Dragonlance: The New Adventures is a series of Young Adult fantasy novels set in the Dragonlance universe, beginning a year after the events of the Dragonlance Chronicles trilogy. They follow the adventures of a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits consisting of amnesiac girl Nearra, teenage ranger Davyn, Solamnic Knight in training Catriona Goodlund, elf thief Elidor, and kender wizard Sindri Suncatcher.
The books are divided into several smaller series:
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Spellbinder and Dragon Quartets
These books take place from 353 AC to 355 AC.
After the events of the Spellbinder and Dragon Quartets, the party go their separate ways and each have their own series:- Temple of the Dragonslayer (July 2004)
- The Dying Kingdom (July 2004)
- The Dragon Well (September 2004)
- Return of the Sorceress (November 2004)
- Dragon Sword (January 2005)
- Dragon Day (March 2005)
- Dragon Knight (May 2005)
- Dragon Spell (July 2005)
Trinistyr Trilogy
Focuses on Nearra, her sister Jirah, and Davyn as they try to break a curse on an artifact called the Trinistyr.
- Wizard's Curse (September 2005)
- Wizard's Betrayal (January 2006)
- Wizard's Return (May 2006)
Elidor Trilogy
Takes place at the same time as the Trinistyr Trilogy. Elidor is joined by Catriona, Sindri, and several new (and old) companions as he fights an undead king who wants a magic crown fused to Elidor's head.
- Crown of Thieves (November 2005)
- The Crystal Chalice (March 2006)
- City of Fortune (July 2006)
- A guidebook called A Practical Guide to Dragons, written in-universe by Sindri Suncatcher between the Elidor Trilogy and the Suncatcher Trilogy, was published in October 2006. Another titled A Practical Guide to Dragon Riding was written in-universe after the events of the Suncatcher Trilogy, in 356 AC, and published in August 2008.
Suncatcher Trilogy
Takes place after the Trinistyr and Elidor Trilogies, and at the same time as the Goodlund trilogy and Elements Trilogy.
- The Wayward Wizard (September 2006)
- The Ebony Eye (March 2007)
- The Stolen Sun (September 2007)
Goodlund Trilogy
Takes place after the Trinistyr and Elidor Trilogies, and at the same time as the Suncatcher trilogy and Elements Trilogy. Failed knight Catriona Goodlund returns to her homeland to find everything she's ever loved destroyed. Now, she must battle to discover the truth behind the destruction.
- Warrior's Heart (November 2006)
- Warrior's Blood (May 2007)
- Warrior's Bones (November 2007)
Elements Trilogy
Takes place after the Trinistyr and Elidor Trilogies, and at the same time as the Goodlund trilogy and Suncatcher Trilogy. Nearra and her sister, Jirah, head to Palanthas so that Nearra can take her wizard's test and become a full-fledged white-robed mage. But nothing goes smoothly when Nearra's test takes her, Jirah, and new friends across the world as they try to stop a centuries-old evil plot.
- Pillar of Flame (January 2007)
- Queen of the Sea (July 2007)
- Tempest's Vow (April 2008)
Dragon Codices
These standalone books take place after the Suncatcher, Goodlund and Elements trilogies, around 356 and 357 AC. As Sindri travels the world and sends notes to Palanthas on the dragon tales he's uncovered, R.D. Henham and his fellow scribes in the Great Library of Palanthas set about turning Sindri's notes on the dragons and those who encounter them into adventurous hardcover books for the entire world to read.
- Red Dragon Codex (January 2008)
- Bronze Dragon Codex (July 2008)
- Black Dragon Codex (October 2008)
- Brass Dragon Codex (February 2009)
- Green Dragon Codex (June 2009)
- Silver Dragon Codex (September 2009)
- Gold Dragon Codex (January 2010)
Provides examples of the following tropes:
- Action Girl: Catriona is a Solamnic Knight and the strongest fighter of the group.
- Amnesiac Hero: Nearra begins the series with no memory except her name.
- Arranged Marriage: Kender have arranged marriages to free up more time for adventuring. Sindri and Koi Fearbreaker are betrothed to each other and know each other's names, though it's unclear if they've ever met.
- As You Know: The first book is prone to this, with Elidor explaining the different subraces of elves and Sindri the different schools of wizardry. Justified since Nearra is an Amnesiac Hero.
- Back from the Dead: Elidor.
- A Beast in Name and Nature: The characters come to a town terrorized by both bandits and a bear-like monster called "the Beast". It turns out the Beast Was Once a Man and returns to his true form (Senwyr, Davyn's father) when killed.
- Bequeathed Power: The ghost gold dragon Theoran gives Sindri actual magical ability, making him a real wizard rather than a fake one.
- BFS: Rohawn wields a claymore.
- Bifurcated Weapon: The "dragon claws" Set-ai teaches Catriona to use.
- Big Good: Raedon, a copper dragon who befriends the group.
- Blind Seer: Shemnara, the seer of Potter's Mill, was blinded as a child by the liquid from the Dragon Well, but in exchange gained powers of prophecy.
- Boats into Buildings: The city of Tarsis was a major port until the Cataclysm changed the sea levels and made it landlocked. Some 200-300 years after the Cataclysm, some of the stranded ships have been converted into buildings.
- Boomstick: Koi uses a weapon that she dubs a "boomstick" to create localized earthquakes.
- Bow and Sword in Accord: At first, Davyn only uses a bow, but he starts using a sword as well in Dragon Knight.
- Color-Coded Wizardry:
- When he's first introduced, Maddoc is wearing a white robe to make Nearra think he's a good, trustworthy mage. However, it's soon revealed that he's actually a black-robed evil wizard.
- Sindri eschews the traditional wizardry color trichotomy, taking a fourth option and theming his outfit around purple and sun symbols.note
- Erikoff wears an orange robe and is part of a brotherhood of orange robes, though they're later revealed to be red robes who just wear orange.
- A Day in the Limelight: Most of the Dragon Codices focus on a minor character from one of the previous books.
- Delightful Dragon: Raedon the copper dragon is friendly even for a metallic dragon (in Dragonlance, metallic dragons are good while chromatic ones are evil), and helps out the heroes on several occasions. Which makes it all the worse when the Big Bad performs a Grand Theft Me on him and uses his body to destroy a village.
- Direct Line to the Author: In the spinoff book A Practical Guide to Dragons, Sindri mentions meeting "A young bard by the name of Tim Waggoner" (the Real Life author of the first book in the series, Temple of the Dragonslayer) and telling him about his and his friends' adventures. The Dragon Codices also follow this format, with the introductions claiming the books are based on notes and stories sent by Sindri to the scribes of the Great Library of Palanthas.
- Doesn't Trust Those Guys: In Bronze Dragon Codex, the human protagonist Tatelyn hates all dragons, even metallic ones, since a metallic dragon (Asvoria inside Raedon the copper dragon's body) attacked her village. Simle the bronze dragon hates all humans, since some evil ones stole her siblings' eggs to turn into draconians.
- Evil Sorcerer: The black-robed wizard Maddoc is the Arc Villain for the first four books, until he gets supplanted by Asvoria, who he brought Back from the Dead. She attempts to become a Sorcerous Overlord like she was thousands of years ago.
- Fakin' MacGuffin: The villains of the Trinistyr trilogy try to gather three magical weapons for their plot. Davyn, realizing what they're going to do, secretly has Keene make a perfect sketch of one of them, a bow, and has a powerless replica made. He even buys a charm that will make it look like the person wielding the bow can use its magic. Thanks to the switch, which he doesn't tell his companions about, they all survive.
- False Soulmate: In the first 8 books, it seems like Davyn and Nearra were on their way to becoming an Official Couple, but in the Trinistyr Trilogy they break up, and Davyn starts a relationship with Rina instead.
- Fearless Fool: This is one of the kender's hats, and Koi Fearbreaker has made it her goal to become the first kender to experience fear, after seeing how many of them have died because they weren't afraid when they should have been.
- Fighter, Mage, Thief: The main group has Davyn and Catriona (fighters), Nearra and Sindri (mages), and Elidor (thief).
- Forest Ranger: Set-ai, a mountain man who travels with the group and eventually settles in Potter's Mill.
- Gem Tissue: An odd case. The "Warrior's Blood" referred to in the book title is hundreds of rubies that serve the place of blood in a Humongous Mecha.
- Grand Theft Me: Asvoria takes over Raedon's body, using it to attack the village and his allies.
- Half-Breed Discrimination: Elidor is a full elf, but half Silvanesti and half Kagonesti, leading to him being The Unfavorite of his parents compared to his fully Silvanesti half-sister Rina. For her part, Rina has no hostility towards Elidor and sees him as a Cool Big Bro.
- Heinz Hybrid: In one book, the characters come to an isolated mountain town whose inhabitants have a mixture of human, dwarf, elf, gnome, and kender ancestry, to varying degrees. It turns out the town is where the sorceress Asvoria's fortress used to be, and the villagers are all descended from her slaves.
- Hereditary Curse: Nearra and Jirah's ancestor, Anselm, was cursed with the Trinistyr that no member of his family would have magical power until one of them broke the curse...which, of course, required magical power. Fortunately, after her possession by Asvoria, Nearra has some limited magic.
- Humongous Mecha: The Heart, Blood, and Bones in the titles of the Goodlund Trilogy refer to components of a giant robot that the villains try to reactivate. It's shown on the cover of Warrior's Bones.
- I Am Not Your Father: Davyn finds out that his father is not Maddoc but Senwyr.
- Incurable Cough of Death: When Vael, Elidor's lover, is poisoned by a lich, she starts Coughing Up Blood frequently.
- It Was with You All Along: In Pillar of Flame, the MacGuffin they spend the book searching for was in their new friend Koi's possession all along. The strange events following them (all the fires in Palanthas going out and being unable to be relit) was due to the Big Bad casting a spell on the item with a large Area of Effect.
- Locked into Strangeness: Nearra gets a streak of black (the "possessed" hair color) in her normally blond hair after the events of the first book, in which she came dangerously close to having her Superpowered Evil Side take over.
- Martial Arts Staff: Set-Ai teaches the group how to defend themselves with wooden staffs.
- Noble Demon: The sivak draconian in Red Dragon Codex struggles to be more than the monster he was created to be.
- Overly Narrow Superlative: Sindri is the greatest kender wizard ever...he's also the only one ever.
- Oxymoronic Being: Sindri, the first kender wizard. At least, that's what everyone else seems to think.
- Playing with Fire: Erikoff the orange-robed mage can conjure fire.
- The Power of the Sun: Sindri Suncatcher, the world's first kender wizard, claims his power comes from the sun (it's actually Bequeathed Power from a ghost dragon), unlike the three moons all other wizards draw power from.
- Sealed Inside a Person-Shaped Can: Maddoc sealed the spirit of the ancient sorceress Asvoria inside Nearra, though his ultimate goal was for her to take over the body.
- Shapeshifter Mode Lock: In Black Dragon Codex, the titular dragon Septimus is trapped as a human without any of his magic powers for most of the novel.
- Sibling Rivalry: Between Nearra and Jirah, though it's mostly one-sided since Nearra has amnesia.
- Square Race, Round Class: Sindri is the first (and so far only) kender wizard in the world. Kender are usually stereotyped as rogues, but before Sindri got his powers nobody even thought it was possible for one to use magic at all.
- Super Not-Drowning Skills: In Queen of the Sea, all the passengers and crew on the ship Nearra and co. take are given magic rings blessed by priests of the sea goddess Zeboim, that allow them to breathe underwater (however, they only work once, so they can't go back to the surface until their mission is over).
- Synchronization: In Bronze Dragon Codex, a young bronze dragon who hates humans and a human girl who hates dragons are magically linked so they feel anything the other feels. This is a problem, since the dragon gets nauseous like a human when she tries to fly, and humans are much more frail than dragons.
- Theme Naming: The red-robed mages in The Dying Kingdom have names designating their rank in the order: Primus, Secundus, Tercius...
- This Was His True Form: When the Beast is killed, it reverts to its true form, that of Senwyr, Davyn's father.
- Town with a Dark Secret: Arngrim, the titular Dying Kingdom in the second book, turns out to be an undead city cursed by Asvoria, with the ruling family draining life force from their subjects to survive, and the knights reduced to Animated Armor. The Scarlet Brethren try to break the curse by sacrificing either Catriona or Nearra, but the heroes thwart them.
- Was Once a Man: The Beast they face in The Dragon Well turns out to be a transformed Senwyr, Davyn's father.
- Wizarding School: Sindri spends some time at one in Palanthas.
- A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: When he's first introduced, Maddoc is wearing a white robe to make Nearra think he's a good, trustworthy mage. However, it's soon revealed that he's actually a black-robed evil wizard.
- You Didn't Ask: One day the others are surprised to find Sindri cooking breakfast at the campsite, not knowing he could cook.
