Darkness and Light

This is about a mercenary named Kitiara and Sturm, a knight of Solamnia. They are going to Solamnia to find Sturm's father, when they lose their horses and come across gnomes with a flying machine. The gnomes promise the humans that if they get them unstuck, they with fly them anywhere they want to go. Sturm, being a knight, is all honorable etc., but Kitiara is quite the opposite. Gnomes are known for being inventors - although about only 10% of their inventions actually work. Kitiara is doubtful that the machine will fly, but they help the gnomes anyway. And the ship, the Cloudmaster, proves to work. All is going well, until something goes wrong, and they crash-land on the moon Lunitari. All red sand and rocks, as far as the eye can see. It's not that bad at first, but when they meet walking, talking (but not so intelligent), tree's, a crazy survivor from a strange incident, giant crystal ants, and when Kitiara grows as strong as ten men, Sturm has visions, and all the gnomes get better at what they were already good at (though they couldn't make it rain before...), they decided that they had better get off the moon - quickly. Although Kitiara is not a character that I really like, I found the book funny and entertaining.

I was a somewhat disapointed that you did not find out how Sturm and Kit fall in love. The trip they take is an amazing jurney that takes them out of this world. The gnomes were very amusing to read about. There isn't much more to say except that I would have to say reea this book.

This book is awesome, along with the gnomes sense of humor with their obsession with raisins and perfection along with Sturm's seriousness and Kitiaras fun-loving attitude, they make one Hell of an adventure and end up crash-landed on the moon!! There they meet up with a Dragon! And yes, the Story DOES TOO connect with the Chronicles, they just haven't seen the reason why Sturm didn't mention the Dragon or Draconians, but I know why, but I'm not sharing! ANYWAYS, buy this book, it is a must read for DragonLance fans!!! It's funny as hell!

As time on the world of Krynn passes, two people travel on adventures that they'll never forget. Kitiara Uth Matar, a young warrior woman who doesn't let anybody control her, and Sturm Brightblade, a Solamnic Knight who believes in the ancient laws of Huma, go on a quest to find Sturm's heritage. As they travel along in their fantasy world full of mysterious creatures and dark or light magic, they meet a group of gnomes who are known for their mysterious inventions and five hour long names. The gnomes agree to take Sturm and Kitiara anywhere on their newest attraction, a flying ship. The companions agree. They are surprised when it takes off the continent of Anaslon into the freezing temperatures of the highest skies. Then the contraption breaks, so it is unable to land. Sturm, Kitiara, and the gnomes are forced to continue flying up. Days pass, and their supplies are becoming limited, when something begins to fill their view. One of Krynn's three moons, Lunitari, is straight up. As they get closer to the red moon, they are blessed with unusual powers that only grow larger as they crash land. Unable to fix their ship, they are forced to scrounge all over the sandy terrain, where they face many unusual characters and unknown living species. An army of living trees guard their holy, insane king. They hear rumors about a giant beast living in an evil obelisk, and are destined to find it. After all, it could be their only hope. They reach it and find a creature that was believed to have perished years ago, along with the legendary Huma. It was a huge brass dragon, guarding a sacred treasure, with the help of unnatural crystallized ants. The dragon could be their only hope to get off of the desolate moon. Without a ship, it seems impossible. A life on Lunitari couldn't be that bad, could it?

This story, is indeed one of the more interesting works in the Saga. As stated above, it entales the story of Sturm and Kitiara five years before the War of the Lance. Traveling to his home land, in an effort to find his lost father, Sturm finds on the way, how very different he is from Kitiara, both in principle and action. Along the way, they meet with a group of gnomes, travel to the Red Moon, and engage a very real dragon. While this forshadows a part of Kitiara seen in the Chronicles, I find it hard to believe that Sturm would fail to mention to his companions that he had seen a dragon, even if the two had agreed to not speak of it. His honor as a knight, I guess. The story seemed detached from the rest of the Dragonlance plethora, and in doing so, left it somewhat unbelieveable (even for a fantasy world). Overall,however, it was well written, and very entertaining, thus making its good sides greatly outweigh the bad.