Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman turn to a new fantasy world

Dragonlance™ creators Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman turn to a new fantasy world. By Eric Raab, Editor TOR/FORGE News Letter Editor

I remember the day when I first heard that Margaret Weis and Tracey Hickman were coming to Tor with a new fantasy series. Having read, well, almost all of their previous series, this was big news and I was of course curious to know what it would be. When I was shown the proposal for Dragonships of Vindras, I knew they had struck gold.

Many of you are without a doubt familiar with their work. You probably cut your teeth on Dragonlance after countless, fierce D&D sessions. You might have followed them through their many amazing forays into various realms of storytelling (my personal favorite is The Death Gate Cycle). You know what this team is capable of. Believe me, Bones of the Dragon truly delivers, taking the warring Gods motif that Weis and Hickman used so wonderfully in the Dragonlance books and meshing it with the terrific world-building and world spanning exploration quests of the Death Gate cycle. Just jump in, you won’t be sorry.

I would like to take this opportunity to address those who may have never ventured into the worlds of Weis and Hickman. You may be wondering how these two have created these amazing worlds that have attracted hundreds of thousands of readers and become bestsellers. The reason is that these writers are amazingly thorough in every aspect of creating and exploring a fantasy world. You don’t need to know some kind of secret language or have done any gaming to enjoy Dragonships.

This is a pure, wonderfully imaginative tale of heroes and heroines, young and old, human and non-, embarking on adventures to exotic and imaginative locations in worlds rife with magic. But Bones of the Dragon also does the one thing that fantasy storytelling rarely gets credit for; it reflects the world we live in through a vast array of complex and vivid characters, each having to make life-altering, morally challenging decisions.

Bones of the Dragon is the launch of a six-book saga peopled with a vast array of characters. And here’s the clincher: How does a dying culture survive when the very gods they draw power and hope from are losing an epic battle in the heavens?

A team of Vindrasi, led by a young, arrogant champion named Skylan Ivorson, sets out on an epic quest to find the only thing that can save their dying gods: Five Bones of the great Vektan Dragon Ilyrion, who was slain in the epic battle that created the world. These five bones contain the power to awaken the magic that can put an end to revolution in the heavens. This quest will save the Vindrasi’s world, but it’s also a very personal journey that will atone for the mistakes of the elder gods—and will teach Skylan much about arrogance and humility.

With Dragonships of Vindras, Weis and Hickman have added another amazingly elaborate, ornate, and wonderful world to their belts. They are champions of the genre and it’s our pleasure to offer this new series to the world. Embark and enjoy.

Bones of the Dragon (978-0-7653-1973-9, $24.95 / ? CAN) by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman became available from Tor on January 6, 2009. For more information about the series, visit the Dragonships of Vindras Facebook fan page.

Source: Tor Books