This book explored the War of Souls era, through the everyday peoples eyes. The front cover tells that it is the first volume of a series. That is of course not right. In fact there also were Bertrem's Guide to the Age of Mortals(which was terrible boring, to say the least), but this is much better.
What i think makes it better is that the book consists of journals written by different knights, or Qualinesti rebels, among other things, and in writing journals it makes the book much more interesting than Bertrem's Guide to the Age of Mortals.
It isn't a masterpiece. Some of the stories are very good, and some are still a little boring. John Grubber's part of the book was, after my opinion the most boring, while Jeff Crook's journal of a Qualinesti rebel was very well written and exciting.
It isn't one of the best Dragonlance books, but it is not bad, it is absolutely worth reading, if you love the War of Souls era.

That's right, two stars, I would have given it more but only two thirds of the book was readable. Any one that has read my other reviews knows that I'm not the biggest Nancy Varian Berberick fan, and this book didn't help her score any points to win me over. You should remember before buying this that it is a source book, if you are coming in expecting some story that gives info on the Fifth Age as it goes along than you are wrong.

What you get is good old information, in a half way cool fashion. The way that the authors did that is that they made it as if they themselves were working for Bertrem in Ansalon, and he was nice enough to give a foreword, notes on the writings, and an afterword. I liked this better than just throwing out info and stats like most source books do.

Now the authors themselves, best to worst (and we all know who that is). First is Paul Thompson, he did a great job, the section about Politics is one of the most interesting source readings about Ansalon ever. Stan as always was funny and solid, but nothing that really kept me reading.

Last of course is Mrs. Berberick. She's not a bad writer, I just don't think she is a dragonlance writer, she is way too descriptive and flowery. An example is "Can we say with certainty that they yet pile up their lovely tresses of silver and golden so they may wear the shimmering veils of sheerest silks flowing from their coiffures as clouds stream round the glimmering sun-shining mountains?"...excuse me? I mean does that really belong in dragonlance? I personally think it is a bit overboard for DL, good for some other novel (romance?), but not in the Dragonlance shared world.

Final Thought: You really have to love the Fifth Age to get this and enjoy it totally, if you have money and want to buy a DL book then go ahead, but don't expect something that will change your view of Krynn.

For die-hard fans (like myself) this book is good, I did like the Arms and Armor section, and the games and stuff are cool. What really bothers me is some loss of continuity with the rest of the Dragonlance world. The most glaring example comes as a footnote in the aformentioned Arms and Armor section where Laurana was supposedly standing next to Sturm Brightblade while shooting a dark knight, I assume that means knights of Takhisis/Neraka which did not exist until 20 yr after Sturm died. Also, elves getting married at 20 yrs old or something, I thought they weren't even adults until the age of 80. If you can get past these few problems, though, it really can be an enjoyable read, but for the best filler information pick up one of the Leaves From the Inn of the Last Home titles.

If you're new to Krynn and you want to learn more about it , go straight ahead an buy this book , it explains a lot of stuff , including a nice amount of history about the various races in the book . However if you have been with Dragonlance for a while and , then pass it up , it has some nice stuff , but it doesn't describe a lot of stuff on the land of the Dragon overlords, talks a LOT about culinary stuff . Doesn't say anything about gnomes or gully dwarves but talks a lot about elves and kenders and ogres and humans , interresting but doesn't fo much for those who read the books and already knew everything about the current situation for the races listed above(except for the ogres) . The authors who wrote this did include a bunch of games and some celebrations and that was a litle original . All in all it is sort of entertaining but if you want to learn about the Legion of steell or the Knights of Nerak or any group ( except the knights of Solamnia) then don't bother picking this book up. I could go on about the weapon section simply talking about clubs and swords, nothing on weapons found only in Ansalon, such as the Hoopack , but I'll just let you choose for yourself....

Wow, im really disappointed in NVB's latest work.

I really wish some of these dragonlance authors would do a little more research. I had recently finished a good dragonlance book called kindred spirits. the end of that books talks about how kethrenans brother was the mastermind behind the entire affair leading to tanis being born.
This book acts like that book doesnt even exist.....kindred spirits? WHAT kindred spirits.
another small fact that the author included into this book that shows a complete lack of research: she states the hill dwarves were formed because of the cataclysm when almost every other dragonlance book out there talks about (including the dwarven nations trilogy) how the hill dwarves were formed right from the beginning of thorbardins existance

This kind of misinformation is terribly distracting from an otherwise descent story. NVB definitly has the story writting ability but she MUST know a world before making up facts about it

the book did have good characters and good flow. as i mentioned before the auther is definitly talented and I would love to see her write more books for dragonlance in the future.

You should have to have read all the DL books in order to write for them. I did not even realize this story was about Tanis's mother until I read all the other reviews because in one of the prelude books (Tanis The Shadow Years, I think) he goes back in time and meets his mother and it is nothing like this. Anyways my other complaint is that his mother throughout the entire book wants to be rescued and hates the people who captured her then in the last 20 pages all the sudden she hates her husband and loves Brand. It was a bit of a stretch for me.

First and foremost! I've been reading Dragonlance with a vengance since 1992. I'm not of the group that believe Weis and Hickman are the only two who should write the Dragonlance saga. I've read almost all the books with the exceptions of the new books that haven't been published yet (Which I will when they come out). With this in mind, I found the story to be very enjoyable! I thought the plot was exceptable. I also think that the author tackled a big subject and did an exceptable job with it. Like one of the other reviewers that I have read, I think that the secondary characters made the book. Which I think works for this book. To me the main characters were the main characters because of circumstance rather than strengthness of charcter. I loved the grizzly dwarf with a past. I am curious about a few things because of this book. I want to know what happens when Elansa and Char get to the Qualinesti homeland. I felt the book should of went on. Also I felt that the characters needed more explanation, such as Ley and his daughter. Why was Ley a Dark Elf, and who was his human lover. In conclusion I want to say that I enjoyed this book and the secondary characters. I feel that although this story isn't my favorite in the Dragonlance saga, it is in the dragonlance saga and is useful in understanding the happenings on Krynn and it's inhabitants along it's lengthy timeline! Read it, it's worth it!