The sheer amount of DragonLance literature which has seen print is enough to cause most library shelves to buckle, and I can't help feeling that a proportion of it actually diminishes the legendary quality of the original epic saga. I'd suggest (humbly) that, for a good grounding, a first time reader read concentrate the main novels:
Although a real purist would only read the Chronicles, Legends and perhaps Tales, because there's more than enough story there to capture the magic of DragonLance without diluting it with a text that doesn't fit into the picture already formed in your mind. (I'll deal the recent releases later on.)
There are altogether too many books of short stories about minor characters, others dealing with tales of legend, the early lives of the heroes, and so on. When the heroes begin on their quest at the start of "Dragons of Autumn Twilight", it is clear that these are friends of long standing who have adventured together many a time. Alright, fair enough. However, a lot of the "prelude" novels strain credibility. If you accept all that's written, far too much has already happened to the Companions: For example, in Preludes Book 1, "Darkness & Light", Sturm and Kitiara are transported in a gnome flying ship to the red moon, Lunitari, and they meet a bronze dragon. 'Nuff said?
I accept that the world of Krynn is a place that many writers would like to leave their mark on, but what draws the line where the continuity is lost and the profiteering begins? In my opinion, DragonLance cannot support the all-inclusiveness of the Forgotten Realms setting. This fantastic world should revolve around the Heroes of the Lance, be full of peerless drama and stand on its own without the need for the boring bits to be fleshed out as "background." When the dragons are encountered in the Legends saga, their reappearance is meant to be awe-inspiring, to the characters and readers alike. Read around and there are all sorts of references to dragons, some after the gods had allegedly withdrawn from Krynn. Having read "Before the Mask" and "The Black Wing" (from the Villians series), I failed to enjoy them because they chronicled lives destined for a quick demise: Ariakus and Khisanth were minor figures who died in the course of "Dragons of Autumn Twilight", and don't need this sort of half-hearted further explanation.
Addendum: I've just discovered that Wizards of the Coast Inc. have issued a volume reprinting the shortest short stories from the Tales volumes. Er, excuse me... a single new piece of fiction cannot justify the purchase of such a blatant cash-in.
I dislike in a number of ways the approach taken with the ending of the old story arc in "The Second Generation" and "Dragons of Summer Flame". Firstly and foremost, the marketing ploy used to sell the former of the two novels, which some people might have have been duped into believing was an entirely new book (if you haven't read it, it actually contains reprints of three novellas—one each from the original Tales trilogy—plus a couple more on the theme of the Companions' children.) Seemingly put together merely as a scene setting exercise for the upcoming blockbuster, there are staggeringly big holes in the plot. The sudden appearance of the Gray Robes, able to command the magic of all three moons, strikes at the heart of all we know about magic on Krynn. The revelation that Sturm had a son by Kitiara (eugh?) The fact that new characters keep cropping up with very similar names to those of their illustrious forebears. Ariakus begets Ariakan. Tanis names his son, Gilthas, after his half-brother Gilthanas. Caramon adds Sturm (ouch!), Tanin and Palin to this list (two of whom die shortly into Summer Flame.) All of this only serves to cheapen the memories of much-loved characters. Although not as much as the fact that they conveniently all had kids. Plus the simple lack of originality is disappointing.
A comparatively minor point is the occasional chattiness of the prose in "Dragons of Summer Flame". It's not pleasant to have your concentration broken by a phrase which is so clearly out of place that you realise that you're just reading a book. Raistlin has metamorphosised into some kind all-knowing watcher spirit, all but detached from the world (his 'old friend' conversations with Astinus are quite fun, however.) The plot itself rolls along very sluggishly (there are times when you could put the book down and forget everything), the story is weightily verbose, and it's very... self-indulgent (a last stand in which you know that everything'll turn out okay. Ye ken?)
If you feel that you must read on after Legends, accept a complete change of pace and assume that everything is settled in "Dragons of Summer Flame." If we have to accept that characters are mortal then please, authors, don't make us read about them dying off slowly in their dotage. The Fifth Age seems to lack the soul which made DragonLance great.