Dragons of Winter Night

Dragonlance: Chronicles, Book 2

By: Tracy Hickman, Margaret Weis

Narrated by: Paul Boehmer

Length: 17 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's Summary

Now the people know that the dragon minions of Takhisis, Queen of Dragons, have returned. The people of all nations prepare to fight to save their homes, their lives, and their freedom. But the races have long been divided by hatred and prejudice. Elven warriors and human knights fight among themselves. It seems the battle has been lost before it begins.

The companions are separated, torn apart by war. A full season will pass before they meet again - if they meet again. As the darkness deepens, a disgraced knight, a pampered elf maiden, and a rattle-brained kender stand alone in the pale winter sunlight.

Not much in the way of heroes.

©1985 TSR, Inc., Cover Copyright 2000 Wizards of the Coast LLC (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Poor narrator.

Where does Dragons of Winter Night rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Average for a recreational read.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Misplaced dramatics and emphasis. Mispronunciations. Pauses where they didn't belong and not where they did belong. Character voices mixed up.

It was a good story or I wouldn't have put up with the annoying narrator.

Really want to like it...

I really want to like this book. I was actually looking forward to it.

But alas, to say no ill of the man himself, Paul Boehmer is just not the right fit for this book.

Great book. Poor performance.

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

The book was great. The BOOK. It was great when I first read it back in the 80s. This audio performance, not so much.

What did you like best about this story?

The book, itself, is fantastic. You get a variety of characters and personalities and the scope is epic.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narrator's attempt to add more drama is a failure. The pauses and stops make the story choppy. If it were a boat ride, I'd be sea-sick. He mispronounces half the names in the books.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

The BOOK is fantastic. The audio performance, not so much

Still a monotone narration

Really a shame that Audible picked a narrator that reads in such a deliberate monotone that it is almost impossible to tell if it is computer narration or a person.

Better than book one because the authors learned writing on the fly as they wrote this series and were better at righting but book two.

so....many....dramatic.....pauses

the narrator needs to learn when to pause for emphasis. that was ridiculous. great book.

An old story well told

A story I read when I was a teenager just as good as I remember. An okay performance and a good Series of books.Worth a listen when all the Great stories run out or if your just stuck as to what you'll read next.

Wow!

The narrator is amazing! He does the most remarkable accents for the characters and brings them alive. The story is incredible. All of the first 6 Dragonlance books are fantastic. Would gladly recommend!

growing up I read all of these books

growing up I remember reading all of these books the ones specifically by Tracy and Margaret are so damn good I never thought in a million years I would be able to find it on books Audible I binged this book best 18 hours I spent a long time LOL

Get it for the story, not the performance.

As a way to re-live the books, this is passable. Please don't make this your first encounter with the series. The reader is terrible. His pronunciations are incorrect and haphazard at times. His delivery is wooden and ill-timed. Yet, it's still not enough to destroy this work of art.

Not Pleased with new reader.

First of all I absolutely love this series. The Chronicles Series from the Dragonlance world contains so many fun charecter. This book definately takes you from the first book running through the progression of the War.

I started listening to this series with Ax Norman, and then audible switched to the reading by Paul Boehmer. Mr. Boehmer reads alot like a text to speech program meets William Shatner. He puts voices to some charecters but only a few and not consistently.

Terrible narration spoils excellent story

Such a shame this excellent story is spoiled by the rubbish narrator. The narrator expends so much effort pronouncing the words ever so clearly that he totally ignores intonation, punctuation and pacing. It is like listening to an android droning away. I actively avoid any audio books narrated by this guy. I can only hope they re-record these Dragons books with someone good doing the narration..

Still a fantastic story, narrator is a bit off

Would you listen to Dragons of Winter Night again? Why?

Yes I would, repeatedly. I LOVE the Dragonlance Chronicles, it was my first proper reading experience with a true d&d book, and it will remain with me forever as the best books I have read in this genre.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Dragons of Winter Night?

The entry into the nightmare forest of Lorac... wow that was powerful writing throughout that entire episode of the book. Unforgettable atmosphere and character interraction, I felt I was actually "in there" with them.

Did Paul Boehmer do a good job differentiating each of the characters? How?

Ah... yes he did, attempting a fair change of accent for each of the major characters, and even "warming" to a few of them. Paul is Shakespearean trained and it shows, but I find the diction and pace a little too "perfect" outside of the individual character portrayals. As the narrator he could have been a little warmer with a less formal approach to the reading.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I was thoroughly gripped by the Lorac episode, feeling the pains and elations of each character as the story progressed. The style of writing had the desired effect at each stage of the episode, both crying with despair at the tragedy of the characters, and laughing with relief when the nightmare ended. This, to me, was the most emotional and most powerfully written part of the book.

Any additional comments?

I can't express how much I really like these Chronicles, they hold a special place in my heart and I will always go back to them when I need to lose myself in a world of both endless despair and eternal hope. The depth of this book is vast and I would place it on a par with Middle Earth in it's complexity and history.

Classic to DnD

...and for that reason, fun. As a new arrival to DnD, reading the foundational stories is important to me. It helps me be a better DM.

Worst narration ever great story

Fantastic story. Very well written, but the narration is very poor. completely wooden delivery, the character accents are appaling. but still worth listening to.

Sun of Solamnia

This is Sturm and Laurana's book, and a seriously good one at that. There are visible improvements over the first installment in terms of both prose and pacing, plotting and characterization. A great listen for any fantasy fan. Also, Raistlin.

I Love It All!

I’m in love with this series in all it’s forms!! I love how the characters are built up, how we come to be apart of the world and story with our adventurers; we laugh when they laugh! We mourn when they mourn, and We fight when they fight! Fantastic work by the authors and the narrator for his brilliant work on the diversity of so many voices, too!
All and all, love the story of light vs darkness that is built up, I love the emotions emanating from the characters, as if they themselves aren’t totally fantasy based either, but Real. Giving them all very much a sense of relatability and empathy from us as the audience. Very proud and Amazed by the author’s and narrator’s hard work! 👏😁👏

Adventurers in trouble

Paul Boehmer is an excellent narrator and brings this audiobook to life with this many voices for the characters. This second book in the series sees our merry band of heroes broken up during their adventures and having to follow different paths. The search is on for Dragon orbs that can help in the coming war with the dark queen. Their is a twist in the tale for Tanis and Sturm has to faceoff against the Knights of solamnia. Another book packed with adventure as we continue to follow the exploits of our heroes.