There’s some purposeful gaps in the storytelling of the Dragonlance Chronicles. Specifically, we don’t get the story of saving the magical hammer from the depths of Torbarden, we don’t know much about Kitiara until we do, and Raistlain disappears for a long while.
This series, written in the early 2000s goes back and fills in those gaps, which mixed results.
The story for this first volume involves the companions looking for the magical hammer in the depths of the Dwarven realm. We know they succeed because at the beginning of the Dragons of Winter Night, they are resting comfortably in the Dwarven kingdom, having just succeeded. They’ve also just secured a safe haven (if temporary) for the refugees of Pax Tharkas.
In this story they are still on the run from the Draconians, having used Raistlin’s magic to close up the gap in the mountain passes. The Dwarven kingdom seems like a good plan, except that they are having a succession crisis and they also need the magic hammer. The hammer is also an important item because it will be needed to create the dragonlances. So you can imagine.
This book works by splitting the companions into different crews with different goals and sending them into the fray. The writing is fine. Near to the Chronicles, but it has the same issue as the preludes, retconning be thy name.
The audiobooks are sadly lacking though. The narrator is NOT Paul Boehmer, who is the voice of the Chronicles and Preludes. A new narrator wouldn’t be a big deal if the voice chosen for Tas wasn’t terrible.
(Photo: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/92909.Dragons_of_the_Dwarven_Depths)