Dragons of Autumn Twilight

Dragonlance Chronicles, Volume 1: Dragons of Autumn Twilight is the first book in the Dragonlance series. It was written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman and based on two Dungeons and Dragons modules created by Tracy Hickman and a couple other people.

Good

• The story itself is exciting and maintains an epic scope while still focusing on the characters.
• I really enjoyed most of the characters, and the authors did a good job at making them seem like real people with strengths and weaknesses. Their interaction really made the book for me
• The unique races like the kender and draconians are quite creative.

Bad

• I found Riverwind to be particularly dull. I hope he gets fleshed out more in the next book.
• Tas was a fun character, but the slapstick humor felt pretty juvenile.
• Fizban too seemed more like a running gag that wouldn't end.
• The book was clearly based on D&D, and I often found myself thinking of RPG rules rather than the story. The way spells were described was particularly disappointing.

Ugly

• I never really felt like the characters were in any real danger. Even when they seemed to be in completely hopeless situations, I had no real concern for them.
• Most of the evil races were bumbling idiots. Even the deadly draconians are easily defeated by unskilled civilians on multiple occasions. I had to suspend my disbelief quite a bit.
• The entire party returning to the destroyed and occupied Solace without so much as a disguise was very hard to believe.