Dominion Lord Gustav's life quest comes to in end as he finds the lost Sovereign stone. But all is not well, A Vykral, an undead creature of the Void has followed him. With orders to claim it. And a race to collect all portions of the stone commences.

This book was great. One of Weis and Hickman's best to date! They explain everything in such detail is as almost as if you are there in the fray. The character really come to life, gone are the normal straight forward evil characters. They develope them really well, giving some there own subplots that may well end up playing a huge role in the third and final book in this series.

Do yourself a favor. Pick up Well of Darkness if you have yet to do so. When finished pick up Guardians of the Lost. Then when finished with that, you can eagerly await the release of the third and final book in the Soverign Stone Trilogy (Journey into the Void)

This particular book is probably among the best they've written. A strange, thoughtful tale, the book is a reasonably gripping read, that traverses vast periods of time within a few pages. (17 years to be exact: compare that to Jordan's crawling behemoth, that moves a few days in the space of a thousand pages.) The action itself takes place in a much shorter period of time though, which is just as well I suppose.
I wont bother with detailing the plot, except to say that it's above average and well-detailed. The book has a tangible sense of sadness to it, a wistfulness that is lacking in most fantasies. The characters are well portrayed: Joram is convincing as the unloved, bitter young man, Simkin is one of the more amusing characters in fantasy, and Bishop Vanya's amoral approach to manipulation hits close to home. But the real triumph of the book (and indeed the series) is Saryon. In my opinion, he is simply one of the best characters to have ever appeared in a fantasy. So much of fantasy is carried on the shoulders of testosterone-laden heroes, 'great' warriors who never make mistakes and rarely regret their actions. Even if they do show some semblance of sorrow and regret, it's as convincing as a fish putting on a bicycle show. Saryon is a bitter, twisted, tortured man, who, above all else, is a simple, gentle soul caught up in a world that has started to go very wrong for him. The loss of his faith, his yielding to temptation, and his spiral into darkness caused by the burdens that he bears are immaculately described, and are very believable. He is a metaphor for a darkness within all our souls, a darkness different from greed and evil, but one just as devastating: the terrible malady of weakness. I have to take my hat off to the authors: they really created something special with Saryon.
Unfortunately, things go downhill from here. The second book is almost as good, but the third is almost overwhelmingly dissapointing. I'll leave you to find out what happens of course, (if you ever get that far), but suffice it to say that I nearly threw down my copy about a 100 pages into it.
In short: horrible third book aside, this is an unfairly underlooked series. Pick it up, if you have the chance.

The Series begins after years of Patryns trying to escape the Labrynith, taking over 20 years of Haplo's life and he was born in the middle of it, yet Haplo and the gang can go from the beginning to the end on in a day or 2?

That was a huge let-down for me so I can't give this book more than 3 stars...

Other than that it's great, and I loved the entire series and wish there were more, maybe a spin-off of Hugh the Hand's life prior to meeting Haplo.(My favorite character) It'd be great to learn more about the assassins

I thought the Well of Darkness was a unique fantasy story with many new twists to some of the old races, like dwarves and elves, but there was no real *star* in the book that I liked. The characters were either annoyingly good, or evil enough that I felt like killing them myself.

All in all, I am glad I got the book from my local library, instead of buying it right away like I considered. I think the book is worth a read and even a re-read, but I would wait to buy it in the paperback form. Hopefully the second book will introduce some characters I can begin to care about, like the outstanding Death Gate series that Weis and Hickman wrote.

Granted, some of the stories might not be the best that Weis & Hickman have ever come up with. But this anthology serves its purpose nicely (and stop knocking "Wanna Bet," do they have to be serious *all* of the time?). I can't wait to find out more about these characters (especially Steel & Palin!). If you're coming back to Dragonlance after a long hiatus, be sure to pick this book up first!

The first story is KITIARA'S SON. It tells the story of...umm...well...Kitiara's son. I won't tell you who the father is since that's one of the surprises of the story (I guarantee you will never guess this one!). In it, Weis and Hickman explore some of their favorite themes: love, honor, and duty. It is a very intriguing story and very well written.

LEGACY tells the story of Caramon and Tika's son Palin. We are also introduced to two of his other sons, Tanin and Sturm. Another classic tale from these two founders of the Dragonlance world. We again see the brilliant characterization and character interaction that made the CHRONICLES and LEGENDS trilogies so great to read.

We get a better look at the interaction between Caramon's three sons in WANNA BET? We get to see Weis and Hickman's classic humor once again in this story (albeit, without a glimpse of a kender's topknot). The situations these three men get themselves into despite their best efforts made me laugh out loud.

RAISTLIN'S DAUGHTER regales us with a legend circulating in the land of Krynn, the unbelievable story that Raistlin fathered a child. This story introduces new characters that play very important roles in DRAGONS OF SUMMER FLAME. I was kind of disappointed in this story. The characters just didn't seem as vivid as in the others. The story was interesting, but it just didn't seem to come alive for me.

The last story involves Tanis and his son Gilthas. It is an emotionally charged story of elven political intrigue. Weis and Hickman again nail their characterization with this story. The elven politician that played a pivotal role was excellently drawn, although I would have liked a bit more insight as to his motivations.

All in all, I enjoyed this book. It's not required reading if you're going to pick up DRAGONS OF SUMMER FLAME, but it will give you a better understanding of the characters. Weis and Hickman definitely still have what it takes to spin a good Dragonlance tale.