It has been a while. I keep reading and writing reviews but I can barely find the time to edit and upload. That is why this review is about a series of books.
So. RPG literature. I thought that when everyone else writes about “kissing books”, I can review “adventure books”. There certainly is an abundance of crappy fantasy and SF literature available, but novels set in the worlds of roleplaying games are something special. Often enough, they reach such low standards that they are only good for kindling fire. The good ones are fast food for the brain; enjoyable, but not something you would spend much time thinking about. The trick is finding the ones worth reading.
This is the world we live in
I have to write a few words about the world of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Golarion is a so-called “kitchen sink setting”, where you can find regions suited for every kind of fantasy adventure imaginable. Most of them are very familiar – the publisher, Paizo, did not bother with hiding any real world references or those to certain kinds of fiction. For example, Prince of Wolves takes place in the country of Ustalav, i.e. Gothic Transylvania.
These are the hands we’re given
The adventures of Count Varian Jeggare and his bodyguard Radovan feature two protagonists. The Count is a brilliant half-elf with too much concern for station, a penchant for solving riddles and an inclination to self-medicate with alcohol during bouts of depression. Jeggare also serves as a Venture-Captain for the Pathfinder Society, an organisation of tomb raiders dedicated to liberating knowledge and securing dangerous artefacts. His bodyguard, Radovan, is the second principal character. Radovan is a hellspawn (also called a Tiefling in the game), which means that one of his ancestors had a dalliance with a fiend of Hell (or any of the other lower planes). The man’s heritage becomes apparent mostly when he grins: his mouth resembles the insides of a meat grinder. He genuinely likes his boss and also is something of a womaniser who does not show a lot of respect towards women (although not without consequences).
Prince of Wolves
The first in the series begins with our two protagonists arriving in Ustalav, where Count Jeggare is looking for a Pathfinder agent who has not reported in for some time. The two soon stumble over a conspiracy concerning the country’s history as the seat of power of a powerful undead wizard.
Master of Devils
Varian and Radovan are sent to the other side of the world to acquire a certain artefact for the Pathfinder Society. Unfortunately, they are separated again. As this is the Asia equivalent for the Pathfinder RPG setting, they proceed to learn kung-fu; Radovan by a “hero” who locks him into the body of a full-blown devil and how wants him to kill a dragon and Varian in a monastery he fled to for safety.
Queen of Thorns
Back from the fever dream that was Master of Devils, Count Jeggare and his bodyguard visit the elven nation of Kyonin. After his carriage was destroyed in Prince of Wolves, Count Jeggare sent it to the elves to have it repaired, as it was a gift from the elven father he never knew. Kyonin’s queen grants his request in exchange for a favour. It turns out that Jeggares father not only was her most important advisor, he also may still be alive. He has disappeared, however, and she asks the Count to find him. What follows is a not so merry jaunt across demon-infested Kyonin towards an encounter with a dragon.
King of Chaos
It’s demons again, but this time there only is one elf involved: Opparal, the elven paladin (think religious fanatic of a benevolent deity with special powers against evil creatures) from the previous book. She is the third protagonist besides Varian and Radovan this time around. The story takes place in the Worldwound, a place that opened up a dimensional rift to the Abyss about 100 years prior. As a result, demonic hordes invaded the countryside and could barely be detained. Both Opparal and the Count seek a book that may contain the key to closing the rift.
Lord of Runes
After leaving the Worldwound and the elven paladin behind, Count Jeggare and Radovan travel to the city of Korvosa to visit one of Varian’s old colleagues. It turns out he died recently and determined the Count to deal with his estate. That starts a search for the parts of yet another magic tome. Unfortunately, this one is cursed, which Varian learns the hard way. To break the curse, the three parts of the book have to be reunited, but one of them lies in the depths of a ruin in region ruled by orc tribes and is guarded by a dragon.
Use them and let’s start trying
The short plot descriptions above should show that story-wise, these books are nothing special. They all share the same themes: the two main characters go looking for something, often together with other adventurers, they have to face evil forces and their own inner demons (or devils), but prevail in the end. It’s standard fantasy fare, really.
Dave Gross strength is creating and developing characters. Both of his protagonists feel like they could be real people with distinctive personalities, if you take away all the fantasy trappings; they have their good and bad sides. That also applies to the minor characters. For RPG literature, this is something that does not happen a lot of the time; the main characters are often all-too-perfect stand-ins for the author and the minor ones cardboard cut-outs. Gross is also very concerned with character development. Both the Count and his bodyguard have to deal with their heritage throughout the books; Varian with his half-elven nature and his human family’s legacy and Radovan with being not only a hellspawn but also with having been conceived by a cabal of devils who want to use him for some nefarious purpose.
Gross also knows how to write action sequences well. They are fast and fun to read, without confusing the reader and without lasting so long that they get boring.
The novels are written in first person in the style of journal entries, alternating between the Count’s and Radovan’s point of view. Dave Gross managed come up with two different styles of writing here. Count Jeggare uses a lot of big words and tends to ramble a lot, whereas Radovan’s sentences are shorter and he uses much more common vocabulary with a few terms strewn in he might have snatched up from his employer. He also shows a dry humour where Jeggare virtually has none. Dave Gross abandons this concept later in the series in favour of a more standard approach of inner monologue while retaining the first person viewpoints.
To make it a place worth living in
As this kind of literature goes, these novels vary in quality, but are mostly mediocre. The audience for this kind of book tends to be rather conservative; deviate from the formula too much and they reject it aggressively (a thing that happened to other authors of the novel line).
There are two outliers here, though. One of them is Master of Devils. It’s bad. Not only does it lack a decent beginning, it also reads like it was rushed through editing and served no other purpose as introducing the quasi-Asian part of the Pathfinder setting. Gross tried to come up with a wuxia tale by making his protagonists the heroes instead of the characters native to the region, who are only allies, foils and opponents without really being fleshed out. It smells of orientalism, but I suppose part of the blame lies with Paizo, as the publisher is responsible for the setting.
The other exception in quality is King of Chaos. It is actually a good book. The novel’s nightmarish background serves as a constant reminder of how high the stakes are, the monsters are frightening and effective, and the protagonists have to struggle hard to achieve their goal. They have to really earn it. Adding the elven paladin Opparal as a main character offers a fundamentally different kind of outlook than the two morally ambiguous people the series is about.
Remains the question of whether I recommend the book or not? Sure. If you have an inclination towards fantasy literature and are looking for something not particularly challenging, you could do worse. You will have to deal with the occasional rough patch, where a revision of the text might have increased its quality, but you shouldn’t expect too much of these books. I’d skip Master of Devils, though. It is not worth reading and carries barely any relevancy to the later books.
I give the series an overall rating of 3. Individually, the ratings are as follows: Prince of Wolves – 3, Master of Devils – 1.5, Queen of Thorns – 3.5, King of Chaos – 4, Lord of Runes – 3.5