Customer Reviews

The Forest King: Tracy Hickman Presents the Anvil of Time, Volume Four

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The latest (and perhaps the last) book in the "Anvil of Time" series explores the fate of Balif. Now that is a name that has been spoken in many books. Heck, there's even a whole city named after him. Stories and legend are few and often contradictory. It should come as no surprise that the Journeyman chose to chronicle Balif's fate. Paul B. Thompson has the unenviable task of writing the truth behind the legend of Balif; I say unenviable because Balif's backstory is a jumbled mess. Was he an elf? Or a kender? Was he really a general? Did he live and perish during Silvanos' time or Sithel's? What was his connection with another well-known character, Vedvedsica?

Wrapping your head around all that would have produced a headache but Thompson did a remarkable job threading the various storylines and legends behind Balif into a more or less coherent narrative. We finally get to read about the origin and emergence of the kender as a race and the founding of their new homeland. Any book with a kender or three is always amusing. Additionally, Thompson strongly tied aspects of this book to the Elven Exiles trilogy and to a lesser extent, the Barbarians trilogy (both were co-written with Tonya C. Cook). I guess Dragonlance authors have finally wizened up to the benefits of continuity. It is heartening to read about how events that happened in the different time periods share similar roots or origins. In order to ease readers into the book or clear up confusion, I suggest the editors and/or publishers include a timeline with these novels. After all, time travelling is a theme in all the books in this series.

Thompson portrayed Balif as a character fallen out of grace but still with enough dignity to go out with his head held high. While Silvanos appeared in scant 10 pages, his presence shadows almost every major event in the story. I found the author's interpretation of Silvanos and Balif's relationship to be a high point in the story because it sheds a rare light on the first Speaker's inner dealings. Yes, there were a few more important/prominent characters but I was riveted by Balif most of the time. In this book, the Journeyman becomes a bookish scribe as opposed to his strong but silent countenance in previous appearances (in fact, he spoke more than he did in the past 3 books put together.) Honestly, I expected more from him but I guess different authors will write each version of the Journeyman differently. He is still a most fascinating character and the best plot device this side of the Dragonlance mythology has ever seen. At times, I felt like I was channeling the fellow because the Journeyman is doing essentially what readers are unconsciously doing: uncovering a story and reaching new understanding of events.

I just finished The Forest King: Tracy Hickman Presents the Anvil of Time, Volume Four last night. Going into the book, I knew that it would be about Balif, the legendary Silvanesti general. I had recently read Destiny (Dragonlance: Elven Exiles, Vol. 3), which mentions Balif and Vedivisca. I was hoping this book would fill in the gaps to the mystery hinted at in the Elven Exiles Trilogy. Sadly, it didn't take me long to realize that it wasn't giving me nearly the details of Balif that I had hoped to find. It really was more centered on another character named Mathi. One I didn't care nearly as much about. Also, not to give much away, but I was hoping to learn more about the mystery of Treskan... but was left with many questions. Maybe the answer to the riddle that was Treskan was right there and I didn't pick up on something at the end, but I don't think so.

Finally, this novel seemed to continue the disappointing editing that many Dragonlance novels have had of late. It seemed to get worse as the book went on. Very strange. Mathi is a female. Treskan a male. Several times they would be talking about Mathi, only to use a male pronoun like "he" or "him" or "his". Very distracting.

Overall I was disappointed because I wanted to read more about Balif during his height in power, but instead got his downfall.

One last thing. Is the cover supposed to be of Balif or Silvanos Goldeneye? I assumed Balif, but then there is the "goldeneye" that throws me off.

This final volume her my attention a lot more, but still there were parts that were extremely mundane.