Dragons of Autumn Twilight

by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis

Reviewed by Ruby

After five years, six friends plant to meet up again after their individual adventures, trying to figure out if the rumors about armies massing in the north are true. Things don’t turn out as they plan when one member of their group shows up with two strangers. They are barbarians with a strange tale and an even stranger staff that glows blue and can heal. Almost immediately they are attacked by a corrupt official and his soldiers who had been on the lookout for such a staff.

Now the eight companions are on the run from lizard people, and that is only the beginning of their nightmare. The Queen of Darkness has returned to the land along with a hoard of dragons. She seems to be the one behind the armies in the north and before anyone knows what is happening they have invaded; destroying most of the human cities and are bent on riding the world of Krynn of the elves.

The companions now must flee the armies that are searching for them, avoid the dragons whose very presence causes people to become paralyzed with fear and find the truth about the magical staff.

I remember liking this book a lot more when I read it years ago. Now I found the style of the authors kind of dull. I’m not saying that I didn’t enjoy the book, because I did, but it wasn’t as good as I once thought it was. The story was weirdly paced where some parts of it felt slow and some felt rushed. The story was the normal people traveling on a quest type story. The parts I enjoyed the most were the humorous part. Even if it was just one line once, it was always well placed and made me laugh.

I liked the fact that not all the characters got along. Even the original friends that started the tale didn’t see eye to eye. And I love how Raistlin just hates everybody. I did find that some of the characters were a little one dimensional and flat, but since this is the first book in an epic series and there are eight characters that we start with and more that come later, and those are just the ‘good guys’, I can see why it is impossible to flesh out all of them completely.

All in all an enjoyable, if a little bit of a slow start to a long series that I will hopefully enjoy going through.

Grade: C