DRAGONS of AUTUMN TWILIGHT (Dragonlance Chronicles #1) (audiobook) by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Originally published in 1984.
Audiobook published in 2013 by Audible Studios.
Read by Paul Boehmer.
Duration: 20 hours, 0 minutes.
Unabridged.

Way back when, I read every book in this series from cover to cover as quickly as they came out. I did the same with at least two other follow-up series from these authors and, if I remember correctly, I read other books that were connected to this series - but not by the original authors. I proudly had about a dozen related books on my book shelf.

That was 40 years ago. I sold those books along the way and had largely forgotten about them. I was reminded of them and I decided to listen to the audiobook version of the first book just to see if they were as good as I remembered.

Synopsis:

Krynn is a mostly peaceful place years after a calamity caused the people to turn away from the old gods. Cynicism abounds and the people worship new gods that may not after much comfort, but at least they didn't turn away from the people at their time of greatest need.

There are elves, humans, multiple types of dwarves, Kinder (halflings with zero impulse control), and humans of all sorts. Honorable knights still serve, but the people doubt their sincerity. Strange barbarians live out in the wild spaces and magic users can memorize spells to do any number of miraculous and dangerous things. 

A group of brave of explorers can make a small fortune exploring the ruins of the world before the destruction came - if they can fight.

The book starts with just such a group of explorers who are reuniting after splitting up to look into rumors of strange new armies arising, clerics serving gods no one has heard of, and possibly even the return of the ultimate creatures of the legends of the olden days - dragons!

Once the group assembles back in their home town the action starts almost immediately and they have to flee into the wilderness. As they work their across Krynn they find out that the rumors are much more than idle stories.

My review:

The original cover that I remember. 
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This series reads exactly like a well-run Dungeons and Dragons campaign - because that is what it was designed to be. The creators of D&D released a campaign you could buy to go along with the book (or do something completely different than the characters in the book do.)

Back when I first read the series I was a regular player of D&D and this book felt very comfortable. Experienced D&D players will see the obvious NPC characters and even the little escapes the dungeon master will have built in to make sure the players have a successful campaign. 

The characters are pretty standard fantasy characters - a grumpy old dwarf, haughty elves, a mostly brawn fighter, a mostly brains magic user whose only loyalty is to himself, a paladin with an unbending code of honor, enthusiastic but unskilled newbies, a conflicted leader, and more.

Does it work?

After a slow start, it really does work very well. The first 3 or 4 hours of this 20 hour audiobook were slow, but once it gets going, it's worth it.

The characters make it work, as it is with all good books. In this case, two minor characters make the second half of the series fun and touching: Fizban the befuddled old wizard and Flamestrike, the grieving and senile old dragon. Excellent characters make for memorable scenes. Once I was reminded of Flamestrike, I immediately remembered her touching and dramatic final scene that I read 40 years earlier. 40 years later it was as good as I had remembered. 

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Dragons of Autumn Twilight.