Dragonlance: War Wizard | Review

The distant past of Krynn comes back to stunning life in the newest Dragonlance novel from Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.

*Warning: minor spoilers below for War Wizard*

Dragonlance: War Wizard is the first entry in a new trilogy from the legendary fantasy writers Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. The story takes place over a thousand years before the War of the Lance and follows the early years of legendary knight, Huma Dragonbane, and Magius, one of the greatest wizards to ever live. This book in particular starts during their early childhood and takes us into their young adulthood, in a time when Krynn is on the eve of what will become known as the Third Dragon War.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this novel going in. I’m not as familiar with the early history of the world of Krynn as I am with later events like the War of the Lance, the Chaos War, and especially the War of Souls which was my introduction to the series. You can imagine my delight when I dove into War Wizard and found a story that was almost completely unburdened by the wider Dragonlance canon. I found that it didn’t matter I hadn’t read any previous stories which included Huma. The story starts as a blank slate, meaning anyone can use this story as a jumping on point.

One of my favorite things in War Wizard is the contrast between Huma and Magius. The two friends are almost complete opposites, and yet they form a very close bond. In the context of the wider Dragonlance story, the relationship between Huma and Magius is a perfect foil to that of the twins Raistlin and Caramon (also a wizard and warrior duo). The latter showed a sibling relationship that was far from healthy, with Caramon meaning well but smothering his twin, while Raistlin resented his brother for just about everything. Huma and Magius, refreshingly, have no such issues and it’s a timely reminder of how much better things can be when we value others for our differences just as much as what we have in common.

Because of their differences, we get an in depth look at how two very important aspects of life work in the world of Krynn: training to be a knight, and training to be a wizard. Both knights and wizards have played very important roles in Dragonlance history over the decades, and this story is a good refresher as to just how much work is required to master either profession. I also appreciate that equal importance is given to both being a knight and being a wizard.

It’s not uncommon to talk to a fan of fantasy works who prefer melee fighting over magic or vice versa. But War Wizard reminds the reader that both are equally important for their own reasons. As much as some knights in the story believe they can make do without magic in their lives, the fact is that wizards like Magius can do things a regular knight simply can’t. And with war looming, those magical abilities are about to become more important than ever.

Another part of the story that fascinated me to no end was how intertwined the gods used to be with regular day-to-day life. You have to understand, I started my Dragonlance journey in what is known as the “Age of Mortals” when the gods were either completely absent from Krynn or the gods were present but not entirely trusted. Now I’m reading of a time when the gods were so involved with mortal affairs that one could pray to a god of magic out in a field and suddenly Lunitari is personally talking to them. Not just once, but multiple times. It really drives home just how much was lost when the Cataclysm devastated Krynn. It wasn’t just mortal lives that were lost, I think the relationship between mortals and gods was never the same again, even after the Heroes of the Lance brought news of the gods back to the world.

If you’ve been away from Dragonlance for a while, or want to dive in for the first time, Dragonlance: War Wizard is a pretty good place to start. You get a look at the distant past of Krynn without needing any prior knowledge to understand what’s happening. Highly recommend picking this book up and returning to the world of Krynn.