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August 4, 2010

Books: Dragonlance novels

Dragonlance is a large series of fantasy books, and a Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting. Draconians and kenders are creatures unique to this fantasy world. To further differentiate it from other similar fantasy settings, Dragonlance is supposed to have a (fairly unique in fantasy) post-apocalyptic feel, although this emphasis has considerably lessened over the years.

Those series was published by TSR, Inc. to supplement their Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game products. It is currently published by the company that purchased TSR in 1997, Wizards of the Coast. (Wizards of the Coast was subsequently purchased by Hasbro, Inc, in 1999.) Wizards of the Coast has licensed Sovereign Press to publish further Dragonlance game material.

The world of Dragonlance was the first fictional world to be professionally produced as a role-playing game world, with product tie-ins (novels, role-playing modules, figurines, etc.) prepared and manufactured when it was first released.

The most important books of the Dragonlance series were written by the authoring team of Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. Other notable writers within the series include Richard A. Knaak, Douglas Niles, Roger E. Moore, Don Perrin, Jean Rabe, Paul B. Thompson, Tonya C. Cook and Chris Pierson.

Dragonlance When Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman began writing Dragonlance novels in 1984, they wrote their first series, Chronicles, during the time of the War of the Lance. Despite the fact that the setting has evolved significantly since the first novels were published, the War of the Lance time period is where the setting has its roots, and this is known on the list as the 'Classic' time period.

The Historical designation is for novels that flesh out the back-story of Dragonlance. The Classic time period takes place 9,300 years after the beginning of recorded history, and the Historical period includes any novels that take place prior to 350 AC (roughly the start of the War of the Lance).

In the 1990s, the Dragonlance saga moved from the Fourth Age of the world into the Fifth Age of the world, due to some major events that occurred in the storyline, specifically in a novel titled Dragons of Summer Flame, which is set in 383 AC. This novel is the final entry in the Classic era. Novels that occur after 383 AC are part of the Fifth Age period, beginning with the first series in the new period, titled the Dragons of a New Age trilogy.

The Fifth Age continued until 421 AC, when the events recounted in the War of Souls trilogy drastically changed the course of history once again. At the conclusion of the War of Souls trilogy, the world entered a new age, the Age of Mortals. The Age of Mortals period represents the 'current' time period in Dragonlance writing, and the vast majority of novels going forward will be set in this time period and will move the setting forward from here.

With the discussion of the list organization and time periods out of the way, here are my recommendations on reading order. The short version is to read the core novels from each time period and then branch out into the various supplemental novels. I would read the Classic core novels first, followed by the Fifth Age core novels, and then the Age of Mortals core novels, and finally the Historical core books.

For the record, I don't recommend that you read the novels in chronological order—or, at the very least, that you do not try to read the novels in chronological order until you have completed the Chronicles, and possibly the Legends series as well. In addition to making the assumption that you know about some of the concepts introduced in Chronicles, some of the novels that are "first" in the chronological order will inevitably spoil the events that happen in Chronicles and in other novels that occur further into the future of the timeline. While the same is true about Chronicles (it hints at events in history that are explained in other books), these "previous" books are written with that in mind, so it would be my strong recommendation you read Chronicles first.

The best way to get started is to begin with the Chronicles series, comprised of three books: Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night, and Dragons of Spring Dawning. This is the first set of books written about the Dragonlance world, and will give you the foundation for everything else. Chronicles introduces you to the major gods, important characters, and important events and organizations that other books assume you already know about.

Once you've finished the first three books, read the Legends trilogy. In addition to being the second series published, this series explores the relationship between Raistlin and Caramon, and also introduces the reader to more detail about the Cataclysm and the events immediately before and after it. Like the Chronicles, other books assume that you know what happened in the Legends series, so I would recommend that you read Time of the Twins, War of the Twins, and Test of the Twins next.

With what long time fans consider to be the 'holy six' out of the way, you can begin reading other novels.

I’ve read a quite handsome of dragonlance novels down the road. Due to the difficulties of obtaining the novels here in Malaysia, you can purchase them online through Amazon, which they have a large selection of Dragonlance novels.

Here are the list of Dragonlance novels that I’ve read:

What are you reading now?

Sources: Wikipedia, List of Dragonlance novels

Credits to The Dragonlance Nexus.

While every effort has been made to ensure that the information presented is accurate, I cannot guarantee the accuracy of any listing. Graphics are representational only.

at Wednesday, August 04, 2010
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