Classic fantasy fare (Dragonlance Chronicles in general)

Member Name: darren55

Product:	Dragonlance Chronicles in general
Date:	17/10/09 (20 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Three books in one

Disadvantages: It'll never be tolkein

The Dragonlance chronicles are a compendium of the three Dragons of... books, they cover the dragons of autumn twilight, winter night and spring dawning books.

The chronicles are a set of books which are similar in content to LOTR but the writing quality is of a a lesser standard compared with the great mans work. The stories are classic game play fantast fare, there is a group of adventurers who meet after a long period apart. The place they live in is a chaotic one with the planet being the play things of the Gods. The planet has three moons, three gods and three castes of wizards. There are evil, neutral good for all three.

The group are old friends who have journeyed together in the past but have been seperated for many years, they had agreed to meet at this village at this set date. The group are the classic fantasy group Elves, dwarves, wizards, knights, warriors and there as with all stories a character who is a catalysis for the tale, in this one the catalysis is a beautiful barbarian woman called Goldmoon. Goldmoon is owner of the sceptre which is sought by the gods on all sides.

So the group are engaged to take the sceptre bearer on a mission to discover its powers and in the course of it they set a motion a set of events which culminate in the events depicted in the novels.

So whats good and whats not? well the characters, stories and events are fun and enjoyale to read and it never pretends to be a competitor of Tolkein but is more of a road movie style novel with characters changing as the story unfolds. There are the pre-requisite satisyfying number of battles, dragons, spells, intrigues, fights, beautiful women, heroic knights and warring nations. There is corruption, decadence, evil, and beautifully written scenes which a reader remembers for years.

The main characters are well characterised and the set scenes flow well but some of characters are better than others, Raistlin is a first class troubled mage, his brother a worried barbarian and Tanis the leader a half elf-half human with character flaws.

I enjoy the novels and they are aimed at the young adult market but are syill enjoyable for anyone to read.

This is a compendium of the books and comes in at around 900 pages, the cover of the book has stayed the same since I bought it twenty years ago, a barbarian, a partially clothed woman and a man with a strange shaped helmet.

Summary: Enjoyable to read