Quag Keep
by Andre Norton
fantasy
copyright 1978
read in May 2015
rated 5/10: readable, but only if there's nothing else
Okay, I don't play Dungeons & Dragons. Perhaps the category for this book should be "fansonly" -- rubbish, though fans may enjoy it. Nooo... It's not rubbish. Just boring.
A quick check of wikipedia: Quag Keep was the first D&D novel. And these novels make money, where the scenario rule books don't. So, okay, it's not easy to know how to start...
Quag starts with some D&D players being whisked off to the land of fantasy. Seven players, according to wikipedia. I was not interested enough to count them.
But so what ?!
There's a bit of reference to their real-world personas... Then they decide that it's better to just live in their new fantasy world... Which makes the real-world reference almost pointless. Well... totally pointless.
As a D&D imitator, there are several set piece battles, linked by incident-free travel. Great fun if you're a player, boring for a reader.
The characters each have their own special powers. The book comments, for example, on the special powers of elves -- with no further explanation. Great for an elf player -- who can choose to use the most applicable power -- but boring for the non-aligned reader.
Perhaps it's worth reading this book as the first of its kind...
There are plenty of D&D books which do it a lot better.
No comments:
Post a Comment