Title: Dragons of Eternity
Author: Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
Publication Date: August 6, 2024 by Random House Worlds
Genres: Fantasy
Protagonist Gender: Various
Dragons of Eternity marks the end of an absolutely wonderful return to the world of Krynn, and an absolutely delightful reunion with the Heroes of the Lance. Nostalgia can be a finicky thing, with the magic of our youth often impossible to recapture, but Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman have absolutely nailed it. Reading this final chapter in Dragonlance Destinies, I was transported back to the floor outside my high school cafeteria where I lost myself in the original Dragonlance Chronicles.
If you've been following along with the trilogy, a combination of time travel and alternate realities has conspired to bring together Companions alive, dead, and not yet dead for a pivotal adventure. What began with Tasslehoff and grew to involve Raistlin and Sturm comes full circle here in more ways than one, taking us back to the fateful night that launched the original trilogy and opening up the story to the likes of Tanis, Flint, Laurana, Goldmoon, and more. The twist is that they're converging from different timelines, which means there's reuniting of friends on one side, urgent introductions to strangers on the other, and awkward explanations in between.
Alternate timelines/realities are one of my favorite tropes in fiction, while prequels are probably my least favorite, so I had mixed feelings going into this series, but Weis & Hickman have done a masterful job. Somehow they've managed to navigate things so that the story explores some fascinating what-if scenarios as they work to restore what should happen, but chaos allows for the kind of genuine tension you don't often find in a prequel.
Kitiara and Flint are two notable beneficiaries of the Graygem's chaos (for very different reasons), but it's Raistlin who gets the biggest opportunity to alter his story (which I loved), and Tasslehoff who is presented with the biggest moral dilemma in restoring history (which tugged so hard at my heartstrings). This is a reunion with old friends, a chance to explore old stories in a new light, but it's also a significant addition to the Dragonlance canon, both in terms of story and characters. Speaking of characters, I was not a fan of Destina in the first two books, often resenting how she was forced into a familiar story, but she comes into her own here and ultimately won me over.
A success in terms of nostalgia and storytelling, a triumph of recapturing familiar magic while creating something new, Dragons of Eternity is the kind of epic fantasy that just makes your soul sing.
Rating: ♀ ♀ ♀ ♀ ♀
My sincere thanks to the publisher for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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