Thanks for doing this video! The first DL novel I ever read was Stormblade. I found it as a young teen in the mid-80s while exploring the bookcase in a middle school classroom. I loved it, and it led me to seek out the Chronicles. The rest is history! Every few years, I go back and reread the books. Your video has reminded me it's time again!
I’ve got close to 80 DL books. The “holy six” are the best, of course, but I like pretty much all of the classic era 1984-1995) and the series which continued on into 1996. I’m not much of a fan of the books after that. There are a few gems though. Great video here and an excellent guide to reading the books. I started in June 1984 with Autumn Twilight and was hooked. I still have all of my DL books and enjoy reading them again. Also, from the AD&D perspective The Atlas of Krynn, The Artwork of Krynn as well as Leaves from The Inn of The Last Home are very handy to have. The original AD&D DL hardback players guide is very good.
I really wish that they would work with a high end animation studio to make a season or two to tell the individual stories of the characters and nations. Then work with a major motion picture studio to make the shared stories or Chronicles into L.O.T.R. level movies. There is so much content to work with and make into many shows and movies. I would really like to see this before I die....
I read all the Forgotten Realms novels and just did it kind of half Hazard and really didn't have any major issues going back and forth on the timelines. I just made sure I never interrupted a Trilogy or series and didn't really worry about it. I am so confused trying to decide where I want to start this Dragonlance adventure for the first time that it's starting to get annoying. Quite literally when it comes to all the books written in the setting, every account I've read is different. The only ones in the most agreeance out of all the hundreds of books are the so called holy six, the Chronicles followed by the twins. That is usually, out of the 20 plus things I've read from different sources, most anybody ever fully agrees with for the most part. Literally for a month I have been trying to study this every once in awhile when I get a free moment and think about it and all I do is get more and more confused. I did find a website that gives you a way to read it in three different ways, by publication, by series, and by era, and by series pretty much sounds like what I did with Forgotten Realms. It's got the holy six first and then it goes to tales 1 and 2 and then Heroes and then on and on and on however it's listed and lists every book. Sounds good to me. If anybody's interested here it is: www.tlbranson.com/dragonlance-books-in-order/
The Legend of Huma was the first Dragonlance novel I ever read, at about age 12. I remember sitting on my Grandma's patio in a deck chair and reading it for hours, stopping only to lament that I was getting closer to the end...ah, the halcyon days of a pre-internet attention span! I loved it, and I spent the next couple years devouring everything from the 'classic' era of Dragonlance. I was loyal, however, to the original Companions and did not venture beyond their generation (although read the villains books, etc. - anything from that era) but never read Chaos/War of Souls etc. I stopped reading them at 14, but at 45, I feel I'm old enough to take a nostalgic trip down memory lane and have been collecting old copies from eBay, striving to find copies with the original artwork. It's turned into a rather nice hobby.
I have pretty much the same experience, and now at 55+yrs old I was so happy to find this breakdown of all the things I have missed... I wonder if I have enough time left to enjoy it all :) Very nice video, thank you
Perhaps I will read "the Doom Brigade". But surely Dragonlance still has much to read that I have not . Even an under water world story line. Well thank you. You did a deep dive on Dragonlance and the world of Kryn . I heard that Margret and Trecy were conjointly once again. As well. Ya. Dragonlance took off like a rocket the bandwagon was stretched long. But it is not dead . Atleast not in our hearts. Ayyy
Darkness and Light was the first dragonlance book I read. Sturm and Kitiara travelling to the moon with a group of gnomes lol. After that I jumped around like crazy with whatever I could find at the library. Read everything out of order, but it all kinda came together regardless. I did manage to at least read the core trilogies together, as by then I had enough money to buy the books.
Thank you, good sir! You did a fantastic job here! Back in the 90's - 00's I read a couple dozen of these and was lately toying with the idea of going back and listening to the audio books on my daily commute, but wasn't sure where to start and which ones to emphasize. This is very helpful! In my opinion, a novice reader should start with the original trilogy, but since I more-or-less remember what happens in that world, I think I'll restart with Legend of Huma and build my way up chronologically through my favorite books back to the War of Souls.
So I recall reading one book I thought it was Strum or Tanis as the main character. He befriends I think a hobgoblin and at one point in the story the hero finds the goblin hung. What he says at that point is something about how he will never forget the sight. I am going crazy trying to recall what book this took place in and no it was not from Drizzt I never read any of his books. Any thoughts? I know there was same racial bloodline hate mentioned and about how he should not have such feelings for the creature. Once again it was not R. A Salvator and almost feel like it was another one of his slightly stolen or plagiarized stories.
Thanks for this highly detailed review. As much as I love Dragonlance, most of those extra books are very bad written. Dont even get me started on contradictions between them. This could easily be prevented by creating a simple chart for major events and timelines. They didnt event did that. Such laziness and disrespect! Is some novels some authors even was not knowing eye color hair color of some major characters and most of the books have bad literature. Maybe some of them havent even read the main novels. They had so much potential and a great world in their hands. Lets see if latest trilogy from Weis and Hickman will carve a new way.
WOW!!!!! This is AMAZING!!!!! Thank you so much for putting this together! Considering the excellent quality of this video, I can't believe it's the only thing on your channel. I hope you do more!
Thank you for this video, as a collector I've got about 95% of Dragonlance books. This showed one's I've never seen so thank you so much. Loved the video.
I was really hoping that I would be able to get to know how many books I missed about Kang's Regiment. Sadly, it seems that Doom Brigade, Draconian Measures, and the FIVE short story books that have the plight of the Regiment between the two books are all that have been published. I would have really enjoyed picking everything up again if that had been the case. I've read the greater majority of the books listed here from the Classic era, along with the short stories and Kang's Regiment from the Fifth Age, but the only books I recall ever reading from the Age Of Mortals is the War Of Souls trilogy. I do recall buying the minotaur trilogy, but my sister is the one who read them. She had a rather UNhealthy fixation with Kaz and, by extension, the Kaziganthi Minotaurs as a whole.
Came here to say the same but you nailed. I absolutely loved the Elven Nations Trilogy. Really left a lasting impression on me. Never before has a first page drawn me so thoroughly.
Thanks for the work and time you put into this, as a new reader of these I was lost as to where to start and continue. This has been a big help. I have finished the "holy six" and I'm hooked.
I suggest Legend of Huma first then the original chronicles. Its the best book of Dragon lance ive ever read and sets up why dragons are such a big part of this story and the importance of the lance.
This is such a beautiful story etc , this and lord of the rings are hands down the archetype for every fantasy world.after . I used to live the novels , never got into D&D but used to love reading the books . Very close parallels to lord of the rings like the kinder (hobbits lol) but still stood on its own with the story and the draconian race being basically the orcs and foot soldiers of evil . I really wish the would do a live version adaptation or at least a series . There's so much great source material and as long as they don't take to many liberties it would be epic .
Awesome work!! I never really got past the Holy six (plus Tales) as Darkness and Light felt like a real disappointment. I've just reread Chronicles for the first time in 30 years and I'm going to try a few of your other recommendations.
Thank you for this! I have read a ton of the series books but was not sure which order they went in. Fortunately I did start out with the first three correctly. Thank you again, I was unaware of the Anthologies too.
this was AWESOME! I grew up on the Dragonlance Chronicles and Legends and red them so much they literally disintegrated . They have been replaced and are sitting on my bookshelf staring at me. Huma was awesome, one of my favorites. War of Souls really surprised me and rekindled my interest. Based on what you covered, I will be checking out Lost Chronicles, Raistlin Chronicles, Kingpriest and Defender of Magic. That should keep me busy end the next thrilogy comes out. You really should review the new books!
Wow, you really went all out in creating this overview. My mind is blown! I'm currently in Dragons of Summer Flame. Looks like there's a LOT MORE to read after that! 😲
True story: When I was a kid, I was headed to the local mall. My brother gave me some money and told me to buy him a Dragonlance book from the bookstore. I went into the bookstore and couldn't find the Dragonlance books, so instead I bought him Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within official novelization. He was so fuckin' pissed, he made me give him his money back.
Tremendous video. I grew up reading the Classic Era books but had switched to other series when the Fifth Age and Age of Mortals books were coming out. I re-read most of my collection of Classic Era books as an adult and still loved them. For me, this was a nostalgia trip and also a great way to get back into the continuation of the main story line with the books released after 1995/6 and some of the interesting spin off trilogies. I already added some books to my wishlist and am sure I'll be rewatching this video to plan future book purchases. Thank you for running through all these books and how they tie together. Super useful.
Great job. I haven’t read these in a couple years and am going to start reading them again. I have 20 or 30 I’ve yet to read. Made my son’s middle name Solace
