Oh noes, where are you Saruman?

[Troll King]

Originally posted by Liquid Blue
You do realize that after the first 3 arcs of the story, the rest of dragonlance is fanfiction, right? I'm 90% sure the authors of the original stuff didn't write all those dragonlance spin-offs.
(1st Arc)- First 3 Dragonlance Books

(2nd Arc)- Twin trilogy

(3rd Arc)- Second Gen mofos (still need to read this arc but I'm too lazy/uninspired to do so)

Again, I'm not positive but I do remember my friend (who's read a good number of the books) say that most of the books out there aren't by the original creators of the Dragonlance series.

It's a franchise. Other writers just add to the overall mythos. Take a look at comic book fiction; the original creators of characters aren't the only ones that write for them.

[ÆNIMA]

That's the same for Star Wars isn't it?

[Troll King]

Right. It's all licensed too, so it's considered official, not just "fan fiction".

[Liquid Blue]

Are any of the spin-offs good at all? Better than the originals?

[Troll King]

Family Matters was a spin-off of Perfect Strangers. Okay, bad example.

Besides, if you want to be technical about it, you could say that the Dragonlance novels were a spin-off of a table-top RPG.

[wadi]

As a note, I read the Dragonlance books back in.. had to be 5th-6th grade, about the same time I read Tolkien's Trilogy and two or three years after my first reading of the hobbit. My point about Tolkien was that it's pretty cut and dry, there aren't a great many plot twists, pretty much just a straight forward story. Sure the movie is beautiful, but the books weren't exactly deep philosophical works and it holds true for the screen version. Dragonlance also isn't exactly high brow literature, it's still fantasy, but the characters are at least a bit more multi-faceted and fleshed out. If you liked that series, you might also want to check out The Death Gate Cycle by Margaret Wise and Tracy Hickman (The authors of the first three Dragonlance books). I read it a couple years after the DragonLance novels, and remember it being a step up.

I'm biased though, I didn't like Tolkien's trilogy when I read it.

[ÆNIMA]

If you read his prologue Tolkein said he didn't expect everyone to like his books, in fact...some of his friends thought the books were boring. It's no big deal, it's all about preference.

I personally like the imagery and valour that Tolkein writes about, I don't think he wrote LOTR for fan-fare....but for his own. It's the kind of story you would tell your kids on a rainy night...just a story. It doesn't need any plot twists to make it good.

[Sleepy Weasel]

Yes, I was aware that only a handful of the Dragonlance books were written by Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman. I do have like 50 of them sitting in my room, but you're right it does make comparing the two a bit silly. As a whole though, the dragonlance books now just seem kind of silly to me, in the way that LOTR doesn't. As for the spinoffs, most were quite good, a few were rather bad. I don't think any were better than the original series, but a few were about equally as good. 1 or 2 were really really bad though.


Aenima mentions the imagery, and to me Tolkein was all about creating a world, unlike anything anyone else had ever done (ok yeah he borrowed stuff from mythology and such, but basically). The imagery that he creates and the world he brings to life that you can see in the movie is to a large extent what makes it great. It's not about plot twists (by the way, that George R. R. Martin series I mentioned is great with plot twists), it's about bringing a fantasy world to life.

[Eric is God]

Yup, Weis and Hickman didnt write many of the 100 or so novels. What they did write, was write every book that advanced the "World" story-line, plus a couple of other ones. All of these have been great reads if any of you are interested in the series at all.

They arnt really "arcs" Liquid Blue, its better to think of the entire series shifting story line after 3 different world-altering groups of books. Basically the first 6 books (Chronicles 1-3 and Twins series) advanced the world plot and then another 40 books were created to expand the world/history. Then two more books (The Second Generation, but mainly Dragons of Summer Flame) used the next generation characters to completely alter the world of Krynn again; followed of course by 30 more books. Just recently they finished the War of Souls 3 book series, which shifted the world story a third time. Thas why I appreciate the series, the world is constantly evolving.

Its funny that you guys mention the franchise of DragonLance. I notice now that some of the books have: "Edited by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman" written on their cover's. I guess they realize that some readers are hesitant to branch out into authors they havent read before. Basically any of the novels that have the main characters in them (except Kendermore, Flint the King and a couple others) are great reads. When they branch out into the histories of each race and the tales series it gets a little iffy.

And Troll King is correct, the DragonLance world is basically built on the D&D world. The main group of characters in the original books were all D&D characters Weis and Hickman played with and decided to write more complex stories about.

[Liquid Blue]

Are there any other popular LOTR,Dragonlance type series out there? Whenever I go to a bookstore I just see a shitload of boring repetitive books with the pic of a dragon and some punk ass knight on the cover. I'm just wondering if any of those series actually have really, really good stories.

[wadi]

Riftwar Saga by Raymond Feist has been mentioned before on the forums, they're pretty good for the first bit, then they sort of degenrate in to him getting his characters laid. There's a battle in... I think it's Silverthorn, that makes Helm's Deep look like a skirmish.

[Verthanthi]

Originally posted by wadi
then they sort of degenrate in to him getting his characters laid

What is it with you and authors who do that?

[Troll King]

Eddings' Belgariad and Mallorean series are pretty good. The characters are likeable and interesting, and the dialogue is witty. While the plot follows the traditional and cliches arcs of a quest, it's the interaction with and between the characters that appeals to readers.
His target audience is in the mid teens, as the main character pretty much grows up in front of you, so the reader associates himself with him. For someone new to fantasy, this is a good start.

Or if you want something whimsical, Terry Pratchett's Discworld series presents a world full of colour and satire. He is to Tolkien as Austin Powers is to James Bond. While many would dismiss his work for its surface silliness, there is that underlying layer that reveals true skill in his writing. Small, tiny things or sayings that he brings up which the reader might think irrelevant return near the end and wind up having strong and philosophical purpose. His writing is a bit unconventional. Not splitting the narration into chapters is a prime example, choosing instead to skip back and forth from scene to scene with just line breaks to seperate them. His work tends to be a bit preachy, but he preaches in a way that is so funny and entertaining that you don't realize the moral lessons you learn until it all wraps up.

[froedrick]

Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series

[ÆNIMA]

The Dragonriders of Pern is a great series (at least the first 3 books that I read)

They're by Anne McAffrey

Dragonflight
Dragonquest
The White Dragon

Those three books are usually found in the same bind, and I think are great.
It's got a neat story twist at the end of White Dragon that many of the other books dive deeper into....they'd make a great movie also!