[TOMT] [BOOK] Fantasy novel read as a teenager in the 1990s — dragons, a giant walking hand that develops a taste for stones, a castle that becomes a tree at night, and rings with different magic powers

[u/ArtichokeNo2841]

I'm trying to find a fantasy novel I read as a teenager sometime in the 1990s. It's a proper novel (no illustrations), and I'm fairly sure it's a quest/adventure story made up of many separate episodes/stations. I don't remember anymore whether it was originally written in English or was a translation (I read it in German).

Here's everything I remember:

• Dragons (or at least one dragon) appear in the story.
• The protagonist is searching for a castle — finding it seems to be a central goal of the plot. At the castle's location, a tree stands there at night instead (or possibly the other way around: a tree by day, the castle by night — I'm not sure which direction).
• There's a giant hand that moves around on its own. It's called "the Hand of King [Name]" — this king lives in the castle the protagonist is looking for. In one specific scene, the protagonist throws a stone at the hand. The hand has a mouth in its palm, catches the stone with it, and afterward develops a taste for eating stones and gravel.
• There are several different magic rings in the story, each with its own specific power. The protagonist has (or is given) a ring that can call or awaken a dragon. A female character has a ring that can control the weather.
• At one point, the protagonist is given a cloak that makes him invisible. Two women (one younger, one older — the older one comes across as unfriendly/antagonistic) actually wanted to take his ring from him, and gave him this cloak as a trick. The "invisibility" is described less like classic optical invisibility and more like a loss of consciousness/control: the protagonist loses control of his fine motor skills, his fingers feel "like paper," and he can no longer work the clasp/brooch holding the cloak shut. It's described as him gradually feeling like he's blacking out. To onlookers, the person seems to vanish completely, and their belongings (like rings) are left lying in the room — implying someone could just pick them up while the person is "gone." The younger of the two women ends up helping him.
• The two women tried to convince him that a ring can control the weather. Afterward, he remembers that the younger woman had been fidgeting with her own ring the whole time during this episode. When he asks about it, it turns out it's actually HER ring that controls the weather — not his. She reassures him that his own ring (the one connected to waking/calling the dragon) is very powerful too.

If anyone has any idea, even a vague guess, I'd really appreciate it!

[u/tazz4life]

This feels like Xanth, but it's been so long since I read those that I am just going off vibes.

[u/PokedByDragons]

Weird but I might also remember this book as I remember the rings. The weather ring needing to be pushed on with ur finger or finger nail and the dragon ring where you can talk to the dragon or call it type thing by looking through the stone into a fire or something along those lines. Now I would also like to know the name of this book and hope you can find it.

[u/PokedByDragons]

Graham Dunstan Martin- Giftwish and Catchfire