Order of Books in Krynn Chronological Order
Alan Liddle
I have been caught up in the world of Krynn, but have only scratched the
surface. Before I go too far (I seem to be jumping all over the place),
I would like to find out exactly what order I should read the books, so
that I can experience the history of Krynn as it unfolds. Also, do I
have to read books written by authors other than Weis & Hickman to
experience this?
Thanks in advance
Alan Liddle
:-)
Matthew Amsel
>
> Hi All,
>
> I have been caught up in the world of Krynn, but have only scratched the
> surface. Before I go too far (I seem to be jumping all over the place),
> I would like to find out exactly what order I should read the books, so
> that I can experience the history of Krynn as it unfolds.
the list is at the end of this post, and will cover the entire series by
trilogy, roughly in the order of publication along with a bit commentary
of each. i think real world chronology is better than in-world to get a
better feel of how the world developes
> Also, do I have to read books written by authors other than Weis & Hickman to
> experience this?
definately. the stupidest comment i've seen on this newsgroup (other
than "there should be a dl movie with arnie as caramon!!") is that
somehow only W&H should be considered dl and that all else is worthless
> Thanks in advance
>
> Alan Liddle
> :-)
Chronicles (not summer flame)
Legends
Meetings, Preludes, and Preludes II (quality varies widely. some of the
stories are decent but there are more than a few stinkers and they play
hell with the idea in chronicles that these are essentially ordinary
people)
Heroes (quality varies, but LoH is the single best book in the series)
Heroes II (sometimes called heroes 4-6)
Tales II (sometimes called tales 4-6)
Tales (short stories, mostly pretty good) (yes i know i reversed the
order here)
Elven nations (excellent but out of print i think)
Dwarven nations (excellent but out of print i think)
Soth's ravenloft books (2 of them) (decent enough if you like the
character, i suppose)
The Dragons of Krynn (wonderful)
The Dragons at War (wonderful)
Defenders of magic (i liked em, but opinions vary)
Villains (quality varies widely, and the whole ariakas thing gets
confusing)
Lost histories (mostly good stuff)
Fistandantilus reborn (eh)
tales of uncle trapspringer (just plain odd)
vinas solamnus (not bad)
Warriors (depends who you ask. i liked theros and had a soft spot for
sir pirvan, but a lot of people hate 'em)
Classics (liked murder in tarsis, inheritance was well written but
whoever came up with the idea for it should be shot)
2nd generation
Soulforge, Brothers in Arms (good if you're a hardcore raist fan, but it
plays merry hell with what has gone before)
Summer flame
Dragons of chaos
Chaos war series (love the doom brigade and reavers)
Draconian measures (rocks!)
Bridges of time (not bad, but not great either)
Dragons of a new age (GAK!!!
hateithateithateithateithateithateithateithateithateit!!!!) (poorly
written and highly munchkin, but unfortunately is sets up the 5a
setting)
5a short story anthologies (relics+omens, rebels+tyrants, heroes+fools)
Crossroads (not great, but could be worse) (thieves' guild wasn't bad,
but the main character's background and armament was ridiculous. see my
inheritance comments)
Odyssey of gilthanas (not great in my opinion)
Icewall trilog (very good)
Barbarians trilogy (highly enjoyable)
Kingpriest
Dhamon trilogy (GAK!!!
hateithateithateithateithateithateithateithateithateit!!!!) (poorly
written and highly munchkin, though slightly better than the DoaNA
trilogy) (i bought it only to keep my dl collection complete)
Search for Magic (not bad at all)
War of Souls
rule of thumb, anything knaak writes about minotaurs or weis+perrin
write about draconians is well worth the read
i think that brings it up to date
Falconer
> I have been caught up in the world of Krynn, but have only scratched the
> surface. Before I go too far (I seem to be jumping all over the place),
> I would like to find out exactly what order I should read the books, so
> that I can experience the history of Krynn as it unfolds. Also, do I
> have to read books written by authors other than Weis & Hickman to
> experience this?
Heya, Alan. The first books you should read are:
Dragons of Autumn Twilight
Dragons of Winter Night
Dragons of Spring Dawning
Time of the Twins
War of the Twins
Test of the Twins
When you are done with those, please do ask again for more suggestions.
Regards.
--
Michael Falconer
"Without honor there is nothing, not even death."
WD- AFDL++ SAFDL+ DLIRC DLW+ DLML+ KE- DLCG- DLRP+ AOM+ CAN+ LSR- RVD++ RW- RE+
Falconer
> the stupidest comment i've seen on this newsgroup (other than "there
> should be a dl movie with arnie as caramon!!") is that somehow only W&H
> should be considered dl and that all else is worthless
It is a valid opinion, and not exceptionally "stupid". Most readers who
are not hardcore Dragonlance fans will be content to read only the most
famous DL books and then move on to some other series or great author.
Some people read the Holy Six and were more interested in the writing
style and storytelling ability of Weis and Hickman than in the world of
Krynn for its own sake, and so followed W&H's writing as they explored
other worlds.
I, for one, always loved the W&H Dragonlance books, but besides that I
would read Tolkien and Lewis and Feist and Malory and Dumas, because I
never found another DL author that I liked, until I read Land of the
Minotaurs by Knaak, Lord Toede by Grubb, and The Doom Brigade by Perrin.
It's just a matter of taste.
I am still open to suggestions of other authors who are good, but there
are over a hundred DL books and I am mostly not willing to sift through
them all to find the good and the bad. There is so much else to read
outside of Dragonlance.
So my reply to the original person who asked would be that I have found
the following authors to be worthwhile: Hickman, Weis, Perrin, Knaak,
and Grubb. I have found Rabe to be completely unworthwhile. The rest I
either have not experienced or otherwise have no strong opinion of.
But like I said, I think it's all a matter of taste and opinion, and I
would not call someone stupid just because his favorite book was Eve of
the Maelstrom. "If you like the story, you doorknob, what does it
matter?" Regards.
Alan Liddle
That is a great help.
I have also found a great site that gives a complete time-line of the history of
Krynn. The site can be found at:-
http://people.wiesbaden.netsurf.de/~engler/dl_main.html
Avagr8wekend
Alan :-)
Alan Liddle
Avagr8weekend
Alan :-)
Steve Zielinski
finishing Test of the Twins now. I have Second Generation, DoSF, Soulfourge,
Brothers in Arms. Should I read the "Raistlin Chronicles" before or after
Second Generation. Is there anything else I should throw into the mix?
Thanks!!!!!
Duncan
"Steve Zielinski" <zsaz...@aol.comnospam> wrote in message
news:20020518000806...@mb-ch.aol.com...
> I happen to be a return visitor to Krynn and am just about at this point.
I'm
> finishing Test of the Twins now. I have Second Generation, DoSF,
Soulfourge,
> Brothers in Arms. Should I read the "Raistlin Chronicles" before or after
> Second Generation. Is there anything else I should throw into the mix?
> Thanks!!!!!
>
I would say just read them in the order you wrote. Take a break after
DoSF and return to RC. Then move onto WoS.