27. 1988. (Dec.) - Dragonlance - Michael Williams - Weasel's Luck (Dragonlance #12)

 

Series: Heroes Volume 3

The third volume in the Dragonlance Heroes series, this is one of the least heroic of the bunch. The titular Weasel is the youngest son of a modest aristocrat and is a thoroughly egotistical, opportunistic scoundrel. The book is, however, a kind of High Fantasy Bildungsroman with Weasel learning about life and what it means to be a hero.

Unfortunately, Weasel's transformation from anti-hero to hero does take place a bit too quickly towards the end and is not totally convincing, but I do understand why this happens. The truth is Weasel is a lot more fun to read about when he is just being a little shit, playing pranks on his brothers and playing both sides against each other in a supernatural good versus evil fight in order to survive. 

In the end it is a really enjoyable book, above average writing for the franchise with interesting characters and a plot which includes ghosts, revenge, knights, palatial intrigue, centaurs and satyrs. Definitely worth a read.

TL;DR: 7/10

26. 1988. (Nov.) - Greyhawk (Gygax) - Gary Gygax - Dance of Demons (Gygax #4)

 

Series: Gord, the Rogue #6

There is much to be thankful to Gary Gygax for, he invented Dungeons and Dragons which brought such joy to so many people, for example, but his forays into fiction are surely not a thing to thank him for. 

Dance of Demons is the last of his Greyhawk novels and much like his previous ones it is pretty terrible. By this time Gygax had acrimoniously separated from what was then TSR, the company which sold D&D and there was clearly a lot of bitterness in the air. In this last volume he decided to burn his remaining bridge by just destroying the world that he had created.

This could be the premise for a pretty interesting novel, but it wasn't to be. Gygax writes in an overly florid way which commits all the worst sins of fantasy writing. The two greatest of these are his penchant for long, drawn-out, battle sequences, which are really dull and the creation of an overly complex cast of pretty indistinguishable characters. There must be some 20 different demons here all with nearly unpronounceable names and paper-thin characterisations for whom you care nothing if they live or die. It feels like the novel should come with a 500 page volume of extra material fleshing out the world and characters, I kind of need to see Gygax's notes to make sense of this, or even care. By the end the universe is destroyed and our main characters live on in parallel realities, thank god I don't have to read 100 page battle scenes again.

TL;DR: 1/10 Thank fuck it's over. 

25. 1988 (Oct.) - Forgotten Realms (D&D) - Kate Novak, Jeff Grubb - Azure Bonds (Forgotten Realms #6)

 

Series: Finder's Stone #1

The first book in the Forgotten Realms "Finder's Stone Trilogy" this is actually an above average entry in the Realms books. With a compelling story and a great cast of secondary characters, plenty of mysteries to unravel and a satisfying ending, it's a light and fun read.

The main character, Alias, is a badass woman warrior with a mysterious past that gets unravelled as the book goes on. I get the feeling that this was possibly not imagined as the first of a trilogy, because the book does add up to a full story and wraps up quite neatly at the end, but that also makes it more satisfying as a read.

It's typical of D&D books that the central characters form a party, and this is no exception, we get a warrior, a thief/bard, a paladin and a mage, but all of them are quirky enough to make them fun. The warrior is an amnesiac, the bard is not a bard really but a halfling thief with dubious morals, the paladin is a lizard who speaks through smell and the mage is actually a merchant who dabbles. You also get dragons, ancient gods and dark rituals. Fun!

TL;DR: 7/10 Read it! 

24. 1988 (Aug.) - Forgotten Realms (D&D) - Ed Greenwood - Spellfire (Forgotten Realms #4)

 

Series: Shandril Saga #1

The introduction of Elminster into the Forgotten Realms novels (he had already appeared in earlier short stories in magazines) and written by Ed Greenwood, the actual creator of The Forgotten Realms setting, based on his own campaign setting, this isn't a great novel, but it's ok.

The story follows Shandril Shessair, a young orphan barmaid who becomes imbued with Spellfire as part of her genetic heritage as she plows through some dracoliches, adventures around, gets married on a whim and is pursued by evil forces who want to get her power.

There is little to no character development here, except for Elminster who feels fully fleshed, everyone else is kind of a cardboard stereotype of who they are supposed to be. Just the suddenness of how Shandril and Narm's relationship goes from perfect strangers to married is an indication of that. Pretty much a paint by numbers Forgotten Realms novel, it entertains but doesn't enthuse.

TL;DR: 6/10 Ok, but not great. 

23. 1988 (Aug.) - Dragonlance (D&D) - Nancy Varian Berberick - Stormblade (Dragonlance #11)

Series: Heroes Volume 2

A part of the Heroes cycle, Stormblade is a perfectly good Dragonlance novel, but it seems to be stuck in the wrong place. The Heroes cycle usually follows the story of an important character in the universe, the first volume covering Huma, an almost mythical hero of the universe, and the volumes after this one doing a similar job of fleshing out great characters.

Stormblade is a more typical D&D novel of the style where you get a party together and give them a quest which they must achieve before the end of the book. In this case they have to retrieve a new kingsword which was stolen and which would give the wielder the power to be the new regent king of the Dwarves of Thorbardin. 

The story is fun, happening parallel to the "Dragons" trilogy, with some of the characters being not too original (the Kender here is just a copy of Tasslehoff, but older), still it fleshes out the universe nicely and it's a fun read. By the end it feels like there's a sequel being set up, but that was not to come, further cementing the idea that this is somewhat out of place in the Dragonlance novels.

TL; DR: 6/10

21. 1988. (Apr.) - Forgotten Realms - Douglas Niles - Black Wizards (Forgotten Realms #3)

Series: Moonshae Trilogy #2

As usual, for me at least, with a lot of these D&D novels, I really enjoy the first half of the novels much more than the second. This is probably because I get bored with the inevitable long battle scenes towards the end of the books, and because to do those well you have to be a really good writer, which Niles isn't... he´s ok, but no great.

So I enjoy mostly the plotty and character based stuff, and this, being a middle book in a trilogy has slightly less of that than the first one, there's no need to set up the world or the main characters, as that was done in the first part, to you jump straight into the action after giving up an update on what is going on with our characters.

It starts pretty well, with a kind of murder mystery and mysterious assassins and a quest to find those responsible, but soon it devolves into battle after battle, set in different locations and with constantly shifting casts. I enjoyed the book when it was taking a breather, but soon got bored with the extended fight scenes. Oh well. Still, it's ok.

TL;DR: 6/10 Like the characters, bored of the battles. 

20. 1988. (Mar.) - Greyhawk (Gygax) - Gary Gygax - Come Endless Darkness (Gygax #3)

Series: Gord, the Rogue #5

More like Come Endless Dorkness, am I right? Frankly this isn't a fun read, on each page you can hear the dice roll and endless fight follows endless fight, like a live commentary of a D&D game. Very little character development and it just feels like a succession of boss fights in a game. Overall it's an incredibly dull read. 

Gygax clearly knows his world, of course he created the universe of Greyhawk where this is set, but unfortunately he isn't as good at communicating it to the reader, it's a universe full of demons and lords of evil and good and balance, our heroes fight for balance against evil and that's pretty much it. Previous novels in the series made a much better job at developing the characters, but you can't just have a whole installment where it just feels like nothing is going anywhere.

It is also a confusing read, I am sure Gygax can keep all the demons straight in his mind, but here we get a bunch of them which are just so many faceless enemies to kill and unfortunately the same happens with the main character, who are, of course, all male. We have a bard, a druid, a rogue and a barbarian as a typical D&D party all with names starting with the letters C or G making everything even more confusing. If you've read previous installments you know who they are, but the characterization is so slight that even when you get deaths the lack any kind of impact. The worst possible kind of tie-in, dull, repetitive and uninteresting.

TL;DR: 2/10 Exceedingly dull and repetitive.

19. 1988 (Mar.) - Dragonlance (D&D) - Richard A. Knaak - The Legend of Huma (Dragonlance #10)

Series: Heroes Volume 1

The first of the Dragonlance novels not to feature the characters from the Chronicles series, this goes into the backstory of the world and to a character that although was never actually present in the Chronicles is mentioned several times in them. 

Huma is a mythical figure in the Dragonlance universe as the first to have found the Dragonlances, magical weapons that could be used against dragons in a really effective way. He was also a hero to the Solamnic orders of Knights, a kind of folk hero and ideal knight blessed by the god Paladine and defeater of the dragonqueen Takhisis. The original chronicles were full of references to him and to a song based on his exploits, Strum Brightblade being a particular fan of him.

As a novel it is a competent bit of writing, Knaak is pretty good at this kind of stuff. It's of course no some kind of masterpiece but it is also thoroughly enjoyable, with some cool characters, particularly in Kaz the nice Minotaur and the dragon/cleric/love interest Gwyneth. It's ultimately a story of heroic sacrifice in the Dragonlance universe, and it does its job well. 

TL; DR: 7/10