[Andorion]

Alternative Goose, on 08 February 2018 - 11:45 AM, said:

Today I saw an old copy of a Dragonlance novel and got the urge to finally sit down and read some of these books.

I looked the series up on Google. There's at least a 164 Dragonlance books! Sweet baby Goodkind that's a lot of books.

Anyone have any recommendations about picking a choosing Dragonlance books? I read that there are some core, old Classic books called chronicles? Should I just read those?

Yeah I am reading the Dragonlance Chronicles now, and they are Ok to good. Frankly I liked the Deathgate Cycle better.

[Aptorian]

I've heard the name Deathgate before. Are they Dragonlance connected? And the Dragon Lance Chronicles is the right starting point?

[Abyss]

Alternative Goose, on 08 February 2018 - 12:09 PM, said:

I've heard the name Deathgate before. Are they Dragonlance connected? And the Dragon Lance Chronicles is the right starting point?

No direct relation. Completely separate world, different story, and I tend to agree DEATHGATE is better overall and over and done in seven books that never feel like filler, as opposed to Dragonlance that has like seven hundred, most of which after the first six are shared world crap. For its time, Deathgate was actually very original, with different worlds and characters crossing over, and very ambiguous good/bad guys. Cool magic and action sequences too. Weis/Hickman's tendency towards slow build to big finish action sequence in every book bugs me at times, but overall I really enjoyed the series, having read it twice.

Having the same authors, there's what i'll call an inside joke that crosses both series, but it's of zero importance, just a wink to readers who read both.

[QuickTidal]

Alternative Goose, on 08 February 2018 - 11:45 AM, said:

Today I saw an old copy of a Dragonlance novel and got the urge to finally sit down and read some of these books.

I looked the series up on Google. There's at least a 164 Dragonlance books! Sweet baby Goodkind that's a lot of books.

Anyone have any recommendations about picking a choosing Dragonlance books? I read that there are some core, old Classic books called chronicles? Should I just read those?

For Dragonlance there are the Chronicles (Dragons of the Autumn Twilight, Dragons of the Winter Night, Dragons of the Spring Dawning), Legends (Time of the Twins, War Of the Twins, Test of the Twins), the Second Generation (The Second Generation, Dragons of the Sumer Flame) which all kind of fit into the same era (-ish...The Legends series involves time travel). They are the place to start, and they are good, classic, unprepossessing fantasy of the 80's. They are like comfortable shoes really. Don't expect to be blown away, but they are good for that they are and were.

After that you can branch out as you like to what era you like.

But Chronicles and Legends should be your "base".

[Mentalist]

QT speaks the truth.

There are some other good ones in there, but read the "core" books first to get a feel for the series.

I've bought a bunch of them when I started out in library-building, and before that I librarie'd every Dragonlance book I could get my hands on, so I have a pretty good idea of most stuff that's there. Feel free to ask.

[Aptorian]

Abyss, on 08 February 2018 - 03:02 PM, said:

Alternative Goose, on 08 February 2018 - 12:09 PM, said:

I've heard the name Deathgate before. Are they Dragonlance connected? And the Dragon Lance Chronicles is the right starting point?

No direct relation. Completely separate world, different story, and I tend to agree DEATHGATE is better overall and over and done in seven books that never feel like filler, as opposed to Dragonlance that has like seven hundred, most of which after the first six are shared world crap. For its time, Deathgate was actually very original, with different worlds and characters crossing over, and very ambiguous good/bad guys. Cool magic and action sequences too. Weis/Hickman's tendency towards slow build to big finish action sequence in every book bugs me at times, but overall I really enjoyed the series, having read it twice.

Having the same authors, there's what i'll call an inside joke that crosses both series, but it's of zero importance, just a wink to readers who read both.

Great now I have to add Deathgate to the of books I might read within the next 5 years.

QuickTidal, on 08 February 2018 - 03:09 PM, said:

Alternative Goose, on 08 February 2018 - 11:45 AM, said:

Today I saw an old copy of a Dragonlance novel and got the urge to finally sit down and read some of these books.

I looked the series up on Google. There's at least a 164 Dragonlance books! Sweet baby Goodkind that's a lot of books.

Anyone have any recommendations about picking a choosing Dragonlance books? I read that there are some core, old Classic books called chronicles? Should I just read those?

For Dragonlance there are the Chronicles (Dragons of the Autumn Twilight, Dragons of the Winter Night, Dragons of the Spring Dawning), Legends (Time of the Twins, War Of the Twins, Test of the Twins), the Second Generation (The Second Generation, Dragons of the Sumer Flame) which all kind of fit into the same era (-ish...The Legends series involves time travel). They are the place to start, and they are good, classic, unprepossessing fantasy of the 80's. They are like comfortable shoes really. Don't expect to be blown away, but they are good for that they are and were.

After that you can branch out as you like to what era you like.

But Chronicles and Legends should be your "base".

Mentalist, on 08 February 2018 - 03:56 PM, said:

QT speaks the truth.

There are some other good ones in there, but read the "core" books first to get a feel for the series.

I've bought a bunch of them when I started out in library-building, and before that I librarie'd every Dragonlance book I could get my hands on, so I have a pretty good idea of most stuff that's there. Feel free to ask.

Okay, I like the idea of focusing on these Chronicles and Legends books.

I looked around and some people suggest mixing the original Chronicles with The Lost Chronicles that take place in between the original three chronicles books. Others think you should read them afterwards.

I guess this is sort of like following the Malazan publication order or the chronological order.

[Aptorian]

Oh ho ho, how the turn tables turn!

[QuickTidal]

Alternative Goose, on 08 February 2018 - 04:45 PM, said:

I looked around and some people suggest mixing the original Chronicles with The Lost Chronicles that take place in between the original three chronicles books. Others think you should read them afterwards.

I guess this is sort of like following the Malazan publication order or the chronological order.

The Lost Chronicles are best read AFTER Chronicles and Legends. They are decent (though no scratch on the original story to be clear) gap-fillers, but they succeed on your love of the cast of characters from Chronicles. I feel like reading them chronologically WITHIN Chronicles...they would stand out as the writing of the two authors has changed over the years.

My two cents.

They are worth reading, but I don't think you benefit by reading them in the chronological place they take place in.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 08 February 2018 - 05:03 PM

[Nevyn]

Read chronicles first, and use them for a guide if you want to bother with any of the rest.

Of anything Weis and Hickman have written, Death Gate is by far the most original. Dragonlance are fair stories, but a cookie cutter D&D world. Rose of the Prophet is Lawrence of Arabia adapted to fantasy. Star of the Guardians is fairly star wars derivative.

[carjug]

I just posted in the wrong place, first timer here. Okay fellas, Read the Flat Earth books by Tanith Lee. Available in most dusty old used book stores, Night's Master is the first,....( and also read the Amber series by Zelazny and Gaiman's Sandman series of comics. ) There, now I am going to see what Y'all have reccomended.

[acesn8s]

Agreed, read the 3 Chronicles books first, then the 3 Legends books. After that, pick what catches your interest. One of my favorites was Knight of the Black Rose.

[Maark Abbott]

QuickTidal, on 02 October 2017 - 05:41 PM, said:

polishgenius, on 02 October 2017 - 05:35 PM, said:

There are a few bad reviews, including this incredibly negative detailed breakdown on Goodreads that have put me off The Tiger's Daughter.

I'd heard a few things glowing and a few things not so glowing. That's a solid breakdown though so perhaps I'll steer clear. Especially as someone with Japanese heritage...it's pretty bad.

polishgenius, on 02 October 2017 - 05:35 PM, said:

Now, a QT/PG double stamp of dissaproval, that's a serious mark of shame.

It is indeed!

I had to bail on that review when the term 'sensitivity reader' was used. Whilst a book can be based on real-world cultures and so forth, taking personal umbrage with insults used within a fantasy world... Eh, maybe I'm just too inured to such things.

[Abyss]

Nevyn, on 08 February 2018 - 05:32 PM, said:

Read chronicles first, and use them for a guide if you want to bother with any of the rest.

Of anything Weis and Hickman have written, Death Gate is by far the most original. Dragonlance are fair stories, but a cookie cutter D&D world. Rose of the Prophet is Lawrence of Arabia adapted to fantasy. Star of the Guardians is fairly star wars derivative.

There was also the DARKSWORD trilo, possibly quad I think they may have written one more later. It was meh.

STAR OF THE GUARDIANS was mostly fun and other than the laser swords, i disagree with the Star Wars analogy.

[amphibian]

Takhisis is always the bad guy for a big chunk of the early books, so if you can make peace with that, the books will be fun.

[Mentalist]

amphibian, on 09 February 2018 - 10:19 PM, said:

Takhisis is always the bad guy for a big chunk of the early books, so if you can make peace with that, the books will be fun.

Well, yeah, in that sense Dragonlance is totally "classical" fantasy- you got your Good, Evil and Neutral gods- the whole setting relies on those.

Legends actually makes the whole premise much more interesting. And then Weis wrote 2 books about Raistlin's younger years that were pretty good.

"Dragons of Summer Flame" is supremely epic; the War of the Souls trilo starts very strong, but runs out of steam.

Out of the side-stuff, "Legend of Huma" and "Kaz the Minotaur" are great old-school heroic fantasy. And some of the Interludes books I found quite good.

Edit: "Deathgate", otoh, it takes up to Bk4 to develop a proper "Big Bad". Of sorts.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 09 February 2018 - 10:46 PM

[Aptorian]

I'm not a fast enough reader, nor do I have enough years left on this earth, to follow up all these recommendations!

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Alternative Goose, on 11 February 2018 - 03:54 PM, said:

I'm not a fast enough reader, nor do I have enough years left on this earth, to follow up all these recommendations!

This will be my epitaph.

[Mentalist]

Adrianne "Tex" Thompson - "Children of the Drought" series.

Saw this while browsing in a store, blurb sounded interesting. Anyone read this?

[Tiste Simeon]

So. NK Jemisin. Really want to read some, eventually (ie after I finish MBOTF reread and other trp books). What's better, Broken Earth or b Inheritance? Both trilogies fairly cheap on Kindle atm...

[Andorion]

Tiste Simeon, on 14 February 2018 - 04:44 PM, said:

So. NK Jemisin. Really want to read some, eventually (ie after I finish MBOTF reread and other trp books). What's better, Broken Earth or b Inheritance? Both trilogies fairly cheap on Kindle atm...

Go for Broken Earth. Definitely better and more mature. Extremely imaginative and well-written, the narration is quite unconventional.