10. 1987 (Apr.) - Dragonlance (D&D) - Various - The Magic of Krynn (Dragonlance #7)

Series: Dragonlance Tales Volume 1

At the end of the Legends trilogy, Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman told us that this was it for those characters, and if anyone else wanted to pick it up they'd be welcome to. A few months later we get a new Dragonlance book and we learn that Weis and Hickman are liars. Not that I'm complaining.

Here we get a mix of short stories and one novella, near the end. Many of the stories return us to familiar characters like Tas, Laurana and Tanis but the real highlight here is the final novella by the creators of the Dragonlance series. 

It's no surprise that this is the most enjoyable story, Weis and Hickman know these characters inside-out, particularly seeing as it is a story based on Caramon and Raistlin. We see what happens some years after the events of the Legends series, and start seeing a new generation growing up to take the place of their parents. In this case we get Caramon's son, Palin, who follows in the footsteps of his uncle as a spellcaster. 

It's fun to dip back into the universe through these short stories, with the big pay off that is the novella at the end.

TL;DR: 6/10 A bit hit and miss, but a fun read.

9. 1987 (Mar.) - Greyhawk (D&D) - Rose Estes - Master Wolf (Greyhawk #4)

Series: Greyhawk Adventures Volume 3

This book has a kind of bad reputation, but I wasn't minding it at all for at least the first three quarters of it. It is a pretty standard Outcast Barbarian story, but there are elements which add some interest to it. The main character is a likeable rogue, the fact that he was trained as a magic user, but really just wants to netflix and chill, the fact that he is a great fighter but dislikes fighting and is actually a bit cowardly, as well as his close relationship to his wolf. These elements make the book quite likeable, the writing itself is nothing to write home about, but it isn't bad, not in a way which distracts from the plot at least.

However it feels like this was a kind of rushed book, by the time it ends it feels like there is a lot to go still, and the ending just feels rushed and tacked on, leaving all the questions unanswered and feeling very cheap. This involves a cheap death, a too quick resolution and what actually ends up being a bittersweet mix of comedy with tragedy which actually feels kind of jarring. It's like what a highschooler would write during an exam if he realised that there were 5 minutes to go on the clock. Still I actually want to read more about Mika, the main character. 

TL;DR: 5/10 Ok book, crappy ending.

Coming up in 1987

Mar. - Greyhawk (D&D) - Rose Estes - Master Wolf
Apr. -  Dragonlance (D&D) - Various - The Magic of Krynn
May - Forgotten Realms (D&D) - Douglas Niles - Darkwalker on Moonshae
Jun. - Greyhawk (Gygax) - Gary Gygax - Sea of Death
Aug. - Dragonlance (D&D) - Various - Kender, Gully Dwarves, and Gnomes
Aug. - Greyhawk (D&D) - Rose Estes - The Price of Power
Sep.- Greyhawk (Gygax) - Gary Gygax - Night Arrant
Nov. - Dragonlance (D&D) - Various - Love and War
Nov.- Greyhawk (Gygax) - Gary Gygax - City of Hawks

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.

8. 1986 (Jun.) - Dragonlance (D&D) - Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman - War of the Twins (Dragonlance #5)

Series: Dragonlance Legends Vol. 2

On we go with the Legends series, this time the twins and Crysania travel to the future... well future in relation to the Cataclysm at the end of the first book of the series, but it's still the past in relation to what happened in Chronicles and their own original time. I think one of the interesting things they do with this series is precisely the exploration of important events in the world of Krynn through time travel, with familiar characters.

This is kind of a less interesting read than the first chapter, focused as it is almost exclusively on the 3 main characters, with Tas only coming in at the end. Raistlin continues to be one of the most interesting characters in the universe, being at the same time evil, a really evil at that, while being basically the hero and having some moments of humanity which are really quite touching. This is also a sign, however, that he is by far the most complex character in the series, Caramon isn't that developed, he's stopped being a drunk, and towards the end of this there seems to be real growth as he realizes what Raistlin actually is. However, this has seemed to happen before without much coming from it. 

Where we face problems is with the only female character here, Crysania. I don't know if she's just naive, but if she is that, she is it to the point of absolute stupidity. I know love makes people do silly things and look at their beloved through rose-tinted glasses, but this is really too much. Come on, Raistlin is literally wearing black robes, how she never seems to see through him, or to dismiss anything negative she finds about him, makes her kind of a weak character defined by "her man"... which is pretty bad when she's the only female character here. I hope the third volume will turn her character around, really. Also, again this is an all white novel, which is only to be expected, unfortunately. 

All this being said, I'm looking forward to the third volume, the story is compelling, and I want to see if they fix the problems present in this volume, also after a while you spend so much time with these characters that they become part of the family, which is cool.

TL;DR: 6/10 Not a bad read, but can really improve, looking forward to the third volume.

7. 1986 (Feb.) - Greyhawk (D&D) - Gary Gygax - Artifact of Evil (Greyhawk #3)

Series: Gord, the Rogue #2

The second volume of Gord, the Rogue is a considerable improvement over the first one, it is also the last volume published officially by TSR, before Gary Gygax leaves the company. When he does he will take Gord with him, but this doesn't mean we won't have more stories, seeing as Gygax will keep writing them independently.I will be covering these as they come along. 

As I was saying, this is a substantial improvement over the previous installment, the story feels more focused and purposeful, there are more good characters, I particularly liked the Catlord and his world, and Gord develops in interesting ways with his new powerful ring. This ring allows Gord to transform into cats, from house-cats to panthers and it adds quite a lot to the story and the possibilities. The enemy is also better defined here as Iuz and his henchmen. However, it's not in this volume that we get any kind of diversity of characters. Despite having a lady in revealing clothes on the cover (Deidre, I think), she has a tiny part to play, nor are there any people of color in the book, at least not that I noticed and not with prominent roles. Unless you consider goblins, gnolls, elves and orcs to be PoC, which I don't.

This series is nowhere as compelling as the Dragonlance books have been, at least not yet, but this is a substantial improvement on the previous installments, and as such I want to see where this is going, even if Greyhawk stories will no longer be based on Gord. However a cool thing here is that you get to meet people that I only knew by name such as Melf (of Acid Arrow fame) or Mordenkainen (of Sword fame, among others). I have actually never played in the setting of Greyhawk (just Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms) so it's cool to get these weird names present in the spell titles into context as characters.

TL;DR: 6/10 Quite a bit better than the previous one, not amazing.

6. 1986 (Feb.) - Dragonlance (D&D) - Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman - Time of the Twins (Dragonlance #4)

Series: Dragonlance Legends Vol. 1

We go on with the Dragonlance series, and this is quite a nifty start to a new trilogy. It starts a few years after the end of the Chronicles and we get to catch up with the characters from the previous books and we get to know what they have been doing in the interim, until we get started on the adventure proper.

The adventure proper focuses on three characters that we already know, Raistlin, Caramon and Tas, and there is quite a bit of character development for them happening here, particularly Caramon, who ends this book a transformed man. Actually Caramon starts this book transformed as well, as a disappointed man, who has gone fat and alcoholic making life hell for poor Tika. By the end of the novel, he is angry, determined and finally seems to stop being the puppet in Raistlin's hands that he has been for most of his life. 

Another character that is introduced here is Crysania, and while it is always good to have new female characters in these books, she seems a bit silly to be honest, she falls in love with Raistlin for no particularly believable reason, she seems to be obsessed with him above all else, and again we get a female character that is more defined by the man she loves than by herself. Which is kind of a lost opportunity, however there are still two books to fix this, so we'll see. Also this is a pretty white book, there is one character of colour who commits a self-less act of sacrifice, but really doesn't show up that much in the book. Oh well.

On the other hand this feels like a third of a story, it ends in a cliffhanger and everything, so we have to wait for the next chapters to see if it redeems itself. Nonetheless it is a fun read, and you get back to characters you already know, which makes it familiar while throwing them into a different time and place.

TL;DR: 7/10 Nice, but not without its problems