{"id":1292,"date":"2019-04-08T07:46:18","date_gmt":"2019-04-08T07:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.superversivesf.com\/fantasticschools\/?p=1292"},"modified":"2019-04-02T04:00:02","modified_gmt":"2019-04-02T04:00:02","slug":"review-soulforge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.superversivesf.com\/fantasticschools\/2019\/04\/08\/review-soulforge\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Soulforge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Review by Frank Luke<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When an author enjoys writing the book, the reader can tell. This is usually because the author enjoys something about the setting or the characters. In the case of Margaret Weis\u2019\u00a0Soulforge<\/em>, it is both.<\/p>\n

Soulforge<\/em>\u00a0tells the story of Raistlin\u00a0Majere, her favorite character in\u00a0DragonLance<\/em>, the setting that made her famous. Though\u00a0DragonLance Chronicles<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Legends<\/em>\u00a0are\u00a0sometimes\u00a0considered classics in the field of fantasy, they are not as popular as in the past.<\/p>\n

Weis and her coauthor of\u00a0Chronicles<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Legends<\/em>\u00a0summarized the series as \u201ca tale of love and friendship set against a backdrop of war.\u201d\u00a0If that statement alone doesn\u2019t show that the series can be superversive, I don\u2019t know what would. In my opinion, the books\u00a0coauthored\u00a0by Weis and Hickman (or\u00a0written by\u00a0either) are definitely superversive. They seek to build up the reader and the social order.\u00a0While the current order on Krynn is not perfect, they know that burning it to the ground is a nonstarter.\u00a0The stakes are high, epic even, but\u00a0when the characters make mistakes of character and integrity they pay for them.<\/p>\n

Two of the characters\u00a0from\u00a0Chronicles<\/em>\u00a0that brought on the most fanmail and questions about their background were the twins Caramon and Raistlin\u00a0Majere.\u00a0That the authoress had fallen in love with Raistlin helped greatly in making Raistlin the complex character he was amongst a party of archetypes\u00a0(honorable knight, gruff dwarf, sticky-fingered kleptomaniac). While the other characters could be predictable and at times acted out of character to serve the plot (I\u2019m looking at you, Larauna), Raistlin quickly\u00a0became\u00a0predictable in his own way\u2014he would always act to further his own goals, even over those of his companions, friends,\u00a0and brother.\u00a0The others were good\u00a0(in the sense of being selfless)\u00a0to varying extents. Raistlin\u2019s first appearance showed him to be different. Instead of white, he wore red, the color of neutral wizards.\u00a0He was not good\u00a0but not evil, either. But this post is not about the\u00a0Chronicles<\/em>. It\u2019s about the\u00a0Soulforge<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Crafting of the Book<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Soulforge<\/em>\u00a0shines with the care of a true craftsman and artist. The descriptions are vivid but not overwhelming. Margaret Weis takes the time in each scene to make sure you know how everything is laid out in the room.\u00a0However, she doesn\u2019t spend too much time describing everything. She knows how to use enough description that the reader feels in the scene without being bogged down.<\/p>\n

Being a prequel to\u00a0Chronicles, The Soulforge<\/em>\u00a0faces\u00a0one\u00a0big hurdle\u2014we\u00a0readers know how it is going to end. Maybe not the specifics, but\u00a0we know that the brothers are going to come out alive, and because of what is revealed in books written earlier but set later,\u00a0we know how close of a call it will be for\u00a0Raistlin.\u00a0We know going into the book that Raistlin will finish the book alive and a wizard, because that\u2019s how he appears in\u00a0Chronicles<\/em>. Even so, just like Vader\u2019s first breath through the mask in\u00a0Revenge of the Sith<\/em>, there is a moment everyone knows is coming but still brings a small tear to the eye.<\/p>\n

Like any prequel,\u00a0Soulforge<\/em>\u00a0has\u00a0to\u00a0tell a new story when the ending is already known. Certainly, Weis faces that task and delivers.\u00a0Soulforge<\/em>\u00a0covers the life of Raistlin from age six, when he speaks to a wizard for the first time\u00a0(Antimodes the White, a very powerful wizard)\u00a0to age 21, when he is officially recognized as a wizard in his own right.<\/p>\n

There is one drawback to the book covering so many years\u2014there is no big bad to build up. In fact, this was a prediction I got wrong. As I read it, I expected a certain villainess to appear as she was constantly meddling in the other books. To my delight, she was not seen even once! I likewise expected a fellow wizardry student named Jon Farnish to be a major foil to Raistlin, but he never rose beyond annoyance. Raistlin faces many trials and makes several enemies, but there is no one foe behind the problems. The problems are, in fact, related only in that Raistlin and his friends face them.<\/p>\n

A final note on the crafting of the book comes under the subject of foreshadowing. This is one of the hardest parts of writing for me to do. Because I know how one of my stories will go, I always think that the foreshadowing is too obvious and kills anything further. However,\u00a0Soulforge<\/em>\u00a0lets dribble little pieces of what is ahead that the careful reader will see without destroying the joy a casual reader might experience.<\/p>\n

Foreshadowing even comes into play by the very title. At one glance, the reader knows that this book will be about the trials that shape a person. The title is even mentioned in the text several times. In the first chapter, a wizard refers to the schooling they go through as a forge to shape them, knock off all their rough edges, and train them in the ways of demanding ways of magic. This theme is repeated by Antimodes, Raistlin, and Par Salian. When Raistlin\u2019s parents die within days of one another, sitting in his grief, he thinks to himself, \u201cblows from the hammer, shaping me into what I will become.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Little Background<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Soulforge<\/em>\u00a0tells of the childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood of Raistlin Majere.\u00a0Born\u00a0on the magical world of Krynn\u00a0to a mother with innate\u00a0but untrained\u00a0magical talent and a father satisfied with his lot in life as a simple\u00a0woodcutter, the twins were the classical setup of brains and brawn. Caramon was the big guy, the fighter who lived by his sword. He was also jolly and beloved by the ladies. His twin, however, was dark, brooding, and frail. Sickly, Raistlin lived not by his muscles but by his\u00a0wits. Caramon cared for him, too much so. Raistlin hated the doting but accepted that he had no other choice. For having no other choice, he hated the sickly body he was born with,\u00a0cursing the gods for making them two separate people.\u00a0He felt they were supposed to be one person with a healthy body and brain, but a mistake had split that soul in two.<\/p>\n

In many ways, he abused\u00a0Caramon, always calling him stupid and\u00a0a\u00a0big oaf.\u00a0Raistlin was wrong here, Caramon was a slow thinker but by no means slow. Everyone assumed Caramon was an oaf without realising that Caramon took his time to arrive at a solution\u2014almost always the correct solution. As someone describes him in this book, he is a slow thinker but not slow.<\/p>\n

Raistlin\u00a0envied Caramon\u2019s easy way of making friends but told himself that he really didn\u2019t need them.\u00a0The brothers were\u00a0a very loose definition of\u00a0co-dependent. Caramon could not function without being needed\u00a0(a point driven home in\u00a0Legends<\/em>\u00a0where Caramon\u2019s character arc comes to completion). Raistlin needed his brother\u00a0but hated it at the same time.\u00a0Both were addicts. Caramon to being needed and Raistlin to the feeling magic gave him.<\/p>\n

The Schools of Magic on Krynn<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most fantasy series have a mentor-apprenticeship relationship for their wizards. Some also have a school. Wizards in\u00a0DragonLance<\/em>\u00a0begins with a school and the most promising become apprentices after successfully completing their final Test.\u00a0The capital T is purposeful.\u00a0The Test is unique to each wizard and will require all of their skills, both magical and mundane, to complete. It tests not only their power but their personality.<\/p>\n

When the book opens, Antimodes\u00a0the White\u00a0is traveling from his home to meet the head of all wizards,\u00a0Par Salian, the most powerful white robed wizard in history. To\u00a0Antimodes\u2019\u00a0disappointment, he was given orders to travel overland instead of\u00a0journeying by the corridors of magic. The reason: to scout for new talent. The head of the order was granted a vision of the future and told by the god of white magic that the world would not survive a coming war unless he, the archmage, found a sword. All the current wizards were solid workmen and would fight if needed, but they had very few war mages. Most people on Krynn distrusted wizards, and few employed them. They needed someone new!<\/p>\n

Antimodes meets Raistlin in his hometown of Solace and sponsors him at the nearby magical school for boys run by Master Theobald, the epitome of \u201cthose who can\u2019t do, teach.\u201d He was assigned to this boys\u2019 school because no one else wanted the job. The school lies along a well-traveled road but is five miles from the nearest town. Most of the students board there. Girls interested in wizardry attend the boarding school\u00a0for girls\u00a0in Palanthas, the largest\u00a0and oldest\u00a0city in that region.<\/p>\n

Raistlin quickly showed himself to be the best student in the school and, just as\u00a0quickly, showed the arrogance that we would see on him in\u00a0Chronicles<\/em>. While the other students struggled on the pronunciation of magical words, Raistlin promptly learned to read simple sentences in the language of magic. When they began learning how to scribe scrolls, Raistlin\u00a0vaulted to the top of the heap with the precision of his handwriting. You see, on Krynn, when a spell is spoken, every\u00a0syllable and every letter must be pronounced properly. When it is inscribed on a scroll for later use, every letter must be written precisely. Crossing the T too highly or too lowly will invalidate the spell. If\u00a0even\u00a0the curl on a Q is wrong, the scroll will fizzle.<\/p>\n

The students were too young at this point to actually do magic and were forbidden to attempt spells. Raistlin actually obeyed this rule for most of his time at the school. He wanted magic and the only way to get it was to be a good little student. Raistlin never tried to be the teacher\u2019s pet, but his quick mind and obvious talent made him the second-favorite student;\u00a0had he been nice and a brown noser, he would have easily been favored\u00a0over Jon Farnish. Raistlin was at first the recipient of numerous pranks. However, the pranksters soon learned that the student best at herb lore\u00a0and sleight of hand\u00a0could place stinging nettles\u00a0in the most unexpected places.<\/p>\n

Always\u00a0slender and of low stamina, Raistlin boarded during the winters. When the roads were clear and the weather warm, he took a wagon from the town to school and back every day. In exchange for the rides, Caramon worked in the fields with a neighboring farmer. Raistlin argued against this, but Caramon said, \u201cyou would do the same for me.\u201d We see another hint at the final state of Raistlin when\u00a0the\u00a0six-year-old\u00a0thinks to himself in answer, \u201cI\u2019m not sure of that, Brother.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rasitlin studies at Theobald\u2019s school for seven full years before casting his first spell. This is normal on Krynn. Magic is difficult\u00a0and tiring\u00a0even for the talented. After seven years of schooling, any students whom the master deems promising are given their first test of spell casting. They are taken to his laboratory, seated at a stone table, and told to scribe a scroll with the words, \u201cI, Magus.\u201d If the words glow brightly upon their completion of the scroll, the student\u00a0enjoys further study. If the words do not glow, the student is sent home\u00a0and secretly observed lest he join the renegade wizards.<\/p>\n

Raistlin takes the test with two other students. Gordo\u2019s scroll merely sits on the table (he crossed out a misspelling, invalidating the scroll). Jon Farnish\u2019s scroll glows gently but brightly. Raistlin\u2019s scroll, however, does nothing\u2014at first. Nervous and\u00a0embarrassed, Raistlin prays to the gods of magic that if the three cousins will grant him the power of wizardry, he will serve them all his life, bring others into the craft, and glorify them.<\/p>\n

To the astonishment of all in the room, the Sly One\u2019s scroll bursts into flames!<\/p>\n

When Theobald reports this to the conclave of wizards, Par Salian knows the sword he needs is being tempered and forged.<\/p>\n

And forged he is. Raistlin has learned that what he first wanted magic for is not to be within his grasp. He wanted to become a good wizard, a beloved wizard, almost a benevolent dictator of magic. However, he has learned that he will never be loved by the masses.\u00a0Magic, even good magic,\u00a0frightens them too much. He still intends to do them good, but now his goal of helping others is because he believes himself to be better than those who cannot do magic.\u00a0It is the only way he can have power over them.\u00a0When he uses his herb lore to heal and comfort plague victims, he is proud they need him more than humbled that he can help.\u00a0However, the pity he feels for the downtrodden and oppressed is never faked.\u00a0At one point, Raistlin doubts a plan he has put in motion, but his memory of a young mother who has been bilked out of her meager savings and frightened beyond her wits stiffens his resolve to go through with the plan.<\/p>\n

Considered a novitiate wizard\u00a0after passing the \u2018I, Magus\u2019 test, Raistlin is allowed to wear the same color robes as his sponsor, Antimodes. For those who\u00a0have read\u00a0Chronicles<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Legends<\/em>\u00a0where he wore red and black respectively, Raistlin in white comes as a big shock. Theobald makes him an assistant teacher and gives him personal tutoring and advanced lessons.<\/p>\n

More years pass for Raistlin and Caramon, with Raistlin at once envying his brother and glad of his own abilities. The aging Theobald moves the school to town after a particularly bad winter. Raistlin continues to study for another seven years, careful to break the rules no\u00a0more than Theobald\u2019s temper will allow.<\/p>\n

The complexity of Raistlin comes through in the next sections, and Margaret Weis has a wonderful gift for describing a scene. Raistlin and his companions travel to Haven for a festival. When they arrive, Raistlin discovers a renegade wizard exploiting the poor people in the\u00a0small city. Raistlin, while he has no love for the people themselves as they hate wizards, pities them for how the wizardess is playing them. Raistlin breaks the rules of the\u00a0conclave\u00a0to expose the fraud. He\u00a0confronts her openly and then\u00a0casts spells far above what his training should allow.<\/p>\n

To Raistlin\u2019s surprise, when the Conclave of wizards hears of this, they do not punish him. They invite him to take the final Test of wizardry. If he passes, he will be a full wizard, no longer a novitiate. If he fails, he will die. He may refuse the Test but will never be offered another opportunity.<\/p>\n

Raistlin and Caramon go to take the Test. I will not tell you the details of the Test save that Raistlin learns more of magic and\u00a0even more\u00a0of himself in the Test. The Test is not just to determine a wizard\u2019s skill but what kind of wizard he will be. It is a time of great\u00a0personal epiphany. Arrogantly, Raistlin thought he knew himself completely. What he learned of himself in the Test surprised\u00a0him and\u00a0all the\u00a0observing\u00a0wizards save Par Salian.\u00a0Yet\u00a0even\u00a0the great\u00a0Par Salian felt surprise at\u00a0the extreme degree of\u00a0Raistlin\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n

After the Test, the reader is left asking the same question Antimodes asked of Par Salian. Without spoiling the book, I can repeat that question. \u201cYou gave him red robes after that Test?\u201d<\/p>\n

But Par Salian was satisfied. He had his sword.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

You don\u2019t have to be fan of DragonLance to enjoy\u00a0SoulForge<\/em>. Since the character is so young and in training, many things are explained to him that would otherwise require a fan of the series.\u00a0The hat tips to the fans are present but subtle.<\/p>\n

I heartily recommend\u00a0The Soulforge<\/em>\u00a0to all fans of DragonLance and to all fans of fantasy. The worldbuilding is solid and the way the author loves the main character and setting shines\u00a0through. Even though you know how it will end, the journey is satisfying.\u00a0You feel Raistlin\u2019s struggles both within and without.\u00a0For fans, you see how Raistlin came to be the way he is\u00a0Chronicles<\/em>. Nonfans may find themselves wanting to read\u00a0Chronicles\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Legends<\/em>\u00a0just to see where the forge has taken Raistlin.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Review by Frank Luke When an author enjoys writing the book, the reader can tell. This is usually because the author enjoys something about the setting or the characters. In the case of Margaret Weis\u2019\u00a0Soulforge, it is both. Soulforge\u00a0tells the story of Raistlin\u00a0Majere, her favorite character in\u00a0DragonLance, the setting that made her famous. Though\u00a0DragonLance Chronicles\u00a0and\u00a0Legends\u00a0are\u00a0sometimes\u00a0considered classics in the field of fantasy, they are not as popular as in the past. Weis and her coauthor of\u00a0Chronicles\u00a0and\u00a0Legends\u00a0summarized the series as \u201ca tale of love and friendship set against a backdrop of war.\u201d\u00a0If that statement alone doesn\u2019t show that the series can be superversive, I don\u2019t know what would. In my opinion, the books\u00a0coauthored\u00a0by Weis and Hickman (or\u00a0written by\u00a0either) are definitely superversive. They seek to build up the reader and the social order.\u00a0While the current order on Krynn is not perfect, they know that burning it to the ground is a nonstarter.\u00a0The stakes are high, epic even, but\u00a0when the characters make mistakes of character and integrity they pay for them. Two of the characters\u00a0from\u00a0Chronicles\u00a0that brought on the most fanmail and questions about their background were the twins Caramon and Raistlin\u00a0Majere.\u00a0That the authoress had fallen in love with Raistlin helped greatly in making Raistlin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1293,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[204,205,206,203],"class_list":["post-1292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","tag-dragonlance","tag-margaret-weis","tag-raistlin","tag-soulforge"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.superversivesf.com\/fantasticschools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.superversivesf.com\/fantasticschools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.superversivesf.com\/fantasticschools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.superversivesf.com\/fantasticschools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.superversivesf.com\/fantasticschools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1292"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.superversivesf.com\/fantasticschools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1298,"href":"https:\/\/www.superversivesf.com\/fantasticschools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1292\/revisions\/1298"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.superversivesf.com\/fantasticschools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.superversivesf.com\/fantasticschools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.superversivesf.com\/fantasticschools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.superversivesf.com\/fantasticschools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}