From the Bookshelf of Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy…

Dragons of Autumn Twilight (Dragonlance: Chronicles, #1)

Margaret Weis,

Tracy Hickman

Start date: February 1, 2013

Finish date: February 28, 2013

Discussion: Book Discussions

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What Members Thought

Feb 29, 2012 Jason Koivu rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy

Great start to an all-time classic fantasy series! I read this as a kid and loved the variety of characters and fast-moving plot based on an interesting story line of reunited friends with secrets and a mysterious (and gorgeous, of course) stranger who drew them into danger and excitement.

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Mar 17, 2024 WhatShouldIRead rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2024, fantasy

This was a really enjoyable story for me. Reminded me of the LOTR trilogy which is one of my favorites. The descriptions of places and characters was well done and the adventure the group went on was good.

However, I think the story would have been fine without the last chapter, or if that had to be included, shortened quite a bit. Kind of brought me up short like it was tacked on. Still, it was a really good story and I have the next in the series which I'll get to. ...more

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Apr 08, 2012 Timothy rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi-fantasy, books-i-read-growing-up

I read this when I was younger (pre-teen and teen) and loved it. I read it again as a teenager and liked it. I re-readit just now and found that it didn't stand up to the test of time the way I suspected it might not. A famous novel in a long line of D&D genre fiction, this is where I cut my teeth in the worlds of fantasy. At the time, this defined what fantasy meant and anything that didn't fall within its boundaries, I viewed with skepticism.

Of course, I've broadened my horizons since then, a I read this when I was younger (pre-teen and teen) and loved it. I read it again as a teenager and liked it. I re-readit just now and found that it didn't stand up to the test of time the way I suspected it might not. A famous novel in a long line of D&D genre fiction, this is where I cut my teeth in the worlds of fantasy. At the time, this defined what fantasy meant and anything that didn't fall within its boundaries, I viewed with skepticism.

Of course, I've broadened my horizons since then, and I am glad I did.

But I'm not here to just hate on this book, either, I'm just trying to rate it honestly, and with a more critical eye. Despite its issues (some mediocre prose, over use of adverbs and exclamations, thin characterizations (except Raistlin IMO), the fact that no one simply "says" anything, a narrative that reads too much like the D&D scenario it is based upon, with the rules of the game almost palpably present, and a series of events rather than a master minded, or even organic, plot), I think Weiss and Hickman did something original.

They took their craft (D&D and RPGs) and fleshed it into a world. Now, while most (all) publishers will tell you not to use your RPG adventures when writing a story, TSR, as a game maker, clearly wanted this. They wanted to show the link (and I believe there is a strong one) between the narrative structure of RPGs and literature. I think this is commendable.

Besides, how many of us haven't, on occasion at least, thought about doing the same thing? While I can't go back to my childhood, I can still appreciate what they tried. They put their imaginative works (e.g. Vallenwood trees so large that people build their cities in them; an ancient knighthood, almost extinct, that once championed the cause of good in a titanic elder war; a society of magic-users that must prove their worth by risking death and disfigurement; etc...) out in a broader context that was more accessible to a broader reading public.

I think the biggest thing (other than prosaic issues) is that the authors, one of which wrote the original scenarios, let that limit their imagination too much. Imagine, if instead of staying true to the rules of D&D, they had simply utilized it as a departure point for even greater leaps of imagination. I think we see that, just a bit, in the character of Raistlin, who's body is so shattered he needs constant rest and suffers with a perpetual cough (no game rule for that) and has eyes that curse him with vision of the on-going passage of time (again, not in the rulebooks anywhere).

I will probably continue on to the second book before I make a final decision on whether to finish this re-read. ...more

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