Red Sails in the Fallout Review

My judgement might be skewed in light of having just come away from Under the Crimson Sun, but I found this heartwarming tale of two anthropomorphic female animals literally playing grab-ass across the desert–along with a swarm of insects, racist human, and carnivorous plant–to be pretty a entertaining read that plays out very much like an adventure arc might.

The characters were enjoyable (especially Shaani), the pop culture references were not too tiresome (except perhaps for Wigwig’s lolcat speak, but your mileage might vary), and the pacing flowed well up until the end, after which it felt kind of rushed; you never found out what happened to Watering Hole, but presumably they made out alright, how the Plodder’s dealt with having their wombats exploded, and for better or worse Xoota and Shaani never got past the, “playful-spanking” phase.

I found it to be a good deal better than Sooner Dead, so if you liked that I would give this a read, too. 

Under the Crimson Sun Review

I am sorry. I could not finish this book. I barely got through half of it before I had to call it quits, and by then the author had just gotten around to doing something with the abyssal plague. It was not the thri-kreen walking around on six legs, or the crodlus with carapaces; that I could deal with. No, what got me was the author spending page after page going into thorough detail of characters both main and minor, stating and re-stating details–hobbies, likes, dislikes, etc–again. And again. And AGAIN.

The most recent example was about a templar named Dhakar that did not like to go to the arena, but had to pander to one who did. He mentions that the arena was the latter templar’s favorite form of entertainment, then that he went there all the time, then reiterates that while his duties kept him away, if he was free then he was there. This is after the author spends a couple of paragraphs (at least, I might be forgetting more) writing about how much Dhakar disliked going to the arena, among many other things.

This repetition occurs constantly and feels like tedious padding. I felt like I was reading a book that was three times longer than it needed to be, about boring characters and not the abyssal plague (which apparently on Athas is incredibly slow acting). The synopsis about the abyssal plague spreading had just gotten into motion, but was about a hundred pages too late to catch my interest, especially after pages upon pages about the infected mercenary going on and on about how he was having trouble remembering things.

I am sure that shit eventually happens, but I frankly could not care less.

Sooner Dead Review

Another very late review, this one for Sooner Dead, Gamma World’s novel debut. In short, it was pretty good, though I did find the serious tone out of place when compared to the general feel and play style of the game. This isn’t a bad thing mind you, just unexpected. I don’t want to spoil the book if I can help it, so don’t expect a detail synopsis.

The story revolves around two scouts, Hella and Stampede, as they guide a caravan of scientists and heavily armed and armored soldiers across Oklahoma as they search for something (what that is, both you and the characters aren’t privy to until much later). Hella is a human whose body contains nano-machines, allowing her to shape her hands into guns, and later perform other feats (which I won’t spoil). Stampede on the other hand is a bisonoid seismic (ie, can create earthquakes by stomping on the ground).

Overall I enjoyed the pacing, with action scenes, exploration, and character interaction mixed together quite well to give you a solid impression of what the world of Gamma Terra can be like. I say can be, because while there are certainly mutant “people”, there’s a lack of fluctuating mutations and high-tech weaponry. Likewise, aside from the spider-coyote mutant things at the start, there really aren’t any mutant monsters, so don’t expect yexils, centisteeds, or land sharks.

In terms of character depth, the author did a good job on both characters. I like that Hella isn’t a stone-cold survivalist or incapably weak, but instead treads the middle ground. Yeah, she grew up in an apocalyptic world, but she’s still a person with emotions, strengths, and weaknesses. Stampede isn’t as fleshed out, but still a likable father figure archetype. On a similar note, Hella benefits the most from character growth, which is understandable since she’s basically the main character, but I would liked to have seen more.

Unfortunately, there are some grammar and spelling errors, along with some cluttered sentences that could have benefited greatly from some cleanup and mixing up the adjectives now and then, but not nearly as bad as Seal of Karga Kul. Despite these shortcomings, it was still a pretty good read, and I’d recommend it to Gamma World fans with a 7 out of 10.

Seal of Karga Kul Review

Maybe reading Mark of Nerath caused my expectations to plummet, but I found Seal of Karga Kul to be only mostly forgettable. Considering the usual quality of D&D novels, this isn’t as bad as it might seem. The basic plot of the book is that a character is trying to deliver a box to somewhere, gets attacked by stormclaw scorpions en route, and is saved by a group of adventurers that happen to be passing by. The roster is populated by the usual suspects: a dragonborn paladin, human cleric (I think), elf ranger, halfling rogue, and various random strangers that sign up to replace the characters that get killed along the way.

So, main character one joins up reluctantly with the party, something that crops up way too many times throughout the course of the novel. I can’t remember how many times he was like, “I want to leave,” and dragonborn replies with something like, “Do you want to?/Then leave”, and then he doesn’t, only to bring it up again later. To mix things up, he would also frequently consider leaving, before telling himself that there’s no way he could (only to again consider it later and reach the same conclusion).

As for the other characters, they felt too one-dimensional for me to care about or remember. I recall Biri-Dar’s name, but otherwise could only refer to most of the rest by race and class (there was a cleric, but I’m not sure if he/she was a human or what). As with Mark of Nerath, none of the them seem to talk like actual people. Sometimes the dialogue is choppy, and sometimes they talk like they have to use as many words as possible in a single sentence. The author hints at the history for a few of the characters, but doesn’t really touch on it enough to make you care, so when the bodies do start piling up, I thank myself that I’m past the halfway marker.

Descriptions suffer from the same faults as the dialgoue: too much or too little, making most of the book very awkward–often times frustrating–to read, as I had a difficult time figuring out who was who, or what was happening. When I think back, I know that they went into a trade town, had to muck around in the sewers for some reason, went into a jungle, met some halflings, and fought some undead. Out of all of that, the only thing that really stands out is when they went into an inverted castle to get a magical quill (or something). That sounded like an awesome dungeon locale with a stock (yet solid) “end boss”, and if I could keep a campaign going long enough I’d probably steal that idea.

I wouldn’t say this book is bad, certainly not as bad as Mark of Nerath, but as I said it’s definitely forgettable. I’d say it scapes the bare minimum as far as quality goes: you could do worse, but you could do a lot better. I’d give it a 4/10.

Mark of Nerath Review

I’d sworn that I’d posted a review of Mark of Nerath, but then I realized that I’d used it as an example of a terrible product in my Business class. When it comes to buying Dungeons & Dragons novels I’m always hesitant unless they’re written by Don Bassingthwaite (whose name I can spell without looking), as like Jim Butcher and Aeryn Rudel, he’s built up a reputation for quality. I’ve never read fiction by Bill Slavicsek, and at the time there weren’t any reviews up on Amazon, so I figured what the hell, I’ll take a gamble.

Thankfully it’s been four months since I last read the book, so I can’t recall many of the exact details. What I do recall is that the book opens up with a group of stock characters chasing a dragon because its been eating farmers or something. Suffice to say, most of them get killed and the survivors decide to keep at it despite the fact that their party is three and a half men short. But that’s not all, the story cuts between an eladrin wizard also trying to avenge his master who was murdered by something that was never revealed, and a lich who made a deal with Orcus that would get him out of the Shadowfell. Oh, and a human chosen one cleric from some village that I guess is of noble blood that I think the lich was trying to kill.

All told, there was over ten characters, and I couldn’t tell which–if any–was the main one, as they all got a fairly equal measure of screen time. Because of this, none every saw any real development, but Bill does make it a point to shove character quirks and traits down throat all the time (though to be fair, perhaps between all the characters Bill thought you’d forget who was who).

For example, after the eladrin’s mentor is killed, he teams up with a dragonborn and tiefling that are there…because. He takes his master’s familiar along, a pseudodragon, who spends all of her time reminding the eladrin just how incompetent he is. She wasn’t cute, or funny, just an asshole. It’d be like if you were trying to learn to something, and a friend just kept parroting how bad you were at it instead of offering actual, constructive criticism.

The lich also tours around the world with his right-hand man, a death knight (I think). You’d think that being in the position that he’s in, that he must have demonstrated some modicum of skill, right? Well the lich does the same thing that the pseudodragon does: he constantly berates the death knight for being useless. Then when he gets ahold of an iron golem, starts telling the death knight to his face how much better the golem is. Oddly, the death knight does his job and keeps him safe from harm, so…why?

The writing is just bad. I mean, wow. Here’s the second sentence: The dwarf palain Cliffside, strong and confident, strode a few paces back, an axe in his strong right hand. That was really all it took for me to know that this was going to be a terrible book, but I kept at it in the vain hope that it would get better. To put it nicely, the dialogue is cheesy, the fare that players at a gaming table use because they know its cheesy. Here’s something that the halfling rogue says on page 2: ‘Lucky for you I spotted it on the path back there.  I do have excellent perception, you know.”

Who the hell talks like that?

I cannot recommend this book, even for hardcore D&D fans. The characters are lifeless, the story is fractured, and the dialogue is choppy (to say the least). The only saving grace is that Wayne Reynolds did the cover, which looks pretty awesome. If you’re a collector, I guess you could get it, but don’t bother trying to read it. I really tried to finish it, getting through about two-thirds of it before I couldn’t take it anymore. I’d give this book a 1 out of 10.

Gamer’s Library: Mistshore

One of the best things about reading a fantasy novel is being able to take the best parts of a book, whatever they may be, from imaginative plot ideas to fascinating locations, and introducing them into your own D&D games. Mistshore, written by Jaleigh Johnson, is the second installment of the new Ed Greenwood Presents Waterdeep series, each book detailing a different part of 1479 DR Waterdeep. Mistshore provides us with not only a great story but an excellent and most interesting locale.

Mistshore itself is basically an entire ward of the city of Waterdeep, completely comprised of rotting, half-sunken ships rigged together, more and more over time, within which is home to “the monstrous, the lawless, and the violent.” The sort of place normal folk never see. The sort of place one would go if you wanted to disappear for a while, surviving only through wit and cunning. While reading this book I thought of over a dozen great ideas I’d use if I ever incorporated Mistshore into one of my games. If not playing in Forgotten Realms it’s the prefect type of setting you could easily add to any city of your own to make it much more interesting – there are a lot of adventures to be had in a place like this, obviously. Ed Greenwood describes it as a corner of Waterdeep “much whispered about by the fearful, who believe all manner of sinister half sea-monsters , half humans lurk in its sagging riggings and rotten cabins. Creatures with webbed fingers, gills hidden under high-collared robes, and sly, stealthy tentacles waiting to throttle or snatch. Welcome to Mistshore.“

The plot of the book revolves around Icelin, a beautiful young sorceress and street urchin with a haunted past, some of which she cannot remember and some of which she can. Icelin has been touched with the Spellplaugue, one of it’s symptoms causing her spells to go wild – once causing a boarding house to catch fire, killing many people. Something Icelin has had to live with, and since then she has avoided using magic as much as it is possible for her to do so.

Part of Icelins unrecollected past catches up with her in the form of a scar faced eladrin named Cerest in a chance meeting. Figuring out who he has just stumbled upon Cerest takes it upon himself to abduct Icelin at any cost, including the murdering of Icelin’s great-uncle and caretaker. Not knowing why she is being pursued by Cerest and now wanted by the Watch for the murder of her great-uncle Icelin flees to the shadows of Mistshore, with the help of a few allies along the way.

Ever worried about revealing too much in these posts, I don’t want to give away too much about this book but the bulk of this novel follows the hunted Icelin and her few companions through the darkest corners of Mistshore, all the while dealing with her cloudy past and dealing with her spellscar. There are plenty of unexpected twists and plenty of action. One of the strengths of this book, and Jaleigh Johnson’s writing in general, is most definitely bringing the characters to life. The personalities, the dialogue and the development of characters over the course of the book is done very well, to a point that other writers in the game should take note.

This one is definitely a recommended read.