Books you've just GOTTA read!! #5

(Or our favorite under-appreciated, under-loved, long-forgotten or never heard of books that we know you'll love just as much as we do when we convince you to finally read them!...phew....books....)

The last books that DesLily talked with me about is the Dragonlance series.

".....And how do I speak of Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman's, Dragonlance? Many know the game, and it is still fairly popular, but I no longer hear of the books that brought them to life.

There are many books written under the name Dragonlance. But the main 6 novels written by Weis and Hickman were the ones that really made it all possible. The first publication of their books was in 1984.

Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night, Dragons of Spring Dawning, Test of the Twins, Time of the Twins and War of the Twins.

Many more Dragonlance books are out there but these are the "best of the best".

Once again, although filled with adventure and daring I found them to be character driven, with a wide variety of characters, from humans to half elf to dwarf to kinder to sorcerer...and there's not a one who won't remain with you for years to come.

I don't know what it is about a book (or books) that makes me never want to leave them. I don't know why I find I must return to them time and again. I don't know what it is that makes me wish I were a very real part of them. There seems to be no one thing I can point to and say, "this is why I think they are so wonderful"... they just are.

These authors and their books are from "my era". But they still sell them! They are still out there for new people to find them and to fall in love with them. I can only wish that they will be found by another generation and become the success they were once again. --DesLily"


Lest all you young'uns think you have the market on fantastic fiction and creative gaming cornered...its been around a lot longer than you think!

From Wikipedia
Dragonlance is a shared universe created by Laura and Tracy Hickman, and expanded by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis under the direction of TSR, Inc. into a series of popular fantasy novels. The Hickmans devised the concept that became Dragonlance while driving in their car on the way to TSR for a job application. At TSR, Tracy met his future writing partner Margaret Weis, and they gathered a group of associates to play the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. The adventures during that game inspired a series of gaming modules, and a series of novels, as well as licensed products such as board games, and lead miniature figures.

In 1984, TSR published the first Dragonlance novel, Dragons of Autumn Twilight. It began the Chronicles Trilogy, a core element of Dragonlance. While the authoring team of Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis wrote the setting's central books, numerous other authors contributed novels and short stories to the setting. Over 190 novels have used the Dragonlance setting, and have been accompanied by a supplemental campaign setting in the Dungeons & Dragons – style for over a decade. In 1997, Wizards of the Coast LLC purchased TSR, and licensed Dragonlance to Sovereign Press, Inc in 2001 to produce game materials; this licensing agreement expired in 2007.

The fictional Dragonlance world of Krynn contains numerous characters, an extensive timeline, and a detailed geography. The history of Krynn consists of six ages. The novels and related game products are primarily set in the fifth age, The Age of Despair. Since February 2009, the sixth age, the Age of Mortals, has been used. The Heroes of the Lance, created by Weis and Hickman, are the popular protagonists of the Chronicles trilogy, the first books set in the Dragonlance universe. Along with D&D's world of the Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance is one of the most popular shared worlds in fiction.

A huge THANK YOU to DesLily for pointing out a whole new genre. I always knew these types of books were around, but haven't ever read any. I'm about to expand my horizons!

What horizon expanding and genre bending have you done lately??