Dulak

 It took some time, but I finished Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis's The Annotated Legends, which for a while was their last DragonLance book. (Sort of. The Annotated version was released after their return, but the three books annotated in here were the last they wrote in the setting for several years.)

I'll be honest, while I enjoy this trilogy, it doesn't change the fact the themes tend to hold a mirror up to things I'd rather not ponder half the time. 

The trilogy is focused on the relationship between the twins Raistlin and Caramon, who were very prominent in the Chronicles. As Raistlin took on the black robes of evil and became "The Master of Past and Present"at the end of that trilogy, the twins have drifted apart by the start of these, which start roughly two years after, as Caramon, the big warrior has fallen to alcoholism. In the meantime, Raistlin is busy manipulating Crysania, a Cleric of Paladine (who's likely to take over the church when Elistan dies.) Mind you, the twin's half-sister, Kitiara, is busy plotting her own war, which ends up getting the plot going. 

You see, Raistlin's entire plan in this is to take Cryania back 500 or so years to the Cataclysm, then jump her ahead 100 years to a point where she'll be the only cleric in the world. Thus the Queen of Darkness will be weak enough for Raistlin to defeat and take her place as a god. (The trick being the portal to the Plane of the Abyss can only be opened by a powerful mage of evil and a powerful cleric of good.) 

Crysania believes she can redeem Raistlin, which leads her into some of the most hubristic acts a good character can make. And she pays for it, and eventually sees her faults, but it takes 3 books. Caramon spends 3 books getting sober, getting in shape, and eventually becoming his own person. Raistlin spends 3 books reaching the zenith of his power, and then finding out exactly how empty his desire is. Kitiara spends 3 books plotting to help the winner. And Tasslehoff, who ends up back in time against all proscriptions against created races going back, spends 3 books being comic relief, even if he is the force that ends up grounding the rather lofty nature of everyone else's Hero Journeys. (Races created by chaos are not supposed to be allowed to go back in time, since they allow time to be changed. Although, had Tas not gone back, the series would have ended at the end of book 2, since that's when the mountain Zhaman exploded with Raistlin's mentor in it.)(Yes, time travel and paradox play a large role, particularly in the second volume. The third volume shows us first the results of Raistlin's victory, then shows us how they shift it to a more optimal timeline. It's like Back to the Future, without a DeLorean.) 

But yes, the focus on everyone's hubris and personality flaws is painful all the way around, even with a "happy ending". In terms of the Annotations, Ms. Weis doesn't say as much in the book as she did in the Chronicles, while Mr. Hickman expands quite a bit on Campbell and his view of the characters, and how all of this sets up the further revealed cosmology in the next trilogy after the horrible book. Still worth reading.