The Soulforge (Dragonlance: The Raistlin Chronicles, Book 1) | Margaret Weis

The Soulforge (Dragonlance: The Raistlin Chronicles, Book 1) | Margaret Weis | Excellent

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The Soulforge (Dra...

	The Soulforge (Dragonlance: The Raistlin Chronicles, Book 1) Margaret Weis Wizards of the Coast, 1999 - 408 pages average customer review:based on 215 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A mage's soul is forged in the crucible of magic. Raistlin Majere is six years old when he is introduced to the archmage who enrolls him in a school for the study of magic. There the gifted and talented but tormented boy comes to see magic as his salvation. Mages in the magical Tower of High Sorcery watch him in secret, for they see shadows darkening over Raistlin even as the same shadows lengthen over all Ansalon.

Finally, Raistlin draws near his goal of becoming a wizard. But first he must take the drea Test in the Tower of High Sorcery. It will change his life forever -- if he survives.

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The Test is in this one! Have a seat.

Wow! Raistlin fan or not this is a great book. I, of course like most of the people who read Dragonlance, like Raistlin but I am not a huge fan per say but I do find him interesting to read. A lot of my question were resolved here not all but many.
Perhaps the best part about this book is that you get to witness the Test that Raistlin endured! You've heard about out it for a long time now and finally your in the midst of it all! WOOT!
Three highlights ** Slight Spoilers ** (but not really) :)
1) Meeting all the old friends Cameron, Raistlin, Tanis, Tas, Tika, Otik, Flint, Sturm, etc. and learning about them as they met. Watching them make a covenant to return to Solace to meet again...which, if I remember, brings you to the first book you read...the Dragons of Autumn Twilight. (I liked that part)
2) Raistlin's Test
3) Raistlin's Letter at the end which gives you the reason for the book you just finished,

The Soulforge, was well written and thrill. I think this book, of all the Dragonlance books I've read to date, has answered more questions than any other novel yet.

*This review is being updated and brough over from an older account.

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Excellent

Really good to read after you've read Chronicles because you just HAVE to know more about Raistlin!

Margaret Weis comes to the fore

This is the first book I read by Margaret Weis without Hickman, and I was therefore interested to see the difference. Actually, the pace of the book is slower and more introspective than the Chronocles series. I would regard this book as "canon" and part of the essential story (along with Chronocles trilogy, Lost Chronocles trilogy, Legends trilogy, Second Generation, Dragons of A Summer Flame, and the War of Souls Trilogy).

FACT - Weis and Hickman are not literary geniuses. They flout several rules of good writing including their tendency to repeat ideas, recap plot points, tell you what to think (instead of showing you). However, there are few writers who can claim to have explored the depth of a character to the same extent as Weis does with Raistlin in this book. A great addition to the series.

If you want to go on and read Brothers in Arms, then do so, however, I would not consider it canon or essential to the story. However, it does give some of the background to the War of the Lance from the point of view of Kitiara, and is (reasonably) consistent with the storyline in the chronocles trilogy.

One point I would like to note - if you read dragons of autumn twilight straight after this, you will find that Raistlin's relationship with some of the other characters has "soured" somewhat, despite the fact the characters have supposedly not seen each other for five years. I found this a little unconvincing but this is a minor detail.

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Disappointing Journey Back to Krynn

"Raistlin startled to wakefulness, a sense of danger bursting like lightning on his sleep, jolting him out of terrifying dreams." Oh Boy. Hemmingway this is not.

With the new Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition coming out my old dungeon master (just writing that makes me cringe) has decided to try and reunite distant (and aging) gamers using the new online gaming engine. In order to get into the spirit of things I thought I might spend some time back in the realm of D&D. When I was in high school every self respecting nerd had read the DragonLance series by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. Quite frankly my taste in literature was still developing back then but the books seemed fine and I enjoyed all three. The most memorable character, by far, was the mage Raistlin Majere. One of my friends even modeled his D&D character after Raistlin including his relentless (and irritating) pursuit of power.

It's pretty clear by this books intro that Raistlin is also Margaret Weis's favorite and this is likely what doomed the book for me. As intriguing as Raistlin is I was hoping for more than to read about his elementary school years, his handling of bullies and his mildly dysfunctional family. The author also goes way overboard trying to hammer home the point that Raistlin is the dark brooding brains and his twin Caramon is the strong, good looking dolt. It's sometimes difficult for adults to write dialogue for children but this one is pretty bad. No five year old on earth has ever talked the way young Raistlin does and in trying to make little Caramon sound simple and naïve Weis basically writes him as retarded.

I just didn't feel that D&D vibe reading this book. The story was so focused on Raistlin that there was barely anytime for anything else and quite frankly most of the book was rather boring and tedious which isn't helped by its 400+ page length. Raistlin still stands above the rest but mainly because Kitiara and Tasselhoff were so bloody annoying while Sturm, Tanis and Flint were less like characters and more like empty ciphers.

While a bad ending can kill a good book a good ending is less likely to redeem a mediocre book but it does help and the ending in Soulforge is by far the best part. Still, rather than rekindle my interest in D&D the book ended up dampening it. If you want a good fantasy book I suggest the Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. It's not D&D but the characters are significantly better.

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