Rating: 
Summary: What happened?
Review: Whoa, slow down there. Is this supposed to be Dragonlance?The Chronicles, Legends, Preludes, and Meetings Sextant, along with the other assorted tales, including the first two in the War of Souls, are Dragonlance. This isn't. This book would be better as a stand alone. The moral and story concepts are completely different. Well, almost. But what they really screw up is the storyline. HELLOOO!!! AFTER YOU PUBLISH SOMETHING IT IS PERMANENT!!!! YOU CAN'T CHANGE IT, NO MATTER WHAT YOUR EXPLAINATION IS!!!! Nuff said.
Rating: 
Summary: Dragons of a Vanished Moon
Review: How to start this review...The only word that comes to mind after reading this book is, Suprising. So many things happen in this book that change the course of Krynn forever. After this book, life on Krynn will never be the same. For some life is starting, for others it is time to move on. Mina and her One God, Takhisis, are taking control of much of Ansalon. They lead an assualt on the the city of Sanction. Mina forces are small, but she has something under her control that no one else has in their possession, the power of the dead. Dragons of a Vanished Moon is a book with ultimate showdowns. We finally see a matched battle between Mina and Malys. The great overlord is angry that Mina is infringing on her land and actually becoming a threat. In an effort not to spoil this book for anyone who hasn't read it, I am leaving vital areas out. But this book promises to be a suprise to anyone who has been a Dragonlance fan for awhile, or even those new to the world. The ending of this book is the most suprising part of the book. Things change drasticaly with the ending of Dragons of a Vanished Moon. The great thing is that the ending of this book opens up avenues for many more books to be written about Krynn. If you have been following Dragonlance for a long time, or are just into the War of Souls, this book is a must needed addition to your collection. It is full of suprises, action, humor, and intrigue. New and old friends join the adventures in Vanished Moon. This book is a definate must.
Rating: 
Summary: Science Fantasy?
Review: The only Dragonlance I have read has been that by Weis and Hickman. I had heard they were writing the War of Souls series and got excited. The first two I thought were good. It was a great starting point (for someone who read NO 5th Age). Then came this book. I couldn't put it down because I wanted to see how it ended. I got to the end and thought, "That's it?" I'll try not to give any spoilers, but talk about alternate history. The conclusions and explanations given made me think I was reading science fiction with a fantasy spin. Time travel, timelines, et al fall more into science fiction. It was fun in Legends, especially since time, though it could be tampered with, could not be altered. Not the case here. For those who said the old Krynn is back, not in my opinion. I expected an exciting finish. Instead it was like watching NASCAR end under a yellow flag. There was such potential but once I got to the end I realized then everything leveled out and the steroetypes came back. I'm going to think long and hard about the next Weis and Hickman Dragonlance series before purchasing it. Their world started great back in Chronicles. I'll reread Chronicles and Legends. War of Souls, however, will probably be a dust collector.
Rating:
Summary: Please people, let go of the past
Review: Let me begin by saying that yes, this book has more plot inconsistancies than than a seventh grade engilsh paper. That being said, it is still leaps and bounds better than the complete garbadge that has come out of the fith age thus far, and because of that, it get a four instead of a three. I've read most of the other reviews here and elsewhere, there are many, so I won't bore you with yet another plot summary. Everybody keeps complaining about this series, "it didn't live up to Legends" or "I miss the original companions." I think many readers spent so much time convincing themselves that by the end of the novel Weis and Hickman would just wave a magic wand and bring back the whole group from the dead that they totally missed the excellent new character developement of Gualder Gilthas and Gerard to name some. (by the way, why does every other name in this series begin with the letter 'G'?) Anyway, I for one cheer the boldness of M.W. & T.H. for having the guts to acknowledge that, in war, people actually DO die, and others have to step up in their place to get the job done. For those of you who want skippingly happy endings where no hero ever dies or fails, stick to Harry Potter. This book was a good read, it had a fast feel to it which is hard to do with a 540 page book. This book shakes the power structure of Krynn to the core. It should be most interesting to see what happens from here.
Rating:
Summary: Not the best, but still Good
Review: I started reading the War or Souls trilogy without having read any of the other Fifth Age books. As far as I was concerned, most of the other Dragonlance authors (other than Weis and Hickman) just were not up to par in terms of storytelling and overall flow of their novels. Because I dove right into the War of Souls, I found the characters (Mina, Gerard, etc) to be... uninspiring. Unlike in the original 2 trilogies, it was difficult to feel a personal connection with any character. That was Weis and Hickman's strength, and unfortunately, it does not show through here. However, this being a Weis/Hickman collaboration and a Dragonlance book, how can a fan not read it? In terms of the book itself, it was difficult for me to read the first two of the series. After all, there is only so much suspense in following Mina's exploits but knowing she's unstoppable. I was hoping for a lot more out of the finale. Unfortunately, the whole story seemed rushed. Granted it conveyed a sense of urgency that was necessary but there were many topics that would have done well with further insight (but I suppose thre will be books written about every aspect of the War or Souls by different authors so Wizards has a nice cash cow to milk for some time).
Rating:
Summary: Readable, nothing more
Review: This is a readable fantasy story. I will not praise it more. "Vanished Moon" is the conclusion of the "War of Souls" trilogy, but the "souls" have very little to do with the story. They are there, of course, but the story really isn't about them. The central character (Mina) loses her interesting complexity (as someone capable of both great good and great evil, she is the one interesting character in the trilogy) and becomes quite ridiculous by the end. Then the story leaves unsaid what happens to her! What kind of an ending does not explain what happens to the major character? The final fight, where the elf-king Silvanoshei does his thing, is absolutely unbelievable even by fantasy standards. The characters, except for Mina, are uninteresting. Tasselhoff is beloved by many for his character as established back in "Chronicles," but in this story he is a bore, no fun at all. Conundrum the Gnome is such a bore that the authors leave him off to complete his "life quest" and write him out of the story. Other characters invented for this trilogy, for example, Gerard and Odila, are boring. I cannot make myself care about them. The book goes out of its way to provide "redemption" for several unimportant characters. So evil characters like Raistlin and even Lord Soth find "redemption" of a sort, though why this is necessary or even desirable in this story is beyond me. The final ending for Paladine and Takhisis is something that appears to be invented on the spot. If the "agreement in the book" that leads to this end for them was prefigured earlier in Dragonlance, that is news to me. Something this important has to be hinted at and led up to, not just thrown up in the reader's face. Bad writing -- bad, bad, bad. The battles that appear are glossed over quickly without much description. Maybe there are too many battles, or maybe Weis and Hickman don't know how to describe battles. But if you compare the graphic and passionate description of battles in some fantasy works (think, for example, of Tolkien's description of Helm's Deep or the Pelennor Fields) with the quick and cursory descriptions in this book, it becomes easy to see that this book was rushed through. This is a major criticism because to a large extent this book is about battles. They are poorly described. The cover art basically stinks, and the book really misses the ink drawings that appeared with each new chapter in the original "Chronicles." For example, when draconians show up, if the reader was not familiar with draconians, he would have no understanding of what they are or what they look like, except that they have wings. Bozaks and Sivaks appear, but a reader unfamiliar with Dragonlance would have no idea what they are. This is poor writing. Drawings would help, but hey are not there. Then in the end all kinds of questions are deliberately left unanswered: Where did those draconians come from? What happened to Mina? What about all those minotaurs? What is going to happen to the elven nations? We are left less with the proper conclusion of a trilogy than with the kind of "cliff-hanger" that TV series like to use at the end of a season so that interest can be generated over the summer. Undoubtedly Weis and Hickman are leaving things open so that they can come out with another trilogy in a year or two, perhaps with titles such as "Dragons of Endless Royalties." Some may really get excited as they anticipate yet another Dragonlance series. I would point out that both "Chronicles" and "Legends" had much more definite endings, and that did not present any difficulties in producing more Dragonlance material. The way this book ends I judge to be poor writing, pure and simple. If you read the first two books of this series, you will of course read this one, to see how everything turns out. But as fantasy literature, "Vanished Moon" is basically readable and nothing more.
Rating:
Summary: unfortunately disappointing
Review: Like many of the other reviewers, I believe that this book does not, by any stretch of the imagination, live up to the Chronicles or Legends trilogies. Whereas the other books were definitely emotive, I felt nothing while reading Dragons of a Vanished Moon (and, I should add, this goes for the entire trilogy). The characters were simply not interesting or well-developed. Even our old favorites from Weis and Hickman's older offerings were without any individuality. Without spoiling any part of the book, in Dragons of a Vanished Moon, Raistlin was meek and servile in the presence of beings he was able to destroy in the Test of the Twins. None of his old sarcasm and wit were present. In fact, I believe that his personality was virtually indistinguishable from the personalities of the other characters. This holds true for all the book's other characters as well. None of them possessed a memorable personality or unique quirks. To me, they all seemed like boring, stock characters. Beyond the disappointing characters, the plot left much to be desired. I don't think that the plot was fundamentally flawed. I could have envisioned a Dragonlance book in which this plotline could have been used to great effect. However, Weis and Hickman, I fear, tried to explain away all of their earlier plot inconsistencies with the poorly written appendix tacked on to the end of this novel. The authors did not, unfortunately, take the time and effort required to reconcile or resolve the plot inconsistencies. All said, I was really disappointed with this novel. I was hoping for much more than was delivered. Let's hope that Weis and Hickman take more time on their next Dragonlance book.
Rating: 
Summary: Read this book now or you'll regret it!!
Review: I read some other reviews and some said the ending in Dragons of a Lost Star had a bad ending. I didn't think so. I thought it was a great way to end it because you finally find out and it's the end. So your exciting about the third book. Besides if your really a DL reader, you should of guessed it already. I always thought the "One God" was not as it seems. I sensed bad vibes from this god. Anyway, Dragons of a Vanished Moon was great. Every chapter something exciting happens or something is revealed making it one step closer to the grand finale! Pick this book up and read it. It's damn good!
Rating:
Summary: Dragons of a Vanished Storyline
Review: I am an avid Dragonlance novel fan, especially those written by Margaret Weis and Hickman. I am such a fan of their writing, that only two out of the twenty two novels I have read in my entire lifetime are not written by them. I am, however, very disappointed on how the Dragonlance novels they have written have been turning out, especially the new War of Souls trilogy. All the three novels have just kept on using old and familiar characters, such as Tasslehoff and Raistlin. They do have new characters, but they are only heroes because they are "the second generation" of the fabled Dragonlance Companions. "Dragons of a Vanished Moon" is a book that has an ending that is anti-climactic. Just when you thought characters are killed off, they are suddenly brought back once more, although there is no point in having done so. The new characters are weak, and not likeable. The references to the old characters makes only the reader who has read the past trilogies by Weis and Hickman appreciate it. Otherwise, a new reader is lost in all the references. It also makes you wonder why characters appear in one chapter, just to have their "cameo" appearances for nostalgic sake. Overall, this novel is worth reading if only to resolve the questions brought about by the past two novels in the War of the Souls trilogy. If you're new to the world of Dragonlance, it will be better to read Dragonlance Chronicles and Legends, and not read any other Dragonlance books from there.
Rating:
Summary: On the edge of my seat, again
Review: I read this in ONE day for the simple reason that I lost myself in the book! The end of the book leaves you open to potential adventures with an "old friend" (with a new twist). As for Mina, boy isn't she a lost cause, but you have to love her for her loyalty. And last but not least, you can NEVER HAVE TOO MUCH TAS!
| 
