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Denver Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Club |
DRAGONS OF AUTUMN TWILIGHT
by
MARGARET WEIS and TRACY HICKMAN
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Dragons of Autumn Twilight (1984) |
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From the back cover of the 2000 paperback
Life-long friends, they went their separate ways. Now they are together again, though each holds secrets from the others in his heart. They speak of a world shadowed with rumors of war. They speak of tales of strange monsters, creatures of myth, creatures of legend. They do not speak of their secrets. Not then. Not until a chance encounter with a beautiful, sorrowful woman, who bears a magical staff, draws the companions deeper into the shadows, forever changing their lives and shaping the fate of the world.
No one expected them to be heroes.
Lest of all, themselves.
From the back cover of the 1980s paperback
Dragons.
Creatures of legend. Stories told to children.
But now dragons have returned to Krynn. The darkness of war and destruction threatens to engulf the land.
Then hope appears - a blue crystal staff in the hands of a beautiful barbarian woman. The promise of hope, as fleeting as smoke upon the autumn wind, forces a group of long-time friends into the unlikely roles of heroes.
Knight and barbarian, warrior and half-elf, dwarf and kender and dark-souled mage; they begin a perilous quest for --
the legendary Dragonlance.
Read for group discussion on September 24, 2003
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Another cover: Dragons of Autumn Twilight 1994 TSR paperback (left) |
RATINGS:
How we each rated this book
| Dan | - | Amy | 7 |
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10 Wow! Don't miss it 8-9 Highly recommended 7 Recommended 5-6 Mild recommendation 3-4 Take your chances 1-2 Below average; skip it 0 Get out the flamethrower! U Unfinishable or unreadable - Skipped or no rating given |
| Cheri | 7 | Barb | - | ||
| Aaron | 4 | Cynthia | - | ||
| Jackie | 6 | Ron | 2 | ||
| Christine | 5 | Mitch | 5 |
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Aaron's Commentary
Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman - Dragons of
Autumn Twilight
This book isn't bad. It's just not enough. Dragons of Autumn Twilight was the first of the DragonLance novels and, I am told, remains one of the best. For the most part it is competently written. If we keep the insufferably self-congratulatory annotated edition out of the discussion, about the worst I can say is that it suffers somewhat from being a tie-in to the world of Dungeons & Dragons gaming. The battle scenes hop jarringly from one character to another, like a dungeon master giving each role player a turn. The trick of repeatedly allowing characters to return from death may be quite useful when playing a game, but it destroys dramatic tension in a novel. Most importantly, the characters are not the complete personalities one hopes to see in fiction, but rather the sets of specific attributes one expects from characters in a role-playing game. Among the numerous main characters, only the young sorcerer Raistlin has any complexity at all, although Tasslehoff Burrfoot is at least amusing. "Competently written" is about the highest praise one can give this novel, because the story is entirely unremarkable. It is standard swords and sorcery fare, rounding up the usual fantasy suspects. There was little new here when the book was first written, and certainly nothing to surprise a reader twenty years later. If you are a D&D player or a swords and sorcery enthusiast, you may enjoy this novel and the many DragonLance books that follow it, and I have no quarrel with you reading them. But I beg you not to read them to the exclusion of all the far more talented, original and interesting fantasists currently expanding the boundaries of the genre, including James Blaylock, Jonathan Carroll, Charles de Lint, Sara Douglass, Jasper Fforde, Jeffrey Ford, Neil Gaiman, Mary Gentle, Lisa Goldstein, Robin Hobb, Robert Holdstock, Nalo Hopkinson, Graham Joyce, Stephen King, William Kotzwinkle, Jonathan Lethem, Kelly Link, Ian R. MacLeod, George R.R. Martin, China Miéville, Christopher Moore, James Morrow, Tim Powers, Terry Pratchett, Philip Pullman, Sean Stewart, Jeff Vandermeer, Gene Wolfe, Jane Yolen, and many others. It's not getting much fanfare, but there is a revolution going on right now in the fantasy field. If you are occupying yourself with DragonLance and other Tolkien retreads, you are missing a lot. What do you think? Your comments are welcome. Please send them to vanaaron@excite.com |
Bibliography:
Margaret Weis (1948- ) is a US author. Tracy Hickman (1955- ) is a US author and role-playing games designer.
Dragons of Autumn Twilight is the first ever Dragonlance fantasy book. Weis and Hickman wrote the Dragonlance books for TSR, the company known for their Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) role-playing game. The books were copyrighted by TSR. Wizards of the Coast, the current Dungeons and Dragons copyright holder and publisher, have reissued a number of the Dragonlance books.
Game designer and co-author, Tracy Hickman, created the Dragonlance gaming campaign setting and fantasy book setting. He conceived of it as a world in which dragons would play a big part.
Many, many more authors have written books in the Dragonlance universe.
Books by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman:
DragonLance Chronicles
Dragons of Autumn Twilight (1984)
Dragons of Winter Night (1985)
Dragons of Spring Dawning (1985)
Dragons of Summer Flame (1995)
Dragonlance Chronicles (1988, omnibus of first 3 books)
Dragonlance: The Annotated Chronicles (1999, omnibus of first 3 books)
Dragonlance Chronicles Part 1: A Rumor of Dragons (2003)
Dragonlance Chronicles Part 2: Night of Dragons (2003)
Dragonlance Chronicles Part 3: Nightmare Lands (forthcoming 2003)
Dragonlance Chronicles Part 4: To the Gates of Palanthas (forthcoming in 2003)
Dragonlance Chronicles Part 4: Hope's Flame (forthcoming in 2004)
DragonLance Legends
Time of the Twins (1986)
War of the Twins (1986)
Test of the Twins (1986)
Dragonlance Legends (1988, omnibus)
The Annotated Legends (2003, omnibus)
DragonLance: War of Souls series
Dragons of a Fallen Sun (2000)
Dragons of a Lost Star (2001)
Dragons of a Vanished Moon (2002)
The Search for Magic: Tales from the War of Souls (2001,anthology)
DragonLance Tales, edited by Weis & Hickman
The Magic of Krynn (1987)
Kender, Gully Dwarves and Gnomes (1987)
Love and War (1987)
Dragonlance Tales (1991, omnibus)
The Reign of Istar (1992)
The Catacylsm (1992)
The War of the Lance (1992)
The Best of Tales (2000, 15 stories)
The Best of Tales, Volume Two (2002, 10 stories)
DragonLance: Tales of the Fifth Age, edited by Weis & Hickman
Relics and Omens (1998, 13 stories)
Heroes and Fools (1999, 14 stories)
Rebels and Tyrants (2000, 13 stories)
DragonLance Dragons, edited by Weis & Hickman
The Dragons of Krynn (1994)
Dragons at War (1996)
Dragons of Chaos (1997)
Other DragonLance anthologies edited by Weis & Hickman
The Art of the Dragonlance Saga (1987)
The Second Generation (1994, 5 stories)
Realms of Dragons: The Worlds of Weis and Hickman (1999)
Leaves from the Inn of the Last Home: The Complete Krynn Sourcebook (1993)
More Leaves from the Inn of the Last Home (2000)
The Players of Gilean (2003)
Other anthologies edited by Weis & Hickman
Treasures of Fantasy (1997)
Darksword series
Forging the Darksword (1988)
Doom of the Darksword (1988)
Triumph of the Darksword (1988)
Legacy of the Darksword (1997)
Darksword Adventures (1988) non-fiction guide to the "Darksword" world
Rose of the Prophet series
The Will of the Wanderer (1989)
The Paladin of Night (1989)
The Prophet of Akhran (1989)
The Death Gate Cycle
Dragon Wing (1990)
Elven Star (1990)
Fire Sea (1991)
Serpent Mage (1992)
The Hand of Chaos (1993)
Into the Labyrinth (1993)
The Seventh Gate (1994)
Sovereign Stone trilogy
The Well of Darkness (2000)
Guardians of the Lost (2001)
Journey into the Void (2003)
Starshield science fantasy series
Sentinels (1996), alternate title The Mantle of Kendis-Dai (1997)
The Nightsword (1998)
Books by Margaret Weis
The Dragonvarld trilogy
Mistress of Dragons (2003)
Star of the Guardians series, galactic fantasy, SF adventure
The Lost King (1990)
King's Test (1991)
King's Sacrifice (1991)
Ghost Legion (1993)
Dragonlance: The Soulforge (1998), Raistlin Chronicles book 1
Dragonlance: Age of Mortals (2003, with Christopher Coyle & Jamie Chambers)
Tower of Midnight Dreams (1985) Dungeons and Dragons Cartoon Show
Anthologies edited by Margaret Weis
Fantastic Alice (1999)
Tales from the Eternal Archives #1: Legends (1999)
Tales from the Eternal Archives #2: Earth, Air, Fire, Water (1999)
New Amazons (2000)
A Dragon Lover's Treasury of the Fantastic (1995, with Anne McCaffrey)
A Magic-Lover's Treasury of the Fantastic (1998)
A Quest-Lover's Treasury of the Fantastic (2002)
Books by Margaret Weis and Don Perrin
Margaret Weis has co-authored books with her husband Don Perrin.
Dragonlance
The Doom Brigade (1996, Kang's Regiment book 2)
Draconian Measures (Kang's Regiment book 2)
Brothers in Arms (1999) Raistlin Chronicles book 2
Dragonlance: Campaign Setting (2003, with Christopher Coyle & Jamie Chambers)
Mag Force 7 series (SF), set same universe as Weis's "Star of the Guardians" series
The Knights of the Black Earth (1995)
Robot Blues (1996)
Hung Out (1998)
Books by Margaret Weis and David Baldwin
Margaret Weis' Testament of the Dragon: An Illustrated Novel (1997)
Darkheart (1998), book one of Dragon's Disciple
Books by Tracy Hickman
The Immortals (1996)
Requiem of Stars (1996)
StarCraft #3: Speed of Darkness (2002) Novelization based on the SF computer
game. Copyrighted by Blizzard Entertainment
Hickman wrote, or co-wrote, a number of role-playing game modules.
Links:
Margaret Weis's Home Page - Margaret Weis.com
Official Tracy Hickman Website
Dragonlance Bibliography
Interview: Margaret, Tracy, and the War of Souls
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This page was last updated October 03, 2008