The Annotated legends [Hardcover]

 

 

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In the "Dragonlance Legends" trilogy, Raistlin Majere grows in magical power to the point where he is in a position to be able to challenge the evil god Queen Tarkisis and take over her position in the heavens. Sent to stop him is his twin brother Caramon and the troublesome Kinder Tasslhoff Burrfoot by traveling back and forth through time after Raistlin. First they go to a time just before the Cataclysm. Raistlin plans to steal the great evil wizard Fistindantalis's magic; Caramon is in hot pursuit. After that, Raistlin goes on to challenge the Queen herself inside the Abyss. The story line is spread out over three books, so this synopsis is obviously very bare bones. There are many many sub plots going on (like Tanis Half Elven as an ambassitor trying to broker peace between the waring races, high cleric Crysania's love for Raistlin, Lord Soth's obssesion with Kitiara, Dalamar's bid for power with the Wizards Conclave, ect.) that I can't get into right now. Unlike the "Chronicals", "Legends" dose not have the cast of thousands and a huge sprawling war to deal with; it is concerned with only four central characters; Caramon, Raistlin, Crysania, and Tassolhoff. Caramon is fleshed out much more here than he was in the previous trilogy. Now he is more sorrowful, feeling a little bit responsable for the way his brother turned out. He was alright, but certainly not the strongest voice in the books. Raistlin was that. His greed and ambition seem to far exceed his knowledge of magic, but even that is conciderable. Raistlin is certainly going insane, and it isn't helping that his own brother, Caramon, is now and then tricked into helping him along the way. Raistlin is my favorite character in the series. Crysania is a way too much of a throw back to the damsel in distress for much of the books, and I was not impressed with her in the least little bit. Tassolhoff is still very much loved or hated here, you'll either like him or you will not. I liked him, and I still do. He is just the right amount of comic relief with out getting old. These books are pretty good, but there are a few things wrong with them. The characters are hit and miss as I mentioned above. Another thing is the ploting. The books are about time travel, so you have to be able to keep a lot of the history of Krynn readily avalible. Events happen, and then are erased as Caramon and Raistlin have out their little war. So in all the confusion, I had the feeling I was missing something. But that is alright, I still liked it. And any fan of the Dragonlance books should like the Annotataed books with aurthors Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's commentary at the side of the page. I found them very useful and insightful, as I did with their "Chronicals".

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.

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.

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3.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable story -- useless commentary
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... Read more

Published on Oct 29 2003 by Joseph J. Parisi

5.0 out of 5 stars The Masterwork of the Dragonlance library
I clearly remember reading the Dragonlance Chronicles and wishing for more. Then, along came the Legends trilogy which simply blew me away. Read more

Published on Oct 27 2003 by B. Laszlo

5.0 out of 5 stars Makes an already great series event better.
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. Read more

Published on Oct 12 2003 by J. Penter

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