DragonLance Books - Replete With Heroes And Villains

DragonLance is a magical fantasy world created by Laura and Tracy Hickman. The Hickmans came up with the basic idea that eventually became the DragonLance novels while driving to TSR, Inc. for a job interview. It was at TSR that Tracy met his future writing partner, Margaret Weis. They became friends and started a group to play the Dungeons & Dragons role playing game. The adventures during their D&D games inspired Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis (under the management of TSR) to develop DragonLance into a series of fiction books.

In 1984, the first DragonLance novel, Dragons of Autumn Twilight of the Chronicles trilogy, was published. The Heroes of the Lance are the main characters. These fabulous heroes matured as the authors continued to play Dungeons & Dragons with their friends.

The DragonLance world of Krynn has many interesting characters, an extended chronology, and an elaborate geography. The saga sweeps over 9,000 years of Krynn's history and has five ages. The first novels and the associated games are chiefly set in the fourth age, The Age of Despair. In 1996, the DragonLance books expanded into the fifth age. I love DragonLance in any age. :>)

Nearly all of the DragonLance novels take place in the diverse regions of Ansalon (a small continent on Krynn). The major gods are the High God and his children: the good Paladine, the neutral Gilean, and the evil Takhisis. The gods are pitted against Chaos, who wants to destroy Krynn. Humans are Krynn's most common race, but there are also elves, dwarves, kender, gnomes, and minotaurs. Clerics gain magical powers from their gods, and the wizards use spells to access magic. During Krynn's many and various wars, the sentient dragons take sides as well. Armies of evil draconians (reptilian humanoids hatched from corrupted dragon eggs) are used as troops in these wars. There is always a battle to be fought.

Alongside D&D's Forgotten Realms, DragonLance is one of the most popular fantasy worlds in fiction. The novels led to an animated movie, video games, board games, lead miniature figures, calendars, comics, art books, etc. I personally prefer the novels, and always look forward to the new books. If you haven't read any, take a peek at the Recommended DragonLance Reading List below and get started!

"The darkenss might conquer, but it could never extinguish hope, and though one candle, or many, may flicker and die, new candles would be lit from the old. Thus hope's flame always burns, lighting the darkness until the coming of day."
~ Tanis, Dragons of Spring Dawning