Since I spoke about reading in a previous blog post, I have to talk about one of my favorite book series of all time: The Dragonrealm by Richard A. Knaak.
Firedrake | 1989 | ISBN 0-445-20940-2
Ice Dragon | 1989 | ISBN 0-445-20942-9
Wolfhelm | 1990 | ISBN 0-445-20966-6
Shadow Steed (Origins Book 1) | 1990 | ISBN 0-445-20967-4
The Shrouded Realm (Origins Book 2) | 1991 | ISBN 0-446-36138-0
Children of the Drake (Origins Book 3) | 1991 | ISBN 0-446-36153-4
Dragon Tome | 1992 | ISBN 0-446-36252-2
The Crystal Dragon | 1993 | ISBN 0-446-36432-0
Dragon Crown | 1994 | ISBN 0-446-36464-9
The Horse King | 1997 | ISBN 0-446-60353-8
Past Dance | 2002 | PDF
Dragon Master | 2002 | PDF
Skins | 2003 | PDF
A Wolf in the Fold | 2003 | PDF
Storm Lord | 2003 | PDF
The Still Lands | 2004 | PDF
A Game of Ghosts | 2012 | PDF
Legends of the Dragonrealm Volume I
Collects Firedrake, Ice Dragon, and Wolfhelm
Legends of the Dragonrealm Volume II
Collects Shadow Steed, The Shrouded Realm, Children of the Drake, and Skins
Legends of the Dragonrealm Volume III
Collects The Crystal Dragon, Dragon Crown, Past Dance, Storm Lord, The Still Lands
Legends of the Dragonrealm Volume IV
Collects Dragon Tome, The Horse King, Dragon Master, A Wolf in the Fold, A Game of Ghosts
Legends of the Dragonrealm: Shade | 2012 | ASIN B0061Q4CLK
Legends of the Dragonrealm: Dragon Masters (Turning War Book 1) | 2013 | ASIN B071S8VTL1
Legends of the Dragonrealm: The Gryphon Mage (Turning War Book 2) | 2014 | ASIN B071HXZQFF
Legends of the Dragonrealm: The Horned Blade (Turning War Book 3) | 2015 | ISBN 1-682-61382-8
Legends of the Dragonrealm: Knights of Frost Part I | 2015 | ASIN B019B78WE8
Legends of the Dragonrealm: Knights of Frost Part II | 2017 | ASIN B06ZZVP4PK
Legends of the Dragonrealm: Cut from the Same Shadow and Other Tales | 2017 | ISBN 1-682-61313-5
Many years ago, when I was a teenager, my dad worked for Warner Publication Distribution. Sometimes they’d get a huge pile of books in the break room, books that hadn’t sold or had been returned for whatever reason. Employees were allowed to take these books home for personal use. Given that my family is really into reading, my dad would go through this pile on a regular basis and grab books that looked interesting for himself, my mom, and me. I was introduced to a number of authors and series this way, two of whom would become (and remain) among my absolute favorites to this day. I devoured these books, and when the freebies stopped coming in, I raced to the bookstore to buy more. And when these books became available on Kindle, I bought the e-book edition, even though I already owned most (or all) of them in paperback form.
One such series is called The Dragonrealm, by Richard A. Knaak. I cannot overstate the impact this series had on me as I wandered my way through the teenage years and early 20s. The world Knaak created is nuanced and detailed, full of complex characters and a rich history. His work deeply influenced my own ideas of fiction, and eventually, the origin of my online persona Sapphire. This very website is named Coloden after the Coloden Void, a space between realities, which I based almost entirely on Knaak’s “Void”. The Void exists between worlds, the null-space that can allow quick transport between distant places, or in which you can lose yourself forever. Sapphire is the Child of the Coloden Void, just as Knaak’s Darkhorse is a creature of The Void.
Not only is The Dragonrealm immersive and accessible, but Knaak himself is just as accessible to his fans. In the early 2000s, he started a project allowing us to mail him a check (ah, the days before PayPal and Patreon) in order to gain access to a series of six short stories in PDF form. I jumped at the chance to dive back into The Dragonrealm, and have happily pounced on every story set in that world ever since.
Knaak has, of course, written a ton of fiction set in other universes, including Diablo 3, D&D’s Dragonlance, World of Warcraft, and more, as well as a few stand-alone novels of his own. I’ve read and enjoyed many of them, as I just like Knaak’s style, but The Dragonrealm is far and away my favorite series he’s written. Perhaps because it’s his own world, where he’s beholden to no one but his own muse, I connect with the stories and the characters there on a personal level in a way that I experience with few other writers or series.
The other writers and series that had an enormous impact on my in my formative years were Robert J. Sawyer’s Quintaglio Ascension Trilogy, Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park, and Robert Bakker’s Raptor Red. All of these will get their own blog entry at some point, because I am genuinely who I am today (at least in part) because of these novels.
For whatever reason, it’s fairly difficult to find a list of ALL of the stories that take place in the Dragonrealm, and also details which stories are available within which anthologies. Between Amazon, Wikipedia, and the fan Wikia, you’d think all the information would be somewhere, but it’s not. It used to be on Knaak’s own site, but a recent server move and redesign has made even that resource vanish. And so I’m dedicating this blog post to keeping a comprehensive list of all Dragonrealm stories, and details about which novels are contained in which e-book anthologies. Mostly for my own benefit rather than anyone else’s.
Looking through Amazon, the paperback copies seem to be selling for a rather high price. Even if I could sell my paperback copies for those dollar amounts, I never would. Even though I have my e-book copies, I cherish the copies I grew up reading, and will never part with them if I have any say in the matter.
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