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| Cover by Duane O'Myers |
I've mentioned before that I read a lot of Dragonlance novels in my early teen
years. I’ve continued to read some from time to time since then but it's been a
few years since I revisited some of the novels I actually liked and think I
might still like today. The Legend of
Huma written by Richard A. Knaak (his first published novel) is one of
those novels. It’s pretty clear to me why I liked this book so much when I was
younger. It’s full of action and crazy battles. The book just throws them at
you one after another. It lets up from time to time to attempt some form of
characterization but for the most part, it focuses on the war between the
forces of Dark and Light and how that related to Huma’s development as a
legendary hero of Ansalon.
The story takes
place centuries before the event of the original Chronicles as written by
Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. Huma is a young Knight of Solmania fighting
the dark forces of Takhisis, god of Evil, during the Third Dragon Wars. The
Knights are slowly losing the war but they continue to fight on in order to
protect their land and stop the spread of evil across the lands of Solmania and
Ergoth. After a confrontation with the enemy, Huma is separated and it’s then
that he encounters Kaz the Minotaur and saves his life. This leads to an
unbreakable friendship between the two. While lost from his regiment, Huma
encounters some of Palandin’s (the god of Light) dragons and this puts him on
the path that eventually leads him to find the dragonlances which allowed the
Knights to defeat Takhisis and end the war. That’s the extent of the story
Knaak throws in plenty of action to keep things interesting for the reader and
it works because The Legend of Huma
is very entertaining.
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| Look at those sexy mustaches! That's the real reason he's a legend. |
The story
develops quite a bit on the Knights of Solamnia. For those who are familiar
with the Knights (and if you picked up this book it’s very likely that you
are), they value honour above all else and live their lives according orders
within the knighthood and the most prestigious is the Order of the Rose which
is made up almost exclusively with men of royal bloodline. In the Dragonlance series Huma is often
described as the ideal knight and it’s a nice little bit of character
development of Knaak’s part because Huma because he’s really the atypical
Solmanic Knight. To his fellow knights he’s a legend in the making or a
disappointment, depending on who you ask. The reason being is that Huma doesn’t
buy into the politics of the Knighthood. He takes the lessons of the Oath and
the Measure to heart and that’s what directs his actions, not a desire to the
Oath and the Measure, a set of rules for the knighthood written by their
founder, Vinas Solamnus. What’s interesting is that Knaak writes the knighthood
as a political body. There are there to rise in the ranks or the please a
superior officer. His relationship with Kaz developed because he did what he
thought was right and thus he earned Kaz’s respect. HE didn’t bow down to or
bought into the racist hatred of Minotaurs. His fellow knights would have
attacked Kaz, treating him like a monster instead of as an individual. I love
that the ideal knight of legend wasn’t revered as such during his own time. He
was an oddity, and so was his friendship with Kaz, and that’s what made them
both such strong individuals.
Huma isn’t
perfect and I liked that. He’s lied to a direct superior in order to protect a
childhood friend. He does what he feels is right which means occasionally going
against the teachings of the Oath and the Measure. He does so because the Oath
and the Measure don’t provide answers or direction for all eventualities in
life, even though the Measure is composed of thirty-seven 300-page volumes. Other
than Kaz and Huma, there are few other interesting characters. Gwyneth is one
but barely. She’s one of Paladin’s dragon and she develops a romantic
relationship with Huma just before he dies for his cause. She’s not well
written or a standout female character but she’s part of the story and out of
the three female characters in the book, she’s the best. After all, she’s a fucking dragon and gets to
kick some scaly ass all through the novel and that’s pretty great. Huma’s
childhood friend, Magius, is also interesting. He’s a renegade, mages who have
rejected the Three Orders of the Conclave of Mages (Life, Neutral, Dark). He’s
shifty, but ultimately good and his search for power echoes that of one of the
most famous Dragonlance characters.
There are other
things that make this a good book. Part of it is the sense of simplicity and
familiarity I have for Dragonlance
novels. It might be unique to me and others who grew up reading the series but
it might not be. There is no fluff to this story. It’s straightforward and
earnest in its approach. It’s supposed to be that way and some Dragonlance writers didn’t get that.
Knaak understands it and that’s one of the reasons why it’s an entertaining
book. I also like that there is interior art. I wish more fantasy novels had
interior art, even if it was just every chapter like it is for this book. As
far as I can tell all of it was done by Valerie Valusek who’s done interior art
for many novels in the series. It’s a bit unfortunate that many of the pictures
are repeated from other books in the series, particularly the Chronicles
trilogy. Still, she’s done some original art for this book, specifically images
of Huma, Kaz, and a couple more specific to the Knighthood and the harnesses
created for the use of dragonlances.
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