Dragonlance : Dragons of Autumn Twilight

Dragonlance : Dragons of Autumn Twilight  is a 1984 High Fantasy book written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. Its purpose was to advertise for the Dragonlance campaign setting for Dungeons and Dragons.

It spawned a franchise of over 50 books, but the two other Dragonlance Chronicles novels are Dragons of a Winter Night and Dragons of a Spring Dawning .

The Plot
The book begins with the return of a group of friends, consisting of Tanis, Sturm, Caramon, Raistlin, Flint, and Tasslehoff, who had separated to pursue their own quests and pledged to return in five years. Kitiara Uth Matar, the half sister of the twins Caramon and Raistlin, was supposed to be there as well, but only sent a mysterious note.

On the eve of their reunion, the Companions discover that the village where they are meeting has been taken over by a religious order called the Seekers. They are collaborating with the Dragon Highlords, who are preparing for the conquest of the continent of Ansalon.

The Companions soon discover that the Seekers are searching for a Blue Crystal Staff. When Goldmoon, a plainswoman in the same inn as the companions, heals a Seeker with her staff, the Companions are confronted by Highlord forces and are forced to flee the village.

The next day, the group is attacked by Draconians, reptilian creatures that serve as foot soldiers in the Highlords' army. The Companions are driven into the woods, where they are attacked by undead and rescued by a centaur. The group is charged to go to the ruined city of Xak Tsaroth to retrieve the Disks of Mishakal, an object containing the teaching of the True Gods that will be instrumental for the restoration of the faith in the True Gods.

After a lengthy trip on the backs of pegasi and several encounters with the forces of darkness, the companions enter Xak Tsaroth and meet some gully dwarves, diminutive and socially awkward creatures. One of the dwarves, Bupu, leads them to the dragon Khisanth, who is killed by the holy power of the Blue Crystal Staff. When this happens, Goldmoon is consumed by its flame and presumed dead. However, they later find her resting at the foot of a statue of Mishakal (the Goddess of Healing), which now bears the Blue Crystal Staff, and Goldmoon is blessed with true clerical powers. The Companions leave with the Disks of Mishakal. Bupu gives an ancient spellbook (formerly belonging to the archmage Fistandantilus) to Raistlin. When they return to the village to regroup they find it occupied. The Companions are captured by the Highlord armies and are chained in a slave caravan along with an elf named Gilthanas, the son of the leader of the elven nation of Qualinesti.

The group is freed by Gilthanas's brother, Porthios. They flee to Qualinesti, where Tanis is reunited with his childhood sweetheart, the exceptionally beautiful elven princess, Laurana Kanan. Laurana is still in love with Tanis and wants to marry him, but Tanis breaks her heart by telling her he is now in love with Kitiara.

The Elven King Solostaran convinces the Companions to lead an attack on the slave-mine Pax Tharkas to free the slaves from the control of the local Dragon Highlord. The Companions journey through a secret passage underground to Pax Tharkas and devise a plan to free the slaves. Laurana, desperate to win Tanis back, secretly follows the Companions. When Tanis discovers Laurana has followed them he angrily rebukes her for acting like a spoiled child. Laurana resolves to try to prove she is more than that.

The Companions infiltrate Pax Tharkas and Goldmoon heals Elistan, a dying Seeker, and converts him to the faith of the true gods. He becomes the first cleric of Paladine, and Goldmoon turns the Disks of Mishakal over to him. The Companions help the slaves break free. Laurana proves her worth in the battle by fighting bravely. The Dragon Highlord Verminaard and his red dragon Ember arrive to crush the revolt, but the insane red dragon Flamestrike kills Ember, while the Companions cut down Verminaard. A mysterious figure called "The Everman” later appears at a celebration following the freeing of the slaves, but flees after being spotted.

Why It Sucks

 * 1) The characters are tropey at best. The only one of them whose tropes were kind of subverted is Raistlin Majere. As for the others, Goldmoon is the only woman when the book starts and happens to be the healer, Caramon is an average not-so-bright fighter, Sturm is basically a Knight Templar, Tas is the annoying comic relief, Riverwind is the human equivalent of a board and is also a racist, Flint Fireforge (yeah) is a burly old dwarf and Tanis is a stereotypical hero who's torn between his human and elven halves.
 * 2) Stereotypical Fantasy plot, with an overall very "Good Vs. Evil" approach. This problem will still be there for the rest of the trilogy, and it's the reason behind the poorly executed ending of the second trilogy, Dragonlance Legends.
 * 3) Speaking about the plot... the authors were inexperienced when they wrote this and it shows. There are teleportations (one infamous example involves going to an ancient city using winged horses instead of travelling on foot), plot armor (Goldmoon dies, then she's resurrected as a Cleric of Mishakal because the plot appeared to need her) and major inconsistencies.
 * 4) The cast is way too large, and most of the characters don't have any memorable trait. This results in the reader not caring about what happens to them, and it also results in some characters doing nothing for dozens of pages, to the point where the reader might sometimes not know whether or not some of them are still around.
 * 5) Goldmoon qualifies as a Mary-Sue. She's the ruler of her people, she's the chosen one of a prophecy, she's has no real flaws besides her debilitating phobia of heights, she is described as incredibly beautiful all the time and the book won't stop telling the reader about her profound wisdom and knowledge.
 * 6) The game was based off a roleplaying campaign and it shows. To quote Raistlin, "no matter how powerful a wizard is, he's limited to the number of spells he can cast each day". This makes the book pointless, as it's the literary equivalent of "let me tell you about my character".
 * 7) Fizban is basically a DMPC (aka : Deus Ex Machina) whose only purpose is to get the heroes out of tight spots. The authors tried to justify that by making him the avatar of Paladine, the most important god of Krynn, which rises more questions than it gives answers and creates numerous plotholes.
 * 8) It spawned an absolutely godawful animated movie adaptation, and considering how the books were noted for their derivative nature, you have to wonder why.

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