Dragons of Spring Dawning

Dragonlance: Chronicles, Book 3

By: Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman

Narrated by: Paul Boehmer

Length: 16 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's Summary

The war against the dragon minions of Queen Takhisis rages on. Armed with the mysterious, magical dragon orbs and the shining, silver dragonlance, the companions bring hope to the world. But now, in the dawn of a new day, the dark secrets that have long shadowed the hearts of the friends come to the light. Betrayal, treachery, frailty, and weakness will nearly destroy all that they have accomplished.

The greatest battle they have left to fight is within each of them. Yet, in the end, they will be heroes.

©1985 TSR, Inc., Cover Copyright c. 2000 Wizards of the Coast LLC (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Still Good, but narration got weaker

The final book of the Chronicles of Dragon Lance. The Final battles of Good and Evil. It will end here, for good or ill, for at least most of the companions of our D&D tale. The War of the Lance completes. Magic, sneaking, spying, War, interpersonal conflicts, conflicts of morality and of the soul all in this book. It is still a great story even after all these years.

The narration however seemed to weaken. Characters and statements that should have been said with strength almost seem whiny. The narration itself is decent, but it feels as if the narrator did not take the time to consider the situation and the emotions behind the situation and instead just read the book. The characters even didn't have as much distinction between them as they did in the first and second books.

Not like I remember

I read these books years ago and remember really enjoying them. after listening to the entire series it left me wondering why I enjoyed them so much. Just left me without emotion for the characters and their story. Not a personal attack on the narrator, but he made it even more difficult to enjoy. Overall just a big let down.

The narration is terrible.

The narrator mispronounces names. What's worse is he doesn't use the same pronunciation from book to book. And, they're miss pronounced every time. It physically hurt to listen to this butchering of Dragonlance Chronicles and Legends.

The performance is stilted and wooden.

As a way to re-live the books, this is passable. Please don't make this your first encounter with the series. The reader is terrible. His pronunciations are incorrect and haphazard at times. His delivery is wooden and ill-timed. Yet, it's still not enough to destroy this work of art.

wow. just read the series you will not regret it.

some say this is a book for teens, but it has depth too. love triangles, good vs evil, and complex characters (with exception of Stern)

Classic Book, Awful Reader

Dragonlance Chronicles are probably my favorite books, but Paul Boehmer is a terrible, terrible narrator.

Great book. Poor performance.

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Re-record it with a narrator that isn't going to mispronounce half the names or attempt to add unnecessary drama by constantly pausing/starting/stopping. If it were a boat ride, I'd be sea-sick.

What did you like best about this story?

The BOOK is great.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Paul Boehmer?

Anyone that can read and speak English as their native language.

What character would you cut from Dragons of Spring Dawning?

Not a single one.

Any additional comments?

As previously stated, the books are fantastic but I wouldn't be able to recommend this audiiobook unless it was re-recorded with a new narrator.

They effed up most of the character arcs.

Tanis, Tas, Tika, Caramon, and Kitiara make it out of this book alright. Everyone else either doesn't do anything, or has their personal arc fly off the side of the road, flip end over end, and explode.

Margaret and Tracy famously got into a big fight because they had to throw out all of Laurana's character progression and have her do something really stupid in order to make the final act happen.

By far the worst offender is Raistlin, who was deep and nuanced it the first 2 books. In this book, however, he's shallow as a puddle, jumps around erratically between alignments every other scene, and is used as a deus ex machina in the end.

Dungeons and Dragons is a game about character progression, but this book was mostly just character regression.

good book. terrible narration.

loved the book but the narrator makes it difficult to get througha series i have loved since high school. seriously john boehmer stay away from voice acting gigs unless you're gonna emote. it was like watching paint dry.

Writing is better, performance is still flat

You can tell that Weis and Hickman have learned a lot about writing as you get into the third book of the series, and it no longer reads likes notes from a D&D playing session. Still not what I would call good writing, but written well enough now not to be distracting and discordant like the first book was. The story is still a little weak and a little too plot heavy, but good enough.

The performance is still awful and flat. There seems to be more dialog and there is a little life there, but the exposition still cannot be distinguished from a flat computer voice enunciating the text.

Great Storytelling 🌲

I first read the three chronicles at about 11-12 yrs old.
I couldn't put the books down then. So glad to be able to go over them again but in audible format.
I also never knew then what I do now.
There are many more books left to read our listen to in the same series from some great authors.

Paul Boehmer's narration is brilliant!

Paul Boehmer's narration is brilliant. I want to get that out of the way first. He delivers the book with passion and his character voices are incredible. As for the book itself, it is once again an amazing adventure. I was a bit disappointed with the ending, but not enough to be really bothered by it. I guess it was just all over too quickly for me. But the characters shine once more, each memorable in their own way. This trilogy has been a fantastic experience and I recommend it heartily to all lovers of fantasy.

nostaglia comforts

though its story follows beats from lotr its characters are richer and its world more believable

an old favourite

this trilogy will always be an old favourite of my like talking with an old friend

Great finale

The story built to a satisfying end. lots of drama and action. Good links through the whole trilogy. The conflict of the characters was especially good.

The Master has returned home

So ends the original Dragonlance trilogy. A very thematic, if sometimes formulaic story, but one written with a lot of passion and some genuine inspiration. In the end, the hours spent listening were definitely worth it. Raistlin is truly a stellar character. Can't wait to see what the future holds for the Master of Past and Present. Also, Lord Soth is a great addition to the cast. On to the next trilogy.

High-class fantasy

Absolutely love this series, read it first time 20some years ago. Up there with Tolkiens books in my opinion.

Also narrated very well, no complaints.

Full of childhood memories

Also, great to relearn things you forgot.

A lovely story, well told and narrated. It was time very well spent.

Sweet memories

I loved revisiting this story which I first read in my 20s. It was so much richer now that I've lived some of life. The narrator brought the story alive and scientists will between the various characters.

Heroes of the lance

Another fantastic performance from Paul Boehmer, his reading of this novel brings it to life. In this final book we see our adventurers reach the climate in the battle for Krynn, can our heroes prevent the dark queen from entering into the world of men, to which side will Tanis turn, can Tasslehoff get help from Fizban. A fitting conclusion to a gripping story.