Darkness and Light (Dragonlance, Preludes, Vol. 1) (v. 1) [Mass Market Paperback]

Paul B. Thompson (Author), Tonya R. Carter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 20, 1989

Before the War of the Lance.

The Companions have gone their separate ways, each vowing to return with news of the growing darkness in Ansalon. Sturm Brightblade, a warrior whose honor is his life, and Kitiara, a passionate woman of uncertain loyalties, travel north in search of Sturm's long-lost father.

Before they reach their destination, a band of gnomes begs for their help. But nothing with gnomes ever goes as planned. The two adventurers are soon thrown into a perilous adventure that will take them beyond the realms of Ansalon, through love and hate, to darkness and light.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Paul B. Thompson & Tonya C. Cook have collaborated on numerous Dragonlance novels, including the recent releases Children of the Plains, Brother of the Dragon, and Sister of the Sword. Both authors live in North Carolina. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Wizards of the Coast; First Edition, First Printing edition (May 20, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 088038722X
• ISBN-13: 978-0880387224
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,087,631 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not Really Horrible, but No Good Either, July 24, 2002

By 

Heather Richards "darkjediqueen" (a galaxy far far away) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Darkness and Light (Dragonlance, Preludes, Vol. 1) (v. 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

I tried to like this book, really I did. I went into it expecting a light read, not Shakespeare mind you. But light reads are supposed to be LIGHT! This book was either too conspicuously trying to take itself seriously or too conciously trying to be funny.

The main gist is that Sturm and Kitiara accidentally end up on another planet when the flying machine they are riding in with a band of gnomes breaks. Once on the planet it's a series of misadventures trying to get supplies to leave which eventually leads them to a brass dragon in an obelisk. When they finally get back to Krynn, Sturm inexplicably joins a group of herders to find his father, barely being saved by Kitiara before being done in by a magician warrior. Did I mention the deadend plot about a pirate ship? I won't even try to go into that.

The characters were strikingly bland. Sturm is such an over-pious, stuffy character it's hard to sympathize with him and Kitiara is just obnoxious, bemoaning how the world doesn't work out perfectly for her. The gnomes are interchangable and so annoying one wants to put them all in a box and sink them to the bottom of the ocean. The one chapter featuring Raistlin and Caramon was better than most of the other characterization put together. Raistlin is such a magnetic character it's hard to write him poorly.

Initially, if the authors had stuck to the later plot of the book, with Sturm looking for his father, this thing might have been a good read. But in the end, too much is attempted to be done and the book just runs out of gas. Oh, and where was the promised romance? I found none.

In the end, too many plot twists make an admirable rope to hang this story on.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Engrossing, yet distant, June 1, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Darkness and Light (Dragonlance, Preludes, Vol. 1) (v. 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

This story, is indeed one of the more interesting works in the Saga. As stated above, it entales the story of Sturm and Kitiara five years before the War of the Lance. Traveling to his home land, in an effort to find his lost father, Sturm finds on the way, how very different he is from Kitiara, both in principle and action. Along the way, they meet with a group of gnomes, travel to the Red Moon, and engage a very real dragon. While this forshadows a part of Kitiara seen in the Chronicles, I find it hard to believe that Sturm would fail to mention to his companions that he had seen a dragon, even if the two had agreed to not speak of it. His honor as a knight, I guess. The story seemed detached from the rest of the Dragonlance plethora, and in doing so, left it somewhat unbelieveable (even for a fantasy world). Overall,however, it was well written, and very entertaining, thus making its good sides greatly outweigh the bad.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not a bad book but not a very good book, September 26, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Darkness and Light (Dragonlance, Preludes, Vol. 1) (v. 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

I picked this one up at a second hand book store for 2 reasons. 1) It was a Dragonlance book 2) It was cheap. I read it and at one point I thought, " Hey this is pretty good so far" Then the part of draconians came up and that ruined it for me. I couldn't help but think the author was winging this one. I sat there thinking," Didn't the companions first run into the draconians in the chronicles books?" as in the first books of the Dragonlance series??? Hey if you love Dragonlance read it, but only if you can't find a better book in the series first.