"Discovering" fantasy fiction: Dragonlance

[Kheti sa-Menik]

I'm a long time D&D player but I've never been much into fantasy fiction. The only stuff I really liked was Lord of the Rings. Tolkien's masterpiece seemed to blow everything else away. Many of my friends like the various campaign world novels (Dragonlance, FR, etc), as well as many other fantasy authors. I've tried reading them in the past but never could get into them. The writing seemed too....contrived?

I was at Border's and picked up Dragons of Autumn Twilight because I had a coupon. I thought I'd give it shot, it being the inspiration for the Dragonlance modules and such.
It's not bad. I know what's going to happen because I'd read the modules, but that's okay. So far, I'm just entering Xak Tsaroth with the Companions.

What are other peoples' feelings about the novels?

 

[Panthanas]

I had a friend introduce me to D&D and the Chronicles Trilogy. Both got me into reading, so I personally enjoy both this and Legends, even though I've read plenty of "better" fantasy since.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

While I had read Tolkien as a kid; Hobbit, LoTR. I never really read modern fantasy novels till I started to read Dragonlance. I had played D&D before but the connection hadn't really formed between D&D and fantasy-novels till Dragonlance.

So thanks to Dragonlance my view of D&D and my library of fantasy novels has greatly expanded.

As such the original Dragonlance series has a special place on my bookshelf.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

Meh, once when I was young they were a favorite. Now not so much, but I still keep that old set and believe it has a place for jump starting a new fantasy genre. On the overall view most gaming fantasy tends to be either Meh, or Bad. With notable exceptions rising above the limitations of the majority.

 

[warlord]

They were the first set of fantasy books I ever read. They are my originals and I love them. In my opinion they are better then LOTR of course that doesn't mean much given my very public distaste for Tolkien's work.

 

[sydbar]

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?

 

[Orius]

They'e not bad, especially given that they were Weis and Hickman's first big work. A lot of non-gamer fantasy fans seem to think of them as bad rip-offs of LotR, but that can probably be attributed to the D&Disms.

 

[Klaus]

Read DL years before I ever read LotR. Back when I was 13, I loved them. When I re-read them again at age 27, I didn't enjoy them so much (too much whining from the main characters).

The comic book adaptation being published does a good job condensing them, though.

 

[Pozatronic]

I read these in Junior/High School, along with the "Twins" trilogy. There was a point in time when I Loved these novels. I still think, with a complete re-writing of the first one, that they would make excellent live action movies (curse you, Dragonlance animated film!). I used to re-read them every few years, but my taste in literature had undergone so many changes that the last time I read the trilogy I realized that maybe they weren't as good I thought. For someone who hasn't read a lot of the genre, I can see why you like it so much, and I urge you to continue. Winter Night and Spring Dawning are much better. I never got into any of the other Dragonlance offers, except the other Weis/Hickman offerings, so wander at your own peril.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Yeah I would definitely stick to the original authors if you plan to delve deep into Dragonlance.