Item - Chronicles 1: Dragons of Autumn Twilight

I first read this book as a teenager, and at the time, I enjoyed it a great deal. I now have a teenager of my own, and I revisited this to determine whether or not I should recommend it to the next generation. I'm on the fence, really -- there are certainly better things one could read, but this remains entertaining.

In some ways, the book actually exceeded my tempered expectations. I thought I would find the writing clumsy and awkward, but it's really not bad at all, especially for a first novel. The world and characters are mostly well-defined and clearly drawn, the story moves along at a fast pace, there are some memorable and effective action sequences, and some (though definitely not all) of the humor lands. Some of the romantic elements are melodramatic, but at least the book explores a few different kinds of relationships without dwelling too long on any of them.

The main things that bothered me aren't so much the fault of the book as the fault of the genre that it resides in: I find high fantasy where good and evil are inherent attributes rather than behaviors to be a bit two-dimensional and silly... but the authors at least manage to add a little complexity and ambiguity to some of their characters. All the "gully dwarves are dumb as a race" jokes are fairly cringe-inducing, but this is neither the first nor last fantasy novel to rely on modified racist tropes.

In any case, I'm pleased that the novel survived a re-read without destroying my affection for it. I'm not sure whether or not I'll continue re-reading the series (I don't have much time or stamina for it, but I admit to being a bit curious to see what happens in the later Weis/Hickman novels that I failed to reach on my original readthrough, which was quickly drowned by a sea of boring prequels and fillers after I got past the first two trilogies). I do think this is well overdue for a good film or television adaptation; it deserves better than the terrible animated film it received, and the right cast and script could smooth over its rougher edges.

More reviews by Demian

This is not a gamebook, but several in the Super Endless Quest series are based on the world built from this series.

I read this book as a pre-teen in my formative years and for a while it was important to me. Looking back, I can see the flaws in the series, but it did a lot for epic questing and changing the style of D&D. I was surprised that the novels were based on the modules, which came out first.

This one is by far the best in the series, introducing the cast of characters and the world of Krynn. Overall the novel balances the multiple personalities well, introducing a large cast of characters. Big, dumb Caramon and his sinister brother Raistlin. Comedy relief from Flint the Dwarf and Tasselhoff the Kender. The dull leader Tanis and his why-would-she-bother-with-him girlfriend elven Princess Laurana.

A good read if you haven't read it before.

More reviews by Kveto