The Odyssey of Gilthanas is an older Dragonlance novel. My book was a gift from a friend and now cannot recall the occasion for it. Written by Douglas Niles, Steve Miller, and Stan, the Odyssey of Gilthanas attempts to please both readers and game fans of the setting by combining a collection of stories and a large appendix with gaming information.
The Odyssey is about Prince Gilthanas Kanan, brother to Laurana and Porthios of Qualinost. Based on the main character of the story, I was hesitant to read the book. Here was a character I barely recalled reading about in the Chronicles. All that I could remember of Gilthanas was the beef he had with Tanis over Laurana. I had forgotten his involvement with Silvara, Icewall, and the Draconians. The Legend of Huma changed that. After reading about Huma’s Sacrifice, I needed a fix. I looked at my stack of unread novels and the Odyssey was on top. “What the hell,” I thought; I would try it regardless of what I had read in reviews. I was hooked after the first page.
The Odyssey is a “What is Eating Gilthanas?” type tale. A story of a bizarre life, the opening pages set the tone for me. Here was a noble elf, stripped of everything, his freedom, and his possessions but not broken. When Gilthanas began to recount his tale, he drew me into his story. The author(s) did their job here by pulling back the layers of Gilthanas life and taking the reader to a moment that was both interesting and a great starting point: Prison, again, but by elves. Very cool indeed.
The story unfolds with Gilthanas a prisoner of Konnal, Military Governor of Silvanesti. Before long, he escapes his captors, rescued by griffons. This is a start of an epic journey for Gilthanas, one that will take him from one of Ansalon to another. Along the way, the reader encounters numerous creatures, beings, and places, both mundane and exotic.
In places like Ruined Purstal, Gilthanas befriends the cockroaches of Dragonlance, Gully Dwarves and leaves gifted with more than filth, actual treasures.
From there, Gilthanas struggles with his soul and mind as he tries to reconcile duty and love. These two forces tear at our elven prince and it is not until he reaches a place of firm beauty and fairy tale weather that he makes up his mind to chase after his True Heart: Silvara, The Silver Dragon. It is here that the tone of the story changes from a simple mans’ story to one of an epic journey that encompasses all emotions. Love and hate.
The book fails on some parts for me though. While I liked the Appendix, it could have used stats for all the characters Gilthanas encounters throughout his Odyssey. Peak of Clouds was another issue for me. Here was a place supposedly steeped in magical energies and yet we get nothing. Only fluff. Do the magical energies provide bonuses; enhance spells of certain schools or what?
As for the novel side of things, I disliked the Linsha story. It was not very interesting and still to this day I have problems with a clandestine Solamnic knight. Perhaps my feelings are coloring my perspective on this story.
Over all the authors did an amazing job relating to the reader what Gilthanas is going through and what he was up to until his appearance in Dragons of New Age. While the book has its faults, it does not deserve the stigma it has received. I give it a 4 out of 5.
