Monday, 5 September 2016

8. 1986 (Aug.) - Dragonlance (D&D) - Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman - Test of the Twins (Dragonlance #6)


Series: Dragonlance Legends Vol. 3

So we come to the end of the Legends series in Dragonlance. Actually it is more of a landmark than that, the plot-line concluded here is a direct continuation of the Chronicles, so it is easy to see this as a 6 book series, rather than a 3 book one. 

This is not to say that you can't read Legends if you didn't read Chronicles, you can, but it will not have the impact that the 6 books do. In fact it would be a much inferior experience, because the empathy and knowledge of the characters you create in the first trilogy enrich Legends a lot. You might actually be a bit lost with all the references to events and characters from the first books.

When it comes to this conclusion, though, it is a pretty satisfying one, neatly wrapping up a lot of plots while keeping the door open to future adventures. As the titles indicate, the story is mainly about the twins Caramon and Raistlin, with Tas and Crysania thrown in. In this last volume Crysania is pretty absent, except for the ending, but the story of the twins is engaging enough to keep you excited throughout. It's the tale of how Caramon becomes a complete person, and Raistlin manages to kind of redeem himself. It's about accepting one's self, and accepting death as part of the whole process. It ends up being a more profound, less "actiony" series than Chronicles, and probably better for it. 

I hadn't read the Legends series before, they don't have the nostalgic feeling I get from Chronicles, so these are probably, objectively, better than the first series. Raistlin is such an engaging, evil yet sympathetic character, that you really want to always see what he does next. Caramon, who was a dead weight for most of the time, has an arc through this trilogy that make his progress from drunk wreck to full balanced person believable. If you liked Chronicles there's really no reason to skip this, read it.

TL;DR: 8/10 Great ending to what really amounts to a 6 book series.

No comments:

Post a Comment