Join me as I review The Annotated Chronicles; Dragons of Autumn Twilight, live! Share your thoughts on this groundbreaking story and enlightening edition. I share the insights I gleaned, how the annotations presented a new perspective and why I still love this novel.
Review
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. My name is Adam and today I am going to review The Annotated Chronicles: Dragons of Autumn Twilight. Don’t forget to like and subscribe to this channel, ring the bell, and you can further help this channel, and pick up Dragonlance Gaming materials, using my affiliate link in the description below. This is my perspective only, and if you have any thoughts or disagree with mine, I invite you to share your thoughts in YouTube chat.
I only relatively recently became aware of The Annotated Chronicles when I started this Dragonlance youTube channel. I had wanted to share my love of this campaign world while discovering its history and setting. I never thought about creating review episodes as these books have been out for 37 years as of my writing of this review. But since it is new to me, and as it all falls under the heading of Dragonlance Readings, I thought I should share my thoughts.
I first read Dragons of autumn twilight around 30 years ago. It propelled my love of this campaign setting and cemented my addiction to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. What I would discover over the years of reading the novels that followed, was that it made a real impact on my perspectives and hopes as a young man looking toward my future life.
I had grown up in the LDS, or Mormon Church as it is commonly known, and after I was baptised I quickly fell out with its beliefs and while my family went to church every Sunday, I would stay home and watch fantasy films or read Dragonlance novels. I had wholesale rejected the Mormon faith as not being for me, but more, rebelled against its nonsensical history and Bronze Age ideas. This kept me away from fantasy worlds like Narnia for some time. Imagine my surprise when I discovered Tracy Hickman was a devout Mormon and some of the ideas that are ever present in Dragonlance were drawn directly from his religion.
I was past the point of hating everything associated with my family’s religion at this point, and I began to appreciate others’ perspectives, no matter how different they were to mine, as we are all human and share the same rock, hurtling through space. It was the simplicity of the Dragonlance frame that Tracy drew from his faith, that made it palatable to a young Adam. The complexity grew from that initial triad of Good overcoming Evil, with neutrality trying to maintain balance. Dragons of Autumn twilight presents a Greek form of its pantheon of deities. They engage directly with the world, and what I didn’t know at the first reading is that this is a very mormon perspective as well.
You see, deep in their religion is the idea that everyone has the possibility of becoming their own god, and in fact creating or watching over their own world. In Krynn, I believe Laura and Tracy have done just that in life. The wise old man who inspires change and opportunity in the heroes, Fizban, is said to be an avatar of Tracy himself. And after digesting the Annotations for Dragons of Autumn Twilight, I have come to understand that this was a very international if not subconscious choice on the part of the authors. It doesn’t change my love of the novel, as I am not a Mormon and I wholesale reject the ideas inherent in their religion. But rather, like everyone, I take what I like and discard what I don’t like in life. It simply adds a new complexity in which to dissect the novel. One that I had never considered before.
For example, it isn’t just the gods being sub dominant to the High God, like in their religion, the Discs of Mishakal are a literal mirror to the Golden Tablets in the Joseph Smith myth. The text that restores faith of the true gods to the world. If you know anything about the mormon religion, you will understand this is a core tenant of their faith. It’s where their foundational text is derived from, concept and all. But again, this isn’t about the religion Tracy and his wife ascribe to, nor is it about my own past. It’s about the information I gleaned from this Annotated version of Dragons of Autumn Twilight, and I am very happy to know it.
The annotations grow very sparse in parts and some are no more meaningful than “This is my favorite line” references. However they all add flavor and perspective to a novel I thought I knew everything about and yet… I didn’t! The major theme of this novel is hope. Hope that the acts of the individual can make a dark and damaged world at the very least just a little better. That a few friends can truly make a significant difference in a seemingly hopeless world. And though they don’t always believe it themselves, they continue on. Trying. It is best framed by Tasslehoff Burrfoot in the end of the novel: …”Still,” the kender said softly, “we have to keep trying and hoping. That’s what’s important, the trying and the hoping. Maybe that’s most important of all.”
My experience re-reading this Annotated version of a familiar novel reminded me how wonderfully flawed and quirky each character is. How alone they are strong but together they are strength personified! Nearly every character is at the beginning, middle or end of their character arcs that are either directly experienced through the course of this novel, or hinted to in their past or in future novels. Even the bad guys are developed. The Dragon Highlord, Verminaard of Nidus is a descendant of Human Dragonbane! The Queen of Darkness in her brilliant scheming corrupted the very lineage of the hero who banished her in the Third Dragon War. You don’t get more epic than that!
We are presented with a world in torment for 300 years. Hinted about a deep and rich past and lore of heroes and villains that echo through the ages. Michael Williams presents engaging poetry and songs that balance off the beautiful illustrations of Denis Beauvais and cover art by Larry Elmore. The novel is broken into two Books. Book One deals with their search for the lost Gods and Xak Tsaroth. Book Two deals with their search for a spokesman for the lost gods and Pax Tharkas. Both stories are intertwined by the Inn of the Last Home as their jumping off points and climactic struggles with Dragons, Draconians, and Verminaard himself.
It ends on a beautiful wedding scene between Goldmoon and Riverwind, chieftain and plainsmen of the Que Shu tribe respectively. They are presented as barbarians but echo the indiginous peoples of North America more. The themes presented in the novel are the internal struggle with evil, personal growth, identity and belonging. Underlying them all is that through action, hope can be realized and you as an individual have the power to effect change in the world around you. An idea that is truly Western in origin, but proven factual through our own US history.
The heroes are presented as our own avatars who we unravel the mystery of Krynn vicariously through, and I think because they are on a journey of discovery with us, we connect with them that much stronger. I laughed throughout this whole novel. Not just as the intentionally funny moments, but the subtle character moments too. My eyes welled up with tears as I connected with so many different character moments, reflected through my own life experience. I am now a veteran, husband and father of two in his mid 40’s, so I do not lack in life experience which this novel reflects back on me in a powerful way. I am not discounting the impact nostalgia has on amplifying that as well.
All in all, even if this book wasn’t set in the Dragonlance world, it is a character driven adventure that is funny, exciting, touching and mysterious enough to be worth your time as a reader. I highly recommend the annotated chronicles version of the novel, and I thank you for your time listening to my review.
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