Comments | nontacitare: Farewell to Dragonlance

nontacitare

Farewell to Dragonlance

Feb 14, 2010 03:44

Last night I finished the last Dragonlance novel, chronologically speaking. The story was finally brought to an end with three trilogies (Dark Disciple, Elven Exiles, and Rise of Solamnia), and Hasbro, who currently owns the rights, has decided to end the line. Dragonlance is a series of fantasy novels that spans over two hundred books (of which ( Read more... )

fantasy, review, dragonlance, books

Comments 7

wishesofastar February 14 2010, 17:27:28 UTC

I just wanted to point out that your mention of the face heel turn is responsible for the TV tropes binge in which I discovered this eye-opening chart: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SortingAlgorithmOfFaceHeelTurning

I swear I am going to base a short story off TV Tropes roulette one of these days.

nontacitare February 14 2010, 19:27:48 UTC

Heh. I can spend way too much time on tvtropes.

Update: Ack, I did it again! I actually had to click on your link and calculate Raistlin's Face Heel Turning score (39 out of 50). Tvtropes is the worst time-sink on the net.

nicosomething February 15 2010, 14:22:32 UTC

Must... resist... clicking... link...

*click*

Damn. Talk to you in a few hours.

chronarchy February 16 2010, 15:50:15 UTC

I sort of gave up after reading some of Rabe's books. I didn't really like them. I read the War of the Souls, but ignored most everything after that. I may go back and read some of them, now, though.

nontacitare February 16 2010, 22:23:46 UTC

I sort of gave up after reading some of Rabe's books. I didn't really like them.

Same here.

I read the War of the Souls, but ignored most everything after that. I may go back and read some of them, now, though.

Some of the best writing in Dragonlance happened after War of Souls. Here are my recommendations:

Wizard's Conclave: Ex-lovers Dalamar and Jenna have to work together to save Wayreth. I had some quibbles with the writing (sometimes you can hear the dice roll), but it moves the story forward in preparation for the Dark Disciple and Rise of Solamnia trilogies.

Dark Disciple trilogy, starting with Amber and Ashes: I resisted reading this because I'd heard it was about Mina and Gerard, two of my least favorite Dragonlance characters. As it turns out, the trilogy rivals Legends as the best of Dragonlance. Mina, at loose ends after the War of Souls, becomes the literal mistress of Death (Chemosh.) (One on-line wit referred to it as "The God of Death has a mid-life crisis.") She then proceeds to invent vampires. The ( ... )

the1jimmyc February 16 2010, 18:02:38 UTC

I've been reading DragonLance for about 18 years and I fell in love with it. I admit there were stories I wasn't too fond of but for the most part I enjoyed my journeys to Krynn. I am saddened by the fact that I won't be reading any more of Taladas! It was very nice to hear of another place besides Ansalon. I really will miss DL. I thank Weiss and Hickman for creating such a great place and all the other authors for adding to it.

nontacitare February 17 2010, 04:23:23 UTC

I am saddened by the fact that I won't be reading any more of Taladas!

Here's how I see it: Krynn has been moving from the Middle Ages to the Early Modern Era ever since the War of Souls. You have the push toward centralized governments, the use of gunpowder in warfare, rapid technological innovations, religious warfare, the Inquisition... And the most significant event of our own Early Modern Era was Columbus' discovery of America. So even though we won't read about it, you just know that there is some enterprising Ergothian ship captain, trying to find a sea route around the Minotaur Empire, who will stumble across Taladas, bringing the two cultures in contact and radically changing the cosmology of the people of Ansalon...