Customer Reviews

Everquest: The Rogue's Hour

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

 

 

This is the start of the Novelization of the Everquest series, and I, for one, believe it to be up to par with other shared worlds; i.e. Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, and Star Wars. Do no be swayed by the number of pages, or not ever having played Everquest (I didn't know a ting about Everquest till reading this book), or the other reviews here on Amazon.

The Rouge's Hour is an easy and fairly quick read. It was enjoyable and simple to pick up attributes of a new world. Ciencin has wonderful characters that are both believable and interesting. I would truly enjoy seeing more from Everquest novels and Scott Ciencin in this world.

The Rouge takes his name from a note upon himself. His past a mystery to seemingly himself alone, as those around him try to take advantage of his loss. He knows no one to trust but still finds himself able to spring out of the hard spots he gets into, and with charm. With the scant memories that return to him and the hints he picks up from others he understands that he is caught in a scheme of ending the world, but is unsure of his true orientation. He hopes his past is better than what those tell him. Will he remember himself? Will it help him if he does? Or will it destroy him?

If you are a reader in any shared world, pick this up! You will not be disappointed

I must start off by stating that I have never played any of the Everquest games before, though I have always been more than curious to try them out. Unfortunately, my server is too slow to play on-line games... That is why when I found this book by Scott Ciencin, I was more than eager to get a chance to read it. And might I say, I was not disappointed.

Though I've never read anything else by this author, I must say he seems to do quite well on this one. "Rogue's Hour" has a storyline that will leave you guessing up to the very end, and an ending that is far from disappointing. It is filled with action, adventure, and even elements of suspense. My only complaint is the lack of any real romance, which might have added to this story. Then again, perhaps that would have taken from what this has going for it...who knows.

The story revolves around a hero who has no real memory of who he is or where he's from. However, he soon finds himself having dreams...or perhaps memories...of a great dragon, which only confuses him even more as he soon winds up entangled in a great quest full of mystery and betrayal. Who is he, what is the relevance of the dreams, and who is it that is trying to put an end to his very existence... All of this reveals itself in time, leading to a great and climactic ending.

Despite lacking any romantic theme, this is by far a great story. In my opinion, it reads almost like a video game...quick paced, full of adventure, and keeps you guessing at what will come next. So, if such a book sounds of interest to you, then give this one a chance. You shouldn't be disappointed.

While a little flowery in language the overall story was well done with characters easy to hate - very few to love. For those who play in the Everquest world this is a great addition and will make a great series. Hopefully Bob Salvatore will also write a book or two and bring in some of the other great fantasy writers. Scott Ciencin has done some great work for Wizards of the Coast which I loved but this was just not up to his best work, thus a 4 star.

Fears grow with justifiable cause. The magically contained malevolent Dragon of World's End will be released by evil necromancers, wizards, and shadowknights who have obtained the last object they need to bring forth the scourge.

In Southern Qeynos, a stranger stops Sizemore the Red and Bully Duetchmar from acting stupidly by preventing their assault on a woman. Afterward, the stranger admits to the lady that he has no idea who he is or anything else. Using the name Rileigh he flees by sea from a necromancer and a shadowknight. Rileigh finds others trying to kill or ally with him on his great quest that he seems to be the only one not to know what it is. Quickly concluding that he cannot trust friend or foe, Rileigh wonders if his greatest enemy is his own past as he hunts for four objects of power that once chained the deadly dragon even as he wonders if he switched sides and released the killing beast.

Obviously taken from the interactive online fantasy game, R.A. SALVATORE PRESENTS EVERQUEST: THE ROGUE'S HOUR is a terrific epic saga starring a delightful hero who keeps his sense of humor throughout his dangerous adventures. Those not familiar with the Everquest Universe will enjoy the tale as Rileigh will remind readers of Hans Solo in a fantasy realm. The support cast makes the universe seem genuine or brings out the good and bad of the reluctant champion. Targeting gamesters, other genre readers will appreciate the tale and seek other works by Scott Ciencin (see the Charmed LUCK BE A LADY or the Angel NEMESIS)

Harriet Klausner

I am a big fantasy fan and I follow pretty much what is written and is on the market but this book is an insult to the name Everquest and R.A Salvatore. After the great written intro by R.A Salvatore I fell asleep 10 pages into the story. The story is hard to follow, battle scenes confusing and misses a continuous story flow. My advice go to a bookstore start reading the actually story (not R.A Salvatore's intro) and then decide for yourself. I for myself will keep it as a reminder that a great name as part of the coversheet does not mean a good story.

I really cant believe that R.A.Salvatore or Sony would attach their name to this terrible writing. The Battle scenes are extreamly hard to follow or believe. The writing was so expressive that it was incomprehensible at times.

I play EverQuest and read fantasy all the time & found myself wishing the book would finish.

Purchase at your own risk.

I have been playing pen and paper RPGs for the past 20 years and I have been playing Everquest 1 for the past 5 plus years and I found this book, very disappointing. The biggest issue I had with the book was the main characters. They were just not very interesting for the most part, but even worse they didnt fit the archetypical classes that they were suppose to portray. Like Rileigh the Rogue for example, now I understand that he was a good rogue, but he was too good, to the point where, he is defending a lady from some ruffians and is more concerned about not killing them, than the fact that he is about to be killed by them. And what really bothered me with him and alot of the other characters, was that they didnt have stereotypical weapons for their classes. Kind of hard to get into a character when he is wielding a Chakram like Zena the warrior princess. And the rogue only had his throwing daggers thru most of the book and when he used all those, he always had to resort to hand to hand like he was a monk. And the shadowknights, the combat sequences, with all the twisting and turning, made it sound like they were rogues fighting in light armor, rather than the plate that I expected them to be wearing. Not to mention, it seemed that their weapon of choice where staffs. Really, what type of self respecting rogue isnt going to carry a sword, dagger, or combination? Or self-respecting shadow knight is going to use a chakram?

So anyways, the first half of the book was really hard to digest. If not for the EQ label on it, I would have never finished reading the book. But trudged on and it did pick up, as the plot was getting really good. But then at the end of the book, it spirals down again, as the defeat of the Dragon of World's End is rather far fetched and anti-climatic.

I expect SOE and RA Salvatore to actually take some time to quality control the next EQ book. I gave it a 1 star, because this book had so much potential, but never lived up to it. BTW SOE, many of us, contrary to the forward in the book, would like to read about the history of norrath and its hereos and villians.

I've been playing EverQuest for about 3 years now and have just started playing EverQuest II. I picked up this book because it seemed the most logical addition to my addictive collection of EQ paraphernalia. I was wrong. The forward written by R.A. Salvatore was fanominal! As I have come to expect from Bob. The story itself blows though. Sorry guys.

As a longtime player of the EverQuest games, I was really looking forward to this novel. It was difficult to follow and the violence seemed to bother me.