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Dragonlance: Heroes #2
Stormblade
A shaft of argent starlight touched by the Forge of Reorx
Hilted and gemmed in the blood of heroes
Unite! Mountain dwarves of Thorbardin
A kingsword at last, at last.
Deep in the cavern kingdom of Thorbardin, the powerful Stormblade is secretly crafted by an elderly dwarf-master. A Kingsword, it is intended to break the deadlock among the ruling council of Thanes.
When Stormblade is stolen and turns up years later, a series of exciting and deadly events are set in motion. Only a heroic dwarf knows the magic of the legendary blade, and he sets out to recover the lost weapon. To do so, he must travel to a land rife with war and treachery.
Hilted and gemmed in the blood of heroes
Unite! Mountain dwarves of Thorbardin
A kingsword at last, at last.
Deep in the cavern kingdom of Thorbardin, the powerful Stormblade is secretly crafted by an elderly dwarf-master. A Kingsword, it is intended to break the deadlock among the ruling council of Thanes.
When Stormblade is stolen and turns up years later, a series of exciting and deadly events are set in motion. Only a heroic dwarf knows the magic of the legendary blade, and he sets out to recover the lost weapon. To do so, he must travel to a land rife with war and treachery.
352 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
11 people are currently reading
2336 people want to read
About the author
Nancy Varian Berberick
33 books41 followersNancy Varian Berberick is an American fantasy author well known for her work in the Dragonlance series. She has written 12 fantasy novels, eight of which have been in the Dragonlance saga, and numerous short stories. Her Wizards of the Coast biography mentions that she is fond of going through a thesaurus. She enjoys Beowulf, Norse mythology, and Orlando Innamorato.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
March 13, 2020
It was fun to be back in the world of Kryn, but the descriptors were repetitious. I almost felt as though I needed to suffer short-term memory loss to appreciate them better, and if I had to read about green eyes one more time... Zap! (I would have magiced them another colour). I think the first and last 2o pages and the bits with the Kender where my favorite. All that aside I still enjoyed the read :)
May 22, 2017
Whilst the other two volumes in the first heroes series forge new and interesting paths for Dragonlance literature in a scaring and exciting post Weis & Hickman world. Stormblade chooses to play things considerably safer; safer to the extent of going back to the D&D template of band of misfits coming together, forming a party to stave off a threat; safer in centering the narrative on a hunt for an important artefact to hunt for; safer in the familiar setting of the War of the Lance as the refugees are freed from Pax Tharkas. I don’t consider this to be a bad thing, I’d simply argue that Nancy Berberick’s outing is trying to fulfil a slightly different function, and therefore the biggest negative is that it doesn’t sit next to its brethren quite so excitingly.
It’s a mostly good romp with some entertaining situations, letdown by a lackluster ending and a coda that sets up a sequel which never happened. The frustrating irony is that this book so desperately wanted to copy the Chronicles and to be a sweeping, epic trilogy (written, presumably, before this was the standard format for D&D fiction), and I felt that the only way we’d fall in love with Stanach, Tyorl and Kelida and Lamin is by spending a little more time with the gang on a few more extended adventures and building up to the final confrontation between the evil dwarf Realgar whom we never quite come to loathe. Or maybe I wanted a trilogy precisely because I saw potential here in some of the scenarios that go places the chronicles never quite did. The Forging sequence at the beginning is full of power, the depravity the Dwarves stoop to in torturing a main character is almost Fleming-like whilst elsewhere the Kender character is used wonderfully as a comic bridge between old and new, dead and alive.(I'm not yet bored with kender, even if they are all Tasslehof clones)
If the main band of characters didn’t stand out and fell a little flat, it’s also true that it never quite pushes the stakes narratively either. Stormblade is constantly hinting at murky political waters in Thorbardin that never get interesting. There are rivalries between Highlord Verminaard, Dragonwing and Realger that never take off and some difficulties around housing the refugees (oh, so topical and one of the more potentially intriguing aspects of the book that also end up being glossed over. With lots of little points of detail it’s a shame that there’s little pay off and I put the book down disappointed that my surge to the end had became slight disinterest.
A solid 3 star outing nonetheless and another success in the heroes series, nonetheless. I enjoyed the time I spent with Stormblade. It’s a nice window into a part of the war that glossed over and I anticipate more of these. I just wish there were a bit more guts and a bit more background to this standard romp.
It’s a mostly good romp with some entertaining situations, letdown by a lackluster ending and a coda that sets up a sequel which never happened. The frustrating irony is that this book so desperately wanted to copy the Chronicles and to be a sweeping, epic trilogy (written, presumably, before this was the standard format for D&D fiction), and I felt that the only way we’d fall in love with Stanach, Tyorl and Kelida and Lamin is by spending a little more time with the gang on a few more extended adventures and building up to the final confrontation between the evil dwarf Realgar whom we never quite come to loathe. Or maybe I wanted a trilogy precisely because I saw potential here in some of the scenarios that go places the chronicles never quite did. The Forging sequence at the beginning is full of power, the depravity the Dwarves stoop to in torturing a main character is almost Fleming-like whilst elsewhere the Kender character is used wonderfully as a comic bridge between old and new, dead and alive.(I'm not yet bored with kender, even if they are all Tasslehof clones)
If the main band of characters didn’t stand out and fell a little flat, it’s also true that it never quite pushes the stakes narratively either. Stormblade is constantly hinting at murky political waters in Thorbardin that never get interesting. There are rivalries between Highlord Verminaard, Dragonwing and Realger that never take off and some difficulties around housing the refugees (oh, so topical and one of the more potentially intriguing aspects of the book that also end up being glossed over. With lots of little points of detail it’s a shame that there’s little pay off and I put the book down disappointed that my surge to the end had became slight disinterest.
A solid 3 star outing nonetheless and another success in the heroes series, nonetheless. I enjoyed the time I spent with Stormblade. It’s a nice window into a part of the war that glossed over and I anticipate more of these. I just wish there were a bit more guts and a bit more background to this standard romp.
May 11, 2024
Me ha gustado durante el primer tramo, cuando aún estaba excitado de volver a leer algo de espadas y brujeria 80ra, pero a medida que avanza el uso y abuso de descripciones repetitivas me ha agotado. El desarrollo de la trama tampoco va mas allá de la clásica historia derivativa sub-Tolkienesca llena de tropos sin mucho empuje.
December 12, 2025
Stormblade by Nancy Varian Berberick is a fun little adventure. Has a nice arc, a bit of a race to find the sword at the beginning and some high tension twists at the end. I like the characters, especially Lavim and Kelida. It's cool to see the internal politics of the dwarven clans, creates a nice tense backdrop.
The introduction of characters early on is a bit clunky, and some of the action writing is quite muddy. While the setups are alright, there's just a few too many deus ex machines for me to be statisfied.
The introduction of characters early on is a bit clunky, and some of the action writing is quite muddy. While the setups are alright, there's just a few too many deus ex machines for me to be statisfied.
September 24, 2025
This is a solidly good Dragonlance novel. So why 3 stars? Because it's a Dragonlance novel.
Berberick's tale is lean, character-driven, and surprisingly well-written. Lean because the adventure is simple: find Stormblade and return it to the dwarves. There isn't tons of extraneous shit happening. And because the adventure is simple and directed, it's mostly about the characters. Which isn't awesome, because as expected the characters are fairly cliche'd: the timid barmaid turned unlikely hero, the taciturn dwarf with a veiled fatherly warmth. The best character by far is Lavim, the kender. I tend to hate kender, ever since Weis & Hickman made Tasslehoff so colossally fucking annoying and stupid, making his character literally nothing but a vehicle for "kender-isms", using his character as a cudgel to bludgeon you with blunt, predictable, insipid "comic relief". Sure, Lavim does the kender stuff, but he's his own dude and adds considerable flavor to the tale. And when he takes it upon himself to pick up a heavy rock and crush the skulls of three dwarves in a savage explosion of frenzied homicidal lust, I knew I was totally fucking on board with this novel. Mind you, this is entirely deserved, as these selfsame dwarves, just prior to this, slowly snapped every stubby finger in poor Stanach's forge hand and were about to cut his face off in a torture session gone wildly off the rails.
As we taper towards the climax, though, things draw out a bit. I found myself plodding towards the end of the novel, rather than being pulled towards it. Berberick had a chance to kill Kelida the barmaid at the end (she is attacked from behind and run through by a pack of derro (evil mage) dwarves), but she defers, killing instead the rather unlikable and boring Tyorl (somebody's gotta eat it). But Kelida's death would have added a grimness and reality to the tale that would have made it rather remarkable, but I guess maybe TSR doesn't want the death of a maiden on their hands.
In all, a great edition to the Heroes trilogy, especially for those seeking a chaser after Legend of Huma almost caused them to lose faith in the very concept of a novel.
Berberick's tale is lean, character-driven, and surprisingly well-written. Lean because the adventure is simple: find Stormblade and return it to the dwarves. There isn't tons of extraneous shit happening. And because the adventure is simple and directed, it's mostly about the characters. Which isn't awesome, because as expected the characters are fairly cliche'd: the timid barmaid turned unlikely hero, the taciturn dwarf with a veiled fatherly warmth. The best character by far is Lavim, the kender. I tend to hate kender, ever since Weis & Hickman made Tasslehoff so colossally fucking annoying and stupid, making his character literally nothing but a vehicle for "kender-isms", using his character as a cudgel to bludgeon you with blunt, predictable, insipid "comic relief". Sure, Lavim does the kender stuff, but he's his own dude and adds considerable flavor to the tale. And when he takes it upon himself to pick up a heavy rock and crush the skulls of three dwarves in a savage explosion of frenzied homicidal lust, I knew I was totally fucking on board with this novel. Mind you, this is entirely deserved, as these selfsame dwarves, just prior to this, slowly snapped every stubby finger in poor Stanach's forge hand and were about to cut his face off in a torture session gone wildly off the rails.
As we taper towards the climax, though, things draw out a bit. I found myself plodding towards the end of the novel, rather than being pulled towards it. Berberick had a chance to kill Kelida the barmaid at the end (she is attacked from behind and run through by a pack of derro (evil mage) dwarves), but she defers, killing instead the rather unlikable and boring Tyorl (somebody's gotta eat it). But Kelida's death would have added a grimness and reality to the tale that would have made it rather remarkable, but I guess maybe TSR doesn't want the death of a maiden on their hands.
In all, a great edition to the Heroes trilogy, especially for those seeking a chaser after Legend of Huma almost caused them to lose faith in the very concept of a novel.
November 15, 2024
Un historia muy interesante que ocurre en el intermedio de la primera trilogía de Dragonlance (crónicas de la Dragonlance). Se conecta a esta, dado que los héroes de la lanza buscan asilo en Thorbardin, el reino de los enanos, para refugiar a los humanos rescatados de Pax Tharkas. Sin embargo, esta es una parte secundaria de la historia que nos regala por pequeños momentos a antiguos conocidos: Goldmoon, Tanis el Semielfo, Caramon Majere y el caballero de Solamnia Sturm.
La historia principal se centra en el robo de la espada Vulcania, que es bendecida por el dios Reorx y cuyo portador se hará merecedor de gobernar a los diferentes clanes de los enanos. La espada es robada y al aprendiz de herrero Stanach le corresponde encontrarla con ayuda de algunos aliados: unos designados a ello desde Thorbardin y otros que se unen a él por necesidad.
La historia está escrita al buen estilo de la saga. Me entretuvo todo el tiempo y siempre quería saber más de lo que ocurría. Personajes interesantes, la pérdida de algunos de ellos por las dificultades que se presentan, magia y dragones aportan una aventura coherente. Su final da pie a una nueva aventura, relacionada con una leyenda del reino de los enanos.
Recomendada para todo amante de Dragonlance.
La historia principal se centra en el robo de la espada Vulcania, que es bendecida por el dios Reorx y cuyo portador se hará merecedor de gobernar a los diferentes clanes de los enanos. La espada es robada y al aprendiz de herrero Stanach le corresponde encontrarla con ayuda de algunos aliados: unos designados a ello desde Thorbardin y otros que se unen a él por necesidad.
La historia está escrita al buen estilo de la saga. Me entretuvo todo el tiempo y siempre quería saber más de lo que ocurría. Personajes interesantes, la pérdida de algunos de ellos por las dificultades que se presentan, magia y dragones aportan una aventura coherente. Su final da pie a una nueva aventura, relacionada con una leyenda del reino de los enanos.
Recomendada para todo amante de Dragonlance.
Read
November 23, 2021Wow. I absolutely loved it. The story of the search for a sword stolen from Thorbardin, this was not just great Dragonlance but great fantasy literature. It felt like a melancholy LOTR. I’m not always a big fan of dwarves, but I liked this partial look at the world of thanes in Thorbardin. Stanach and Tyorl stood out to me as wonderful, world-weary heroes, and I loved the old kender. I’d read a few conflicting reviews of this on Goodreads, but I really have only positive thoughts on it, especially Nancy Varian Berberick’s dense, artful prose.
May 3, 2019
I had to revisit my rating on this little gem after thinking about it overnight. The reference to characters from Dragons of Autumn Twilight, and the traditional forming of a party / epic quest narrative was very good! Kender characters are so awesome! I think DnD 5e would be better with them still a playable race!
March 5, 2009
Another great expansion on a fun world. Always fun to learn about weapons and magic that help shape the world of Krynn and that is what Stormblade is about. Those characters who move the story along and give us hope that good can overcome evil.
April 16, 2017
Classic sub-Tolkien fantasy with little merit. Band of heroes mysteriously overcome infinitely powerful yet somehow incompetent opponents
December 31, 2020
Another fine Dragonlance book. It was nothing spectacular, but it wasn't bad either. It was just kind of fine.
It did have some issues. The central romance was built entirely on a half-remembered/mis-remembered moment and then built in unrealistic ideals and images of the other person, which in no way resembled the reality of the situation.
Occasionally there were some sentences thrown in to I guess sound more old-timey, but they were out of place with the rest of the writing style and distracting. There were the odd punctuation mistakes, but the lack of editing in some Dragonlance novels is pretty standard.
And I keep giggling at this (paraphrased moment)
Goldmoon: I am a cleric of Mishakal
Hornfel, Thane and unofficial ruler of the dwarves: Nonsense. There haven't been clerics in over three hundred years.
Goldmoon: But now there is.
Hornfel: Oh, okay.
But overall it was a fun read. There's a multi-page description of a sword getting forged at the beginning of the book, which would normally be teeth-pullingly boring, but Varian Berberick uses engaging language and manages to keep it fresh, and given the importance of the sword to the story, it fits. The characters were interesting and engaging, the plot - even if it was nothing outstanding - was solid and the pacing was good.
That, and cameos from some of the Companions is always a treat.
It did have some issues. The central romance was built entirely on a half-remembered/mis-remembered moment and then built in unrealistic ideals and images of the other person, which in no way resembled the reality of the situation.
Occasionally there were some sentences thrown in to I guess sound more old-timey, but they were out of place with the rest of the writing style and distracting. There were the odd punctuation mistakes, but the lack of editing in some Dragonlance novels is pretty standard.
And I keep giggling at this (paraphrased moment)
Goldmoon: I am a cleric of Mishakal
Hornfel, Thane and unofficial ruler of the dwarves: Nonsense. There haven't been clerics in over three hundred years.
Goldmoon: But now there is.
Hornfel: Oh, okay.
But overall it was a fun read. There's a multi-page description of a sword getting forged at the beginning of the book, which would normally be teeth-pullingly boring, but Varian Berberick uses engaging language and manages to keep it fresh, and given the importance of the sword to the story, it fits. The characters were interesting and engaging, the plot - even if it was nothing outstanding - was solid and the pacing was good.
That, and cameos from some of the Companions is always a treat.
November 26, 2020
A part of the Heroes cycle, Stormblade is a perfectly good Dragonlance novel, but it seems to be stuck in the wrong place. The Heroes cycle usually follows the story of an important character in the universe, the first volume covering Huma, an almost mythical hero of the universe, and the volumes after this one doing a similar job of fleshing out great characters.
Stormblade is a more typical D&D novel of the style where you get a party together and give them a quest which they must achieve before the end of the book. In this case they have to retrieve a new kingsword which was stolen and which would give the wielder the power to be the new regent king of the Dwarves of Thorbadin.
The story is fun, happening parallel to the "Dragons" trilogy, with some of the characters being not too original (the Kender here is just a copy of Tasslehoff, but older), still it fleshes out the universe nicely and it's a fun read. By the end it feels like there's a sequel being set up, but that was not to come, further cementing the idea that this is somewhat out of place in the Dragonlance novels.
Stormblade is a more typical D&D novel of the style where you get a party together and give them a quest which they must achieve before the end of the book. In this case they have to retrieve a new kingsword which was stolen and which would give the wielder the power to be the new regent king of the Dwarves of Thorbadin.
The story is fun, happening parallel to the "Dragons" trilogy, with some of the characters being not too original (the Kender here is just a copy of Tasslehoff, but older), still it fleshes out the universe nicely and it's a fun read. By the end it feels like there's a sequel being set up, but that was not to come, further cementing the idea that this is somewhat out of place in the Dragonlance novels.
September 23, 2025
Wow -- one of the worst fantasy books I have ever read. I read a little over half of it, and ultimately found it unfinishable. The author takes absolutely ages to move the plot forward, and the plot itself is incredibly dull. A slow moving plot isn't necessarily a bad thing, but she's not spending time developing the characters or worldbuilding -- she's just describing sun or moonlight glinting off a blade, wind rustling through the leaves, shadows and the colour of the character's eyes (which are almost all green, unless they're a bad guy!) for the umpteenth time. This book is a souless cashgrab where the author is just mashing out as many words as possible to make it novel length. An endless parade of new and pointless characters, every last one of them male except for the single love interest, all of them with the most inane names. The dragons are described as "it" instead of with pronouns, which is just baffling. Even as someone who shamelessly enjoys silly fantasy shlock, this book is just insultingly horrible. (Aye, insultingly horrible.)
January 7, 2025
This story tells the tale of the theft of a Dwarven Kingsword and the quest to return it to the dwarf for whom it was made. It follows the exploits of Stanach, a dwarven apprentice, as he attempts to locate and return the stolen sword to its rightful owner. Stanach loses a few adventuring partners along the way and in turn gathers some new ones. The finale features an epic dwarven battle including combat with a dragon. The characters from the core trilogy show up very briefly, but are in no way the focus of the story.
Overall, this featured very good storytelling with a storyline that was well-crafted and well-paced. The character development was detailed and well-written. Suspension of disbelief was easily achieved and maintained. Nothing in the story was so wildly beyond the capabilities of the characters as to disrupt the story. All around, a great sword and sorcery adventure campaign. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and it makes a great worldbuilding addition to the series.
Overall, this featured very good storytelling with a storyline that was well-crafted and well-paced. The character development was detailed and well-written. Suspension of disbelief was easily achieved and maintained. Nothing in the story was so wildly beyond the capabilities of the characters as to disrupt the story. All around, a great sword and sorcery adventure campaign. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and it makes a great worldbuilding addition to the series.
November 23, 2017
I read this book back in the mid 90’s if I remember correctly. At that point I was determined to read every Dragonlance novel that was ever written, and I did. And of all of those books that I ever read, this was the absolute worst of any of them.
The characters were boring and forgettable and it was so uninteresting to me that I had to FORCE myself to keep reading because I lost interest in it so many times.
Bottom line, this is a book you can skip unless you are like me and have to read everything in a saga once you start it.
The characters were boring and forgettable and it was so uninteresting to me that I had to FORCE myself to keep reading because I lost interest in it so many times.
Bottom line, this is a book you can skip unless you are like me and have to read everything in a saga once you start it.
May 11, 2025
For one of the older books written back when the lore was still simplistic, the writer sure got literally everything about dwarves wrong. Thorbardin isn't just "your everyday dwarven city", there were no dwarven kingdoms of old (except maybe for Thoradin, and even that's debatable), there weren't generations of high kings, and there certainly was no such thing as a kingsword; no self-respectable dwarf would ever use a sword
It's actually kind of amazing just how moronic this book was from beginning to end, I rate it a non-canon/5
It's actually kind of amazing just how moronic this book was from beginning to end, I rate it a non-canon/5
May 17, 2025
Sigue siendo fast food literaria, libros que se leen rápido pero no permanecen en tu memoria. El estilo narrativo mejora el tan recargado del primer volumen que estaba escrito por otro autor, así que por ese lado bien. Los personajes son una vez más prototípicos, aunque Lavim me ha hecho gracia. Es una novela puramente Dragonlance, una fantasía de espada y brujería muy de los 80, llena de lugares comunes, incapaz de sorprender a quien ya tiene callo con el género. Me ha entretenido, que es lo que se le puede pedir.
May 31, 2024
I know I read this one when I was in high school. After reading it again, I barely remembered anything about the story. A good story, mind you, and only barely having to do with the Heroes of the Lance. I enjoyed the intricacies of dwarven politics in Thorbardin. I seem to remember the next part about finding the Hammer of Kharas but I dont think thats a story by the same author. I could be wrong though, guess I need to look through the stacks.
June 19, 2023
This is the Wish version of Dragonlance Chronicles. Plucky band of adventurers from diverse backgrounds come together to stop evil. Fun but forgettable. By the way, why isn’t this available on Kindle?
September 26, 2017
I don't remember this one very well -- I seem to recall somewhat above-average (for D&D) prose and a very generic super-duper magical object plot.
July 13, 2020
Fun story.
September 12, 2021
It was okay. I read it quickly but it's not a great book.
March 12, 2022
The best character wasn’t in it much. I like the different take on a kender and his antics are spot on. Over all ok with bursts of intensity that pushed it to a 4.
June 9, 2024
Continuity errors with Dragons of Dwarven Depths and slow pace starting aside, this a solid entry into the dragonlance universe.
June 20, 2024
Un volumen independiente situado durante la Guerra de la Lanza. Ofrece un buen vistazo al mundo de los enanos. Especialmente hacia los malvados theiwars, que son brujos o lo parecen.
did-not-finish-or-start
June 10, 2025DNS 6/9/25
June 30, 2025
can i give it six stars?!! what a great story.
May 20, 2021
A solid adventure with good pacing about a sword that raises up a dwarven king. The characters feel like renamed Tanis, Caramon, and others from Dragonlance, but if you want some back story and continuation of the Dragonlance world, this is a decent read.
February 18, 2011
A king sword, named Stormblade, has been forged in the mountain kingdom of Thorbardin, home of the dwarves. The sword seems to come at a much needed time. War is quickly approaching the dwarves will not be able to hide behind their stone walls much longer. But in the midst of the excitement, betrayal brews, and Stormblade is stolen and removed from the dwarven kingdom.
Years later rumor emerge of a sword that fits the description of Stormblade trickle into the mountains. Two rival clans quickly send search teams to retrieve the blade for whoever hold Stormblade will rule in Thorbardin.
In the truest sense of an adventure, we find an unlikely group of "companions" that struggle to protect the blade and return it its rightful owner and keep it out of the hands of evil. We find a young dwarf blacksmith, a human warrior, an elven ranger, and of course, the barmaid turned warrior woman (of a sort).
While much of this sounds typical of a fantasy novel, the story is put together in an amazing way that makes what could have been very stereotypical characters to life. We have love, hate, friends turned rivals, and rivals turned friends. There is of course magic and dragons and battle galore. My only real complaint was the ending. It opens the story up for so much more, but no more is ever written (at least not that I have been able to find).
4/5
Years later rumor emerge of a sword that fits the description of Stormblade trickle into the mountains. Two rival clans quickly send search teams to retrieve the blade for whoever hold Stormblade will rule in Thorbardin.
In the truest sense of an adventure, we find an unlikely group of "companions" that struggle to protect the blade and return it its rightful owner and keep it out of the hands of evil. We find a young dwarf blacksmith, a human warrior, an elven ranger, and of course, the barmaid turned warrior woman (of a sort).
While much of this sounds typical of a fantasy novel, the story is put together in an amazing way that makes what could have been very stereotypical characters to life. We have love, hate, friends turned rivals, and rivals turned friends. There is of course magic and dragons and battle galore. My only real complaint was the ending. It opens the story up for so much more, but no more is ever written (at least not that I have been able to find).
4/5
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