Dragonlance Books, the Books of Magic That Changed My World

D ragonlance is my favorite book series of all time. It has everything a book should have, amazing characters, friendships and betrayals; adventures and trials, beautiful worlds, pain and love and of course MAGIC!

The writing may not be to the standard of Tolkien or Eddings (also my favorite authors) but it doesn't lack in imagination or adventure. In fact when you read these books the words fade anyway and become the world of Krynn.

The Dragonlance Chronicles were the first set of three books running from autumn through winter and into spring with the trials of the characters getting worse as the winter deepens.

These followed by the Twins sagas Time, Test and War. There were other books that came after these, but for me these six were the main and best of the Dragonlance books that and the art that goes with them.

Photo Courtesy of Amazon

I knelt down, reached into the dusty dark shelf and pulled out a large tomb. The plain white background held a beautifully painted picture of three friends. These were no ordinary friends but an elf, a warrior and a women with golden hair. Brushing back the dust from the cover I sat there in the middle of the shop holding my new found treasure.

A picture may be worth a thousand words but a thousand words or so can change your whole perception of life. Dragonlance is one of those books that did that for me. I had never read anything quite like it. When I first came across it that fateful day my attitude to fantasy was very similar to most people's at the time. It was rubbish, lower reading that serious readers would not even bother with - Owch! Viscous!

So why would someone with that attitude pick up the book in the first place? Simple I needed a reason to sit down so not in so much pain and the artwork was and still is amazing!

When I bought it I slung it on my bean bag and left it there, it really wasn't for me I read EV Thomspon's books, Poldark or the classics not fantasy.

(Photo Courtesy of Amazon)

Unable to move and in great in pain, I decided to pass the time and finally opened the pages of magic.

I had never read anything like it before. The Dragonlance Chronicles pulled me into the world of fantasy, adventure and magic and opened my imagination and vision so the impossible made possible, to creatures of strange making.

Unable to do anything else I lived, breaths and even dreams Dragonlance. For me this book was a turning point of my life. It's magic sustained me and stopped me sinking into my own dark oblivion and gave me thoughts for the future.

Is Dragonlance the best written book (or books) out there? Probably not. Will Dragonlance do for you what it did for me? Maybe, then maybe not. It may just be a good read for you but it is well worth the chance.

So this one book drew me to fantasy and I hope that those of you that have not read it love it as much as I do.

Dragonlance Chronicles is a story about friends fighting many obstacles together to find the truth and fight against the evil invading their world. The friends are all very different and come from all the races of their world.

The book is filled with adventure, excitement, fear, betrayal, love, hate and magic. It has unusual characters, strange rules and gods.

Another set of three books, this time all about the twins Raistlin and Caramon and their fight for their souls. This for me is where Raistlin stops being a background character and takes on a full personality.

The twins books shares the amazing trials of these two men both of whom are one part of the whole which is destroying them.

Not perhaps the nicest of characters in the books but he is by far my favorite one. Raistlin is a sickly yet super smart mage with ambition who is not really liked by his friends. Yet rather scarily he is the most human and judging by the authors comments at the front of the book I read and this video he is popular with many people - perhaps because we can identify with or perhaps pity his failings and strengths.

He is the most memorable, I read this book originally many years ago and I can still recall the scent of death and spices, feel the heat of his body through his robes and see those haunting scary eyes.

His journey is perhaps the most profound of all the characters. Really his story is best in the second set of three books Legends.

To all Raislins out there may you find piece!

I have said which of the characters is my favorite. My sisters favorite was Tas. For those of you who have read the books I would love to know which is yours?

This list is of most of the main and some of the minor more memorable early characters.

I love the relationship that develops between these two characters. Good and evil and love and hate of self and others, a war of parts of each. This is from the second trilogy but if you really want to understand the dynamic you need to read the first set before embarking on the twins journey.

As I said the art was what drew me in the first place. The art of Dragonlance is amazing and imaginative. This video shows some from various books. These are the original images from the 80's.

Share your love of all things Dragonlance here. Which book did you like best or do you play the games? Or just say Hi.