Customer Reviews

The Final Battle (Dungeon, Vol 6)

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

 

 

I recently saw that this six-novel series had been reprinted as a three-book collection, and I felt obligated to warn potential readers of the awful novel that wraps it all up. I started reading this series back in '88 when it first came out, and I devoured each book, waiting patiently for the next to be released. And then this giant pile of horrible slouched into my local bookstore.


What can be said about this book...Put it this way: Here I am writing a one-star review, 17 years after finishing it, because it is just that bad. Essentially Lupoff writes this novel as if he hadn't read the ones before it, makes the main character a god who can control some whacky substance called the Orudite, and gleefully disconnects all elements of plot that had been worked up in the previous five books.

I remember finishing this book at the ripe age of 13, putting it down and feeling utterly cheated. Obviously many readers felt this way, primarily because the first five novels are really great stuff. I think Lupoff should explain this book before he dies - admit it was ghost-written by a high school student, for example, or that he tossed it off over a weekend because he needed rent money, or whatever.

Loved the first five. What happened to you, Lupoff, did you stop caring about your creation? Feel jealous of the other four authors who did it better than you? Were you under contract to complete the last book?

Anyway, couple points:
1. The author overuses exclmation points, like four or five a page. Every one of the characters is excited! All the time! Why? Rereading Book 1, also written by Richard Lupoff, he didn't overuse exclmation points, why the change in writing style?

2. The rebel group fighting the omnipotent Dungeonmasters is called The Universal Neighborhood Improvement Association, which has to win some kind of an award for worst name for a group in literary history.

3. The Ghosters, which were protrayed as the ultimate weapons in Book 5 and required Clive's blood to activate them, can, in this book, be taken out with a single shot, so I guess they aren't the ultimate weapons...

4. This books rips off scenes from the previous books, including the characters becoming shrunk, as well as a return to being attacked by the flying demons in Book 4.

5. Why did Clive and his companions, who have braved and outsmarted an endless number of deceptions and impersonations in the previous novels, suddenly become absolute dupes in this one? Hey, Clive, how do you explain your girlfriend suddenly becoming the skull-cap for some hellish, tentacled monstrosity? How could you be fooled even for a second? You must really be an idiot!

6. Yeah, so no nineth level of the Dungeon, eh? So disappointing...

7. The ending was all right, though, certainly unique, not every novel has the main character becoming God at the end COMPLETELY WITHOUT EXPLANATION!

Looks like the writer half-read the 2nd book, flipped through the 3rd and totally ingnored the 4th and 5th before writing this so called book.

The series had a fantastic plot and concept. I greatly enjoyed the first 5 volumes, but the 6th was a terrible disappointment. The plot was weak, the characters a joke and the storytelling was awful. This is, without a doubt, the worst book I have ever read in my entire life. If you ever see this title in a book store or garage sale, run away!

This is the last book in the Dungeon series. Unfortunately, it does the other 5 no justice at all. The characters are not true to their nature, the setting is weak to say the least, and it's a shame such a good series couldn't amount to more than this!

This book is truly horrible. The story is mutilated, the plot (if there is one) makes no sense, and all characters save two or three are trivialized to worthlessness. Read books 1-5 of the Dungeon but DO NOT read this book unless you want to be extremely disappointed. I guarantee that your imagination, no matter how lacking, can think up a better ending for this series than Richard Lupoff did.

The first five books in this series were average to good. This book ruined the entire series. I've read approximately 350 books in the science fiction/fantasy genre and this is by far the worst of them all. I can't believe Farmer actually approved this trash

The sad thing is Book 1, also written by Lupoff was really good. Books 2,4,5 were excellent as well. Book 3 was a little weak. But book 6 was terrible - it made little sense, diminished the role of all of the side characters dramatically. looked like he wrote it without reading what happened in 2-5