The Long-Awaited Prequel to the Bestselling Chronicles Trilogy!

A mage’s soul is forged in the crucible of magic.

Raistlin Majere is six years old when he is introduced to the archmage who enrolls him in a school for the study of magic. There the gifted and talented but tormented boy comes to see magic as his salvation. Mages in the magical Tower of High Sorcery watch him in secret, for they see shadows darkening over Raistlin even as the same shadows lengthen over all Ansalon.

Finally, Raistlin draws near his goal of becoming a wizard. But first he must take the dread Test in the Tower of High Sorcery. It will change his life forever—if he survives.

Long ago, Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman explored the realm of Ansalon and found that dragons had returned to that world. They told a story of the unlikely Heroes of the Lance and of their valiant battle for good in the face of overwhelming evil.

Now, Margaret Weis returns to tell the story of the most famous member of that ragtag band of friends: the mage Raistlin Majere. She tells how Raistlin as a young child has a fire within that was nurtured first by his protective twin, Caramon, then by his sister, Kitiara—beautiful, bitter, and deadly with a blade.

The story precedes the Chronicles, as the Heroes: Caramon, Kitiara, Sturm Brightblade, the valiant knight; Flint Fireforge, the crusty dwarf; Tanis Half-Elven, forever torn between two worlds, and Tasslehoff Burrfoot, the endearing and infuriating kender, make a pledge to meet at the Inn of the Last Home—the place where their friendships have been forged and nurtured by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman in their many tales of Krynn. But before the companions meet again, Raistlin will undergo a trial that will transform his fate.

Return to Ansalon once more and see it all from the very beginning. Margaret Weis writes again about her favorite character, Raistlin Majere, of how his soul is forged in the darkness of the Tower of High Sorcery. What really happened during his Test? The answer lies hidden in Raistlin’s past. Now, finally, the truth can be revealed.

Full Cover Art by Larry Elmore

Soulforge Mock-Up for Catalog

“A friend of mine, Chris Arneson, salvaged some old cromalins being thrown away years ago by Wizards of the Coast, when they bought out TSR and moving to Washington state…these are perfect types of photos made by the printers for approval for printing…good enough for me to scan at a higher resolution so that I can reproduce. I didn’t have high resolution scans of any of these, and some of them I totally forgot that I had painted them.”
—Larry Elmore

“We think this painting of Raistlin was used as a mock-up for the catalog for The Soulforge.”
—Margaret Weis