conflicts before they can hope to defeat -

Takhisis, the Queen of Darkness.

Well, that was an ending!

The third book of the Chronicles trilogy. If you've read the first 2, there's no reason not to finish this incredible trilogy. It again continues straight from book without letting the pacing slow. All the various plot lines and loose ends starts to thread together as the plot approaches the finale. As the last page flips over, you're left with a sense of awe and disbelief; the story felt so real, so believable, that it's hard to find it just a fantasy.

This review is also featured on Behind the Pages: Dragons of Spring Dawning

Takhisis gathers her armies at Neraka, ready to march on the rest of Krynn and burn it to the ground. The companions armed with both Dragonlances and Dragons Orbs race to put an end to Takhisis's armies. But along the way, they will have a hard road to follow. One that will divide them and cause them to make difficult choices. Can the companions survive what awaits them?

The companions must venture from one challenge to another as they race to save Krynn and there is plenty of action to go around. Lingering questions from the first two books will be answered, and some of those answers may surprise readers. And as everything winds down every one of the companions will reach the end of their developmental arc, leaving them all as vastly different characters from when the reader first met them.

Being the series it is, Dragonlance offers readers many opportunities to expand their knowledge of the races, history of Krynn and just about any character they encounter in The Chronicles. There are some gaps in the story that the reader has to fill themselves. A first-time reader may be confused, but trust me, the information is out there. Enough hints are dropped to form an idea of what happened within Dragons of Spring Dawning, but the full stories are contained in supplemental books. And they are definitely worth investing time into.

I lingered on this book, trying to savor the adventures as long as I could. I was happy to say that I didn't remember the ending exactly and it was great experiencing it all over again. And just like the first time I finished reading Dragons of Spring Dawning, I wanted to dive into the other books in the Dragonlance series to learn more. The companions will face their toughest challenges yet and will have to confront heartbreak and loss. Dragons of Spring Dawning is a powerful end to an engaging trilogy.