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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Better than Emerson's Other Grayhawk effort, but still weak, May 27, 2003
This review is from: Keep on the Borderlands (Greyhawk Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)
I found that this book was better than Ru Emerson's first Grayhawk book, Against the Giants, but had some of the same problems. While the characters are more fleshed out in this book, and the pace is a little more subdued (there are actually are some down times), I still found the overall plot to be thin and weak. Two groups of caravan guards meet up at an old Keep in the hinterlands and decide to team up and go after some bandits that are terrorizing the Keep. Why? Well, for treasure of course! For glory! Because they are bored with being caravan guards! Those are at least three of the reasons given. So off they go, bumbling around until they actually find and destroy the bandit camp. Next the Castellan wants them to go off into the wilds and defeat a bunch of monsters living in some caves. So off they go! Why? See above. While the characters do have some depth and interact with each other in a believable manner, the plot tends to be thin because the reasons for these adventures are thin. The best parts of this book concern the swordswoman Eddis and the little girl first known to us as simply Blot. There are some truly touching moments when Eddis realizes what she gave up for the adventuring life (family, kids) and whether or not it was a good choice for her. She also realizes that she actually likes kids and maybe would like to raise this little girl. The worst parts of the book occur anytime Jers appears, which is unfortunately a lot, since he is a main character. Jers is a cardboard alpha male, consisting of so many testosterone-laden stereotypes that it is hard to imagine that he can walk around, much less fight. He is impulsive. He has little thought for his life or anyone else's. He seeks after glory and treasure. He has no social skills whatsoever. He is a 12-year old in a 25-year old's body. I found this character to be particularly unbelievable. He's like Howard Stern with a sword. Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of this book is the hastily contrived ending, which was a little too abrupt for my taste. This is a similar problem to Emerson's other book, Against the Giants. If you do read it, don't expect much out of the ending, 'cause it's not there. Anyway, if you are into the game and like to read, you will enjoy this book, particularly if you have gone through the module. If you are just a fantasy fan, move on- there are way better books for you to spend time over than this one.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
No real characterization, thin plot, April 28, 2003
This review is from: Keep on the Borderlands (Greyhawk Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)
So very little happens in this book. The whole thing is just "fight a bunch of monsters, make camp, fight some more monsters, go back to town, fight some more monsters". Seriously, it's a book version of the game Baldur's Gate. I know that it is a book written off of a D&D module, but, to me, there ought to at least be a story outside of [fight] & slash, rest, [fight] & slash. There is just the tiniest hinting at developing the characters and even then, it is just to define them as a certain ...type. The only reason I even bothered to give it 2 stars was because the combat is decently written. It was a fast read and not entirely unenjoyable, but I would not recommend this book to anyone who had not played the module.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A so-so book based on the adventure, June 17, 2002
This review is from: Keep on the Borderlands (Greyhawk Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)
Reading Keep on the Borderlands appeared to be like going through a rather impersonal memoirs of "How I tamed the Borderlands", written by Eddis and Blorys, mercenaries inc. Eddis and Blorys came from 2 different armed escort companies protecting convoys into the Keep at Borderlands. As a reward for their thwarting attempted raids, the castellan tasked them with hunting down bandits and what-nots that threatened the security of the region. This novel is obviously not about high-level adventurers, which was fine in itself 'cos I get bored with high-level fancy stuff like Elminster casting a spell to detect all but the most powerful enemies from the safety of his lair. Eddis and Blorys had to get down and dirty, going through hostile wilderness to search out the lairs of the raiders, and wipe them out. But the boring part was that for most of the book, they did not encounter anything that posed serious threats, and they could go on fight after fight against superior numbers. There was a little attempt made to characterisation and PC interaction, but the basic simplicity of the plot (to rid the raiders) sort of made it rather unexciting. What could have made the book much better was instead of finishing abruptly, an analysis of the impact of the clean-up on the Borderlands to be presented. On the whole, fine for beginners, yawners for others.
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