Rating:

Tanis and Another Dumb Romance

Authors: Barbara Siegel & Scott Siegel

Before the War of the Lance, the companions split up, each going on a separate adventure, fighting their personal demons and finding their destinies. As the finale to this Preludes series, which reveals each of the companions’ journeys (some of which are far better than others), we come back to the conflicted hero, Tanis Half-Elven. In The Chronicles, Tanis is torn between two loves and between two choices: good and evil. In this book, Tanis is once again in a complicated relationship, traveling back in time through the memory of a dying mage to rescue the mage’s true love.

The plot begins well enough, but once Tanis meets Kishpa, the dying mage, and accepts the dangerous quest so that he can meet his own father in the mage’s recollection, everything becomes, quite frankly, silly. As with any (and all) time traveling plots, this one is riddled with logical holes, even more so because the time travel is in someone else’s memory.

Through Kispha’s memory, Tanis experiences a long-ago war and becomes critical to its outcome. How can he manipulate history through someone’s memory? This is never answered, and as Tanis changes more and more things in the past, which have direct correlation to the future, readers become more confused. Just . . . what? How??

That’s when the love interest arrives. Brandella is Kishpa’s true love. A human woman who is, naturally, beyond gorgeous, she fights on the side of the elves. She is the sorcerer’s touchstone, and as such, he wants Tanis to somehow pull her out of his memory so that she can live on past his death. Which leaves many questions – wouldn’t she be living anyway or have already died from old age? If Tanis brings this Brandella, youthful, back in time, what happens if there is a current Brandella? And just . . .ugh. I don’t know. My brain hurts from the nonsensical logical puzzle, especially when we find out that taking this Brandella out of the memory parts her and Kispha in the past, ending their relationship prematurely. Just . . . it’s just stupid.

Image by Jim Cooper from Pixabay

And then Tanis, who was already involved in his love-triangle with Kitiara and Laurana, falls for this Brandella because she’s just so pretty. Discarding all his previous romances, which were a central theme in The War of the Lance and informed his wavering loyalties, he’s off chasing this literal ghost of a memory, adding another complicated relationship under his belt and frankly making this half-elf more womanizer than hero. Is there a woman on Krynn with whom he hasn’t had an ill-fated romance?

Oh, and that stuff about his father? The entire central “why” of him choosing to accept this daffy quest. Yeah, we spend literally one chapter on that and then it is ancient history.

The writing here is quality, as with all Dragonlance books, but the story suffers on so many levels. It’s illogical, the ending makes everything entirely pointless, the new romance for Tanis contradicts the entire history of the character and The War of the Lance. Tanis himself is just a wooden fantasy-figure stand in. There is nothing of the actual character here, just another epic fighter with a womanizing bent and a lot of near misses. If you love all things Dragonlance, and if you’ve read the other four Preludes, you’re going to feel the need to complete the set, as it were. You won’t hate this offering, but you won’t be drawn into it either. If you’re just a casual reader looking for the best of the series, stay well away from this flop. Sigh. Not recommended.

– Frances Carden

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The Preludes Series in Order:

 

The Chronicles Series in Order:

Frances Carden
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