I'm rather unsure were to start with the books.. - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

I'm rather unsure were to start with the books..

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
draco_spirit
Feb 03, 2008 7:07:12 Ok now I been a big fan of DND even since I bought the computer game Bualders Gate and I read a couple of the FR novels since.

However I do notice there deems to be alot of Dragonlance ones too, but I'm utterly bewildered in were to start with them...

Any tips?
#2
ebrightblade
Feb 03, 2008 11:53:28 I think to really get the basic concepts and jist of DL, you need to start with the original War of the Lance series (ie, Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night, dragons of Spring Dawning) Then from there it depends on your likes. The time of the twins is what drew me next as I thought Raistlin and Caramon were just awesome characters, however I suppose it would really only be necessary to read "Second Generation", the Chaos War, and then the War of the Souls books after that. There is a LOT of DL books and if you aren't quite sure where to start it could be intimidating to just jump into it, but the 3 original War of the Lance books is definitly the way to go if your just starting.
At least that's my opinion. Happy reading. :D
#3
draco_spirit
Feb 03, 2008 17:57:16 Thanks :D
#4
darthsylver
Feb 04, 2008 11:01:28 Actually what I would recomend (probably because it is how I got into DL) is to read any of the Tales books. These contain short stories of the different people and places of DL.

This not to say that there is anything wrong with Chronicles (the series that EBrighblade suggests) because it is a very good series, but it does center around the core group of characters that dominate the main storyline of DL.

I suppose where to start would depend upon your way of thinking or reading. If you are like me and would like to have some idea of what you are getting into (like test-driving a car) then start with a book, any book, from the tales series. If you want to know the story from the very beginning start with the meetings sextect, if you want to start with the series that began DL, then start with the Chronicles series.
#5
bigmac
Mar 15, 2008 16:45:46 The thing about Dragonlance books is that most of them have spoilers that give away things that happen in the first 6 books.

If you just want some background that probably doesn't matter, but if you want to get a feeling of Dragonlance from the same sort of point of veiw as the original fans then I'd recommend reading Chronicles (Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night and Dragons of Spring Dawning) and then Legends (Time of the Twins, War of the Twins and Test of the Twins).

Most of the Uber-DL nerds have read the Chronicles Trillogy and Legends Trillogy and if you don't read them fairly soon, people will probably accidentally give away details from the story of those books. If you are lucky people will give you a spoiler warning, but these books are so central to Dragonlance that a lot of people assume that you must have read them already. I'd say that is a very high recommendation from the community.

I've just read both trillogies. I bought them as boxed sets - if you like boxed sets then look out for them. I'd advise you to avoid the annotated versions of the books. They are intended for uber-fans who know the stories well and want things explained to them. You will find spoilers in the annotated versions and they might ruin a few surprises for you.

As to what to read after the "holy six", that isn't so easy. If you ask 10 different people you might get ten different answers.

Lost Chronicles should probably be the third trillogy on your reading list, but there is currently a dispute between WotC and Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. The authors have been late turning the book in and WotC have taken it off of their release schedule. You might want to read some other books and come back to that trillogy, when you know you can get all three.

There is an article on Dragonlance Nexus (the DL fan site) called Recommended Dragonlance Reading List which might help you. The guy that wrote that (Matt) recommends The Second Generation (which I am currently reading) and Dragons of Summer Flame (which I intend to buy soon). After that he recommends two Fifth Age trillogies. I'm not so sure I'll be reading them next.

You really need to learn a bit more about how Dragonlance works before you can work out what you want to read next. One thing you need to know is that different DL novels are set in different time periods. So if you like certain characters, they are more likely to come up in other books set in the same time period. There are also big world changing events that happen in the different time periods. So if you read a Fifth Age novel it could spoil the surprise of a ton of Forth Age novels.

Dragonlance Nexus has a Dragonlance product list with all the novels put into the same time periods. I'll quickly explain the sections.

"Classic Core Novels" is the ones I've already mentioned. Most people will tell you to read them first. "Classic Supplemental Novels" are novels set in that same time period. The Tales books (recomended to you by darthsylver) are in this section. The "supplemental novels" are "optional books" - a lot of them are good, but you don't "need" to read them to get the overal picture of what is happening in the Dragonlance timeline.

Scroll down that page and you will see "Age of Mortals Core Novels". These books are all set after the classic era and will contain spoilers that could ruin the fun of a lot of classic books. But if you want to read Age of Mortals books, you should probably start with Classic Core Novels then move onto the Age of Mortals Core Novels. These books are (currently) two trillogies called "War of Souls" and "The Dark Disciple". More Age of Mortals Core Novels might be written at some point, but don't hold your breath. "Age of Mortals Supplemental" are other novels set in the same period. Don't read any of them until you are done with the classic books and want to move onto the Age of Mortals.

"Fifth Age Core Novels" come after the classic period and the Age of Mortals period. Again these will contain spoilers that ruin surprises in classic books, but they will also ruin surprises in Age of Mortals books. If you really like this period, should read all of the Classic Core Novels and all of the Age of Mortals Core Novels before reading these two trillogies. "Fifth Age Supplemental Novels" are more novels that are in the same time period of the Fifth Age. Again these are "optional" books.

Next down the page are "Historical Core Novels". These are actually set before the Classic Novels. You could actually read these before reading any Age of Mortals or Fifth Age books. If you want to do that you should still probably read the Classic Core Novels first. There are some spoilers, but the classic core novels explain how the world works. "Historical Supplemental Novels" give you a lot more detail about the past.

(I've read one of the Historical Supplimental Novels - a book called Kaz the Minotaur. It was my first Dragonlance book. I really enjoyed it, but didn't understand a lot of things. So I think reading the core books first will help you avoid that.)

Finally you have "Young Reader Core Novels". These are simpler stories than the adult novels, but you still might enjoy them a lot. They have a lot of fans and are, from what I have heard, very underated. I've recently heard of people struggling to pick these up secondhand on eBay, so they are probably good. "Young Reader Supplemental" is another set of "optional books". I'm not sure what time period any of the young reader books are set in. I'm not going to read them in the near future, but will probably look for them at some point.

(Below this part of the page is the RPG products and after that the comics and other Dragonlance items. So you might not want to scroll that far down the page.)

If you really want to see the exact order of things, Dragonlance Nexus has a Chronological Product List that puts all of the novels (and maybe other things like comics or RPG books) into the correct order of the world of Krynn.
#6
kalstrand
Mar 16, 2008 13:35:49 The 5th age novels (Dawning of a New Age, Eve of the Maelstrom, Day of the Tempest and probably all the others listed in the same category on the page linked) occur between the end of Dragons of Summer Flame and The War of Souls Trilogy.

Edit: The War of Souls Trilogy starts with Dragons of a Fallen Sun. The 5 ages of the DL timeline are the Age of Starbirth, Age of Dreams, Age of Might, Age of Despair (which is when the Chronicles trilogy, Legends Trilogy, and Dragons of Summer Flame occur, and the Age of Mortals (also known as the 5th age it starts at the end of Dragons of Summer Flame, moves through the 5th Age trilogy, War of Souls trilogy, and Dark Disciple trilogy which will bring it up to the current timeline in the core novels),
#7
americanlord
Apr 20, 2008 11:16:31 Read the books in the order of their publication.

This way you can see how the Dragon Lance universe unfolded.
#8
elrikdarkstorm
Apr 24, 2008 16:15:12 I agree with most of what everyone has said about the order in which to read the books,i have thought about it and i would go in alittle bit different direction,i would start off with vinas solamnus,then the legend of huma(which is one of my favorites of all time and would make an awesome movie)then go with the chronicles then legends,then either preludes or the meetings sextet,then second generation and so on .that is what i would do or maybe reading the elven triligolgy and the dwarven one(forgot what it was called) then the chronicles,so that way you can get some history about some of the races of krynn and to find out why they are the way they are in the beginning of chronicles.what does everyone think about that.

AS big mac said beforeabout reading the lost chronicles if the last book is ever put out,i would read them after chronicles just so that the main stories are still fresh in your mind

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 draco_spirit Feb 03, 2008 7:07:12	Ok now I been a big fan of DND even since I bought the computer game Bualders Gate and I read a couple of the FR novels since. However I do notice there deems to be alot of Dragonlance ones too, but I'm utterly bewildered in were to start with them... Any tips?
#2 ebrightblade Feb 03, 2008 11:53:28	I think to really get the basic concepts and jist of DL, you need to start with the original War of the Lance series (ie, Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night, dragons of Spring Dawning) Then from there it depends on your likes. The time of the twins is what drew me next as I thought Raistlin and Caramon were just awesome characters, however I suppose it would really only be necessary to read "Second Generation", the Chaos War, and then the War of the Souls books after that. There is a LOT of DL books and if you aren't quite sure where to start it could be intimidating to just jump into it, but the 3 original War of the Lance books is definitly the way to go if your just starting. At least that's my opinion. Happy reading. :D
#3 draco_spirit Feb 03, 2008 17:57:16	Thanks :D
#4 darthsylver Feb 04, 2008 11:01:28	Actually what I would recomend (probably because it is how I got into DL) is to read any of the Tales books. These contain short stories of the different people and places of DL. This not to say that there is anything wrong with Chronicles (the series that EBrighblade suggests) because it is a very good series, but it does center around the core group of characters that dominate the main storyline of DL. I suppose where to start would depend upon your way of thinking or reading. If you are like me and would like to have some idea of what you are getting into (like test-driving a car) then start with a book, any book, from the tales series. If you want to know the story from the very beginning start with the meetings sextect, if you want to start with the series that began DL, then start with the Chronicles series.
#5 bigmac Mar 15, 2008 16:45:46	The thing about Dragonlance books is that most of them have spoilers that give away things that happen in the first 6 books. If you just want some background that probably doesn't matter, but if you want to get a feeling of Dragonlance from the same sort of point of veiw as the original fans then I'd recommend reading Chronicles (Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night and Dragons of Spring Dawning) and then Legends (Time of the Twins, War of the Twins and Test of the Twins). Most of the Uber-DL nerds have read the Chronicles Trillogy and Legends Trillogy and if you don't read them fairly soon, people will probably accidentally give away details from the story of those books. If you are lucky people will give you a spoiler warning, but these books are so central to Dragonlance that a lot of people assume that you must have read them already. I'd say that is a very high recommendation from the community. I've just read both trillogies. I bought them as boxed sets - if you like boxed sets then look out for them. I'd advise you to avoid the annotated versions of the books. They are intended for uber-fans who know the stories well and want things explained to them. You will find spoilers in the annotated versions and they might ruin a few surprises for you. As to what to read after the "holy six", that isn't so easy. If you ask 10 different people you might get ten different answers. Lost Chronicles should probably be the third trillogy on your reading list, but there is currently a dispute between WotC and Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. The authors have been late turning the book in and WotC have taken it off of their release schedule. You might want to read some other books and come back to that trillogy, when you know you can get all three. There is an article on Dragonlance Nexus (the DL fan site) called Recommended Dragonlance Reading List which might help you. The guy that wrote that (Matt) recommends The Second Generation (which I am currently reading) and Dragons of Summer Flame (which I intend to buy soon). After that he recommends two Fifth Age trillogies. I'm not so sure I'll be reading them next. You really need to learn a bit more about how Dragonlance works before you can work out what you want to read next. One thing you need to know is that different DL novels are set in different time periods. So if you like certain characters, they are more likely to come up in other books set in the same time period. There are also big world changing events that happen in the different time periods. So if you read a Fifth Age novel it could spoil the surprise of a ton of Forth Age novels. Dragonlance Nexus has a Dragonlance product list with all the novels put into the same time periods. I'll quickly explain the sections. "Classic Core Novels" is the ones I've already mentioned. Most people will tell you to read them first. "Classic Supplemental Novels" are novels set in that same time period. The Tales books (recomended to you by darthsylver) are in this section. The "supplemental novels" are "optional books" - a lot of them are good, but you don't "need" to read them to get the overal picture of what is happening in the Dragonlance timeline. Scroll down that page and you will see "Age of Mortals Core Novels". These books are all set after the classic era and will contain spoilers that could ruin the fun of a lot of classic books. But if you want to read Age of Mortals books, you should probably start with Classic Core Novels then move onto the Age of Mortals Core Novels. These books are (currently) two trillogies called "War of Souls" and "The Dark Disciple". More Age of Mortals Core Novels might be written at some point, but don't hold your breath. "Age of Mortals Supplemental" are other novels set in the same period. Don't read any of them until you are done with the classic books and want to move onto the Age of Mortals. "Fifth Age Core Novels" come after the classic period and the Age of Mortals period. Again these will contain spoilers that ruin surprises in classic books, but they will also ruin surprises in Age of Mortals books. If you really like this period, should read all of the Classic Core Novels and all of the Age of Mortals Core Novels before reading these two trillogies. "Fifth Age Supplemental Novels" are more novels that are in the same time period of the Fifth Age. Again these are "optional" books. Next down the page are "Historical Core Novels". These are actually set before the Classic Novels. You could actually read these before reading any Age of Mortals or Fifth Age books. If you want to do that you should still probably read the Classic Core Novels first. There are some spoilers, but the classic core novels explain how the world works. "Historical Supplemental Novels" give you a lot more detail about the past. (I've read one of the Historical Supplimental Novels - a book called Kaz the Minotaur. It was my first Dragonlance book. I really enjoyed it, but didn't understand a lot of things. So I think reading the core books first will help you avoid that.) Finally you have "Young Reader Core Novels". These are simpler stories than the adult novels, but you still might enjoy them a lot. They have a lot of fans and are, from what I have heard, very underated. I've recently heard of people struggling to pick these up secondhand on eBay, so they are probably good. "Young Reader Supplemental" is another set of "optional books". I'm not sure what time period any of the young reader books are set in. I'm not going to read them in the near future, but will probably look for them at some point. (Below this part of the page is the RPG products and after that the comics and other Dragonlance items. So you might not want to scroll that far down the page.) If you really want to see the exact order of things, Dragonlance Nexus has a Chronological Product List that puts all of the novels (and maybe other things like comics or RPG books) into the correct order of the world of Krynn.
#6 kalstrand Mar 16, 2008 13:35:49	The 5th age novels (Dawning of a New Age, Eve of the Maelstrom, Day of the Tempest and probably all the others listed in the same category on the page linked) occur between the end of Dragons of Summer Flame and The War of Souls Trilogy. Edit: The War of Souls Trilogy starts with Dragons of a Fallen Sun. The 5 ages of the DL timeline are the Age of Starbirth, Age of Dreams, Age of Might, Age of Despair (which is when the Chronicles trilogy, Legends Trilogy, and Dragons of Summer Flame occur, and the Age of Mortals (also known as the 5th age it starts at the end of Dragons of Summer Flame, moves through the 5th Age trilogy, War of Souls trilogy, and Dark Disciple trilogy which will bring it up to the current timeline in the core novels),
#7 americanlord Apr 20, 2008 11:16:31	Read the books in the order of their publication. This way you can see how the Dragon Lance universe unfolded.
#8 elrikdarkstorm Apr 24, 2008 16:15:12	I agree with most of what everyone has said about the order in which to read the books,i have thought about it and i would go in alittle bit different direction,i would start off with vinas solamnus,then the legend of huma(which is one of my favorites of all time and would make an awesome movie)then go with the chronicles then legends,then either preludes or the meetings sextet,then second generation and so on .that is what i would do or maybe reading the elven triligolgy and the dwarven one(forgot what it was called) then the chronicles,so that way you can get some history about some of the races of krynn and to find out why they are the way they are in the beginning of chronicles.what does everyone think about that. AS big mac said beforeabout reading the lost chronicles if the last book is ever put out,i would read them after chronicles just so that the main stories are still fresh in your mind