Margaret Weis

This is an amazingly powerful trilogy. The people are complex, strongly portrayed, and have a sense of self unlike any I've encountered in books before. Their gods are powerful, believable, and- perhaps most importantly of all- have deeply human emotions that make them very likeable. The plot is tightly woven, dropping the reader into the blackest pits of despair yet still somehow retaining that small, impossibly held hope that somehow, someway, everything will work out. A masterful work of show more art worthy of J.R.R. Tolkien himself, and a must read for anyone who loves fantasy. show less

I could not have loved these books more when I was in junior high. I think it was because I was in love with Raistlin Majere. God knows why. God also probably knows that I grew up to love his real-world equivalent, in many different guises – the common theme being the misunderstood, smart guy. Together, it was us against the world. What I didn’t see then, that only two decades has taught me, is that Raistlin didn’t just need someone to love him for him – Caramon already did that, and show more it wasn’t enough – Raistlin already loved himself. So, I think I am afraid that if you let your young girls read Dragonlance, they’ll date bad men. It makes me wonder, is the characterization in the book inherently flawed, skewed to somehow glorify the misanthropic?

I don’t think so. Ultimately, what I think was going on is that the Dragonlance series created a vast series of characters with varying personalities, and that Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman managed to make all of them, from the uptight Knight of Solamnia, to the bouncy kender, to the mage discussed above, real people with real motivations, who could be loved, and understood, and cared about. If they are somewhat archetypal (stereotypical?), they are none the worse for it. Even in the real world, often artists do not act like bankers, and so forth, finding similarities among their own kind.

The Twins series is probably my favorite of all the Dragonlance books, involving time travel, Caramon and Raistlin Majere, and Raistlin’s attempt to answer the age old question, what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, if he loses his own soul? show less

Although this is not my normal genre, I couldn’t have been more pleasantly surprised and genuinely happy with this book. Weiss and Krammes utilize incredible world building and a cast of characters in all walks of society to create a captivating tale of a world made up of islands and continents floating on the Breath, a world of science and magic working together, of ancient secrets returning to seek vengeance, and of an era of dragon riders and the nostalgic captain of the (now disbanded) show more dragon brigade, Lord Captain Stephano De Guichen.

In a world where the church controls magic (which utilizes God’s Breath) and the technology connected to it, history and fear have made certain aspects of magic taboo. Now a group utilizing contramagic have begun destroying ships, cathedrals, and cities. Worse still, there is no known way to defend against this ‘impossible’ and ‘heretical’ magic. Stephano and his group, the Cadre of the Lost, are pulled into a crisis that will likely forever change (or end) their world. Sailing together on Miri’s Cloud Hopper, the Cadre consists of Rodrigo, a gentleman and a genius who takes umbrage at the idea of putting effort in to something, Gythe, a young magical savant haunted by her past, her Miri, Gythe's older sister and pilot of the Cloud Hopper, and an ex-military man called Dag. They are hired for a mission by Stephano’s Lady mother, to retrieve a journeyman who has created a process to imbue metal with magic (once thought impossible, but done using Rodrigo’s theory which he never bothered to test). As the attacks increase and a series of attacks centuries in the making begin to come to fruition, their mission changes from political counterespionage to a fight for humanity’s survival. show less

DRAGONLANCE. I wish I could count how many times I have read these books. I read them as they were released in the 80s and was instantly pulled into them. My copies are taped and laminated because they have been read so much. Now this beautiful hard cover edition of the first three books is out and it is nothing short of magnificent. The forward by Joe Manganiello is worth the price of admission alone. The stories themselves are in the top tier of fantasy. In the heyday of the cool (But) show more silliness of typical dungeons and dragons these novels stand far above the generic fluff. The story is brilliant and clever and you will be hard pressed to find better character development. I would gladly put them next to Elric, and Conan to bridge that gap between silly Elf Ridden High Fantasy and pulpy low fantasy. Sadly The first trilogy and the next which focused on the twins are the only real stars in the cannon. Generic, oversaturated and watered down stories soon took hold. Kudos on the release of the first three books. show less