TSR’s seventh FR-series module went into unusual territory again. A 128-page perfect bound book, it was one of the first products to sport a 2nd Edition logo, though the interior stats are all still first edition (magic-user, not mage, etc.).[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Posts Tagged reading
If you study the history of the Middle Ages, it doesn’t take long to realize the Normans were involved in a lot more than England and northern France. However, while I’d become aware of the Norman state in southern Italy,[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
The very beginning of The Disfavored Hero directly states that this is an alternate Japan (Naipon) where myth is real. This is something that should never be said in a novel. Let your creation stand on its own feet, and[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
In 1988 SSI released the first of their celebrated “Gold Box” games, Pool of Radiance. TSR cashed in on their new AD&D and Forgotten Realms tie-in with a novel… loosely… based on the game, and 96-page adventure module, Ruins of[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Book four of Crown of Stars follows the usual practice of giving time to four major plot threads. The new major character this time is Adica, the Hollowed One of a tribe that is part of an effort to cast[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Barry Strauss has written a very accessible account of the second time the Greeks fought off the Persian Empire. He spends a good amount of time on the background: the Ionian revolt, the general configuration of the Persian court, etc.[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
The sixth FR-series supplement headed east, extending the detail maps of the Forgotten Realms another panel to the east of the original boxed set ones (while jogging slightly south), and hit the eastern edge of the large map in the[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Book three of Crown of Stars introduces Zacharias as the new viewpoint character to help hold the book together as a separate unit. His story is largely passive, as he follows Sanglant’s mother, who re-enters after her exit in the[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Charles Spenser is certainly correct in his assertion that the Battle of Blenheim is one of the more important battles of history that is not well remembered today. This is more surprising in the English-speaking world since it was an[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
The second book of Crown of Stars definitely suffers from a fracturing of the plot, with eight different viewpoint characters, most of which get turns from the get-go. Only one of these is a completely new character, and Anna’s story[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…