''Dragons of Summer Flame'' is a 1995

fantasy novel Fantasy literature is literature set in an imaginary universe, often but not always without any locations, events, or people from the real world. Magic, the supernatural and magical creatures are common in many of these imaginary worlds. Fa ...

by American writers

Margaret Weis Margaret Edith Weis (; born March 16, 1948) is an American fantasy and science fiction author, of dozens of novels and short stories. At TSR, Inc., she teamed with Tracy Hickman to create the ''Dragonlance'' role-playing game (RPG) world. She is ...

and

Tracy Hickman Tracy Raye Hickman (born November 26, 1955) is an American fantasy author. He wrote the ''Dragonlance'' novels with Margaret Weis. He also wrote role playing game material while working for TSR, Inc., TSR and has cowritten novels with his wife, ...

. The events of the novel follow the fictional Chaos War in the

Dragonlance ''Dragonlance'' is a shared universe created by Laura and Tracy Hickman, and expanded by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis under the direction of TSR, Inc. into a series of fantasy novels. The Hickmans conceived ''Dragonlance'' while driving in t ...

world.

Publication history

''Dragons of Summer Flame'' was first published by

TSR, Inc. TSR, Inc. was an American game publishing company, best known as the original publisher of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D''). Its earliest incarnation, Tactical Studies Rules, was founded in October 1973 by Gary Gygax and Don Kaye. Gygax had been ...

in November 1995, with a first printing of 200,000 copies. On November 26, it became a ''New York Times'' Bestseller. It was reprinted in February 2002 by

Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and List of science fiction themes, science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for ga ...

. In April 1996, the book was recorded on four audio cassettes in an abridged version by HighBridge Audio, read by Wanda McCaddon.

Plot summary

After a battle, the Nightlord Steel Brightblade finds

Palin Majere This is a list of characters in the ''Dragonlance'' series of fantasy novels and related fantasy role-playing game materials. It includes accounts of their early lives in the series. Characters Alhana Starbreeze Alhana Starbreeze, Silvanesti El ...

, nephew of the famed mage Raistlin. He allows him to return with the bodies of his two brothers, slain in the battle, to their parents,

Caramon Caramon Majere (326 AC - 38 SC) is a fictional character from the Dragonlance books. He is depicted as a fighter and is one of the main characters in Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's first Dragonlance trilogy, the ''Dragonlance Chronicles''. C ...

and Tika. The Knights of Takhisis visit an island where the hidden race of Irda make their home. The Irda hide themselves with an illusion, pretending to be primitive humans, and the knights leave. This fearful encounter causes the Irda to believe that another invasion will come, and convinces them to break open a magical item known as the Greygem of Gargath. The Irda did not know that the Graygem holds the entity known as Chaos inside it, long thought too dangerous to dabble with, which sets in motion the Chaos War. Among the Irda is Usha, an orphaned human girl they had raised among them. They believed while their kind would be immune to the effect of the Greygem, that she, being a human, might be affected by it. So they decided to send her away, giving her a message to deliver to Lord Dalamar, master of the Tower of High Sorcery in Palanthas. After she is gone, they crack open the Greygem and release the god Chaos.

Reception

Maryanne Booth reviewed ''Dragons of Summer Flame'' for ''Arcane'' magazine, rating it an 8 out of 10 overall. She called the story "well-formed and entertaining, the pace is good and it holds your interest to the end." A reviewer for ''

Dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

'' magazine said that the book "...completes the

original trilogy The original ''Star Wars'' trilogy, formerly marketed as the ''Star Wars'' Trilogy (and colloquially referred to as the 'original trilogy'), is the first set of three films produced in the ''Star Wars'' franchise, an American space opera cre ...

on a resounding note." The many character deaths in the book brought the Dragonlance series to an apparent ending point, which was resolved by taking the world into the Fifth Age, the Age of Mortals. That in combination with TSR's change in the accompanying game rules "ended up splitting Dragonlance fandom", according to Weis.

Reviews

*''Backstab'' #7 *''

Magia i Miecz ''Magia i Miecz'' (Polish language, Polish for: ''Magic and Sword'') was the first Role-playing game, RPG-oriented magazine in Poland. Started in 1993, it ceased publishing in 2002 after 103 issues. The publisher was Wydawnictwo MAG. Tomasz Kołod ...

'' #51 (March 1998) (Polish)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dragons Of Summer Flame 1995 American novels American fantasy novels Core Dragonlance novels Novels by Margaret Weis Novels by Tracy Hickman

Publication history

Plot summary

Reception

Reviews

See also

References