Need some Dragonlance advice...

[Crash-Man]

Hi there.

I need some advice regarding the best novels in the Dragonlance series, and, just as importantly, what order I should read them in. I recently found a bookstore with a decent selection of fantasy novels (rare where I live), including the Dragonlance line, and I want to give them a try.

They have a very large Annotated Chronicles Trilogy, and I'm assuming that that's where I should begin. Correct?

Just for some background: I've only read about 5 Dragonlance novels, including The Legend of Huma, Kaz the Minotaur (and another Kaz novel), and several short story books from the series. The Legend of Huma is my all-time favorite novel, and one inspired me deeply as a teenager...and to this day. That's the sort of adventure and heroism I look for in a fantasy novel.

Anyway, thanks in advance for the tips.

[thetechnocrat]

Ahh, Dragonlance. One of the few fantasy genre series i've ever read.
Definately start with the Chronicles thome.
Then move on to the Legends Trilogy & the two Preludes Trilogy for background info.

The Dragons of Krynn
The Dragons at War
The Dragons of Chaos

I recommend the individual ones:
Heroes Trilogy - Legend of Huma
Heroes Trilogy - Stormblade
Heroes Trilogy II - The Gates of Thorbardin
Heroes Trilogy II - Galen Beknighted
The Chaos War - The Doom Brigade

Here's a link (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=books/dl/bibliography) with a listing of a lot of titles

[saintjon]

If you've read Huma then IMO you've already read the best DL has to offer, chronicles and legends trilogies are both good, as is the Soulforge (this might be the second best single novel in DL IMO) and it's follow-up, Brothers in Arms.

[Crash-Man]

Woo-hoo...thanks a lot. Think I'll re-read Legend of Huma to get myself ready.

[Starkicker]

I haven't read the Dragonlance stuff since I was a teen, but I've got the War of Souls sitting on my book shelf waiting to be read.

My all time favourite was the Defenders of Magic series. It was totally unrelated to the Weis/Hickman core books but really great. If you can find those I'd recommend it.

[UniqueFrequency]

what do you guys suggest to someone who's completely new?

how does Dragonlance stand up against stuff like Salvatore's books?

[Starkicker]

If you want to check out Dragonlance start with Chronicles Vol.1. Everything else in the Dragonlance Universe spins off of Weis and Hickman's series. So if you like Chronicles then spread out from there.

Salvatore is a little more about action/adventure. Weis/Hickman are trying to build more of an epic story. But if you like Forgotten Realms I'm sure you'll like Dragonlance.

[Shem the Penman]

My personal advice?

Read the very first trilogy (Weis/Hickman).
Read the second trilogy.

Forget any of the other books even exist.

I may be a bit out of touch, since I haven't read any DL stuff since the first flood of material, but what I remember after the first two series was just painfully bad.

[Expletive Deleted]

I agree with Shem. If you want to get into Dragonlance, read the "Chronicles" and "Legends" trilogies and then quit while you're ahead.

There are a few highlights here and there (like the Huma/Kaz books), but the vast majority ranges from mediocre to unreadable.

[saintjon]

I agree with Shem. If you want to get into Dragonlance, read the "Chronicles" and "Legends" trilogies and then quit while you're ahead.

There are a few highlights here and there (like the Huma/Kaz books), but the vast majority ranges from mediocre to unreadable.

that's pretty much what I felt, except I had to throw in the Soulforge and follow-up cuz I thought they lived up to that original stuff.

Edit: For those who are into Salvatore style goodness or just looking a serving of kickass book get Heroes Die by Matt Stover, or seriously I could sit here and recommend all day really lol.

[UniqueFrequency]

that's pretty much what I felt, except I had to throw in the Soulforge and follow-up cuz I thought they lived up to that original stuff.

Edit: For those who are into Salvatore style goodness or just looking a serving of kickass book get Heroes Die by Matt Stover, or seriously I could sit here and recommend all day really lol.

i just might. I liked Stover's Star Wars novels!

[saintjon]

All I've read of Stover's Star Wars stuff is the Shatterpoint one about Mace Windu and that one can't hold a candle to Heroes Die (although it was pretty good).

I've been wanting to read his Revenge of the Sith novelization because I heard it's some of his best and seriously improves the movie experience but I'm bogged down in the Earthsea books right now (they're good I've just lost my skill for making time).

Anyways check out Heroes Die then try telling me it wouldn't make one of the most kickass movies ever (especially as a solid piece of animation) then if you're really into it you can check out Blade of Tyshalle too.

[UniqueFrequency]

Anyways check out Heroes Die then try telling me it wouldn't make one of the most kickass movies ever (especially as a solid piece of animation) then if you're really into it you can check out Blade of Tyshalle too.

i will do just that. once my exams are over. heh.

[saintjon]

Good luck with exams man.

*is glad to be done school but doubt's it's forever*

[DennyK]

what do you guys suggest to someone who's completely new?

how does Dragonlance stand up against stuff like Salvatore's books?


The Dragonlance Chronicles and the Twins Chronicles blow Salvatore's stuff out of the water.

[Meta 05]

I think you should check out the War of Souls.It doesn't drag to much an it really is a jumping on point for new readers IMO.

The series that followss this just put out its second book, these books our both basically core dragon lance contunity at this current point in time.

[Blueferret]

I think you should check out the War of Souls.It doesn't drag to much an it really is a jumping on point for new readers IMO.

The series that followss this just put out its second book, these books our both basically core dragon lance contunity at this current point in time.


Isn't this the Minotaur Wars by Knaak? If so, how is it?

[Meta 05]

the minotaur wars our post war of souls.The war of souls is all :Dragons of ::::" books that say war of souls on them.Its a triology its basically dragon lances version of crises.it shakes things up an changes its feel for the following books IMO

[Blueferret]

Yeah, I liked War of Souls. Tasslehoff felt forced though.

[NDHorse]

To get the big story, I would definetly start with Chronicles and then Legends. Some of the short stories in the Tales series are pretty good and help move along the bigger story. After that, read Dragons of SUmmer Flame. The go to the War of Souls trilogy. That pretty much sums up the bigger story of Dragonlance.

If you really like those, then take a stab at the various other series. I liked the Elven Nations Trilogy, Heroes vol 1 - The Legend of Huma, and Preludes Vol 1 - Darkness and Light(??). But just pick up the ones that look interesting to you. I am partial to stories about the gnomes. :)

[Gonzogoose]

I agree to start with the Dragonlance Trilogy, but I'll add that the War of Souls was the first one I read followed by the original trilogy, and it actually enhanced my appreciation for it I think. The War of Souls trilogy was decent.

I just finished the second book of the Dark Disciple trilogy, which directly follows the War of Souls, and it's not anywhere near as good as War of Souls and not even close to the original trilogy.

[Crash-Man]

If you've read Huma then IMO you've already read the best DL has to offer

After 18 months of reading other, better books, I'm inclined to agree with this post.

[Agent Helix]

Advice? Don't. Please. Seriously, these books are absolutely terrible.

[Gibbering Fool]

Advice? Don't. Please. Seriously, these books are absolutely terrible.

In your opinion maybe :rolleyes: I personally enjoy them, well most of them. Any written by Weis and Hickman are pretty enjoyable and Knaak just has a real knack (pun intended :p ) for witting DL. Rather than pick and choose which ones to read I read them all. If I don't like one I stop reading it, easy.

The core trilogies are obviously the best way to go plus the Knaak books (Huma, Kaz, The Minotaurs, a minotaur book set in the Chaos war and the Mintoaur Wars books - Knaak loves Minotaurs lol).

I agree that Soulforge is great and I also enjoyed the Draconian books (Draconian measures and Kang's Regiment).

[Matthew E]

The non-Weis-and-Hickman ones I liked best were Weasel's Luck by Michael Williams and Stormblade by Nancy Varian Berberick. Both of them had some nice atmosphere.

[Shellhead]

The Dragonlance stuff, books and modules, came along when my group of friends was heavily into D&D. I immediately started buying DL stuff and digging in, then tried to run the first Dragonlance mod for my friends. It was a disaster, because my players hated running characters they didn't create by themselves. What made that really annoying was that at least half of them tended to play the exact same kind of character every campaign. Boring. Needless to say, none of them were reading the books, either.

So I read through the entire first trilogy and bought something like the first 9 or 10 Dragonlance modules before my group half-heartedly started in on the second adventure. One of them was playing the dwarf as xenophobic maniac, but another guy was unknowingly playing Raistlin almost perfectly. The rest were just barely role-playing at all, then one of them started a fight within the group that killed several main characters. So I quit running the Dragonlance modules. Also, I decided that the third book of the trilogy wasn't as good as the first two, and that I was extremely tired of kender antics.

Then some of my friends started reading the books and really enjoyed them. They begged me to start running the adventures again, and I probably should have since I had already paid for them. But I refused and instead subjected them to some really hard Call of Cthulhu adventures.

Life is short, and there are so many books that I haven't read yet, and so many good books that I would like to re-read. So I probably won't bother ever reading anymore Dragonlance books. I even sold the first trilogy last spring for store credit at Half Price Books.