Dragons of Spring Dawning

Quest the First...

Read at least 5 books that fit somewhere within the Once Upon a Time II criteria. They might all be fantasy, or folklore, or fairy tales, or mythology…or your five books might be a combination from the four genres.
Book 3: Dragons of Spring Dawning by: Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast (September 1, 2003)
ISBN-10: 0786930705


Amazon Description: The final installment in Weis and Hickman's Chronicles series--Dragonlance's undisputed must-read trilogy--brings on the main event: the Companions vs. the dragons in a knock-down drag-out at the iron works of Pax Tharkas, as the fate of Krynn hangs in the balance. They've mastered the Orbs and picked up the Dragonlance and things are looking pretty good with the return of the good metallic dragons. But the band soon learns they must do battle with their own inner conflicts if they ever hope to defeat the Dark Queen Takhisis.
By the time you get to book 3 of this series, you will find yourself well invested in the characters. Even before now, they are your friends. You want to see them come out on top. You want them to win. You want them to be happy. One thing you don't want is anyone of them to die.
Let me just say that there were parts to book 3 in which I bawled my eyes out. Sigh.. I had forgotten..no, I had let the characters fade in my mind while I waited for so many years to reread these books. I remembered them.. but not as much as I thought I had. They were definitely with me while I read this book. They were back in the forefront of my mind, and back in my heart.
I did cry.
This series surely had good times.. times that made me smile, times that made me laugh.. and like I said times that made me cry.
Another thing... something I absolutely forgot! A whole chapter of the book that I didn't remember at all! The chapter was titled An Old Man and a Dragon. The Old Man the title refers to is a Mage who can't seem to remember his name... Fizban, nor the words to his magic spells (his old dragon is no better off!). Some dialogue that made me smile went like this:
Dialogue: pg 197 (chapter title: An Old Man and a Golden Dragon)
"Wait! " he yelled, coughing and choking, "Wait for me!"
"Who are you that I should wait?" Pyrite roared. The dragon stared through the billowing sand. "Are you my wizard?"
"Yes, yes," the old man called hastily. "I'm-uh- your wizard. Drop your wing a bit so I can climb on. Thanks, there's a good fellow. Now, I... oh! Whoah! I'm not strapped in!... Look out! My hat! Confound it, I didn't tell you to take off yet!"
"We've got to reach the battle in time," Pyrite cried fiercely. "Huma's fighting alone!"
"Huma!" the old man snorted. "Well, you're not going to arrive in time for that battle! Few hundred years late. But that's not the battle I had in mind. It's those four dragons there, to the east. Evil creatures! We've got to stop them.."
"Dragon's ! Ah, yes! I see them!" roared Pyrite, swooping up in hot pursuit of two extremely startled and highly insulted eagles.
"No! No! " yelled the old man, kicking the dragon in the flanks. "East, you ninny! Fly two more points to the east!"
"Are you sure you're my wizard?" Pyrite asked in a deep voice. "My wizard never spoke to me in that tone."
"I'm- ah sorry, old fellow," the old man said quickly, "just a bit nervous. Upcoming conflict and all that."
"By the gods, there are four dragons!" Pyrite said in astonishment, having just caught a blurred glimpse of them.
"Take me in close so I can get a good shot at them," the old man shouted. "I have a really wonderful spell- Fireball. Now," he muttered,"if I can just remember how it goes."
And so, Weis and Hickman do a wonderful job of mixing some humor and sadness into their story. This book ends the Dragonlance Chronicles Trilogy... only to open the next ! The Legends Trilogy. (Time of the Twins, War of the Twins, and Test of the Twins.) And there's more Dragonlance after those if you so choose to read on. Mostly the other books separates and zooms in on one war or one "species" (elves/ dwarfs etc) You could probably read nothing but Dragonlance for an entire year! But of all the Dragonlance books these 6 I am rereading will forever be the cream of the crop!