Darkness and Light

Dragonlance Universe #1

by Paul B. Thompson, Tonya R Carter (co-author)

Librarian's Note: this is an alternate cover edition -
ISBN 10: 088038722X ISBN 13: 9780880387224

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.

Genres: Fantasy, Dragonlance, Fiction, High Fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons, Science Fiction Fantasy, Adventure

378 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 28, 1989

Reviews

[Scott Asher · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first book I ever read. I don't care if, by comparison, it is derivative or obvious. It will always remain special to me.

I wasn't a reader. My father took me to the bookstore one summer day and said that I could pick out any book to read so I picked up this one (but the old cover with the pink borders). I wasn't sure I would even read it. But once I started I couldn't stop.

That summer I must have read more than 20 Dragonlance books (thank God for used book stores!) And since then my book obsession hasn't ceased.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow. I mean, where to even start?

I am so glad I came to this Dragonlance "Prelude" volume as a 40-something dude open to a little whimsy and not an angry tweenaged fantasy dweeb as I'm pretty sure the younger, more opinionated version of me wouldn't have much if anything nice to say here.

And, to be fair, even the easygoing middle-aged me has to point out that the plot was so all over the place it really did feel sometimes that the author had two books, shredded them, tossed the paper waste in a martini shaker and reassembled them after using said shaker for its intended purpose once or thrice.

If you don't mind being spoiled, read on.

The "Sturm and Kitiara take the high road to Solamnia, get on each other's nerves, earn grudging respect and, yes, eventually go to bonetown" story you thought you would probably get here? Discarded after few chapters in favour of GNOMES FLYING A BLIMP WITH FLAPPING WINGS TO THE MOON!!!


We're WhalersGnomes on the Moon!

And THAT is the story for about the middle 60% of this book, Sturm and Kitiara exploring the red and dusty magic moon of Lunitari with a gaggle of quirky Gnomes, gaining superpowers (Kit gets strong, Sturm learns to astrally project his broody ass elsewhere in order to continue investigating his father's disappearance...WHILE ON THE MOON, one of the Gnomes gets velcro hands, etc.)...and if you think that's dank, it's just the beginning!

Talking Asparagus trees that can only move by day? Check!

A deranged messianic "King of the Moon"...who is actually a carpenter? (No, pretty sure not a Jesus allegory) Check!

Glass ants? As in, giant fucking ants made out of glass? Check!

A 3.5 thousand year old dragon running short on reading material who may or may not (but probably does) have a crush on Kitiara? Check, and check!

I could go on, but what's the point? It only gets danker and more random from here, as though the author got his marching orders to write an "On the road with..." book about the two original Dragonlance characters and then padded that content out with 80% of the book he felt like writing anyway. Props!

In fact, I just discovered that the Spanish title of this book is much more honest:


"The Guardian of Lunitari"

I can't in good conscience recommend this book unless you are a huge fan of The Adventures of Baron von Munchausen, or habitually on 'shrooms. Maybe both.

[Jasher Drake · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was great! If you want to see Sturm...
Herd cattle, fly to the moon, become king, fight tree-men, ride giant ants, adopt a young girl, buy raisins, see ghosts, have visions, use magic, cut off someones arm, change clothes, make a girl get angry at him, reject a helpless dragon, eat plants, lead a gnome mining expedition, unbutton a knight's tunic, get tricked by a wizard, get stuck in a storm, obtain super-fast healing powers and go sailing, this is the book for you!

[Jenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this from a random bookstore, so i had no idea whether or not i would enjoy it, but i would say that this is one of the VERY few books i would like to re-read. This was definitely an adventure, and it lacked the flaws of boredom and over-activity that i have noticed in other books of this nature.

I felt that even though there was little description of the characters, i knew them as real people and i really value that sort of relatability. Not only did i feel they were real,they were also interesting, quality characters. Very enigmatic.

The writing style was also golden. I would recommend this to really anyone, though it has some fantasy content. I dont think that it would overwhelm those who aren't into the overly fictional.

READ THIS BOOK.

[Graham · Rating 2 out of 5]

A disappointing read, but then I wasn't expecting much - even the Weis/Hickman original Chronicles trilogy disappointed me when I read it again a few years ago, for the first time as an adult.

DARKNESS AND LIGHT, the first in the Preludes sub-series which tells of the early life of Sturm and Kitiara - is firmly pitched as a children's adventure story. Characterisation is nil - seriously, there's no character arc or development in the entire story! Sturm and Kitiara start out as exactly the same characters they end as, and they don't even seem to learn any lessons during their (lengthy) adventures.

The blurb indicates that the story will follow their journey to Sturm's ancestral birthplace, but along the way there's a MASSIVE detour that takes up no less than two-thirds of the novel. It involves a trip to Lunitari, one of Krynn's moons. No real attempt is made to explain how the characters are able to travel through space and survive other than a lame 'it's magic' cop-out. Surely if it was this easy, any flying characters in the book series would just spend their time roaming the reaches of the universe rather than staying cooped up on one planet.

Gnomes also play a major part in the story. Having detested the presence of the gnomes (not to mention gully dwarves) in the original Chronicles, I was dreading meeting them, but I'm surprised to report that they weren't quite so irritating here. They actually grew on me as the story progressed, even if they're mostly around for the purpose of lame humour. At least that's something, rather than the non-events that are Sturm and Kitiara.

Certain events in the book are mildly interesting, especially the stuff involving the inhabitant of the obelisk on Lunitari. The authors keep you guessing as to intentions throughout, which is about the only mystery/ambiguity/non-obviousness in the entire thing. However, the 'ancestral birthplace' type stuff turns out to be a red herring come the climax - it's extremely rushed, and disappointing, by the way - and the many action sequences depend far too much on coincidence and plot contrivance to be genuinely thrilling.

My own journey continues to find a decent Dragonlance novel that I can enjoy as an adult reader...

[Javier · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oooof..

A ver. Conocéis la sensación cuando el máster tiene preparado el principio de la campaña y se pone a improvisar a lo loco? Pues eso es este libro.

Ya no es la tremenda locura de UN BARCO VOLADOR GNOMO (al más puro estilo Final Fantasy, oiga!), que acaba encajado en la luna cuando le da un rayo (?), para tras varias peripecias salir de ahí y tras 360 páginas de alegre desvío volver a la trama original (?????) en la que pasamos de viajar por la luna a viajar con tratantes de ganado (?????????) y encontrase al primo chungo de Elric de Melnibone con una espada que lanza bolas de fuego (EN DRAGON LANCE!!!! Uno de los trasfondos con magia más reducida de todos los de D&D)

Pero es que no contentos con esto paso a enumerar las patadas al transfondo :
* De repente la gente encuentra el oro muy valioso. En el mismo mundo que se paga con piezas de ACERO porque el oro ya no tiene valor.
* Se encuentran un dragón. Un jodido dragón. Cosa que Sturm por supuesto no considera importante mencionar cinco años después porque patatas picantes de Otik.
* Se encuentran un clérigo del bien (?????) qué Sturm reconoce como clérigo de Majere (?????????) CINCO AÑOS ANTES DE QUE GOLDMOON DEVUELVA LA MAGIA CLERICAL AL MUNDO!!!!.
* se encuentran un "clérigo oscuro" que reconoce una banda de piratas. Que lleva una banda de draconianos. Que Sturm reconoce pero parece haber olvidado cinco años después.
* Hay unos piratas sedientos de sangre que eran "gnomos o kender". Razas que son incapaces de ser malvadas según transfondo.

Es como si hubieran cogido una novela random de algún premio menor de fantasía heroica, lo hubieran cuadrado en Krynn a martillazos y se hubieran quedado tan a gusto.

Yo que se. Las 30 primeras páginas están bien. Y es entretenido de leer. Pero hay cosas de fantasía heroica mucho peores.

Igual empezar la relectura por los preludios no ha sido la mejor idea

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

During my freshman year of high school one of my first assignments was that I had to pick a book to write a book review on, and I chose this book. My English teacher gave me a little push-back before allowing it. He had more important things on his mind at the time, such as sharing all his racist views about the OJ trial with his students. You should have seen him when the verdict was announced. He was absolutely livid, so we didn't do anything in class for the rest of the week.

As I recall, the book was fine.

[Marianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a terribly silly book, that really doesn't do justice to the two main characters. Also, it doesn't fit with the continuity of the Chronicles series that takes place after in some rather crucial ways (Dragons existing, draconians existing, etc).

That said, it's an amusing enough gnomish romp, and I bet my very young child will enjoy it when he's old enough.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

*MINOR SPOILERS BELOW - I TELL ABOUT A FEW OF THE ENCOUNTERS IN THE BOOK, BUT NOT HOW THEY PLAY OUT OR WHAT THEIR OUTCOME IS.*

I'll generous and round my rating up to a three. Unlike many of the Dragonlance novels, this one was almost entirely light-hearted an comical throughout the story. After a quick gathering by the heroes of the original Dragonlance, Sturm decides to trek back to Solamnia, Kitiara deciding to accompany him.
Along the way, their adventure truly begins when they encounter a group of gnomes who have invented an incredible flying boat. The heroes join the gnomes, who are good at creating things, but not things that necessarily work as they're intended. With the craft rising through the air, they find themselves rising higher and higher unable to stop. Just how high will they get?

That's right Ralph, to the moon.
On the moon they encounter a mad king, walking tree creatures, strange magical properties and an enigmatic brass dragon, all of which lead them on further min-adventures. Throughout this, the gnomes are constantly chattering, arguing and disassembling things to make other things...that often continue not to work a planned.
Overall, the story dragged in parts, especially in the later parts of the book, and the gnomes, while sometimes amusing, are frequently annoying. But the light nature of the tale remains through most of the telling, and leave it an entertaining, if not spectacular book.

[Tom Green · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is fan fic from a person who was given only a brief character description of sturm, kit, and gnomes. They know next to nothing of Krynn. The story is wild and fantastical but far beyond anything that should have happened to sturm. And there are so many missed opportunities in this book. And continuity is an unknown concept in this book. I am Disappointed.

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I started this book I kept rolling my eyes. Gnomes? Landing on the moon? Kitiara hugging anyone? What was this nonsense?

But then I thought about AUs and reboots. If I thought of this story like this it was quite enjoyable. The characters could be who they were and I could accept the bizzare plot.

So as I said Sturm and Kitiara with a bunch of gnomes accidentally fly to Lunitari the moon. Once there they encounter various strange beings. Most notably a bronze dragon that asks them to free him so he could fly to Kyrrn. The gang have to put their heads together to figure it out. Everyone has individual powers given to them from the moon. Kitiara gets super strength which she of course loves and wants to keep.

Sturm started out this book wanting to go to his family's keep and on the moon he was given the gift of visions. He saw his father in various ways and he never knew if it was the present or the past.

Once they came back to Kyrnn, Kitiara and Sturm parted ways. Sturm went on his way to his family's keep. At one point when he is attacked he unmasks one of the attackers and it is a young girl named Tervy. She was my favorite part of the whole book. Its a shame she was a throw away character in a prelude book. She became Sturm's ward for a bit, then he leaves her with men who were making jokes about them being lovers just a few pages back. Guess we're to ignore that.

At the end Sturm gets where he wanted to go but only got half of what he was wishing for. It is enough to get him going, Sturm only needs a little prodding to go out and become a knight to be honest, but his father gave him exactly what he needs.

[Austin E · Rating 4 out of 5]

The main characters are Sturm, Kitaria, Birdcall, Wingover, Sighter, Roperig, Fitter, Flash, Bellcrank, Cutwood, and Rainspot. Sturm and Kitaria are going to go to Solamnia, where Sturm is from. Later they run into the gnomes Birdcall, Wingover, Sighter, Roperig, Fitter, Flash, Bellcrank, Cutwood, and Rainspot. The gnomes offer Sturm and Kitaria transportaiton to wherever they want in a flying ship, if they help them set the ship free. So Sturm and Kitaria are trying to get to Solamnia in a flying ship.
The theme is, people never change even if they move somewhere else. One example of this theme is, Kitaria is always power hungry, She leaves with Sturm and is always power hungry the entire book. Another example is, Sturm is always talking about honor and even while he is traveling with Kitaria is still about honor. The last example is the gnomes, they are always inventing things or testing things throughout the book. That is why I think the theme is, people never change even if they move somewhere else.
I enjoyed this book. It has some unexpected parts in it. There is one thing I don't like, that the characters never change. Other than that it is a pretty fun book. The charachters are well explained but don't change. The book also has a lot of exciting parts where you don't know if they are going to make it or not. But over all I really enjoyed this book.

[Jim C · Rating 2 out of 5]

A book set in the dragonlance realm. Before the original core books, Sturm and Kitiara hit the road and have an intersting adventure with a bunch of gnomes. You would think with these characters this would be a good book. It wasn't. The characters are interesting but the adventure was a little far fetched and never captured me. The only thing that saved this book was the last 75 pages which was about a seperate adventure. If this plot was the whole book, this book would have been better. The only way I could recommend this book if you are a fan of Sturm. The last part of the book is a nice story about him.

[NightAuditMan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gnomish misadventure reigns supreme.

[Alexander Faria · Rating 2 out of 5]

bored

[Elar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Story was childish - like Baron Münchhausen in Dragonlance universe. Too many details which characters did not know in later stories was used.

[Kasztan · Rating 1 out of 5]

dnf
nie da się tego czytać

[Ronnie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to say, I'm disappointed. I've rather enjoyed the other Thompson and Cook Dragonlance stories that I've read. The Elven Nations and the Ergoth Trilogy were great, and the Barbarians trilogy is one of my favourite non-Weis and Hickman Dragonlance series.

But this book wasn't great. The intro chapter with the companions was fine; it was simply written but the banter was fun. But then we get to the Tirolaiat part of the story, which sets up some mysteries about him and his crew and then is completely ignored in favour of a flying gnome ship that has too many crew members to remember. They wind up on one of the moons, which is silly but not unexpected for some Dragonlance novels.

The main villain isn't introduced until the last 3rd of the book, and doesn't really show up until the last 20 or 30 pages of the novel. Stuff set up in his introduction are never explored (who was the wizard who will die by fire? What the hell was the point of that?).

Kit and Sturm's relationship was a bit of a disappointment too. They're two sides to the same coin - both with knightish fathers that they're searching for, though they, like their father's, are complete opposites, and this was barely explored at all. I'll admit that I was expecting the conception of Steel here, but I guess that he hadn't been conceived of as a character when this book was written so that's forgiven.


Most egregiously is that the book seems to forget the lore of its own universe. Why are there so many clerics running around when the gods are still supposed to be gone, and why does no one bat an eye about the fact that they're everywhere? Why is there healing magic? Magic can't heal.

I've read worse Deagonlance books before and probably will again, but overall, this was a huge disappointment.

[Stephen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was something of a disappointment. I quite enjoyed the Dragonlance books and I had been hoping that Preludes - what we would call Prequel nowadays - would have been of the same quality. They provide an opportunity to fill in some of the back story to the main characters in the Chronicles and could allow us to view the more rounded personalities. This book did none of this.

The two characters in this volume were Sturm the knight and Kitiara the mercenary. There was little love interest in the book, which made me wonder why Kitiara decided to accompany Sturm in the first place. The actual plot is ridiculous. A band of gnomes manages to construct a hot air flying machine that takes them all to one of the moons on Krynn. If I am to suspend my disbelief to that level, I would have hoped to see a bit of magic involved. However, it is all a question of engineering, apparently.

I felt that the book was an opportunity missed. We never really get to grips with why Sturm feels obliged to adhere to the Solamnic code, even though it is an anachronism by the time in which the book is set. We never find out exactly how Kitiara becomes a Dragon Lord of the Dark Queen. The book leaves far too many questions unanswered, which is why I feel that it is an opportunity missed.

[Lorewarden]

Well, this book wasn't what I expected. This novel, the first of a series of prequels to the main Dragonlance series, started with Sturm and Kitiara travelling off to the north together. Given their very different natures, and the interactions they would have in the future (the first Dragonlance novels), I expected some interesting clashes and foreshadowing. There was some of that, but... it got weird. Almost immediately the duo come across a group of gnomes building an airship, which they board to cut down their travel time. The ship malfunctions and flies out of control.... to the moon. The moon. The red Lunitari to be specific. It only gets weirder from there.

This was not a bad read by any means, just really weird. It's so wacky that I can't imagine how The War of the Lance from the first novels wouldn't pale in comparison to FLYING TO THE MOON. I guess that's the problem with prequels - you can't write them too weird or they overshadow the main, original stories.

Also the moon story abruptly ends, and there's a short curse ghost pirate ship story and a short cowboy story.

[Francisco · Rating 4 out of 5]

A prequel to the Dragonlance saga, almost a decade before the concept of prequels was cemented by Star Wars, it focuses on two characters of the Dragonlance saga, Kitiara and Strum and gives us part of their backstory together, up until they separate before the saga and then we get a little coda with Strum. 

So, Strum is trying to get to his father's place in Solamnia, and travelling with Kitiara before they fall in with a group of tinkering gnomes on their ship, which unbeknownst to them is an airship which soon and accidentally becomes a starship, caring the whole bunk of them to Lunitari, one of the three moons of Krynn... a red moon suffused with magic.

Of course hijinks ensue and your mileage might vary, the gnomes can be a bit annoying, but fortunately I felt they were quite bearable here, seeing more of Kitiara is particularly interesting and helps shine a light on some of her later actions. It's written in a quite entertaining way but the later bit, although interesting, feels slightly tacked on with some cool characters that go nowhere. Still, a fun book!

[Dustjacket · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been in luck with DragonLance novels. The last one I read, Weasel's Luck, was refreshing and enjoyable after a few entries I found dull. Immediately proceeding it, if the novels are read in chronological order, is Darkness and Light, which I can safely say has been my favourite DragonLance novel thus far.

This book offers tight, professional prose, excellent characterization delivered via dialogue, avoiding all of the annoying "tell, don't show" and tiring internal monologues that plague previous entries. It offers an original story that is sometimes whimsically bizarre and other times genuinely tragic and touching. It has thoughtful commentary on the nature of good and evil that transcends the black and white tropes of its genre and is more applicable to the real world than the edgy antics of Raistlin. Kitiara, Sturm, gnomes and dragons are written in the best way they ever have been. I think this book will stick with me while the memories of some others will fade.

[Jdetrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are parts of this book I quite like. The personalities of the gnomes are fascinating, and there are good character scenes between our main two protagonists. Unfortunately, there's a lot here that needs work. The book meanders and seems to have no real focus. There are way too many unnecessary little adventures before the trip to the moon and after the trip that make the book seem more like a collection of vignettes than anything else, which would be fine if the trip to the moon was of the same length, and not so much longer than any other vignette. There are also times when the characters seem to act out of character simply to move the plot along. Its not a bad book, but it feels like an early draft that needed more polishing.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sturm n'est clairement pas mon personnage favoris. Il est rigide et parfois obtus. En revanche l'alchimie entre lui et Kitiara est un point intéressant. Cela étant dit, le livre est moyen, de nombreux points sont illogiques. Par exemple la présence de draconniens qui n'apporte rien et rend l'ensemble incohérent avec les chroniques originales. L'auteur aurait pu se renseigner deux secondes. Le dernier arc du livre est trop court et incomplet, l'intrigue est mal répartie entre les deux principaux axes scénaristiques. Bref c'est moyen mais l'univers reste cool quand on l'a découvert enfant comme je l'ai fait.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a prelude to the first series of books where they start at the coming together of the group as a five year reunion, This is a series that tells the tales of each during that five years. The temptation to read these first should be avoided, The stories are good but not as good as the books that sweep you into the world of Krin, (may have misspellings because I have only been listening to the audio books) After the Dragons series Autumn, Winter, Spring, I would recommend the Twin wars trilogy, then finish with Dragons of Summer. after that you just want anymore that you can possibly get, and this Prelude series is just the right fit. This was a good read

[Mysty Vander · Rating 4 out of 5]

If read like a fanfiction of the original Dragonlance volumes, this can be quite the interesting and fun start to a new trilogy with characters we love. Though Sturm and Kitiara are displayed in a very flat manner, making their characters seem one dimensional: Kitiara, evil and selfish, Sturm, an honourable and immovable man. However, it was a fun read. Light-hearted. The gnomes were hilarious and to have them within a Dragonlance novel for such an extended time was quite different and fun. A very light-hearted prelude before the darkness that takes over Krynn.

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Friends part ways, promising to return to the same inn in five years time. Sturm heads north to search for his father and discover his fate, accompanied by Kitiara.
The manic plot jumps about, and it feels a lot like a string of random encounters tacked together. Or rather, a few key plot points with a lot of random encounters as filler.
I did finish it. I wanted to get closure, I suppose.
I hated the gnomes at first, and then grew to like them. But I can't tell them apart.
I don't know enough of the lore of Krynn to get the significance of some of the other plot points.

[Ana Elena Romero · Rating 1 out of 5]

Malísima historia de la Dragonlance en la que, sirviéndose de los personajes de Sturn y Kitiara se construye una absurda historia, más propia para cuentos infantiles que como fantasía épica.
Hay mucha diferencia entre las historias de unos autores y otros en el universo Dragonlance, pero esta novela es de lo peor que me he encontrado.
Desdibuja tanto los personajes principales que tan sólo conservan el nombre.... Una pena

[Paco Fox · Rating 1 out of 5]

Aquí está. Mi santo grial del desastre literario en lo que se refiere a literatura fantástica. El libro más lamentable que he leído entero. Incluso de adolescente me pareció de vergüenza ajena. No quiero ni pensar ahora. No creo que le de una sóla estrella a ningún otro libro porque dudo que ahora pueda aguantar leer entero algo así. Pero en la juventud hacemos cosas locas y, por qué no decirlo, gilipollas.

[Mitchell Dunaway · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read it for the nostalgia, which is one of the few reasons to bother reading this. I suppose research could be another reason if you are simply curious what happened to Kitiara and Sturm before the War of the Lance. If you really like pulpy fantasy, this could be for you.
I have the other books in the Preludes trilogy, and I do plan on reading them, but mostly just because I’m curious (oh and the nostalgia).