The Dragons of Autumn Twilight is the first book in the Dragonlance Chronicles by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. It focuses on a group of adventurers who come together to help find holy items and use them to restore the faith in various deities. Many of this group had ventured together before though they had been split up at the time the story starts. With two new adventurers they end up setting out. The main problems for this group are that the old group is reluctant to trust the two newcomers, just like the two newcomers are reluctant to trust the old group. On top of that, it appears that dragons are returning to the world and the world is woefully unprepared to face them. The deities who are pushing for the group to help restore faith are the same ones that most people like to claim have turned their back on them. This group really has their work cut out for them. In the middle of all this a war starts up that they have to navigate through. Luckily, the group is pretty resourceful and manages to make it through.
Going in to this story I wasn’t sure what to expect because this was my first time reading these authors. I mean I have heard of them and have heard of their Dragonlance series but I hadn’t actually read them. This was primarily because I hadn’t actually found a copy yet but my local library has them so I was finally able to try the series. My main problem with this book is that I don’t think it was the first book about this particular group of adventurers. I think they were in a previous series though I am going to have to double check to make sure. Even keeping that in mind I thoroughly enjoyed the story and would definitely read more of their work. The characters were awesome as well. This story was told predominantly from the perspective of Tanis, a half-elf, and Tasslehoff, Tas for short, who is a kender. Tanis is the leader so seeing his perspective of things was interesting as it often provided insight into the events and opinions of the wider world around them. At the same time having Tas be the other narrator was entertaining to say the least. Tas is mischief waiting to happen on a good day and the antics he gets up to, even by accident, are absolutely hilarious to read. At the same time he also provides a more down-to-earth perspective than Tanis does. I say this because towards the end of the book there is a scene where Tas is discussing why he is not upset about being so small in comparison to the rest of the group. He basically ends up saying that sometimes the small people are needed to do the small things so that the big people are able to do the big things. Tas is perfectly fine with Tanis and the group working on saving the world and returning faith. The way he sees it, his job is to do the small things like helping find a way to sneak through, or any of a number of other small things that would enable them to do so. Tas’s main ambition in life is to have fun and do the best he can by living his life. He doesn’t really care too much about the big things, as long as everyone is happy and healthy. This is a giant contrast with Tanis who feels like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders, and possibly does. I found this an interesting dichotomy in the differing perspectives, but one I really appreciated as well. This may have been my first time reading anything in the Dragonlance world or anything by Margaret Weis or Tracy Hickman but I am definitely a fan now and look forward to reading more of their work. I would give this book four out of five stars.
Now we come to, probably, the most important part. Yes, I would wholeheartedly recommend this book to others. It is heavily fantasy so if you are the kind of person who enjoys that genre than this is for you. I would not necessarily consider this high fantasy as it is more adventure fantasy so keep that in mind when approaching the book. It was also heavily inspired by D&D so if you happen to be a fan of that then you will probably enjoy this as well. I will say that the book does contain violence and gore occasionally as there are fight scenes throughout the book. That being said, the detail for those scenes is toned down enough that I would feel comfortable recommending it for older teens or young adults if they enjoy this genre. This is probably the only content warning that is needed for the story as long as you keep in mind that the book is fantasy and is based in an alternate world setting so the background world is different than ours. I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series myself so keep an eye out for my thoughts on that as well. If anyone has either tried this out after reading or is already familiar with it consider sharing your thoughts about it in the comments below.