Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman ’s originalDragonlancenovels are n’t just considered some of the finestDungeons & Dragonsbooks ever written , but are some of the most darling phantasy fib of all clip . Richard A. Knaak ’s The Legend of Huma is also a Dragonlance novel , but the law of similarity arrest there .
compose in 1988 , The Legend of Huma is not only a prequel to Weis and Hickman ’s original Chronicles trilogy , it ’s also the inaugural book in the six - part Heroes series , each of which concentrate on different case . It ’s also the first Dragonlance novel not written by the couplet or asterisk any of their main characters , which was a risk of exposure that pay off ( see below ) . possibly it helped that Huma is the hero who first find the weapons that give the D&D effort setting its name , which are indeed lance meant to be wielded by people ride dragons for the intended determination of more expeditiously murder other dragon .
Now , for your “ What Did Rob Remember About This D&D Book ” status update : Nothing . I sleep with for certain I did n’t take Huma because after I read the Weis and Hickman books I was n’t interested enough in Dragonlance to do any further meter reading . I do n’t believe this is a bang on those Word of God , although I guess I ’ll know for certain when I get around to take them . I ’m pretty sure I was always aForgotten Realmsguy at affectionateness . Now , whether that ’s because I found Dragonlance ’s more specific setting too restrictive or I just preferred the Realms ’ incredibly generic mark of fantasy to something more amply realized is anybody ’s speculation .
A close-up of Jeff Easley’s original cover for The Legend of Huma.Image: Wizards of the Coast
https://gizmodo.com/dungeons-dragons-novels-revisiting-darkwalker-on-m-1844776398
Knaak ’s story begins with Huma ’s first mission as a Knight of Solamnia and ends with his banishment of the Takhisis , the goddess of immorality , also make love as the Dragonqueen . It ’s the form of heroic journey that really needs an epical trilogy to be justified , but rather there ’s one novel that only select post over a few months max . Still , I ’m happy there were n’t any other books because the first half of The Legend of Huma was sorely boring .
Huma starts out as a reasonably scared novice who is inexplicably hated by most of the other horse , which is fine . The problem is that for that first half he ’s entirely reactionary . He ’s just randomly swept forth , sometimes literally , sometimes figuratively , by events . He ’s attacked , he ’s catch , he flow away , he ’s order to go places , he bumps into main characters like Kaz the minotaur and his good protagonist Magius , a recreant magic - user ( which is a expectant no - no in the world of Dragonlance ) . The quest that gets him the Dragonlances is nonsensicality ; Magius tells him there ’s a mountain somewhere that has something important for the on-going war between the Knights of Solamnia and the military force of Takhisis . The vagueness robs the plot of any excitement or urgency , and I authentically had to fight off rest to keep reading through the first 18 chapters .
The cover of The Legend of Huma re-release by Duane O. Myers.Image: Wizards of the Coast
Thankfully , once Huma get down to the mickle — more specifically , the cave at the top of the plenty — things pick up vastly . thing get chivalric when he ’s force to face three challenges to get the unidentified something : fighting the Wymrfather , rooting out the traitor in the Knights of Solamnia , and resisting the office of an evil sword . After come through the lances ( 21 of them , to be precise ) things stay at a brisk clip for the sleep of the novel . Huma fights Takhisis ’ mostly immortal general Crynus , has to turn back the fishgig from by steal by the Dragonqueen ’s agents , fails to blockade Magius from getting kidnapped by same , and then it ’s the last fight , which Knaak peg almost as well asR.A. Salvatore did in Streams of Silver .
The battle feels befittingly epic . It ’s passably much the entire last one-quarter of the book , and thing feel good hopeless for the hero . The Knights have had their armored posterior kick throughout the history , and now they have to somehow tolerate against Takhisis ’ legions of evil man , ogres , apostate mages , and hundreds upon hundreds of evil red , blue , green , white , and black Draco . There are some metal Draco ( a.k.a . the just single ) with them , but there are still less than two dozen lance to wield on them . Plus , Huma eventually has to agitate the goddess herself , and he just manages to eke out a winnings in a mode that find genuinely satisfying .
Alas , there ’s still plenty of unearned gimcrack . The forcefulness of beneficial get more Dragonlances when the possibly immortal but still somehow impressive blacksmith ( who had been in the mystical cave for C ) short show up out of nowhere to the Knights ’ citadel and start boil them out . To defeat Takhisis ’ mega - knock-down thaumaturgist , Huma on the spur of the moment thinks of Magius ’ abandoned magical stave — something that ’s held no grandness to this point in the book , specially to Huma , and not implied to have any special powers in any shape — and is somehow able to summon it out of nowhere , and then he confound the magical faculty instead of using it like an real magic stave to save the daytime . ( Even more bizarrely , the staff can also decapitate gargoyles somehow . ) Similarly , the reveal of the betrayer — who I ’m not going to spoil , although I do n’t bonk why — isn’t an “ A - ha ! ” moment as much of a “ Wait , what ? ” here and now .
A slightly tilted version of Jeff Easley’s original cover art for the novel. It’s nice, but Huma rides a silver dragon.Image: Wizards of the Coast
No lineament other than Huma has anything approaching a report arc or emotional journey . the great unwashed keep telling Huma ( finally ) that he ’s the great , most pious Knight to have ever existed , but there ’s not really any evidence of the former until he takes bearing and kicks immense ass in the last battle ; other than believing in his god Paladine , I have no idea what the novel is refer to . I conceive there is a individual female character with duologue of more than a few assembly line , and she spends half of her clock time moonlighting as a firedrake ( who falls in love with Huma , of course of instruction ) . Speaking of dialogue , there are some really of import conversations that Knaak tells us about in recital or else of letting the characters , you acknowledge , talk to each other .
https://gizmodo.com/dungeons-dragons-novels-revisiting-vampire-of-the-1845744777
The Legend of Huma rolls an 8 on the ol’ 1d20 , although as I type that I wonder if I ’m overvaluing it a little because the back half seemed so good compared to the first part . That ’s the same score asStreams of Silver , which was evenly vagabond and ( as discuss ) a photocopy of Tolkien , but had good characters and was more fun overall . But let ’s recall I may just have some eldritch aversion to Dragonlance that may be coloring my legal opinion ; after all , The Legend of Huma supposedlysold more copiesthan the Dragonlance secret plan … although I ca n’t help but call up Weis and Hickman did the gruelling lifting with their novels . I guess I ’ll see eventually , although I ’m in no rush to find out .
Close-up of the cover of first issue of The Legend of Huma comic adaptation by Mike S. Miller.Image: Wizards of the Coast/Devil’s Due
Assorted Musings:
All the Knights of Sidonia have long , flowy moustache . I ’m not sure how I feel about this , although I mistrust I would have disapproved in 1988 , when mustache popularity was decidedly on the ebbing .
I did n’t realise this until I started check theDragonlance wiki , but Huma meets the god Paladine in camouflage on his fashion to the cave . Paladine is gently obnoxious , which seems like a weird thing for the god of goodness to be .
The high wizard of Takhisis basically enjoin Huma that his goddess will have sex with him if he switch . Takhisis later repeats the offer . It ’s also a little uncanny .
Apparently , Huma and Gwyneth , his part - sentence dragon love interest group , have a son bring up Liam . If you ’ve record The Legend of Huma , you ’ll know this is implausibly flakey and seemingly insufferable . The kid only express up in the Dragons of Chaos shortsighted story collecting . But this was redact by Weis and Hickman , so … [ shrug ]
Next month : After hanging with Huma , I could use something I ’m excite about . So permit ’s find out what Alias and Dragonbait are up to in theAzure Bondssequel and next Holy Scripture in the Finder ’s Stone trilogy , The Wyvern ’s Spur !
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