Review: Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

 Dragons of Autumn Twilight
by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
Fantasy
448 pages
published: 1984
6 of 5 stars

About

A motley group of friends meet up at a reunion after years of going their separate ways and find themselves entangled with a pair of none-too-friendly strangers who possess a token from the now-forbidden ancient gods. Rather they like it or not, the strangers find themselves under the protective wing of the friends as they all run for their lives.

The friends fall into their problematic old roles, the strangers bring new insights into the old religion, and soon the gods themselves are involved in the epic journeyings of these friends.

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Reaction

This is the first 'real' book I read. It was provided by my older brother and according to my parents, wasn't appropriate the the elementary student I was. I loved it. I don't just mean, I loved it. I mean it became part of my identity. It cemented Fantasy into my psyche. I have reread them all more than once. (Though not in the past few years.) Let me try to tell you why this first one is so great.

• A fully described and involving world with it's own history, geography, religion, races, moons and constellations, magic and cultures. I know you can say that about many fantasies, but this is an all-the-way deal. When I say history, I mean thousands of years of history. When I say races, I mean races you've never heard of. And beautiful. This world (Krynn) has awe inspiring beauty.
• Characters that you'll never never forget. Each one is so individual and so well drawn that their names are engraved in my mind.They have their own histories and demons and talents. And they have detailed and real relationships among each other. The group dynamics make this book amazing. Friends. Brothers. Lovers. Mentors. Traitors. Leaders.
• Adventure. Epic world saving adventure. Personal struggle adventure. Conflict. Terror. Mystery. Miracles. And safe havens every once in a while.
• Romance. There is a love triangle and young love and devoted self-sacrificing love.
• There is no swearing, sex (beyond references, perhaps, or that could be a later book), or gratuitous descriptions of evil. There is violence, which can be graphic, in the war/battle sense. But nothing that seemed more than exciting even when I was young.

I feel inadequate to describe my love for this book. These characters have been standing over my shoulder and providing a measure by with to judge all future stories since grade school. I want so much to introduce you to my them, Tanis and Tasslehoff and Flint and Sturm and everyone. I feel like if I turned around fast enough they would be standing there.

I highly recommend giving this one a try.