What do you think?
Rate this book
Dragonlance: Preludes #6
Tanis, the Shadow Years
The sixth and final title in a series of recovers of the classic Preludes series.
First launched over a decade ago, the Preludes series has continued to prove popular with Dragonlance fans. This re-release of Tanis, The Shadow Years showcases a new look that is also reflected in the other recovers of this series. The title features cover art from lead Dragonlance saga artist Matt Stawicki.
First launched over a decade ago, the Preludes series has continued to prove popular with Dragonlance fans. This re-release of Tanis, The Shadow Years showcases a new look that is also reflected in the other recovers of this series. The title features cover art from lead Dragonlance saga artist Matt Stawicki.
320 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
29 people are currently reading
3672 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
March 26, 2025
I can see why many Dragonlance fans would have been confounded by this novel when it was released, it definitely swings widely outside the usual genre trappings and, despite featuring cameos from well-known legendary figures doesn't quite feel like a Krynnish tale.
Looks like the original cover went Full Beefcake. No complaints.
That caveat aside I chose to enjoy the book for what it does successfully accomplish, which is a tender meditation on love and remembrance and the passing of generations. The key premise, though, was a bit of a bait and switch, and the last third or so of the book got a little metaphysical for my tastes. I'd recommend this one for DL completionists only.
Looks like the original cover went Full Beefcake. No complaints.
That caveat aside I chose to enjoy the book for what it does successfully accomplish, which is a tender meditation on love and remembrance and the passing of generations. The key premise, though, was a bit of a bait and switch, and the last third or so of the book got a little metaphysical for my tastes. I'd recommend this one for DL completionists only.
September 19, 2017
They're called shadow years for a good reason: as far as I can remember, nothing that happens is relevant to the larger story. So, need to read only if you like Tanis, which I never did.
March 17, 2013
I suppose that if you love, love, love DragonLance, and if you love, love, love the Chronicles series, and if you've read every single book in the series, then yes, you might as well read this one, too. That's why I picked it up. Unfortunately, the willpower required to finish the book makes it unworthy of even a "beach reading" rating.
October 7, 2009
If you really liked Tanis in Chronicles, I would advise you not to read this book. Go ahead only if you're able to disassociate the Tanis in this book and the Tanis in Chronicles. The Tanis in this book doesn't feel right, granted, it can be argued that this was what changed him. But then, the plot itself is a bit weird, and there's too much love involved to the point of ignoring Tanis' relationship with Kitiara. Absolutely nothing about this book ties in with Chronicles, so just read it as if it's a standalone story. In all honesty, it starts off pretty promising, but it kinda falls short towards the end, with a rather weird finale.
March 21, 2018
Are we reading about Tanis from the Dragonlance Chronicles or just some guy who could be anyone having this adventure? It certainly felt like the latter and, whilst in some ways that's no bad thing, I feel that this series of books ultimately bailed out on its own premise and has to be judged accordingly. Nevertheless, if we're prepared to accept that this adventure happened to Average-Joe the half-elf, then I confess I kinda liked it in a man-goes-into-someone else's-dream-in-order-to-retrieve-the-memory-of-his-dead-love-before-he-dies kind of way. yes, it was every bit as daft as it sounds and the attempts at wistfulness and poignancy were almost entirely lost on me as they crashed under the weight of the premise and the essentially Young Adult style prose. But yet again I'm delighted at the willingness of these Dragonlance authors to try to go places you wouldn't have expected them to and I remember the Siegel's doing that in their "Tales" contributions also. Oh, I particularly liked some of the supporting cast (sadly love-interest Brandella was a dud), the too-witty-for-his-own-good Scowall and the dwarf with a secret.
I couldn't heartily recommend it, though. The writing is a little amateurish, it's a little ponderous, the high concept doesn't feel tied together well and the characterisations aren't fully rounded. But it uses the Dragonlance setting pretty well to do it's own thing and like most Dragonlance books, I had another good time.
I couldn't heartily recommend it, though. The writing is a little amateurish, it's a little ponderous, the high concept doesn't feel tied together well and the characterisations aren't fully rounded. But it uses the Dragonlance setting pretty well to do it's own thing and like most Dragonlance books, I had another good time.
August 6, 2017
TANIS: THE SHADOW YEARS is the last of the Dragonlance Preludes series, telling the adventures of the principle characters in the Chronicles trilogy in the preceding years. This one sees what Tanis Half-Elven was up to five years before DRAGONS OF AUTUMN TWILIGHT, but anyone expecting a decent adventure is likely to be disappointed. The story is slight and confusing, taking place inside an old wizard's memory for the most part, and Siegel spends way too much time on a metaphysical romance which by necessity never goes anywhere. The action sequences are cliched and lack excitement, and like some of the other preludes, this seems to have been written in a great hurry. In addition, Tanis himself is unlike the Tanis of the original trilogy. It's not the worst book I've read, but for a Dragonlance fan it's largely a disappointment.
October 21, 2013
My rating is 1.5 stars.
A novel that takes place in the world of Dragonlance. This tells the story of Tanis before the original trilogy. A mage asks Tanis to save a woman but the hitch is that Tanis must travel in time thru the mage's memory. This book never grabbed me. It was a decent idea but I believe the problem was the characters. I never felt any connection to any of them including Tanis. Also, I did not like the final battle scene. To me, it was something out of comic books instead of Dragonlance. There are better Dragonlance books out there. I would only read this if you want to read every Dragonlance book.
A novel that takes place in the world of Dragonlance. This tells the story of Tanis before the original trilogy. A mage asks Tanis to save a woman but the hitch is that Tanis must travel in time thru the mage's memory. This book never grabbed me. It was a decent idea but I believe the problem was the characters. I never felt any connection to any of them including Tanis. Also, I did not like the final battle scene. To me, it was something out of comic books instead of Dragonlance. There are better Dragonlance books out there. I would only read this if you want to read every Dragonlance book.
December 6, 2014
Mediocre storytelling and writing...to be honest I have yet to find a Dragonlance book not written by Weiss and Hickman that I really enjoyed. This is no different...came across like bland fantasy filler. Too bad because Tanis has always been my favourite character!
January 16, 2022
Fun adventure story.
February 21, 2018
The main characters in this are Tanis, Brandella, Kishpa, Scowarr, and Clotnik. Tanis is traveling with Clotnik to find more information about his father. After a while a fire starts in the woods they were at. There was an old man running trying to get away from the flames. Tanis saved him but he was badly wounded. Tanis found out that the old man, Kishpa, was the man who had information about his father.
One problem in this book is that Kishpa doesn't want a lady, Brandella, who he remembered to die with him being the only one that remembered. Tanis tries to solve this problem by going into Kishpa's memory to find her. Another problem in the book is that Clotnik keeps on dropping a special glass ball that he juggles with to take a risk. Tanis solves the problem by making Clotnik promise he would not juggle with that valuable glass ball again. These are just some of the problems Tanis solved or tried to anyway.
This book was a very good book. It tells what happened to Tanis in those five years between the departure from his companions and the reunion. It also has a very good ending. It is a bit different from the other preludes books. It was a pretty good book overall though.
One problem in this book is that Kishpa doesn't want a lady, Brandella, who he remembered to die with him being the only one that remembered. Tanis tries to solve this problem by going into Kishpa's memory to find her. Another problem in the book is that Clotnik keeps on dropping a special glass ball that he juggles with to take a risk. Tanis solves the problem by making Clotnik promise he would not juggle with that valuable glass ball again. These are just some of the problems Tanis solved or tried to anyway.
This book was a very good book. It tells what happened to Tanis in those five years between the departure from his companions and the reunion. It also has a very good ending. It is a bit different from the other preludes books. It was a pretty good book overall though.
January 31, 2014
This book was OKAY at best. I had the highest hopes for this Prelude because in the original series Tanis was one of the better characters described and built for the reader. All around he was the main protagonist in the series which is why I had high hopes for thise book. I will admit the idea behind the story was interesting and creative for the series - either that or they ran out of ideas after the 5 preludes. I would of rated this book a 3 if it maintained my interest like it did in the beginning of the book but it seemed to fall off a peak of entertaining to a dull bore after they defended the elvish town form the humans. I found myself wanting the book the end at certain points because I felt as if the book could of ended at many different points and resulted in the same thing. To each their own I suppose. I am looking forward to reading more of the DL series.
August 12, 2016
Love Tanis as a character and really looked forward to getting to know a bit about his past but the way this book was written it took us into a tale of its own, showing little of his past describing an adventure into a mage's memory sending tanis back into the past but not his own past!! The adventure was fun, Brandella and Scowarr and even Kizpah the mage where great to get to know of but I was still a bit disappointed that the book took this line and found it a bit too far fetched at times!With this book I end the reading of preludes too!!
March 21, 2021
I had looked forward to a good tell of what Tanis had done during those 5 years, I was very disappointed in this far out in left field story. Honestly it felt like the author had a few things that was to be covered in the tale then found the craziest way to try and link them. Had the story been just a random tell during the saga with a random character I would have liked it a little better. The story itself was written well, the tale is what I am highly disappointed in.
July 1, 2013
This was the most disappointing of the Preludes II series by far. There were so many plot holes and events that even for a fantasy novel were unbelievable, and that took me out of the book. The characters weren't nearly as relatable as in the other Preludes II novels, and not nearly as likable in my opinion.
October 12, 2014
Only read it because I have a bif curiosity of what happen to the companions.
November 13, 2014
Weakest prelude in series. Too much different timelines, ideas and aspects put together with no real point in the story.
April 29, 2018
Not a good book on many levels.
August 3, 2025
Preludes II Volume 3 (or just Preludes Volume 6, in later editions).
As the Companions go their separate ways, not intending to meet again for five years, Tanis falls in with a Dwarf and a wizard who promise him knowledge of his mysterious human father. However, to gain their knowledge, Tanis must agree to enter the wizard's memory through magical means, in order to save the sorcerer's lost love.
I've read worse books than this. I've read books whose prose is so awful that it's almost unreadable. I've read books whose plot is so bad or contrived as to be totally unenjoyable. However, I've never read a book that has less right to exist calling itself a novel than this.
The events, places and characters featured here are so randomly conceived and dropped into the story that it genuinely felt like each element was drawn randomly from a bag full of words as the authors were writing. "So, Tanis is in an inn and he meets a..." [rummages in bag] "...dwarf, whose trade is as a..." [rummages in bag again] "...juggler!". (Incidentally, that's not just a random example, that's how this book begins).
The book jolts from one clashingly random event/person/thing to another so frequently that putting it down and picking it up again the next day felt like I'd started reading a totally different book each time.
Almost none of the random things introduced are either explained or, for that matter, have any significant impact on the book as a whole and it never even ever resolves the ongoing question of whether Tanis is just inside the wizard's memory or has actually been sent back in time. The book's answer to which of those is correct is simply 'Yes'.
The final twist of the bizarre, 'how did this get published?' knife is that the entire plot takes place over the course of about three or four days and the final page goes on to say that Tanis later disappeared for several years and had some adventures to be told elsewhere.
Did the authors not read THE TITLE OF THE BOOK they were writing?!
* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *
As the Companions go their separate ways, not intending to meet again for five years, Tanis falls in with a Dwarf and a wizard who promise him knowledge of his mysterious human father. However, to gain their knowledge, Tanis must agree to enter the wizard's memory through magical means, in order to save the sorcerer's lost love.
I've read worse books than this. I've read books whose prose is so awful that it's almost unreadable. I've read books whose plot is so bad or contrived as to be totally unenjoyable. However, I've never read a book that has less right to exist calling itself a novel than this.
The events, places and characters featured here are so randomly conceived and dropped into the story that it genuinely felt like each element was drawn randomly from a bag full of words as the authors were writing. "So, Tanis is in an inn and he meets a..." [rummages in bag] "...dwarf, whose trade is as a..." [rummages in bag again] "...juggler!". (Incidentally, that's not just a random example, that's how this book begins).
The book jolts from one clashingly random event/person/thing to another so frequently that putting it down and picking it up again the next day felt like I'd started reading a totally different book each time.
Almost none of the random things introduced are either explained or, for that matter, have any significant impact on the book as a whole and it never even ever resolves the ongoing question of whether Tanis is just inside the wizard's memory or has actually been sent back in time. The book's answer to which of those is correct is simply 'Yes'.
The final twist of the bizarre, 'how did this get published?' knife is that the entire plot takes place over the course of about three or four days and the final page goes on to say that Tanis later disappeared for several years and had some adventures to be told elsewhere.
Did the authors not read THE TITLE OF THE BOOK they were writing?!
* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *
Read
September 16, 2024Plot Summary: The story takes place during the 5 years of separation the companions had agreed to prior to the start of the Dragons trilogy. Tanis goes off on his own, running into a dwarf who claims to be able to introduce him to someone who knew his father. They set off together but get caught in a forest fire which also catches the man who Tanis was journeying to find. As the man lays dying from burns, he gives Tanis a quest to hide a magical object and bring the mage's one true love forward in time by venturing into the man's memories. Tanis manages to succeed in fulfilling the dying mage's request, encountering his father in the process, but ultimately fails to accomplish the mage's goals.
This was an interesting story, and the writing style flowed easily. The part with Fistandantalus seemed a little contrived and unnecessary, but didn't distract too badly from the rest of the story. I would have liked to see some further interaction between Tanis and his father. While that was the entire premise of why he helped the mage, the interaction was almost non-existent. And the idea of the mage sacrificing his time with his true love in his youth so she could be brought forward into a world where he wouldn't even exist makes no sense. He knows he's dying when he sends Tanis back to bring her forward, which means he knows that he's only depriving both himself and her of their time together both in the past and in the present. Plus, he wasn't even sure that the quest would result in her being able to live outside of his memory, so he rolled the dice on him killing her in prematurely in the process. I'm not even sure why anyone would agree to help with that plan.
So the book is an easy and fairly light read, enjoyable, but in the end frustrating.
This was an interesting story, and the writing style flowed easily. The part with Fistandantalus seemed a little contrived and unnecessary, but didn't distract too badly from the rest of the story. I would have liked to see some further interaction between Tanis and his father. While that was the entire premise of why he helped the mage, the interaction was almost non-existent. And the idea of the mage sacrificing his time with his true love in his youth so she could be brought forward into a world where he wouldn't even exist makes no sense. He knows he's dying when he sends Tanis back to bring her forward, which means he knows that he's only depriving both himself and her of their time together both in the past and in the present. Plus, he wasn't even sure that the quest would result in her being able to live outside of his memory, so he rolled the dice on him killing her in prematurely in the process. I'm not even sure why anyone would agree to help with that plan.
So the book is an easy and fairly light read, enjoyable, but in the end frustrating.
July 27, 2024
This one was kind of hard to follow…also didnt think Tanis’ character was true to his character as introduced in the original series. Otherwise, I enjoyed it, am a huge fan of the Dragonlance series.
May 3, 2019
Hard to follow, but holy cow, Barbra and Scott siegel, you guys are great, funny, and impressive authors!!!!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 18, 2020
I enjoyed reading more about Tanis and I enjoyed the story as a whole. I liked how unique the storyline was and how it came full circle.
March 14, 2021
Wildly creative and original.
November 3, 2021
Enjoyable. Action-packed. Writers stayed true to the character introduced in Chronicles. A worthy addition to the series.
August 19, 2022
Wonderful adventurous story. Very fun and enjoyable.o
January 31, 2024
Incredible book with a tear-jerk finish...... very nice.
May 28, 2024
Una aventura en solitario de Tanis, como todas las de los preludios. Es un viaje entre diferentes mundos y los tapones entre ellos.
May 1, 2025
The book is nice while yer reading it but if you stop and start thinking about it, the plot holes reveal theyselves by the dozen and the story stops making any sense
Read
December 8, 2023The last of the preludes, and while it has an interesting premise, again, you're left with the question of why Tanis doesn't really mention any of this in the chronicles. Like I get it, it's a ret-conning/shoehorning of stories, but several of them either fit in with the larger story, fit with their character traits, or have a clear logic as to why the story doesn't come up later.
So here we go, Tanis pairs up with a dwarf and a trickster and meet an old very much dying mage. The mage says, hey would you go back in time within my memories and see about rescuing a lady I used to love? The reason for why Tanis might do this makes sense, the guy, in his past, knew Tanis's rapist father. So this is an opportunity to meet him and ____? So he goes, and well, the past in Krynn is weird because it's so colored by the cataclysm, but also a lot of people are old enough to remember it, so it's not always clear what the past allows us. I have the same issue with Lord of the Rings, but that's immaterial here. So the novel happens, and it's the shortest in the bunch and while the conceit is interesting, it really does feel like it runs out of steam.
Tanis, like Aragorn etc, has the appearance and argument of being interesting, without actually being interesting, so that's an issue.
So here we go, Tanis pairs up with a dwarf and a trickster and meet an old very much dying mage. The mage says, hey would you go back in time within my memories and see about rescuing a lady I used to love? The reason for why Tanis might do this makes sense, the guy, in his past, knew Tanis's rapist father. So this is an opportunity to meet him and ____? So he goes, and well, the past in Krynn is weird because it's so colored by the cataclysm, but also a lot of people are old enough to remember it, so it's not always clear what the past allows us. I have the same issue with Lord of the Rings, but that's immaterial here. So the novel happens, and it's the shortest in the bunch and while the conceit is interesting, it really does feel like it runs out of steam.
Tanis, like Aragorn etc, has the appearance and argument of being interesting, without actually being interesting, so that's an issue.
August 24, 2012
I have mixed feelings with prequels in general. On one side, I love reading/watching prequels because they give you a deeper insights into characters that you presumably care about (otherwise, why would you bother with a prequel?). On the other side, prequels are annoying because you already know how they are going to turn out (eventually). You may not know the specific way that a problem will be resolved, but you know that by the end of the prequel, things must be exactly the way they were before the sequel begins.
With all of that said, I still really enjoyed this book. It tales an interesting story and I always enjoyed Tanis as a character. I would suggest this for any of the Tanis fans out there. Or if you want to start reading some Dragonlance novels, this could be one way to introduce yourself to it.
With all of that said, I still really enjoyed this book. It tales an interesting story and I always enjoyed Tanis as a character. I would suggest this for any of the Tanis fans out there. Or if you want to start reading some Dragonlance novels, this could be one way to introduce yourself to it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews