The Secret of Pax Tharkas

The Secret of Pax Tharkas is the first book in the Dwarf Home Trilogy. I had high hopes of this new dwarven series going into it, and I must admit that I wasn't disappointed in the least. The best thing right off the bat with this book is that it's most frequent setting doesn't take place in Pax Tharkas, nor in Thorbardin. We get to see the elusive dwarven kingdom of Kayolin up in Solamnia. The story setting of the Dragonlance series is moved ahead three years from the Rise of Solamnia Series to 433 AC. Kayolin, for those of you keeping score, was a dwarven settlement led by a governor who reported to the High Thane of Thorbardin. In the Rise of Solamnia series, we find out that a king is leading the kingdom, and for some of us we were wondering how in the world this happened. Niles does an excellent job of explaining how this happens, with the Kayolin dwarves no longer following the rule of the High Thane following the Rebellion. So our hero, makes a journey from Kayolin, it's a quick one that involves a death and an accusation. He makes his way to the Neidar lands around Pax Tharkas where he was betrayed. The action and setting of the book kept my interest as I went through, and I couldn't put the book down. The walk-through of Pax Tharkas was neat, and we even get to see the dead elf king Kith-Kanan along with a brief mention of his undead guards coming to life. The trap that was set in Pax Tharkas had me privately cheering for it to be sprung, but knowing that it would cause a great division among Tarn Bellowgranite's followers and those of the hill dwarves of Hillhome. The only two continuity errors that I caught were relatively minor, and most Dragonlance fans won't be able to catch them so it won't affect your reading of the book. We get to see appearances again by Tarn (as mentioned above), Willim the Black, and Otaxx Shortbeard. Two I wished were in the book were Mog Bonecutter and Jungor Stonespringer, but I am sure they will appear in the next book. Overall, I am going to give this book a high mark, because it kept my interest in the book, and the pace moved on instead of bogging down. Also, the low amount of inconsistencies is a great job by the author, and I really look forward to the next book to find out what becomes of the dwarven nation.