I'm Still Not Sure How I Feel About Novels With A Commentary Track: Annotated Chronicles

The Good: Well-written books, Interesting "commentary" with the annotations
The Bad: Strangely scholarly for a not really scholarly work.
The Basics: Interesting, but a tough sell for adults or those who already have the "Chronicles" books, the Annotated Chronicles provides a commentary on the three books with the original text.


I love DVD commentary tracks. In fact, I'm a huge fan of listening to DVD commentary tracks on films that I love and there have been one or two other movies I've actually sat through a commentary track for after despising the film just to see what the people involved thought they were doing. I also believe that living novelists have a responsibility to their fans to detail what they meant in their works as opposed to simply what they say in the works themselves. So, for example, for my novels, I have written essays both before I began each book, after I finished, after I revised and whenever things have occurred to me (I was able to note with some surprise, for example, that in Within These Walls, I seemed to be smarter than I remember consciously being by having Jennifer comforted by her lover the same way her mother comforted her as a young child).

So, it would seem like I would be a huge fan of something like The Annotated Chronicles, an omnibus compendium of the first three DragonLance novels complete with notes and "commentary" on the history within the story and in the making of the book. For the first time, I truly understand why one of my favorite websites - The Digital Bits - includes a program grade as well as a bonus feature grade on every DVD they rate. To cut to the chase, the DragonLance Trilogy begins with a bang and the books themselves would easily average out to an 8/10 rating. But the annotations in this version are average at best and it seems like a lot of work and information for a series that is not as scholarly as this edition seems to want readers to believe it is.

This is an omnibus edition that contains the "Chronicles" Trilogy, which was:
Dragons Of Autumn Twilight
Dragons Of Winter Night
Dragons Of Spring Dawning

For those unfamiliar with them, Dragons Of Autumn Twilight opens the trilogy and the series. As the result of a vow to come together after years apart, a small group of companions meets at the Inn Of The Last Home to discuss the changes in the world they have observed over their years apart. After the years of separation, they have made notes on the rising forces of evil in the world of Krynn and the companions are dismayed when one of their number - Kitiara - does not show, despite the vows that bind the members of the group. Tanis, a half-elf, half-human, leads the companions, despite his own deep insecurities. His friends are a diverse bunch: Raistlin Majere, a mage, who is accompanied by his physically powerful brother, Caramon, Flint Fireforge, a dwarf, Tasslehoff, a Kender (diminutive thief), and Sturm, a knight who has been disgraced. The companions are joined by two newcomers, travelers from the plains, a healer named Goldmoon and her partner Riverwind. Goldenmoon comes bearing an ancient staff that has the ability to heal people and she claims to be a cleric of one of the old, forgotten gods.

Unfortunately for the companions, the newcomers draw the attention of the local religious fanatics and an invading army of dragonmen (draconians) who are loyal to the forces of evil. Tanis decides to rescue Goldmoon and Riverwind and in the process the group flees, with a barmaid from the Inn across Krynn. Eager to alert the centers of power in the dwarven nations and realms of the Elves to the new threat represented by the draconians and the return of the malicious gods, Tanis and his band find themselves beset upon by evil forces while trying to alert the leaders who might prevent Krynn from falling into darkness. And no sooner does the group escape one dangerous situation than they find themselves face to face with an enemy army, evidence of the return of the old gods, and an actual dragon!

Dragons Of Autumn Twilight is a setup novel, establishing the world of Krynn and the essential main characters and supplemental characters for the franchise. Right off the bat, this differentiates itself from The Lord Of The Rings because the story is character-based, not plot based. In The Lord Of The Rings, there is a mission determined somewhat externally by people only peripherally involved in the bulk of the story. Elrond dictates that the One Ring must be destroyed and everyone sets out to doing that while trying to hold the continent together long enough for Frodo and Sam to succeed. In Dragons Of The Autumn Twilight, there is nothing so clear cut and the people the book is centered on are not the powerbrokers of the planet. They are just good people (well, most of them) who want to do right by their fellow citizens.

The result is a story where the heroes make choices that lead them to heroism, not some form of generic heroism based upon accomplishing a task or a birthright. This is not to say that one cannot be fans of both The Lord Of The Rings and DragonLance, but truth be told, the two main flaws in Tolkein's works are absent from this franchise, starting in Dragons Of Autumn Twilight: the writing style and the element of character.

In Dragons Of Winter Night, the Companions split into two groups to try to achieve their goals of saving Krynn. One group, led by the half-elf Tanis, follows the best character from the first novel (Raistlin, a mage) and his twin brother on a quest to find a mythical magical object called the Dragon Orb. It is rumored to be able to control dragons and through the course of the novel it becomes more apparent that it is like a narcotic.

The bulk of the novel is about the other group. Led by Laurana the elf (she's on the cover of the original version!) and Sturm, a sort of Knight, the group goes on a quest for the Dragon Lance, an object that can kill dragons. Actually a good amount of the novel is spent reconciling the "sort of" part of the knight. Sturm is one of the few characters you can read in literature (yes, all literature) and think, "Wow, this guy is truly principled, even noble."

Book 3 in the novel is the siege of the High Clerist's tower where Sturm and Laurana have to defend the tower and the fate of the world comes into the balance when the DragonLances are tested!

In Dragons Of Spring Dawning, Follows the first major battle between the heroes of Krynn and the dragon armies following the discovery and production of the DragonLances. Laurana the elf maiden and Tas deal with the death of one of their own at the hands of Kitiara, who as it turns out missed her appointment in the Fall because she was busy joining the dark side. Now a minion of evil, the love of Tanis's life captures the other woman he loves and prepares to use Laurana to open a portal that will allow the evil goddess Tahkisis to enter this plane of existence. Eager to warn Tanis and save Krynn, Flint and Tas race to Tanis's side.

Unfortunately, the plans Tanis and Raistlin have been working on to save Krynn have put the world on the brink of a full-scale war and Raistlin is acting more twitchy than usual. As the companions both prepare for an all-out war with the forces of evil and deal with another casualty from their group, Tanis succumbs to Kitiara and Raistlin abandons the cause to take on the leaders of the magical orders, threatening the whole planet!

Dragons Of Spring Dawning is the final volume of the beginning of the franchise, so it's a pretty safe bet that Krynn will not be destroyed by the entrance of the Goddess of evil in this volume and it's not ruining anything to point that out. In fact, this book manages to be quite the nail biter in that regard because well before the reader gets to that point, two of the principle characters are already dead and two look like they are headed over to the side of evil. Dragons Of Spring Dawning is quite adept at keeping the tension high and the variables well in play.

This leads us to character. "Chronicles" is full of characters and they are a diverse bunch. Flint Fireforge may well be a simple sage advisor to Tanis, who spends his time making quips at Tas, but he is written in such a way that he appears to be one who has a history and has a rich tale behind him where it makes sense that he has Tanis's unwavering support. Goldmoon and Riverwind might well be the least developed characters in the book, but they at least have a purpose: she is a woman of faith with a magic staff. They lend diversity to an already diverse novel by adding characters roughly analogous to the Native Americans to an otherwise European blend of characters.

Sturm Brightblade is a knight who has never been accepted by the order of knights he strives to be in, due to his low birthright. Sturm is one of those characters who immediately seems whitebread, but is actually a fascinating study in genuine heroism. He is a man who follows a strong moral code for the sake of being an honorable and decent guy. I like that. He's principled for the sake of principle and once one gets over that unflinching lack of corruptibility, there is something remarkable about reading the story of a character for whom the world is still very much black and white, good versus evil.

The reason Sturm's character works at all is because of Tanis and Raistlin. Tanis is half-elven and this gives Hickman and Weis the chance to do something seldom explored in fantasy novels and certainly underrepresented in literature targeted toward young adults, which is to explore race issues. Tanis is an interethnic symbol walking around Krynn despised by both sides and the metaphor works beautifully and is so thinly veiled that only the most dense or young readers will not understand it. Tanis struggles with being too different from the humans and being an outcast among his chosen people, the elves. That level of conflict informs many of his decisions and that works beautifully for the book!

But from the beginning, it was Raistlin who grabbed readers, especially me. He's a mage, powerful but clearly wounded by the magic he practices. His eyes have hourglass pupils as a result of a trial the order of mages put him through and he sees the decay in all things. He is neutral and has little care for wars or the fate of the masses. In many ways, he is an intellectual snob. Physically sickly, he is a genius when it comes to magic and herbal medicine and from the moment he enters the narrative, there is a complete and beautiful ambiguity about the character that makes the reader wonder just which way he will fall when the impending war comes.

Choices that Tanis, Sturm, Raistlin, and Tas make change the course of event on Krynn and this story is a first exploration into a much larger world, but in virtually every chapter there is an allusion to something that fleshes out Krynn and makes one more curious about the characters, the history of the world and the future of it. It's smart, asks deeper philosophical questions about the relationships between individuals and their religions, faith and honor and it's worth the time of anyone who likes a good fantasy novel. And truth be told, it's better than virtually any other literature targeted toward young adults and the surprising thing I'm rediscovering is with its emphasis on character just how enjoyable it can be for adults.

In the Annotated Chronicles there is a sidebar alongside the main text. This includes notes from Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman on everything from how the names were derived to pointing out key information the characters receive. Some of it is just insulting, like pointing out what readers should be getting as clues on characters who have secret importance, like Fizban. Pointing out the moment characters do things that later come out is something like the literary equivalent of audio commentary on DVDs pointing out something that the director makes clear on screen moments later or like when someone providing audio commentary just starts repeating dialogue or says, "Oh, wait, here's a good part coming up . . .!"

I'm not saying this is not interesting, but it is a bunch of overkill comments and notes, only half of which are actually providing new information or something that cannot be gotten anywhere else by simply reading closely. Ultimately, that's why I knocked this down into "average" territory. It's interesting, but too much of it is repetitive or pointless. Adult readers will not need this level of commentary on things that they are reading.

That said, I am recommending it because I can see how when I was in my teens I would have eaten this up. When "DragonLance" was (relatively) new and I was eating it all up, I could not get enough. As a result, something like this would have been a real treat, even though I was a careful reader even then. Those who like things spelled out for them will enjoy The Annotated Chronicles. Now, I could have used a separate volume that was just "The Making Of Chronicles," something like Weis and Hickman discussing the process independent of the text.

For other fantasy novel reviews, please check out my takes on:
The Fellowship Of The Ring
The Two Towers
The Return Of The King

6.5/10

For other book reviews, please click here for an organized index!

© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.


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Climax Of The Chronicles With Dragons Of Spring Dawning!

The Good: Good character work, Well written, Firmly establishes the franchise
The Bad: Somewhat predictable on the larger plot elements
The Basics: As the armies of good and evil clash, a personal battle rages within Tanis, the half-elven leader, when the two women he love square off with the fate of Krynn in the balance!


The last act of a trilogy has a tough role to fill if the trilogy has been done well. The second act usually puts the characters involved in the worst possible predicament and the best trilogies have a third act that begins with the protagonists somewhat demoralized if the second act was properly agitating. The worst third acts are the ones that reinvent the characters involved in order to get the heroes out of their predicament. Consider, for example, how in Return Of The Jedi (reviewed here!), Princess Leia is a much more assertive and strong character (no whining!) and Luke is a virtual Jedi Knight and everyone trusts Lando Calrissian. George Lucas more or less recast the heroes for the final act and barring a significant amount of time between the two films, the viewer truly has to wonder.

Conversely, the best trilogies continue the story from the first two acts with only minimal character changes. The characters do not so much start the act as changed characters, but rather they continue the arc begun in the prior segments. The Chronicles trilogy of the DragonLance novels concludes with Dragons Of Spring Dawning. The novel is definitely a continuation of the story that began in Dragons Of Autumn Twilight (reviewed here!) and Dragons Of Winter Night (reviewed here!). It is impossible to discuss the final chapter without mentioning significant events from the end of the second novel, though. So those who want the richest possible experience out of reading Dragons Of Winter Night ought to stop reading this now.

Following the first major battle between the heroes of Krynn and the dragon armies following the discovery and production of the DragonLances, Laurana the elf maiden and Tas deal with the death of one of their own at the hands of Kitiara, who as it turns out missed her appointment in the Fall because she was busy joining the dark side. Now a minion of evil, the love of Tanis's life captures the other woman he loves and prepares to use Laurana to open a portal that will allow the evil goddess Tahkisis to enter this plane of existence. Eager to warn Tanis and save Krynn, Flint and Tas race to Tanis's side.

Unfortunately, the plans Tanis and Raistlin have been working on to save Krynn have put the world on the brink of a full-scale war and Raistlin is acting more twitchy than usual. As the companions both prepare for an all-out war with the forces of evil and deal with another casualty from their group, Tanis succumbs to Kitiara and Raistlin abandons the cause to take on the leaders of the magical orders, threatening the whole planet!

Dragons Of Spring Dawning is the final volume of the beginning of the franchise, so it's a pretty safe bet that Krynn will not be destroyed by the entrance of the Goddess of evil in this volume and it's not ruining anything to point that out. In fact, this book manages to be quite the nail biter in that regard because well before the reader gets to that point, two of the principle characters are already dead and two look like they are headed over to the side of evil. Dragons Of Spring Dawning is quite adept at keeping the tension high and the variables well in play.

Sure, there are some obvious things. The subtext with Tika in the very first book let any reader with a brain know that she was into Caramon. Moreover, with Kitiara working for evil and all of the racial prejudice against the half-elf Tanis, there are enough factors in play to make the reader consider that perhaps Tanis could fall as well.

What undermines that whole element of the story, though, are the character elements. Experienced writers and readers know that the ways a character is characterized is by what the character says, what the character does and what other characters say about them. It's the last one that undoes much of the tension in Dragons Of Spring Dawning. Tanis is surrounded by people of high moral character who are unwaveringly good: Flint, Laurana, Sturm, and Caramon. In order for us to believe that Tanis could go bad and help Kitiara open the portal, we would have to believe all of those other characters could be deceived.

And the thing is, there is a decent amount of character deception in this novel, just not in the form of the Tanis character arc. Dragons Of Spring Dawning pays off a number of the plot threads begun in the other books. The origin of the draconians is revealed, the presence of the gods on Krynn is confirmed in its way, and the various forces that have been moving toward an all-out war finally come into direct conflict and it is a satisfying novel for the way all of those elements are explained.

Moreover, characters who have not before had as much going for them become absolutely vital, like Laurana who is suddenly a central player. As well, authors Maragaret Weis and Tracy Hickman effectively make the character transitions both realistic and compelling. From the first novel, the sickly mage Raistlin has not been quite right and in Dragons Of Spring Dawning the payoff is done in a smart enough way to create new threads to continue the story after this book is done. Rather smartly, they do it in a way that is integral to completing this story, so it does not simply read like the establishment of a franchise.

Dragons Of Spring Dawning is written and marketed as a novel for young adults, but it is certainly targeted toward the smart and imaginative ones. We all know that the average newspaper in the United States is written in a way that a fourth grade student will be able to read and understand it. Dragons Of Spring Dawning is written with a more intelligent level of vocabulary and diction (honestly, probably about eighth grade). It is, however, written as well with a much more mature sense of interethnic relationships and that level of realism is quite compelling. Tanis is an outcast because he is of mixed heritage and he is written with a real sense of being an outsider that probably makes him appeal quite a bit to teenage audiences.

More than that, Raistlin is the ultimate outsider and his story is one that is dark and very adult. In other words, adults who like fantasy stories - sword, sorcery, grand epic battles - will find much to like in Dragons Of Spring Dawning, though it is virtually impossible to recommend this book without reading the prior two.

For other novels with fantasy elements, please be sure to check out:
Orlando by Virginia Woolf
The Day Of The Locust By Nathanael West
Heroes: Saving Charlie By Aury Wellington

6.5/10

For other book reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.




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You Can Go Home Again: Dragons Of Autumn Twilight Opens The Quintessential Fantasy Series!

The Good: Well-written, Interesting characters, Decent plot, Some good reversals
The Bad: Somewhat predictable
The Basics: Both straightforward and character-driven, Dragons Of Autumn Twilight reminds readers how good fiction and fantasy can be, even when it is aimed at young adults!


Sometimes, I look over my body of work and I am actually surprised by what I have chosen to review versus what I have avoided reviewing. So, for example, when I first started reviewing, one of the novels I was eager to review was the second DragonLance novel, Dragons Of Winter Night (reviewed here!) which was arguably a perfect book and easily one of my favorites in my young adulthood. I think, though, that I avoided the rest of the DragonLance series because I'm entering middle age, illustrate rigorous standards in my reviews and it somehow seemed stupidly beneath me to return to one of the delights of my young adulthood to review as an adult. However, after the past few weeks of rereading and reviewing a number of Star Trek books, including comic books that I picked up right around the same time as I was reading DragonLance books, I rethought that philosophy. After all, I have no problem with reviewing these books with the same high standards as I have for other literature and I'm never one to shy away from an intellectual fight on the merits of a work.

So, tonight as I sit - having reread the start of the DragonLance books, Dragons Of Autumn Twilight - and review, I find my mind coming back to my young adulthood and adulthood and the literary choices I have made as an adult. In the process, there are things I know I will return to as I age. For example, I know that every year or two, I will reread Invisible Man (reviewed here!). I also know that I am likely to never subject myself to The Lord Of The Rings again. But I am likely to return to the DragonLance books, especially the first two trilogies, Chronicles and Legends. Just to make that perfectly explicit: I think the first two DragonLance trilogies are superior to The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy (of books, not movies!). That starts with Dragons Of Autumn Twilight.

As the result of a vow to come together after years apart, a small group of companions meets at the Inn Of The Last Home to discuss the changes in the world they have observed over their years apart. After the years of separation, they have made notes on the rising forces of evil in the world of Krynn and the companions are dismayed when one of their number - Kitiara - does not show, despite the vows that bind the members of the group. Tanis, a half-elf, half-human, leads the companions, despite his own deep insecurities. His friends are a diverse bunch: Raistlin Majere, a mage, who is accompanied by his physically powerful brother, Caramon, Flint Fireforge, a dwarf, Tasslehoff, a Kender (diminutive thief), and Sturm, a knight who has been disgraced. The companions are joined by two newcomers, travelers from the plains, a healer named Goldmoon and her partner Riverwind. Goldenmoon comes bearing an ancient staff that has the ability to heal people and she claims to be a cleric of one of the old, forgotten gods.

Unfortunately for the companions, the newcomers draw the attention of the local religious fanatics and an invading army of dragonmen (draconians) who are loyal to the forces of evil. Tanis decides to rescue Goldmoon and Riverwind and in the process the group flees, with a barmaid from the Inn across Krynn. Eager to alert the centers of power in the dwarven nations and realms of the Elves to the new threat represented by the draconians and the return of the malicious gods, Tanis and his band find themselves beset upon by evil forces while trying to alert the leaders who might prevent Krynn from falling into darkness. And no sooner does the group escape one dangerous situation than they find themselves face to face with an enemy army, evidence of the return of the old gods, and an actual dragon!

Dragons Of The Autumn Twilight is a setup novel, establishing the world of Krynn and the essential main characters and supplemental characters for the franchise. Right off the bat, this differentiates itself from The Lord Of The Rings because the story is character-based, not plot based. In The Lord Of The Rings, there is a mission determined somewhat externally by people only peripherally involved in the bulk of the story. Elrond dictates that the One Ring must be destroyed and everyone sets out to doing that while trying to hold the continent together long enough for Frodo and Sam to succeed. In Dragons Of Autumn Twilight, there is nothing so clear cut and the people the book is centered on are not the powerbrokers of the planet. They are just good people (well, most of them) who want to do right by their fellow citizens.

The result is a story where the heroes make choices that lead them to heroism, not some form of generic heroism based upon accomplishing a task or a birthright. This is not to say that one cannot be fans of both The Lord Of The Rings and DragonLance, but truth be told, the two main flaws in Tolkein's works are absent from this franchise, starting in Dragons Of Autumn Twilight: the writing style and the element of character.

As far as writing style goes, Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman have the ability to write in such a way that once one overcomes the necessary exposition of the first chapter, the story flows well and is thoroughly engaging. Not at all written like a history text, Dragons Of Autumn Twilight tells a story with a good pace, interesting characters and a sense of genuine peril. There are reversals as our heroes are captured by the draconians, there is a decent amount of humor between the annoying antics of Tas and the introduction of the wizard Fizban, and there are clear descriptions of locations and characters that tell readers what they need to know without a five-volume lesson on the guild that made the king's buttons. Indeed, one of the notable differences that Weis and Hickman establish are characters with clear and compelling backstories that are used to foreshadow their decisions and the directions they go in, as opposed to expository personal histories that never seem to relate back to the quest the characters are on.

In addition to being an establishing story that gives enough history of Krynn to make the place interesting enough to return to (the gods, for example, appear to have left Krynn hundreds of years prior during the Cataclysm, which - among other things - involved a firestorm at one of the major population centers) the characters actually move through a few different states (one of the elven kingdoms and one of the dwarven realms) and things happen to the characters there. The important element I am attempting to stress here is that every member of this group has a point (many readers of Tolkein, for example, seem to forget that it was Peter Jackson who had Merry and Pippin sacrifice themselves so Frodo could get away - in Tolkein's version they're just two hobbits who get captured by Uruk-hai) and a purpose.

This leads us to character. Dragons Of Autumn Twilight is full of characters and it is a diverse bunch. Flint Fireforge may well be a simple sage advisor to Tanis, who spends his time making quips at Tas, but he is written in such a way that he appears to be one who has a history and has a rich tale behind him where it makes sense that he has Tanis's unwavering support. Goldmoon and Riverwind might well be the least developed characters in the book, but they at least have a purpose: she is a woman of faith with a magic staff. They lend diversity to an already diverse novel by adding characters roughly analogous to the Native Americans to an otherwise European blend of characters.

Sturm Brightblade is a knight who has never been accepted by the order of knights he strives to be in, due to his low birthright. Sturm is one of those characters who immediately seems whitebread, but is actually a fascinating study in genuine heroism. He is a man who follows a strong moral code for the sake of being an honorable and decent guy. I like that. He's principled for the sake of principle and once one gets over that unflinching lack of corruptibility, there is something remarkable about reading the story of a character for whom the world is still very much black and white, good versus evil.

The reason Sturm's character works at all is because of Tanis and Raistlin. Tanis is half-elven and this gives Hickman and Weis the chance to do something seldom explored in fantasy novels and certainly underrepresented in literature targeted toward young adults, which is to explore race issues. Tanis is an interethnic symbol walking around Krynn despised by both sides and the metaphor works beautifully and is so thinly veiled that only the most dense or young readers will not understand it. Tanis struggles with being too different from the humans and being an outcast among his chosen people, the elves. That level of conflict informs many of his decisions and that works beautifully for the book!

But from the beginning, it was Raistlin who grabbed readers, especially me. He's a mage, powerful but clearly wounded by the magic he practices. His eyes have hourglass pupils as a result of a trial the order of mages put him through and he sees the decay in all things. He is neutral and has little care for wars or the fate of the masses. In many ways, he is an intellectual snob. Physically sickly, he is a genius when it comes to magic and herbal medicine and from the moment he enters the narrative, there is a complete and beautiful ambiguity about the character that makes the reader wonder just which way he will fall when the impending war comes.

Choices that Tanis, Sturm, Raistlin, and Tas make change the course of event on Krynn and this is definitely a first act in a larger series, but in virtually every chapter there is an allusion to something that fleshes out Krynn and makes one more curious about the characters, the history of the world and the future of it. It's smart, asks deeper philosophical questions about the relationships between individuals and their religions, faith and honor and it's worth the time of anyone who likes a good fantasy novel. And truth be told, it's better than virtually any other literature targeted toward young adults and the surprising thing I'm rediscovering is with its emphasis on character just how enjoyable it can be for adults.

For other science fiction or fantasy novels reviewed by me, please check out:
Star Trek: Avenger
Neuromancer
The Fellowship Of The Ring

7.5/10
For other book reviews, please click here to visit my index page!

© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.





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Perfection In Young Darkness: Dragons Of Winter Night Is Deep For Young Adult Fantasy!

The Good: Wonderful character development, Excellent plot, Decent level of diction.
The Bad: It's a middle act? None, truly.
The Basics: The very best of young adult literature - far more intelligent than most adult literature. Worth a read!

Chronicles is the essential trilogy in the DragonLance saga and by now half of the people who would most enjoy this novel have already stopped reading this review. Why? There's a stigma in our society against science fiction and fantasy works. It's hard to sell science fiction to the masses as drama, which is why the Emmys almost never have science fiction shows nominated for Best Dramatic Series (though seasons 5,6, and 7 of Star Trek Deep Space Nine certainly deserved a nomination more than the lame duck season of Star Trek The Next Generation, which actually was nominated). Yes, the DragonLance series is fantasy. But it's the top of its game. At least it was. Whenever a series expands too far, it becomes bloated, misshapen. It's usually up to the intelligent and discerning reader to know when to stop.

Chronicles is the basis of the DragonLance novels and Dragons Of Winter Night is the second act, the brilliant turning point. Taking a cue from the popular Star Wars Trilogy (and other dramatic sources), Dragons Of Winter Night" is dark. It's where our heroes are put in the greatest peril and it's wonderful.

The basic plot of the second act (which reveals nothing of the first act, Dragons of Autumn Twilight) puts a group of heroes led by Tanis out to save the word Krynn from the return of dragons. Like The Empire Strikes Back, our heroes get broken down into two groups.

One group, led by the half-elf Tanis, follows the best character from the first novel (Raistlin, a mage) and his twin brother on a quest to find a mythical magical object called the Dragon Orb. It is rumored to be able to control dragons and through the course of the novel it becomes more apparent that it is like a narcotic.

The bulk of the novel is about the other group. Led by Laurana the elf (she's on the cover of the original version!) and Sturm, a sort-of Knight, the group goes on a quest for the Dragon Lance, an object that can kill dragons. Actually a good amount of the novel is spent reconciling the "sort of" part of the knight. Sturm is one of the few characters you can read in literature (yes, all literature) and think, "Wow, this guy is truly principled, even noble."

Book 3 in the novel is the siege of the High Clerist's tower where Sturm and Laurana actually make the siege interesting.

Setting aside the stigma against fantasy novels, the only thing this novel has going against it is that its level of diction is not that of adult literature. But it is the absolute best in juvenile literature. There is none better.

Dragons of Winter Night is filled with vivid characters, excellent dialogue and a strong intelligence for the political. While there is a fantastic battle near the end, the novel is character-driven and tells the story of friendship during wartime and service for the society. There is a clash between fantasy and reality as well, conflicts of religion and secular thinking, in short, this is the best adult-scoped novel for those who are younger.

And it's not as predictable as most literature. There are elements of the fantastic and the characters of Raistlin and Sturm are pretty much unparalleled in fantasy and impressive in the literary world in total.

For other fantasy novels I've reviewed, please check out my review of The Short Second Life Of Bree Tanner by clicking here!

10/10

For other book reviews, please check out my index page!

© 2010, 2001 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.



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