Particularize Based On Books Dragonlance Chronicles (Dragonlance: Chronicles #1-3)
| Title | : | Dragonlance Chronicles (Dragonlance: Chronicles #1-3) |
| Author | : | Margaret Weis |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 1030 pages |
| Published | : | March 1st 1988 by TSR (first published September 1st 1985) |
| Categories | : | Fantasy. Dungeons and Dragons. Dragonlance. Fiction. Epic Fantasy. Science Fiction Fantasy |
Margaret Weis
Paperback | Pages: 1030 pages Rating: 4.22 | 19073 Users | 496 Reviews
Interpretation As Books Dragonlance Chronicles (Dragonlance: Chronicles #1-3)
CONCEPT: A group of adventurers are chosen to help drive back the Evil from another world led by the Dark Queen. MARKETING APPEAL: The DRAGONLANCE chronicles had the whole AD&D industry behind them; TSR used this tale as a marketing ploy, using their fans and game designers (to set up the world); then, they took some above average writers to do the first trilogy; Set up in a typical AD&D adventure (rag tag group of mixed adventurers off to save the world with promise of great magic, great evil, great good and an epic scale) the series took off as a bestseller; royalties were probably astounding. SCORING: Superb (A), Excellent (A-), Very good (B+), Good (B) Fairly Good (B-) Above Average (C+), Mediocre (C ), Barely Passable (C-) Pretty Bad (D+), Dismal (D), Waste of Time (D-), Into the Trash (F) DIALOGUE: B/B-/C/D (C ) STRUCTURE: B+ HISTORY SETTING: B (A to game designers) CHARACTERS: B+/B/B-/C/C- (C+) EVIL SETUP/ANTAGONISTS: B- EMOTIONAL IMPACT: B SURPRISES: A- LITTLE THINGS: A- MONSTERS: B (A- to game designers) PACING: B+ OVERALL STYLE: B FLOW OF WORDS: B+/C+ CHOICE OF FOCUS: B+ TRANSITIONS/FLASHBACKS/POV: B COMPLEXITY OF WORDS/SYMBOLISM/THEMES: B- OVERALL GRADE: B HISTORY SETTING: Absolutely brilliant. Only problem is: the authors didn't do it. A host of game designers, who set it up for their RPG system, ran it countless times and then hired the writers to do it. So, the best I can give is a B to them. OPPOSITION/MONSTERS: Done very well. The Dragonlords are all formidable and the dragons seem nearly invincible. For the most part, the adventurers must flee from them and it is only through other means that the dragons are driven off or slain. The means of escaping from the dragons was done quite well, for the most part, except where (CENSORED) DIALOGUE: I have to say this is where the DRAGONLANCE TRILOGY is weak. Most of it is above average or even pretty good. But some of it is mediocre and a few parts are downright horrible. Too many 20th century phrases used like "sure" and some are overused PACING: Done very well. These writers know their structure and keep a lot of surprises tossing about. For the most part, the story never lets up. Weis and Hickman are very good at being sure to constantly place lots of surprises, as well as wonders in this tantalizing world. EMOTIONAL IMPACT: I have to say that even though some of the characters were cheesy or stilted, the story made up for it with its structure, sense of wonder and pacing. As I said above, a richly textured tapestry. CHARACTERS: Okay, this is where the trilogy gets slammed and good. (CENSORED) CONCEPT: The concept was already marketed in DRAGON magazine a couple of years before the trilogy came out. So, in a sense, part of their customer basis was primmed up for this series. Book trilogy does an excellent job of incorporating the Krynn milieu into an AD&D world. Characters are not complex and some of them are stilted or stodgy. However, most of the latter are typical stereotypes that we are sometimes willing to accept. Also, this writing style seems to have been centered on high school ages; fairly simple with some complexities. Simple humor that sometimes got a chuckle out of me. Overall, this series did very well. Main reasons I can see for this is: (1) DRAGON, DUNGEON and TSR fanbase; (2) a superb design of the setting and History by the game creators; (3) lots of surprises and twists; (4) a well encompassed adventuring group (quite a challenge for any writer and I believe these two were just starting out) in which there were at least a few who any reader would love; (5) big epic scale with wonder and magic; (6) focused marketing by TSR (in other words, they did the marketing, not some other publisher who wouldn't have been as passionate). GRADE REASON: Mostly shown above. But to reiterate, the story did a very good to great job on its History, pacing, surprises and narrative structure. Story was lacking in character and dialogue, as well as with the emotional feeling of the antagonists, so that brought it down to a B grade at the cusp. Overall, I'd recommend this book but warn that it's written at a sophomoric level.
Details Books To Dragonlance Chronicles (Dragonlance: Chronicles #1-3)
| Original Title: | Dragonlance Chronicles: Dragons of Autumn Twilight/Dragons of Winter Night/Dragons of Spring Dawning (Collectors Edition) |
| ISBN: | 0880386525 (ISBN13: 9780880386524) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | Dragonlance: Chronicles #1-3, Dragonlance Universe |
Rating Based On Books Dragonlance Chronicles (Dragonlance: Chronicles #1-3)
Ratings: 4.22 From 19073 Users | 496 ReviewsCrit Based On Books Dragonlance Chronicles (Dragonlance: Chronicles #1-3)
I am certainly biased. These were not just the first fantasy books I ever read. But the first books ever. These characters are a part of my childhood and I will always compare likable villains to Raistlin or comic relief to Tasselhoff. These books gave me a love for writing and creating other worlds. The one aspect of the novels that I didn't care for, and which I would try to avoid in my own writings is the reveal that what is going to take place has been fated and it is known by charactersIt hasn't aged well. Far from as good as I thought in my younger days but still, here and there there are some noteworthy scenes. The scenes of loss are particularly well written, in my opinion. In the end 3 stars, in part because of nostalgia.
Dragons of Autumn Twilight, a classic work of high fantasy, marks the beginning of a remarkable 6-book tale (the CHRONICLES Trilogy, followed by the even more magnificent LEGENDS Trilogy), which greatly increased the interest in the Dungeons & Dragons game throughout the 1980's. It certainly does contain more than a few stock fantasy elements (e.g. dragons, elves, dwarves, an unlikely group of friends somehow being chosen to stop the conquest of Evil...). However, the straightforward, simple
DNF - I don't know why I didn't finish this book because what I had read so far was actually pretty good. I think it might have been that the book was huge and it felt like it was taking ages to get through a few pages and I have also been hit by a book slump from out of nowhere so that wouldn't have helped either. I will pick up this book again at some point and try to finish it.
I tried reading these once when I was younger and never finished them. They show up on lists of great fantasy series all the time, though, so I tried again. I made it through them this time, but barely: they are really not good.The writers use as their framework the "alignment" concept from the Dungeons and Dragons manual: the tic tac toe grid of lawful / neutral / chaotic and good / neutral / evil. Each character inhabits one of the boxes in that grid, and that is the extent of their
OH GOD!!! This thing sucked!!!!Ok, now understanding the background behind this book, I have to relax on certain qualms - the main one being how it reads like a RPG transcript, basically because it IS an RPG transcript. So, that's fine, and personally, Hickman and Weis did a bang-up job of presenting it as such.SPOILER!!Now, that aside, I think the book started great and through most of the first book, was pretty good, until people starting dying. This is where I started becoming so angry that I
When I was 13 and I read this, it blew me away. I loved every minute of it. Despite these fond memories, that does not prevent me from recognising that this was deeply formulaic fantasy trash that unashamedly revelled in rehashing all the well worn cliches of the genre. Hence my three star rating. My rating at the age of 13 would have been five stars. If I had read it for the first time now, I would probably have given it one star.
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