When I was a lad my father would read to me. This grew within me a fond appreciation for narrative and storytelling. He would read sci-fi and fantasy, nothing to "Heavy Metal" for a young child, but certainly material that was written with an adult reader in mind. Fast forward to the 6th grade, I've always loved reading, was in advanced reading classes and whatnot. I'm browsing through a fantasy booksection at some long defunct bookstore chain in a mall (this was late 90s, I'm that old) and I stumble across a book that is the first in a series, and looked super fantasy and D&D like. Exactly what I was looking for. So began my journey through the Sundering, the 4 elemental realms, the deadly labyrinth and finally, the 7th gate with tattooed Haplo, his trusty dog, and bumbling studdering Alfred. Both of them demigods.
During my middleschool classes I began to read the first of the series, Dragon Wing. It was confusing at first, as the stories would jump from character to character as the chapters progressed. I was unsure who the main character even was, thinking it was someone named "Hugh the Hand". (awesome name btw). Once I got through the book, it was slowly starting to click in my young brain. I got my hands on the 2nd in the series, Elven Star, and poured through the pages. The story was starting to move and make sense, and an overarching narrative was forming in my mind.
I won't go into huge amount of detail, as I really recommend reading the 7-novel series if you are a fan of high fantasy with wizards, elves, dwarves n such. A short synopsis and possibly spoilers alert would be you take modern day earth with magic coming back. Two schools of magic branch out and a war occurs between the 2 races of demigod magic users. One race wins, imprisons the other race, earth is wrecked and so the winning race of magic users recreate reality. Afterwards, they disappear mysteriously and reality starts falling to ruins. The imprisoned demigod race finally break out of their labyrinth-prison to figure out what's going on.
The story follows a character named Haplo and his dog. Won't say too much but his dog is vital to the story. Haplo is a Patryn, one of the 2 races of demigods. He is exploring the Sundered realms, starting with the air realm. Haplo's magical ability comes from the runes that were tattooed across his body at birth. At the end of each book, the authors go into great detail explaining how the runic magic systems work.
I read this series as a kid, and I've reread it about 3 times. I know it well enough that I will probably never need to read it again, but I really highly recommend giving it a go if you are into high fantasy. The authors go to great lengths to try some really interesting things, such as each book has things like sheet music, poetry and runic magic system descriptions in the back. While it took me a few weeks to read the first book as a young teen, it took me one afternoon to read the last. I was engrossed in the storyline. There is a point in the last book where I cried. It was so very good, and for my first multi-novel fantasy series, it holds an extra special place in my heart.
Maybe it is just nostalgia that hits me when I think about this storyline and bookseries. Then again maybe not as this is Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman we are talking about. These two are legendary fantasy authors of numerous series such as Dragonlance and other incredible collections. Speaking of Dragonlance it just so happens there is exciting upcoming news in store for 2021. It seems, they are far from being done with it.
I've read many of their books and series years ago and always enjoyed the way they wrote and pulled you into the story. Sometimes I wish I had never given away all my paperback books, but when you move a lot, they are some of the first things to find new homes for.
This was SUCH A GOOD series. The way the rune based magic worked was such a huge influence on me as a kid, and thats just one small element that has stuck with me. Absolutely fantastic series.
Thanks for reaching out on that other post. I see you been around awhile. I reblogged this, maybe help put you on the radar.
Thank you! I loved this book series so much. And Margaret Weis retweeted it which helped it get a lot of traction, and was like a "no way" moment for me as a fan.
I saw the views on PeakD and was kinda scratching my head. You'd think there'd be more rewards... right? The retweet makes so much sense now. Congrats on that! That's rewarding in itself.
I’ve never heard of this series before it sounds interesting though.
I do enjoy high fantasy just not a lot of time these days to read those kinds of books. Maybe one day I’ll get around to it.
Your current Rank (53) in the battle Arena of Holybread has granted you an Upvote of 16%
Your current Rank (57) in the battle Arena of Holybread has granted you an Upvote of 15%
Man I never knew a Margaret could look so manly...
And they also started the wildly popular dragon Lance series which spanned an entire world
I think she's a beautiful person. Just because she is elderly doesn't mean she isn't a legend. And look at the bottom image in my post, I talk about Dragonlance and how earlier this year 2021 Margaret and Tracy said they are going to do more Dragonlance books.
No I meant you listed their names as showing that Margaret was the guy when Tracy is the guy..
I'm just teasing man I'm just teasing
Hahaha oh I see now. That's funny I get it. I listed their names like that because that's how they are always kinda listed. I always see Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman on the cover in that order :D
No worries my dude
Lol right! I thought it was 2 gals at first