Death Gate Cycle Books In Order

Publication Order of Death Gate Cycle Books

Written by gaming fantasy pioneer and American author Margaret Weis, this was seven-part series of novels following in much the same vein to what she did before. Produced alongside Tracy Hickman, they were both fantasy writers with a lot of time and experience writing within the genre. Having created the Dragonlance series prior to this, this one aimed to be more ambitious in its epic scope and size. The series itself was finished after Dragonlance, and the authors themselves aimed to replicate the work of J.R.R. Tolkein. With academic take on the fantasy genre giving the series backlogs of tomes, they hoped to do the same with this particular franchise. Set within the aftermath of a nuclear and anti-matter holocaust, it was looking to create a new take on the genre giving it their own unique perspective.

There have been spin-offs of this series due to its ever expansive nature and ability to build upon with a number of different features. One such example is the video-game and text-adventure that have been set around the series, offering readers and players more ability to interact with the work. Giving an enhanced perspective on this firmly rooted universe, it looks like there’s no stopping its legacy which continues to grow at an ever rapid rate.

Dragon Wing

This was the first novel to commence the series, it being originally written and published in February, 1990. Setting up the world with all its own rules and conventions, it worked as an entry-point for the many readers, and players, to come. It also managed to create an entirely new style and tone that was different to the other works of its now famous authors.

As with their other series, this features a whole range of different skills and talents, each of them attributable to their respective races. Set around the plight of an assassin and their task with which they have been set, it looks at the coming together of different people to fight one common enemy. They also operate as a way to establish themselves and create themselves as independent characters with their own free-will. This then goes alongside the many inhabitants of the nations they’re sworn to protect and their interplay with the characters. Showing them what’s at stake, they manage to juxtapose the plight of the main central protagonists within this adventure. They also provide obstacles along the way, thus creating conflict for the key players to overcome navigating around. With Weis able to create darker, more ambiguous characters and Hickman able to produce heroes in the classical sense, they play off each others skills well. This can be seen in the writing where their strengths and weaknesses are evident, as they work alongside each other, as do their characters.

An assassin has been hired to kill a royal child, but he stops just in time, as he soon realizes there are greater forces at work and more important factors at stake. Forming a partnership with this royal child they create an unlikely alliance that nobody could’ve foreseen or even expected as they both join forces. Working together now they aim to take out an even bigger threat that could potentially engulf them all, as Arianus, the airborne kingdoms, are threatened by a variety of different foes. Will they be able to find out the truth behind the many various plots that could put them all in danger and can they survive long enough to learn the reality behind the dragon wing?

Elven Star

Released in 1990 as well, this was to act as a direct follow-up to the last, picking up from the events of the previous novel. Further establishing the worlds within, it seeks to expand upon them, whilst also giving many of the characters even deeper back-story. Providing a greater degree of in-depth analysis into this particular environment, it managed to shape and hone in ways that had been previously unseen.

Largely based around the plight of the elves this time, it focuses upon their race and who they are as a people. Also involved are the humans and the dwarves, all disparate forces that must band together to fight one common enemy. With generations behind them, they step forwards with their wealth of history to fight for the fate of the entire world. Combining humans, elves and dwarves, it manages to create a world where the races live in harmony with one another. With the humans and elves living up high in the trees, it is only the dwarves that live close to ground below. This ensures a harmony that enables the readers and players are able to take from when they themselves get involved in the world. The characters themselves have also been further developed by Hickman and Weis as they continue to work as team, fully realizing their strengths and limitations as writers.

Pryan is a world that exists in a perpetual state of eternal sunlight and long-lasting rain, thus leading it to have vast jungles engulf every corner. With humans and elves in the trees and dwarves on the ground, it is a land that has found its own harmony, but this isn’t to last after the elves have been selling weapons to those above in the sky. As tensions have been rising for many generations a new threat may soon unsettle the peace and stability here, thus leaving it up to a elf, dwarf and human to group together and restore order once and for all. Can they learn the truth behind what’s going on discovering more on the Elven Star?

The Death Gate Cycle Series

As a highly ambitious counter-part to the Dragonlance series that came before, this is extremely epic in its scope. The whole series is inspired by J.R.R. Tolkein who himself would use tomes to give his work a sense of grounding. Using and incorpariting its own languages, it provides a fully realized set of worlds for the reader to explore and immerse themselves in. It has even been produced into a video-game simply titled ‘Death Gate’, along with another text-adventure game called ‘The Death Gate Cycle’. As a series itself it has managed to garner an important reputation that has been influential over the years, with a legacy that’s set to continue for some time yet.