This is topic Chronicles of the Lance (Dragonlance) - Did anyone read it? in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.


To visit this topic, use this URL:
http://www.hatrack.com/ubb/main/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=026347

---

Posted by Eduardo_Sauron (Member # 5827) on :
 
I'm talking about the award-winning trilogy by Margarett Weiss and Tracy Hickman for the Dragonlance Universe. I started to read it again. Oh, joy...

Raistlin. That's a character. Everytime I roll a wizard when playing D&D I still think about him.

Well...the point is. Did anyone over here ever read it? What did you think?

(Oh...ahd for the ones who didn't: Read it! It's very good!)

[ August 02, 2004, 10:49 PM: Message edited by: Eduardo_Sauron ]
 

---

Posted by dabbler (Member # 6443) on :
 
It was the first Fantasy book I ever read. I love the Chronicles. The Test of the Twins trilogy is also fantastic. Tas is one of the best "thieves" I've come across. I think the characters are really well developed and full of depth.

Death Gate Cycle and the Rose of the Prophet books are also quite excellent Weis/Hickman. I'm not as fond of their sci-fi stuff.
 

---

Posted by FoolishTook (Member # 5358) on :
 
Same here. First fantasy book for me. And the thing is, I hated fantasy before that. Now I love fantasy. It's my favorite genre.

I think the Dragonlance Chronicles and Ender's Game were the first books to get me serious about reading.
 

---

Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
 
I've read a lot of the early DL material - I can't stand the latest incarnation.

I can't say that it was my first experience with fantasy literature, but it was definitely an entertaining read.

-Trevor
 

---

Posted by beverly (Member # 6246) on :
 
I tried to read the first book. I thought it was crap. But I know other people have really enjoyed them.
 

---

Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
 
I didn't read it until I had been reading fantasy and playing D&D for over a decade. I had heard so many goo things about Dragonlance that I finally got around to reading it and...

I was sorely disapointed. Frankly, I thought they stunk. This is a pretty good synopsis for me.

I think I probably would have enjoyed them if I had read them when I was 12, though.
 

---

Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
 
My first fantasy book was Magic Kindom for Sale/Sold by Terry Brooks, followed by Sword of Shannarah.

My dad then informed me that if I was going to read fantasy, I had to read the real stuff, and he made me read The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. It was pretty heavy stuffy for a 12-year-old, but it started a life-long love affair with Tolkien's world.

Well, 18-years-long so far.
 

---

Posted by larisse (Member # 2221) on :
 
Love the DragonLance Chronicles. It's a guilty pleasure of mine. Raistlin, Tas and Sturm have always been my favorite characters. (Wonder what that says about my psyche... hmmm.)

I have an old beatup copy of that huge paperback edition they printed out a few years back... okay... more than a few... that my dad had bought for me. A few years ago, I took it to DragonCon and had it signed by both Tracey and Margaret. They were very nice and laughed at how worn it was.

Ahhhh.... I have fond memories of all-night reading sessions during the summer months reading that book. It was just fun to read.
 

---

Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
 
I think it's only possible to enjoy the Dragonlance books if you haven't read a fair deal of good fantasy FIRST. Everyone who read them when they were 12 years old and had only been exposed to, say, Terry Brooks thinks they're swell.

But, let's face it: they're poorly written, highly hackneyed transcriptions of imaginary gaming sessions -- imaginary in the sense that they actually played the games and had the characters, but realized after the first novel that the game rules were too constricting for the world-sweeping plot they couldn't resist telling.
 

---

Posted by Eduardo_Sauron (Member # 5827) on :
 
Hey, people...the Dragonlance books were the first I ever read in english (with my halting, very poor language skills, at the time). I was 13, and never read fantasy books (but "The Hobbit") before. Dragonlance led me to greater things, including "Lord of the Rings" and OSC's books.

But I'm reading it again, and I still find them very enjoyable. Maybe that's because I'm such a D&D fan, or...I don't know. I just like the books. Guilty pleasure? Maybe, but still a great one.
 

---

Posted by Suneun (Member # 3247) on :
 

quote:

---

I think it's only possible to enjoy the Dragonlance books if you haven't read a fair deal of good fantasy FIRST. Everyone who read them when they were 12 years old and had only been exposed to, say, Terry Brooks thinks they're swell.

---

quote:

---

Unfortunately, you can say the same thing about Ender's Game.

---

quote:

---

I think it's only possible to enjoy the Dragonlance books if you haven't read a fair deal of good fantasy FIRST. Everyone who read them when they were 12 years old and had only been exposed to, say, Terry Brooks thinks they're swell.

---

I think it has more to do with the age at which you first read them than what else you have read before. I think I first read the Dragonlance books when I was about 12 and I liked them. I believe by that time I had already read The Lord of the Rings (as had nearly all of my friends, most of whom also liked the Dragonlance books), The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, a couple of Pern novels (technically SF, I know), and at least one of the Darkover books.

Although, I will admit that my appreciation for Terry Brooks and David Eddings was far greater back then as well.
 

---

Posted by Verily the Younger (Member # 6705) on :
 
I read the Dragonlance Chronicles when I was eleven. It was the first fantasy I'd ever read, and I was in love with the universe of Krynn for years afterward. I've read very little else from the series, though, since there are just too damn many books in it. I love to read, but I'm just not a terribly fast reader, and life is too short. I did read the Meetings Sextet in high school, and I may have read a couple others. On the whole, though, I was content to let the Chronicles stand as the world of Dragonlance for me.

It's been many, many years since I've read any Dragonlance at all, though. I'll probably never re-read the Chronicles, because I have a very strong suspicion that it just wouldn't stand the test of time for me. I'm in my mid-twenties now, and I'm just not the same impressionable person I was at eleven. I suspect, as the Book-A-Minute site suggests, that I'd hear dice rolling in the background and get fed up with it.
 

---

Posted by Eduardo_Sauron (Member # 5827) on :
 
That's the thing...maybe I never get fed up with Dragonlance BECAUSE I can hear the dice in the background
 

---

Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
 
I have read almost all of those novels, and i enjoyed them. Not as much for the writing as for the ideas involved.

I loved the concepts, but I felt the writing was very stilted and forced. It didn't flow well, but I reread it and liked it better the second time around.

I don't think they are great, but I still read them once and a while.

I have even read the Darksword trilogy.....lol....

I'm a fantasy junky, I admit it....lol...

Kwea
 

---

Posted by Eduardo_Sauron (Member # 5827) on :
 
I guess what keeps bringing me to Dragonlance are the characters. Some of them, as Raistlin, Tasslehoff and Lord Soth (also read "Knight of the Black Rose" and "Spectre of the Black Rose"), became quite iconic characters for me. As I'm reading it again, I can say that the writing may not be top notch, but the spark is still there, oh, yes...well...maybe I'm just a softy geek.
 

---

Posted by digging_holes (Member # 6237) on :
 
I read the Dragonlance books when I was about 13. It resulted in a deep distaste and mistrust for fantasy as genre for many, many years. If it was fantasy, it was a no-no, just to avoid something like Dragonlance.

Only recently, with the help of the Alvin Maker series, have I begun to think of fantasy as something more than a market for Tolkien rip-offs and thinly veiled role-playing games. But I will forever avoid Weis & Hickman.

I apologize to all you Dragonlance fans.
 

---

Posted by Jess N (Member # 6744) on :
 
I just read the first Dragonlance book this year. I've been reading fantasy and science fiction since I was 11. I cut my teeth on Bradbury and Asimov, then my dad introduced me to Tolkien at the tender age of 12. For a girl, that was pretty unusual. It was about the same time I decided that I needed to be a writer.

The thing I knew going into reading the Dragonlance books was that they weren't going to be fantasy masterpieces. I knew that they were gaming stories (yes, I could hear the dice and feel the presence of the players in the background)but that was part of the fun. They aren't meant to be anymore than a rollercoaster ride. You get on, scream at the right parts, giggle at the right parts and then the ride is over.

I let my 10 year old daughter, who is an advanced reader, read the first one. She really enjoyed it and thought the characters were neat. Now she's onto other authors---like Terry Prachett. She thinks he's a riot! I'm encouraging her to read Ender's Game this year, we'll see what she does with that!

Converting the young to OSC on child at a time!
hehe
 

---