With the events of the war coming to a head and a confrontation between the forces of good and evil inevitable, Dragons of Spring Dawning begins with the companions still separated and contributing their own efforts to the struggle. By the end, they’ll be reunited and the conflict will be resolved one way or another, for good or for evil.

My biggest disappointment with Dragons of Spring Dawning is the way that the characters are treated. The story starts off strong, with Tanis feeling guilt about his complicity in the events that led to his friends being tossed about in the maelstrom on the Blood Sea. He sees himself as responsible and, in a way, he’s correct. Unfortunately, it all went downhill after the first segment. Laurana’s character arc from doe-eyed girl to powerful general is disregarded completely as she risks everything to save Tanis, and in doing so falls head first into the obvious trap that gets her captured by Kitiara and the forces of evil. From commander of armies and dragons to idiot damsel in distress in a nauseating turn written only to further the plot of Dragons of Spring Dawning.

My favorite character of the trilogy, Raistlin, barely exists in this book. His story mostly happens “off-screen”, and he makes a random and strange re-emergence at the end of the story that makes little sense and left me wondering what exactly happened that I wasn’t witness to. The authors leave off with him close to dying in the great library of Palanthas, and suddenly he is a powerful master of the black robes that miraculously appears to save the day – contrary to his personality and motivations. This was probably the most frustrating aspect of this novel for me. Not only was I not allowed to witness the culmination of Raistlin’s character arc, but he is then used as a deus ex machina.

Flint’s death affected me much more than Sturm’s did, and I thought that section of the book was beautifully written. It was annoying, however, that the authors foreshadowed it at every given opportunity. If I counted the amount of times Flint’s lips were described as being blue, his skin gray, him rubbing his chest or left arm… I mean, the reader gets it, right?

The plot of Dragons of Spring Dawning also left a lot to be desired. It is so full of holes and deus ex machinas that I hardly know where to begin. Tanis and his companions trapped beneath the waters of the Blood Sea in the ruins of Istar without a way to escape… except apparently there was a way to escape all along. This is only because the authors wrote themselves into a corner and couldn’t devise a better way out. One of the Sea Elves literally tells Tanis there is no escape, and then in the next paragraph helps them to escape. And there really is no explanation for their arrival on the beach wearing fancy clothes. So much in this book just happens randomly without any explanation whatsoever. For example, Laurana escapes her captor only to find Lord Soth randomly in a cave in a random forest where no one could have ever expected that she would be.

Characters continually make stupid decisions. Upon entering Neraka, Tanis decides that he is the one that will ruin their plans if he is discovered. Not Berem… you know… literally the person that the entirety of the dragon armies have been searching for. The person that holds the key to banishing the Queen of Darkness. I honestly couldn’t stop rolling my eyes for the last 150 pages or so of this book. The ending of Dragons of Spring Dawning nearly ruined the entire trilogy for me.

I could not be more disappointed in Dragons of Spring Dawning. This novel was almost unbearably boring when it wasn’t busy ruining characters and pulling plot elements out of thin air. There are a few redeeming moments to be found, but overall this is a completely unsatisfying ending to an otherwise decent series.