Customer Reviews

City of Hawks (Gord the Rogue, Book 3)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This was actually the very first Gord the Rogue book I read, back when I was in ... 7th or 8th grade, I think. I remember being very impressed with it way back then, so re-reading it now - in my early thirties - was an experience.

I've read all the Gord the Rogue books by New Infinities, but never read the Greyhawk Adventures books released under TSR. Despite - or perhaps because of - this, I was able to enjoy this book on its own merits.

And really... well, it's not bad. If you've been a gamer for a long time, it's a sterling example of what a good D&D novel should be like. Gary did a good job here - at least for the first portion.

As far as chronology goes, the Gord the Rogue series is a mess. I'd put the first parts of this book first, followed by the stories in Night Arrant, then back to the remainder of this book, then on to Sea of Death, and onwards to Come Endless Darkness and (if you must) Dance of Demons.

Gary's at his best when talking about Gord's childhood and earlier exploits. Things fall apart a little bit once he gets to the Shadowrealm, but it's still a fun read. The last 30 or so pages, however, are a hot mess. The chess metaphors get excruciating (even to the point of including a *lengthy footnote* explaining a chess variant), everything is written in an indirect way without names, and all in all it just gets crazy. Until, at the end, a character important for Come Endless Darkness is introduced. It's like Gary tried to cram as much as possible into the end in order to bridge the gap between Sea of Death and Come Endless Darkness.

Regardless, it's still a fun, pulpy read after all these years.

this book goes all over the place. The novel is Gary Gygax trying to explain who Gord the Rogue is by showing you his early childhood and the events that happen about him, some of which are behind the scenes. The deeper you get into it the more details, some very vague details about other characters and other events, are tossed at you. The book is not the first in the series and you should not read it till either you are finished or almost finished with both the Greyhawk Adventures series and the Gord The Rogue series (which seems to be a spin off).

If you love Greyhawk, you will love the Gord books - period. There is only one exception, and that is "City of Hawks".
Gary Gygax tried to change the background of the Gord-stories in mid-stride. What originally (in Saga of Old City) seemed to be fate or cunning of the hero is now "unmasked" to be meddling of powers.
It is obvious that these developments are NOT what EGG originally intended. There are major breaks in continuity and outright contradictions. In the context of the Gord-story, this book had best not been written. Anyway, since the rest of the books is 4 to 5-star reading, and since everyone owning the other books also has this one, there is just one advice: Read this one last (after Dance of Demons), so as to not spoil the storyline.

City of Hawks is intended to be read at about the same place as its numeration in the series would imply, not at the end as another reviewer suggested.
This book introduces the character of Gravestone, who becomes central in Come Endless Darkness. Also, the book contains a story ( depicted on the cover ) introducing the sword from the Plane of Shadows which later becomes part of Courflamme. As a more minor example, the reference to the Blademaster in Come Endless Darkness is seemingly a callback to a part of City of Hawks. Thus, this book is intended to be read before both Come Endless Darkness and Dance of Demons.

The book itself may be the weakest of its series; the character of Bru is a blatant retcon, and both short story collections in this series are uneven. However, the sections on Gravestone and the Plane of Shadows, along with a chapter in which Gord invades a temple of Nerull, are the highlights of this installment.