Book Review - 'Dragons of Autumn Twilight' by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

‘Dragons of Autumn Twilight’ cover, art by Larry Elmore depicting (L-R) Tanis Half-Elven, Goldmoon, and Sturm Brightblade.

‘Dragons.
Creatures of legend. Stories told to children.
But now dragons have returned to Krynn. The darkness of war and destruction threatens to engulf the land.
Then hope appears – a blue crystal staff in the hands of a beautiful barbarian woman. The promise of hope, as fleeting as smoke upon the autumn wind, forces a group of long-time friends into the unlikely roles of heroes.
Knight and barbarian, warrior and half-elf, dwarf and kender and dark-souled mage; they begin a perilous quest for – the legendary Dragonlance.’

The very first page of the book introduces us to our main characters:
‘Tanis Half-Elven, leader of the companions. A skilled fighter… he is tormented by love for two women – the tempestuous swordswoman, Kitiara, and the enchanting elfmaiden, Laurana.
Sturm Brightblade, Knight of Solamnia. Once revered in the days before the Cataclysm, the knights have since fallen into disgrace. Sturm’s goal… to restore the honor of the knighthood.
Goldmoon, Chieftain’s Daughter. Bearer of the blue crystal staff, her love for a tribal outcast, Riverwind, leads them both on a dangerous quest of the truth.
Riverwind… Given the blue crystal staff in a city where death flew on black wings, he barely escaped with his life…
Raistlin, Caramon’s twin brother, magic-user. Though his health is shattered, Raistlin possesses great powers beyond his young age. But dark mysteries are concealed behind his strange eyes.
Caramon, Raistlin’s twin brother, warrior. A genial giant of a man, Caramon is the exact opposite of his twin. Raistlin is the one person he cares for – and the one person he fears.
Flint Fireforge, dwarf, fighter. Tanis’ oldest friend, the ancient dwarf regards these youngsters as “his children”.
Tasslehoff Burfoot, kender… the nuisance race of Krynn, are immune to fear. Consequently, trouble just seems to follow them home.’

In an introductory chapter set in the Inn of the Last Home in the tree town of Solace, the innkeeper and his female helper, Tika, are bemoaning the unhappy state of their town ever since it was taken over by a fanatical religious order called the Seekers.

Over 300 years before the setting of the story, Krynn was struck by the Cataclysm, resulting in far-reaching geographical changes, and, believing the gods had abandoned them, many people turned from the ancient gods.

The Seekers, wanting to replace the ancient true gods with new gods, treat any mention of the old gods as blasphemy.

We’re then gradually introduced to our main characters.

The friends – Tanis, Flint, Sturm, Tasslehoff, Raistlin, Caramon, and the twins’ half-sister, Kitiara – had gone their separate ways five years previous, to pursue their own quests and had agreed to meet again in Solace at the end of those five years.

As Flint, Tanis and Tasslehoff, or Tas as he’s more commonly known, are greeting one another on the outskirts of Solace, they’re interrupted by a hobgoblin on a pony, ‘… a sneering, supercilious look on his flat face. His pink eyes reflected the last lingering traces of sunlight.’

The hobgoblin tells the trio he’s in charge of keeping Solace protected and, as they have no right to be walking around after dark, he orders his goblins to arrest them, adding gleefully to kill the trio if they resist.

Then, in their own language, he tells one of his goblins, ‘“Bring me the blue crystal staff, if you find it on them.”’

This piques the curiosity of the trio as each of them have some understanding of the goblin language.

Having no intention of being arrested, they fight off the goblins and make their way to the inn.

The twins, Caramon and Raistlin, are already there, and the group are disappointed when they learn Kitiara won’t be joining them as ‘“… her duties with her new lord keep her busy…”’

Then Sturm arrives, holding the door open ‘for a tall man and a woman heavily cloaked in furs. The woman must have spoken a word of thanks to Sturm, for he bowed to her in a courtly, old-fashioned manner long dead in the modern world.’

Tanis recognises the couple’s mode of dress… ‘“They’re barbarians from the Plains… That’s the dress of the Que-shu tribe.”’

After exchanging greetings, Sturm explains to the group he’d found the exhausted couple on the road outside of Solace and offered to bring them to the inn for food and rest… ‘“They are proud people and would have refused my help, I think, but they were lost and tired and… there are things on the road these days that it is better not to face in the dark.”’

As they talk, Sturm tells them… ‘“Armies are gathering in the north. Armies of strange creatures – not human. There is talk of war.”’

Tanis and Caramon say they’ve heard the same.

Amid stories being told to the children in the inn about the old gods and dragons, the leader of the Seekers accuses the couple from the Plains of blasphemy and orders them arrested.

When he tries to take the woman’s staff, the ensuing scuffle causes him to fall into the fire.

The only one fast enough to act is Tas and he grabs the woman’s staff to knock the man down so the flames can be smothered.

Except the man is completely unhurt.

It’s only then they realise the staff Tas is holding is a blue crystal staff.

The crowd start calling for the guards to arrest the newcomers for the town has been threatened with destruction if any are found harbouring the staff.

Left with no choice, the friends and the couple flee Solace and the adventure begins as they find themselves thrust into having to deal with events that threaten their world.

The ‘Dragonlance’ fantasy story is unlike more modern fantasies in that the story isn’t complex and can be comfortably classed as an easy read, a straightforward ‘good vs evil’ fantasy.

There are times it reads more like a YA novel, especially this first volume, but – speaking from personal experience – it’s a much more fun read than most YA novels I’ve read.

It’s fast-paced, and the battle scenes aren’t glossed over but well described, with each character doing their part.

Coming across each character was like meeting old friends again.

And Sturm Brightblade is still my favourite as he was back when I first read the series.

The characters, while all fantasy archetypes are good company with some more likeable than others, yet they all have a part to play, and none are sidelined.

But only a handful of characters are given sufficient, satisfactory character development, which is a shame.

Despite the core group being friends, not everyone gets along.

There’s an element of mistrust especially towards Raistlin who’s changed the most in the five years they’ve been apart.

They all have to work hard to gain the trust of the Que-shu couple.

There are strong female characters who are still feminine and can hold their own.

Where the writers excel with the characters is with their inner monologue.

We get an intimate look at a given character’s inner turmoil, self-doubt, suspicions harboured but not voiced, suppressed anger…

And it becomes clear, despite being thrust into the role of saving the world against evil, none of them have any idea how to do it.

So, was I right to feel apprehensive about reading this series again?

Did I enjoy it as much as I used to?

I’m happy to say I did enjoy it.

But – and isn’t there always a ‘but’ – there were things that stuck out like the proverbial sore thumb.

Things like the huge number of adverbs and creative dialogue tags.

Normally, I would include frequent point-of-view shifts in that list, but, interestingly, it didn’t bother me that much.

I don’t know for sure, but I think the reason may be that it worked in this style of story.

In more modern books, I would struggle to get past such issues, but I’m pretty sure that was the norm back when these books were published in the 1980s, and I guess it just made it easier to accept.

There are plot holes, and for those who love detailed worldbuilding, you won’t find that here.

As the adventurers travel from one region to another, it’s a little difficult to get a sense of distance and time unless the reader is told.

One thing I have to mention – as the story is very much framed around a D&D adventure game, much of the plot is reliant on luck and coincidence, which unfortunately comes across as lazy writing.

There are those who compare it unfavourably to ‘The Lord of the Rings’, which I find an annoying argument for any fantasy book.

While it does borrow the themes – the return of great evil; objects of power; a company consisting of different races tasked with defeating the evil – the ‘Dragonlance Chronicles’ puts its own spin on it.

And that includes the races of Krynn with the kenders and different classes of dwarves.

The religion is well depicted with each race having their own belief system all under the ‘umbrella’ of a god of light, a goddess of evil and a god of neutrality to maintain the balance.

Magic isn’t prevalent, limited to magic-users whose numbers are few, and the use of magic is restrained by penalties the magic-user suffers.

The evil draconians are vicious, formidable foes.

And the dragons, of whom there are many, are truly frightening; their very presence fills people, from children to hardened warriors, with dragonfear, rendering them paralysed with terror.

Despite its flaws, I’m happy to say I enjoyed reading ‘Dragons of Autumn Twilight’, which made my bus journeys to and from work speed by.

Now, let’s see how the next two books fare…