Customer Reviews

The Annotated Legends (Dragonlance: Legends Trilogy)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Legends Trilogy definitely deserves a 5-star rating. I rate this edition as 3-star strictly because of the annotations.

Legends follows up the great Chronicles trilogy, with Raistlin, Caramon, and Tas embarking on a time-traveling adventure with enormous consequences for the entire world of Krynn. The story takes on a much more personal feeling in Legends, with the focus being narrowed to a few key characters and the plot seemingly less epic than the previous trilogy (even though the events have a larger potential impact on the world). This trilogy also has a darker and more serious feel, with much more emotional clarity and desperate circumstances. The characters are forced to make difficult sacrifices and each seems to fight their own form of depression.

The main premise focuses on Raistlin's efforts to become the most powerful mage of all time and challenge the gods themselves. Caramon and Crysiana fight their own personal battles to discover themselves and achieve peace with the world. Tas basically tags along in innocent curiosity and a desire to help his friends.

The annotations of this version add nothing to the story. I was hoping for interesting insights from the authors telling about their views of what the various characters are thinking or what really happened in alluded to events. Instead you get a whole bunch of repetitive and obvious commentary along with self-important glorifications of the authors' talent and foresight. This was my fourth journey through the Legends trilogy and it was by far the least enjoyable due to the distracting influence of pointless annotations. You would think that you'd be able to just ignore the commentary, but its impossible as you keep telling yourself that there must be at least a little useful information only to be disappointed time and again.

While the Legends trilogy is awesome, pick a different version than this one to enjoy.

Let's face it: The Dragonlance books will never be classic literature. Weiss and Hickman might make a decent writing team (Weiss can apparantly hold Hickman in check while Hickman can moderate Weiss' tendancy towards over emotive writing), but they're certainly not the best.

This story, though, the three books that make up the Legends Trilogy, are an excellent sequal series to the truly excellent Chronicles. Though they do tend to fall into the trap of "last time . . ." repetitiveness and tell vs. show, for the most part, the books are engrossing and extremely interesting. Character development is the name of this game rather than the overarching, "zoomed-out" approach of the original Chronicles. Characters that we barely got to know the last time begin to really grow and evolve into something other than their archetypes.

Caramon, the big burly "meat-shield" (if I may borrow an RPG term) warrior type was originally nothing more than a head clunking, thick headed, but exceedingly loyal puppy with a sword character: albeit an entertaining one. When we are reintroduced to him in the opening chapters of Legends, we find not the brash young warrior that he used to be, but a slovenly, drunk shell of a man, mourning the loss of a brother that we know is willing and able to tear his twin brother to shreds. We see Caramon hit absolute bottom (we konw this because the authors so kindly tell us so) early on and then begin the slow, arduous crawl out of his pit and into an even darker time of his life where he must confront the twin he used to protect lovingly and confront himself as well.

Raistlin, the twin brother of Caramon, whom we all know was at least a bit megalomanaical, is pushed so far into his archetype (but never stereotype) by the authors that the reader is utterly astonished when the full details of his plans come to light. Delighting in cruelty and complete control, Raistlin leads those who serve him straight into hell (literally) while they follow along gleefully, caught up in his strange charisma like moths drawn to a flame. The change in Raistlin, if one can even identify such a change, happens suddenly and tragicly.

Tasslehoff is again along for the ride as comic relief, but we are given the chance to look deeper into the sticky-fingered little thief than before, revealing a great wealth of character and fortitude that could only be guessed at before. Sure, he has more than his fair share of one-liners, but Tasslehoff manages to grow beyond his comic relief role into a wonderful and lovable character.

The plot itself is complicated, extensive, and well planned out if fumbled only occasionaly. I've found that afer three run-throughs, I've managed to wrap my head around everything that's going on in this book and, though as I said it's not "literature" in the strictest sense of the word, it's certainly interesting. Time travel, always a sticky subject for fantasy and science-fiction writers, is the main plot element, but it almost never becomes the main theme. That the characters have traveled back in time centuries into the past is nearly besides the point. The thematic elements are always centered around dysfunctional relationships, love, hate, lust, and adventure. The backdrop of pre-Cataclysmic Istar (which is a vaguely obvious metaphor for organized and traditional church structures in the modern world) merely reflects and parallels the emotional and social troubles of the heroes.

There is a major drawback to this edition of the novels, however. The notations -- which in the Annotated Chronicles were interesting, logical, and relavent -- are intrusive and stupid at times. Tracy Hickman seems absolutely determined to claim credit for the entirety of the Dragonlance saga and link it inextricably to his own Mormon faith (though the connections are tenuous at best). Weiss, on the other hand, comes through again with her usual style and intelligence providing usefull and enlightening commentary along with Michael Williams (the poet of the Dragonlance Saga).

Four stars for the story itself, but only two for this particular edition.

Even if you loved Legends, the initials TRH will get on your last NERVE before you finish this book. Tracy Hickman's commentary is SO annoying! Margaret Weis's notes are enlightening and entertaining, but Hickman wants to drive into your head that HE planned the War of Souls books and "the One God" well in advance... something that NONE of the text he refers to in these comments supports! It's incredible. Throughout all three novels, TRH tells you how wonderful he is, points out all of the ideas that were his and how creative they are, tells you how epic his writing is (with comparisons from Greek mythology!), and generally lets his fan mail go to his head. If you know the story of Legends, you know a lot of it centered on the pride of two of the main characters. Perhaps TRH should learn a lesson from them. From his comments, his tragic flaw is all-to-easy to spot! Although it is a bit entertaining for him to tell you how pride is a terrible, sad thing while he constantly reminds you how beautiful his life and writing are, it's more annoying than anything else. Crysania, anyone?

If you've read Dragonlance Legends before, save yourself the misery and skip this annotated version. If you haven't, get the paperbacks instead. They'd get 5 out of 5.

A thousand words is not enough to express my ideas on this book, but I'll do my best. Please note that I'm rating this book 3 stars out of 5 because of the trilogy itself and not the additions made for the "Annotated Legends." If I was reviewing the paperbacks, for example, without annotations, I'd give it 5/5. Likewise, if this were any other fantasy trilogy, but the annotations were the bulk of it, I'd give it 1/5, hence 3/5.

As a side note, I thought that Crysania's character was a little light on development (for such a major character), but the other characters were perfectly balanced and even minor characters had a chance to shine (Dalamar and Lord Soth in particular). But again, these all pertain to the trilogy in and of itself, and not the Annotated Legends.

First of all, if you've never read Chronicles, pick up the Annotated Chronicles. If you're looking to read "Legends" (or, like me, read it for the 100th time), do yourself a favor, save some money, and pick up the paperbacks for fairly cheap (yes, even the most-recent release with the below-average artwork would be a good choice).

Also, if you've not read "Chronicles" or "Legends" there may be some minor spoilers ahead.

Background: I came into the Dragonlance world near the beginning (with the release of the AD&D module "DL1: Dragons of Despair" and the first paperback novel "Dragons of Autumn Twilight." After losing all of my paperbacks (but not the modules) I purchased the Annotated Chronicles and loved it! Not only was it great to have all of the books in one hardbound volume, but I also enjoyed the insightful annotations from the authors.

Annotated Legends: Sadly, my love of the annotations in "Chronicles" was expunged in the Annotated Legends. The story itself, of course, is the same, and you would be well-served to look into other reviews (or the reviews of the individual paperbacks). Although I don't enjoy this story as much as "Chronicles", it is still entertaining, if not the most well-written (this is, afterall, high fantasy and should be treated as such - fun and light).

Positives: Margaret Weis (although used minimally in the annotations) always has something useful to contribute. Her insights enhance the depth of these well-loved characters. Additionally, Michael Williams' notes on the poetry of "Legends" are also entertaining, although he does occasionally suffer from bouts of egotism.

Negatives: In a word (or I should say, proper name), Tracy Raye Hickman. I'm sorry, but if I have to hear one more pompous comparison to the Christian Bible, I'll scream! Mr. Hickman is a Mormon, and he takes every opportunity to point this out to the reader in his annotations. If I may, sir, your god is not everyone's god, and we're quite happy with standard fantasy convention, which is almost universally polytheistic.

When I heard the disaster he and Ms. Weis inflicted on Krynn with the "War of Souls" trilogy, I knew I wouldn't allow myself to look at it, but after all of Mr. Hickman's sermonizing in the "Annotated Legends" I will now not allow myself to come within 300 feet of said trilogy.

I'm sick of hearing that the "High God" is the only god of Krynn and that Paladine, Takhisis, Gilean, etc. are merely... what? Poseurs? False gods? Please! This is a fantasy novel, not a religous text! Some of us quite enjoy the pantheon the way it is. These gods take a "hands-off" approach and let the character's take center stage. Not one of the heroes is the slave to some omnipotent god (although they are frequently a slave to their own needs and desires, as it should be).

And I'm thoroughly revolted by Mr. Hickman's need to revile the D&D role-playing game with the constant "...I can hear the dice rolling" comments, and the overwhelming need to divest himself from the novel's roots. I bought the first paperback because TSR was doing what so many of us RPG'ers wanted for so long (novels with a background in D&D). I looked forward to seeing references to things like "Magic Missile" spells and different types of dragons. You made it quite clear in Annotated Chronicles that the novels and modules parted ways with "Dragons of Winter Night," but the point doesn't need to be hammered home repeatedly (especially in the first half of Annotated Legends).

And let's not forget the constant TSR bashing... I've worked in the corporate environment before, and I know it's not pleasant, but if it wasn't for TSR, you and your fellow authors may not be in the careers you feel you so self-righteously deserve.

Last, and certainly most disappointing, is the content of the annotations. When Mr. Hickman isn't going off on some religious tangent, the annotations consist mainly of references to his and Ms. Weis' other works ("...the events Tas is referring to can be found in "Dragons of Winter Night", etc.). I think this is more the editor's fault than anyone, but it should be assumed that the average new reader of Dragonlance will not pick up "Legends" by itself. They've most likely read "Chronicles." I found myself thinking, "Yes, I know Raistlin & company did magic and other acts for money in 'Dragons of Spring Dawning', so say something useful now!"

Conclusion: If you're looking to replace your lost or care-worn copies of the "Legends" series, by all means, buy this book, but if you're expecting great insights on the trilogy, you might want to skip this one. How about re-releasing this book, but with annotations only by Margaret Weis and, say (local Pittsburgher) Jeff Grubb? Now THAT will be worthwhile reading!

I have to admit I only purchased this because I had missplaced the original books in my home. I was astounded by the notes and additions made by the authors. From time to time, I have heard negative comments about the novels written by the two authors, low level of reading, too high fantasy, etc... I have always followed their writing with pleasure and I have to admit now that I understand some of the background around the stories I have an incredible amount of respect for the writers. If you haven't read the original Legends Trilogy, DO NOT BUY THIS. You will be tempted to read the notes and they are not time sensitive and can ruin some of the fun. On the other hand if you have, they offer a wealth of knowledge about the creation of our favorite characters and how they came about. Excellent read.

First off, the notations are for the most part pretty useless. If it is your first time reading the Legends, I suggest not reading the notations at all, they give away too much foreshadowing.

The Legends series is the best Dragonlance series in my opinion. The charactors have good depth, and just enough is kept out so that the next plot twists are not over exposed. Raistlin is especially great, one of my more favorite literary characters. Tas is overly silly, and Cameron to transparent. The plot line is a little out there, and not very intuitive, but it is decent. It really is the characters and well described landscapes that keep this together. Any D&D fan will find this well worth the time.

I selected 3-5 day shipping it took two days to actually ship out and it took over another week and a half to arrive at my door. (Still not sure how 2-5 days = almost two weeks) When it finally did, I opened it only to find one corner on the biding was crushed and the other corner was torn slightly. It made me a bit upset as I collect the Dragonlance books and I like my books to be in good condition. For a book sold as a sealed copy I expected it to be in pristine condition. Poor service by Amazon if you ask me. Anyway...

The book itself is the awesome continuation of the Chronicles and centers around the twin brothers, Raistlin and Caramon. You are sucked through a time loop with the twins, the cleric of Paladine, Crysania, (and by accident the kender Tasselhoff Burrfoot) as Raistlin plots his attempt to make himself one of the gods. They are all sent back in time to the doomed city of Istar, just before the Cataclysm. I found myself riveted to the pages (reading half of the book in a single night!) As Margaret and Tracy were not bound to the gaming material for this story the book is a lot more in depth that the previous Chronicles. They were able to explore and do more and it makes the book much more interesting to read and faster paced.

The annotations from the authors though, are not so awesome. They usually have little to offer other than spoilers or references to other books in the series. Once in awhile they have something interesting to say but most of the time it seems like many of the annotations are Tracy Hickman quoting bible verses. I recommend that if you haven't already read the Legends Trilogy, either ignore the annotations and read them after you are done with the whole book, or just avoid this edition all together and purchase the books separately. Be aware that this book is rather heavy (about 3 pounds) and a bit awkward to hold so it doesn't lend itself well to lugging around with you to read (I brought it to Canada and back and it was a bit of a pain.)

Also I wish that Wizards of the Coast would have had Larry Elmore do the cover art for this edition, I'm not a big fan of this cover.

Be advised this review focuses on the "Annotated Legends" and not the trilogy as a whole.

This was a truly unpleasant reading experience. The annotated version of the "Dragonlance Chronicles" featured too many useless ads for other, usually inferior, books in the series thought there were some interesting notes by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman on the creation of their books. Towards the end of that version, there were few notes--as of the writers themselves got tired of sharing their thoughts.

As bad as that version was, it was still better than the "Annotated Legends." The publisher has less ads but more chunks--including full paragraphs--of notes cobbled from various game products that do nothing to instruct or inform the reader. Even worse are the assorted musings from the writers. Weis offers some interesting notes but they are few and far between. Hickman's notes are truly dreadful. Having made next to no references to the academic work of Joseph Campbell on mythology in the annotated Chronicles, Hickman now bombards the reader with his shoving the Legends in that square peg, including a lengthy and not particularly interesting appendix on the subject. Since George Lucas started talking about Campbell's writings towards the end of the 1970s, the hero of a 1,000 faces is now the hero of a million faces. If Hickman had something original to contribute, it would be alright--but he does not. There are also occasional swipes at the original publisher and hints about the theology of the works as shown in the War of Souls trilogy which were published long after these books--even as the writers assure us they thought they were done with Dragonlance after these books were finished.

There is a note from the postscript that Umberto Eco added to the "Name of the Rose" in which he made the offhand comment that some second tier artists--he mentioned Vasari and Aaron Copland--were better at instructing on the creative process than first tier artists. I was hoping this would be the case for Weis and Hickman but their annotated editions of two Dragonlance series offer the reader little in the way of instruction or entertainment. It's a pity--especially to those of us who have spent countless hours in the world of Krynn.

I have read hundreds and hundreds of books in my time, but the Legends Trilogy continues to be the most moving, well-written trilogy of them all. Put shortly, the characters are developed to perfection. In no other books have I recieved the feeling so strongly that the characters I was reading about were absolutely real. If you've read Dragonlance and not read this, you're missing out. I've not read the Annotations, but the story itself is beyond compare. You will not regret the purchase, you can be certain.

I clearly remember reading the Dragonlance Chronicles and wishing for more. Then, along came the Legends trilogy which simply blew me away. The Chronicles paled in comparison to this series, which serves as both prelude and sequel to the chronicles. This treatment of the Legends books is wonderful and is a great excuse (not that one is needed) to revisit this time-travelling adventure involving Caramon, Tas and Raistlin (the most compelling wizard since ol' Gandalf the Grey), along with wonderous new characters such as Dalamar and Crysania, amongst others. This book garners my highest recommendation.