Tanis the shadow years by Scott and Barbara Siegel – A book review

Growing up I was a huge fan of Dragonlance. The original trilogy (Chronicles) and its sequels (Time of the Twins) were an integral part of my first foray into fantasy. I had already read the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings and enjoyed the change of pace they offered.

Dragonlance can’t be considered high fantasy but it is fun and fully of hidden depth. This book was written at a later date and sadly lacks the passion of the original books.

Tanis the Shadow Years is part of the Preludes series that fills in what each of the heroes were doing in the five years before they come to meet up again in Dragons of Autumn Twilight. Tanis is pretty much the lead hero of the ensemble cast of the Chronicles and has a complicated backstory with his half-elven heritage and love life.

The story is a complicated tale of Tanis travelling into a mages mind and extracting a woman into the real world and unfortunately the plot doesn’t work fully. There are several points where it seems to come to a conclusion before setting up for another section, the book seemed to have more endings than Return of the King (Film). To its credit the two authors evoke the Dragonlance world well and the prose are well structured.

I can’t say that I enjoyed the book, but neither was it awful, if anyone is looking for a continuance of the Dragonlance story then stick to the more established authors and most definitely check out the War of Souls Trilogy.

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