"Discovering" fantasy fiction: Dragonlance

[Storm Raven]

What are other peoples' feelings about the novels?

I think that if it were not for the direct D&D connection, the books wouldn't be remembered much these days, and may not have been published to begin with. They are, at best, mediocre. There is a lot better fantasy out there these days - there was a lot better fantasy out there even back when they were published: I'd rate just about every book listed in the 1e DMG on the "inspirational reading" list as leaps and bounds better than any Dragonlance book.

 

[Starman]

I have a soft spot for the DL Chronicles and Legends trilogies since they were some of the first fantasy fiction I read when I was younger. Having reread them a couple of years ago, they did not fare as well, but I still enjoyed them especially the Legends trilogy. Unfortunately, the Weis and Hickman followups were very disappointing. I read a dozen or so from different authors and the only one that was good was The Legend of Huma by Richard Knaak.

 

[Tinker Gnome]

I am a huge Dragonlance fan and I have a ton of the books. I of course enjoyed Chronicles and Legends, but I find that I like the current era of books even better than those. My favorite DL authors are.

(Not ranked in order of which I like them as I do not think I could ever decide).
1. Thompson & Cook
2. Jean Rabe
3. Richard A. Knaak
4. Roger E. Moore
5. Chris Pierson
6. Douglas Niles
7. Mary Kirchoff
8. Michael & Terry Williams
9. Weis & Hickman
10. And many more!


Yeah, I love Dragonlance. I know people say there is a lot of "better" fantasy out there, but meh.

 

[Kheti sa-Menik]

I finished Dragons of Autumn Twilight. I liked the Pax Tharkas bit a lot.
I went to Borders, grabbed a coffee and the next novel, Dragons of Winter Night, to see if it was worth buying. Um...huh? They have this Hammer? Where did it come from?
I assumed this novel would pickup right where DoAT left off.

After reading a few back covers, I realized that the first book in the Lost Chronicles fills in the gap between DoAT and DoWN. So I grabbed Dragons of the Dwarven Depths, which does take up right after DoAT ends. I think I'll go chronologically as long as I continue these. So after DoDD, I'll do DoWN and then Dragons of the Highborn Skies.

I really like Dragons of the Dwarven Depths. It explores character a little more than the first Legend book and is very indepth a look at Krynn's dwarves.

 

[Klaus]

The Hammer of Tharkas is not essential to the plot. The novels skip quite a few of the adventures that made up the War of the Lance series.

 

[TanisFrey]

They are good novels, i reread them every few years, i've read better, but also a fair amount of worse novels. I wonder how a non gamer, would think of them?

In a high school English, one of of my teachers shocked me by handing out a short story for the class to read, IT was a DL short story. Most of the other students were very in where the story came from. It was from one of the TALES books. Many were shocked as I explained about the shared world of Dragon Lance had over 40 books at the time (91-92) and if they really liked the story the place to start would by the Chronicles.

 

[Phoenix8008]

I liked the DL Chronicles when I first read them back in the day. Haven't read them in quite awhile, but I still remember them fondly. I also liked the Twins trilogy and read some of the War of Souls trilogy but never finished it. I was only really interested in the Weis/Hickman DL books and didn't wanna read the others real badly.

As for other good fantasy series, I would recommend the following:
The Riftwar Saga by Raymond E. Feist
Guardians of the Flame series by Joel Rosenberg
The Belgariad and The Malloreon series by David Eddings
The First, Second, and Third Book of Swords by Fred Saberhagen

 

[Cyberia]

The original DL books were some of the first fantasy novels I ever read... not only have I read dozens of other DL books over the years (some good, some bad), but it quickly became one of my favorite settings and the only one I use as a DM.

 

[Kheti sa-Menik]

Little update: I finished Dragons of the Dwarven Depths and Dragons of Winter Night as well as Dragons of the Highlord Skies. (I decided to read the Lost Chronicles along with the Chronicles series)

Am now beginning Dragons of the Spring Dawning.

I liked the battle at the Clerist's Tower though my favorite character was killed.
I liked the depth that the Highlord Skies book gave to the Knights.