# Greyhawk Novels any good?



## Chain Lightning (Sep 5, 2003)

I was wondering, are those Greyhawk novels any good? I see them on the store shelves all the time. Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, Keep on the Borderlands, White Plume Mountain, etc, etc. 

Has anyone read them? Are they are good read? Would like to hear some critques on these books.

Now, they don't necessarily have to be genius writing for me to have fun reading them. So if they're above average fair, that may be good enough for me to try one.

What do you guys think?


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## Cthulhu's Librarian (Sep 5, 2003)

Chain Lightning said:
			
		

> I was wondering, are those Greyhawk novels any good? I see them on the store shelves all the time. Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, Keep on the Borderlands, White Plume Mountain, etc, etc.
> 
> Has anyone read them? Are they are good read? Would like to hear some critques on these books.
> 
> ...




I've read a few of them, and put a few down without finishing them. 

The Justicar & Escalla books by Paul Kidd (White Plume Mountain, Decent Into the Depths of the Earth, and Queen of the Demonweb Pits) are all fun, and if your looking to be entertained, they'll do just fine. I'd say they were above average. I don't have a lot of time for fluff reading, but after reading the first of these, I was waiting for the others to come out. 

The Ru Emerson books (Keep on the Boarderlands and Against the Giants) were awful. I couldn't finish either of them. Weak plot, boring, no personality for the characters. Forget them.


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## CrusaderX (Sep 5, 2003)

I agree, the Paul Kidd Greyhawk books are alot of fun.  The Justicar and Escalla are cool characters, and the books are light but enjoyable entertainment.  Even moreso if you're familiar with the modules they're based on.

I'd pass on the other recent Greyhawk books.  I'm a huge fan of the Keep on the Borderlands module, but the novel based on it was just plain awful.  Stick with Paul Kidd's stuff.


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## Doppleganger (Sep 5, 2003)

Paul Kidd is an exceptional writer.  His three novels (WPM/DDE/QDP) are chock full of light-hearted fun, and brimmming with moody metaphors and cleverly descriptive adjectives.  They don't really evoke any "Greyhawk" feeling, and also the plots don't necessarily reflect what you'd expect from the titles of the books, but they're still definately worth your time to read.

I endured Against the Giants by Ru Emerson, and that was quite honestly one of the worst books I've subjected myself to in a long time.  I could go on and on about the problems, but I'd rather just blast it from memory and move on.  Avoid it at all costs.  You have been forewarned....

Temple of Elemental Evil was enjoyable.  I'm a big fan of the original 1st edition module, so that may have boosted my enthousiasm as I read about familiar names and places coming to life. I also like the way it felt like a real D&D adventure, in that the author was obviously a D&D player and didn't bend rules for novelization purposes.  All in all this was fun novel and I thoroughly enjoyed it.


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## Chain Lightning (Sep 5, 2003)

Ah, thanks for the heads up everyone. I guess Kidd is the way to go. I'll check out "White Plume Mountain". The way you guys have described the books, sounds like the kind of stuff that I'm in the mood for right about now. Going to finish the novel I'm on now....2/3rds of the way through it , then I'll be checking out the Kidd stuff. 

Thanks guys.

Other posters, feel free to continue discussion on the Greyhawk novels, I welcome more reviews and opinions.


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## Phebius (Sep 5, 2003)

Doppleganger said:
			
		

> I endured Against the Giants by Ru Emerson, and that was quite honestly one of the worst books I've subjected myself to in a long time.  I could go on and on about the problems, but I'd rather just blast it from memory and move on.  Avoid it at all costs.  You have been forewarned....




I remember that one.  One of the most banal books I hae ever read.  Th combats were SO bad.  You could almost hear the dice rolling in the background.  Seriously.  The heroes attacked.  Then the villians attacked.  Then the heroes attacked.




> Temple of Elemental Evil was enjoyable.  I'm a big fan of the original 1st edition module, so that may have boosted my enthousiasm as I read about familiar names and places coming to life. I also like the way it felt like a real D&D adventure, in that the author was obviously a D&D player and didn't bend rules for novelization purposes.  All in all this was fun novel and I thoroughly enjoyed it.




That was a good one.  I was pleasantly surprised after reading Against the Giants to find that it was possible to adapt an old D&D adventure and make it entertaining.  And the ending seemed to set up a sequel.  Wonder if that'll ever happen.


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