Dragons of a Fallen Sun (Dragonlance: The War of Souls, Volume I)

Finally! Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman have returned to Krynn, picking up at long last Dragonlance's seminal--and best--story line. Following directly on the heels of 1996's Dragons of Summer Flame, this new trilogy (dubbed The War of Souls) continues the arc begun with their phenomenally popular Chronicles series released so many moons ago. This first installment, Dragons of a Fallen Sun, sets up another epic conflict for the poor war-torn, dragon-beset populace of Krynn, some 40 years after the close of the Chaos War (and even longer since the triumph of the Companions in the War of the Lance), with the great dragons holding sway over most of Ansalon.

The action in Fallen Sun breaks as the mother of all storms sweeps across Ansalon, wreaking havoc on all the book's players: the Knights of Neraka (n e Takhisis) laying siege to Solamnic-controlled Sanction; the elves of Qualinesti and their hated cousins the Silvanesti, barricaded behind an enormous magical shield; the aging Goldmoon in the Citadel of Light; the dragons, Malys, Beryl, et al., holed up in their lairs; even Bertrem and the librarians of Palanthas must scramble to keep their precious volumes dry. But it's a small girl who lies at the center of all this, an enigmatic waif who's quietly begun a bloody path of conquest in the name of the One God--even though now, in the Fifth Age, magic is on the wane and Krynn has no gods. Or does it? Heroes still die, mysteries still go unsolved, and Weis and Hickman show that they've still got it in spades, introducing a new set of characters (plus a couple of old favorites) and enough plot and locale jumps to keep you from wandering off. (The duo even provides enough backstory for Dragonlance neophytes to follow along.) --Paul Hughes