I just finished the War of Souls, the latest trilogy in the Dragonlance universe by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. (Thanks, E, it was a good read.)

What struck me was the similarities between the trilogy and Ursula K Le Guin’s The Other Wind, the latest in Earthsea Saga. Now, the first book in the DL trilogy came out a year and a half before the Earthsea book. But the last book in the DL trilogy came out a year later, and Le Guin actually had already explored the issue somewhat in The Farthest Shore.

What am I talking about? * SPOILER WARNING *

1. The importance of dragons, particularly in human form.
2. The relationship of the dead with magic.

The first one is just some interesting trivia. I don’t know enough about dragon legends to know whether or not this holds true across literary universes. But, in both series, dragons can shift in and out of human form. Other things I need to check out: I know for certain that in Earthsea, the language of Dragons is the same as the language of magic (and because of the way magic is based on true names, Dragons can’t help but tell the truth.) Is this true in the DL universe? Anyway, both series are centered around dragons.

The second thing is the heart of the similarity. In both universes, magic exists only because of the dead, and is rapidly draining out because of the dead. While in tWoS (not to be confused by tWoT mind you), this is somewhat more of a gimmick, in tOW, Le Guin, among other things, uses it to expound on concepts of freedom and slavery.

And, another surface similarity that I realized: both the trilogy and the book redefine their respective unniverses.