Customer Reviews

Kindred Spirits (Dragonlance: The Meetings Sextet, Vol. 1)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Anyone familiare with the original Heroes of the Lance will want to pick up a copy of Kindered Spirits. This first installment of the "Meetings" series tells the story of the early years shared by Flint and Tanis. The authors spend most of their time with Tanis as a youth and Flint as a veteran dwarf. Fans expecting to see lots of interaction between Tanis and Laurana will be disappointed, however. I had hoped to see a little bit more of their early life as a young lovers, but that's not the case here. Largely the events of this book detail Flint and Tanis's relationship, and their fight to prove Tanis innocent of murder. For the most part, the plot and story are sound. The events in this book fall nicely into place with Weiss and Hickman's original outlines of these characters pasts. However, I feel the book ended too abruptly, failing to explain a good deal of the character's motivations. Furthermore, There was no aftermath following the climax of the story. The story just ended, then transplanted the characters out of the setting months later. While the guts of this book are fairly thorough, the ending was rushed, and left me unsatisfied.

This is the first book in the Meetings Sextet and occurs prior to Dragons of Autumn Twilight. Flint Fireforge happily settled in the elven land of Qualinost - who would ever believe this? He meets the young half-elf Tanis, and this is where their life-long friendship begins. This is also the start of the collaborative work of the companions of the Chronicles series, and tells part of the story of Flint and Tanis' younger years. I would recommend this book to anyone who really enjoyed the main characters in the Chronicles. The story shares some insights into these two notorious characters.

This is an enthralling story of Tanis from his early roots in Qualinost.Here begins his life long friendship with the unforgettable Flint Fireforge.Here begins his life long captivation of the all too alluring Lauranathalsa.(To my satisfaction the human woman Kitiara has yet to be born and belongs no where in this story)Here begins his life long torment,knowing he will never be accepted among his homelanders.This story offers an interesting look into the past of my three favorite characters.One of my favorite books so far.....

This story is a perfect example of how a book series can be written by more than just one author. Since Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman started the Dragonlance novels over a decade ago, fans have been enthralled by the stories of the people of Krynn. The people were thirsting for more and now they have got it! Stories from all the heroes and villians were brought into a new life. This book is just a perfect example of this. In the Legends Trilogy parts of Tanis and Flint's past was discussed, but the true story was never told. Mark Anthony and Ellen Porath have told a story that would be Flint's liking. They put the peices of Tanis's relationship with his family and his love for Laurana. Also Flint and how he came to know Tanis and the the Speaker of the Suns. Finally they gave the elves a culture and class that had not been reveiled. But with that culture it showed the dark side that the elves have. I would reccomend this book to any Dragonlance reader

Nicely written, although there were some parts where the flow of the story were simply awkward or jerky. However, the writers were true to the personalities of the characters, and also managed to bring out the true friendship between Flint and Tanis. Altogether, a pleasantly written story about the harsh prejudice Tanis must endure from his elven side before the true meaning of friendship brings him peace and freedom.

This book is one of my all-time favorites. For anyone who has never read a Dragonlance book (this one in particular), I have one thing to say to you. RUSH, RUSH to the bookstore and pick this one up! I am an elfaholic, and this book sates my cravings wonderfully. It is set in beatiful Qualinesti, and tells of Tanis Half-Elven's early life in a predjudiced society. It made me cry. Rare is the novel that can do that

First off, let me say that the synopsis mentioned above isn't exactly correct. Second off, keep in mind that this *is* a mystery-type novel. Very well done, too might I add, lol. The story of how Tanis and Flint (he's as grumpy as ever!)came together is told here, alas evil is afoot. Someone is killing off elves, and circumstances are just right for Tanis to be accused. Flint has to find evidence of Tanis' innocence or he (Tanis) will be banished... a fate worse than death for elves...

This story also follows many childhood years of Gilthanis, Porthios, and Laurana... touches on the love exsisting (or not) between Tanis and Laurana. Many well written clues are given in the novel, and yet (for DL fans) it's easy enough to get so engrossed in the tale that you miss them until the killer is revealed! Once I read who it was, I slapped my forehead and grumbled to myself that I should've known ;) The suspects that are created through the writing are plenty... nearly everyone...

Only one complaint though... the final battle was too short, too conveniant, too 'of all the luck'... but this setback doesn't really cut into the enjoyabilty of the novel.

For all fans of the Heros of the Lance, this book is a must read. It delves into the birth and childhood of Tanis Half-Elven. Accentuating on the intrigue and politics of the Qualinesti Elves. It goes into great detail on how and why Flint Fireforge and Tanis became friends, and also gives details as to the events that lead to Tanis' mixed emotions about his homeland that was brought up in the Other dragonlance books. Even to the non-DL reader, this book is a real page turner, with action and magic and politics and murder. I highly reccommend.

I liked this book a lot... I always liked Tanis and Flint, and it was great to see why Tanis was so sore about his past and Qualinesti. I didn't give it 5 stars because I think the author should've used a faster pace and included Tanis' and Kitiara's relationship... if you read Dark Heart, which is Kit's background, you still don't get to read about those two! Aaarrrgghhh!

"Kindred Spirits" starts the "Meetings Sextet" addition in the seemingly endless procession of Dragonlance books. The book was published in 1991--meaning there have been changes to the narrative and the canon as the series continued and the main authors--Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman--returned to writing Dragonlance books. No point in losing sleep over what is canon and what is not since most of the canon had not been formed when the book was released.

Mark Anthony and Ellen Porath are not up to the level of Weis and Hickman to be sure but there are plenty of worse additions to the Dragonlance series than "Kindred Spirits." Still, while the book is not a disaster, there is very little that is memorable in it. Anthony and Porath are fine craftsmen of sentences and paragraphs but they are not as strong when it comes to guiding the plot along. The end seems rushed and fairly anti-climatic. If they do not do much to develop the characters here--namely Tanis Half Elven and Flint Fireforge--Anthony and Porath are smart enough not to totally undermine them. Unlike a lot of the writers playing in the sandbox Weis and Hickman created, Anthony and Porath actually seem familiar with the world of Krynn and the characters that live there.

Anthony and Porath attempt to stage something of a comedy of manners showing domestic and court scenes. It's a bit different than most Dragonlance books and it works to some extent. But few people read Dragonlance books for domestic and family scenes. The mystery and action plots the authors add to the story simply are not as strong and they take away from the book as a whole. While not a bad book, "Kindred Spirits" is not a good one either. I was torn between two and three stars but felt the solid writing helped redeem the book to some extent and rounded up.

This review concerns the 1991 paperback edition which had a number of editorial mistakes--namely missing punctuation and quotation marks. I hope these were caught in future editions.