A book, written by
Margaret Weis with prologue by
Tracy Hickman, part of the
DragonLance saga.
The book is prequel to DragonLance Chronicles, describing the events that led to Dragons of Autumn Twilight, focusing on the viewpoint of Raistlin Majere. It starts from Raistlin's birth and follows his life up to the point of 5 years before the first Chronicle, to the day day when the friends parted with promise to meet in five years.
The book itself is laden with contradictions to things said before. Although the basic happenings (ie. Raistlin's Test, Kitiara's acquaintances) are there, many events just don't fit the "free" 5 years' time frame or are just outright contradictory (ie. Raistlin's father's fate). However, this is acknowledged by the author in prologue and must not let bother the reader.
The book itself is interesting. Although it could be said that Raistlin in the book doesn't fit the Raistlin seen later on, it works well (damn well better than, for example, in Dragons of Summer Fire). In fact, it might even give some insight to his character, and true enough, the few new things that happened in the book make it easier to understand Raistlin. I realize how this sounds, but at one point I identified so strongly with him that I almost cried at one event. Having read the book, you should know what I mean.
Summary: The book offers little new information, but it gives new angles. Far from excellent read but enjoyable, more so than some other prequel/postquels.
Rating: 7.8