First thing you should know about the Dragonlance series is that there are many many books in it. There are however only a handful that are classed as 'First Tier'. What that means is that only these are the books that have been written by the original authors (Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman) ... Read review
Advantages: Epic character based fantasy Disadvantages: plot slightly weak
...you should know about the Dragonlance series is that there are many many books in it. There are however only a handful that are classed as 'First Tier'. What that means is that only these are the books that have been written by the original authors (Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman) and they tell the main story. All the other Dragonlance books tell other stories that are in some way related to the main story theme (ie. books about each of the characters ... ...world of evil. What makes Dragonlance slightly different is the fantastic character development. This is without a doubt the strong point of the book and the whole series. The story is brilliant, but nothing too original.
The story revolves around a group of friends who get together at the start. You have the twins Raistlin and Caramon who are as different from each other as night and day. Raistlin is a moody young mage in hopes of ... more
First thing you should know about the Dragonlance series is that there are many many books in it. There are however only a handful that are classed as 'First Tier'. What that means is that only these are the books that have been written by the original authors (Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman) and they tell the main story. All the other Dragonlance books tell other stories that are in some way related to the main story theme (ie. books about each of the characters origins).
The Dragonlance Chronicles is a trilogy containing the books: 'Dragons of Autumn Twilight', 'Dragons of Winter Night', and 'Dragons of Spring Dawning'.
The Chronicles is an story much in the mold of your Tolkien-esque fantasy. There are the heroes, the bad guys, and the heroes are on a quest to rid the world of evil. What makes Dragonlance slightly different is the fantastic character development. This is without a doubt the strong point of the book and the whole series. The story is brilliant, but nothing too original.
The story revolves around a group of friends who get together at the start. You have the twins Raistlin and Caramon who are as different from each other as night and day. Raistlin is a moody young mage in hopes of becoming the greatest mage ever. Caramon is a bulky, good-natured fighter. There are the two barbarians, Goldmoon and Riverwind. Goldmoon is a princess of a tribe and Riverwind is her protector. There is the knight in Sturm Brighblade, a fighter who holds honour above all else. There are the two elves, Tanis Halfelven, the leader of sorts of the group and Laurana, princess of the Qualinesti elves. Finally you have Flint, the Dwarf and Tasslehoff, the thieving Kender.
These characters all develop to great heights from what they are at the start. The two characters that fascinated me and a majority of the Dragonlance readers were Raistlin and Tasslehoff. Raistlin because of his tremendous gift and his mysterious past. He is the sort of character that is neither black nor white, and not even grey. He is a Red Mage at the start (sort of a neutral mage), and we dont know if he will become a White Mage (of good alignment) or a Black Mage (the opposite). What we do know is that he had a great potential and ability. Tasslehoff provides the comedy aspect and does so very well. He is a Kender (a hobbit like race), he is very energetic and extremely mischevious. His race have the ability to take anything they want, and be happy with themselves as they can make up a dozen reasons why they havent stolen it. They can get into any place without being seen or heard (majority of the time).
The Dragonlance series is a high-paced epic, involving Dragons (as the name suggests), gods, deities, elves, dwarves and a gripping struggle between good and evil. It is an easy to read book that is an ideal step-ladder into the world of fantasy fiction, or if you are a fantasy reader then a good change from everything else that is out there.
The Chronicles Trilogy can be bought from all major book retailer; Waterstones, Blackwells etc and almost all the online stores such as Amazon. The price is what you would expect from a paperback trilogy, around £20. The books on their own shouldnt be more then £6.00. Some people prefer not to read bulky books, so purchasing them individually is an alternative, though slightly more expensive. Me being an avid book reader and collector have many copies of the books separately and as a trilogy. The cover art on the new editions is outstanding, I have bought new copies just for the cover art.
I hope my opinions helped, I didnt want to give any of the story away, just give you the gist of things.
Wahla 03.03.2004 (03.03.2004)
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Review of Dragonlance Chronicles - Tracy Hickman, Margaret Weis
Advantages: fall straight into another world and forget about the dismal one that you are in now Disadvantages: you'll be a hermit when reading the book and your social life would have to suffer for a while
I was introduced to Dragonlance by my boyfriend who is an amazing reader. He showed me genres from Stephen King to fantasy novels. So what I also like is when he tells me stories. Anyway, He was telling me about this story from the Dragonlance series and I instantly fell in love with it. However, he told me there were like hundreds of books in the series and then I thought...NOOOOO! Because there is nothing worse when you read a book and realise ... ...The only problem with Dragonlance is the fact that there ARE so many books that you really don't know where to start and what books are mean to be read in which order. However, I started with 'Dragons of Autumn Twilight' and the 'Dragons of Spring Dawn' and so forth. I am not joking when I say this ... but I was hooked. I don't think ever in my life I have been so hooked on a book before! Everything about it enthralled me to the stage where I had ...
GrUnGe_GaL 03.02.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Dragonlance Chronicles - Tracy Hickman, Margaret Weis
Advantages: Quick thrill Disadvantages: Too much sameness
At first glance, these books seem to be fairly mainstream fantasy blockbusters, but as you read further they seem increasingly formulaic. All the same kind of fantasy characters appear, there's an excessive amount of fighting, and each book seems much the same as the others. In the end, I began to wonder whether these started life as stories at all: they seem almost to be accounts of successive Dungeons and Dragons role-playing games. If you like ...
Gerryhill 06.08.2000
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Advantages: Krynn, Dragonlance, epic fantasy Disadvantages: New character's arent' great, not very original
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Advantages: Huge world, engrossing history, massive fanbase Disadvantages: So many books
as a history of a world and it's mythology. Dragonlance as far as I know was created by MargaretWeis and TracyHickman, starting with a trilogy called Chronicles which incorporates Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night and Dragons of Spring Dawning, which introduced it's readers to Krynn.
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Advantages: Wide range to choose from Disadvantages: too many to get through
The DragonlanceChronicles and the series that followed grew out of the Dungeons & Dragons role play game, taking the story and characters from one of their most epic games Weis and Hickman created a whole world of fantastic creatures, wonderous adventures and unendng excitement. I have always adored the Dragonlance series.
Together MargaretWeis and TracyHickman create wonderful, in-depth characters, there reall is one for everybody. I find myself feeling their highs and their lows, mourning them when they die and happily watching as they grow and develop. The adventures are gripping with excellent settings and fabulous background characters, you feel like you are along on the adventure. I always recommend the novels to friends and have made new friends as a result of the books, they're great to share and talk about, even if ...
