Customer Reviews

Pages of Pain (Planescape Books)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

As of the date of this review, there are 4 published novels for the Planescape setting. Of the four, this is by far and away the best. However, it leaves much to be desired. The Planescape setting is brilliant, with endless possibilities for storys and settings. There is potential for great novels that could dwarf the more popular Forgotten Realms novels - but so far none have materialized. Instead, we have novels that either poorly explore the Setting with implausible storylines (such as the Blood War Trilogy) or novels that are too focused on one aspect of the setting, such as Pages of Pain. The novel has, in my opinion, three faults: One, the majority of the novel stays in one area, with the characters essentially doing the same thing, with the same goals. This makes the book quite tedious. Two, the characters are extremely one-dimensional. Each character essentially thinks the same things and has the same motivations throughout the novel - they do not grow. Three, the most mysterious figure in the Planescape setting, the Lady of Pain, is presented as a somewhat normal being in the story. Part of what makes the Planescape setting (particularly Sigil) so alluring is the fact that no one *really* knows the Lady of Pain. No one talks to her, knows where she lives, knows her motivations, or knows her past. This novel presents her "talking" to the reader in the first person, talking about her feelings and glimmers of a past for her. I thought this a poor choice by the author. In the end, a not too satisfying representation of an excellent setting.

Like Shakespeare, Mr. Denning's strength is equally "howhe says it" as "what he says". His descriptions aredone in ways that make you see, hear, taste, smell and feel what he wants to tell you. His writing style does justice to a Greek/Roman hero and Greater Devil alike. Troy is a master of panipulating the level of tension; you have to keep reading because something suddenly dawns on you and you wonder if Troy was thinking about that too. And he was always thinking about that too. The author is obviously a very intelligent individual. Kharfud, the Tanar'ri, had the patient, intelligent, pure evil that I would expect. Normally, I cannot read more than 20-30 pages at a sitting, but I ended up finishing pages of pain in 2 days. I couldn't put it down. Self discovery is FUNDAMENTAL to the theme of the book. The best book I have read in a long time, fantasy or not.

TSR's "Planescape" setting is about philosophies and ideologies of living. At the center of all the universes floats the weird city of Sigil, presided over by the mysterious Lady of Pain. Troy Denning develops the idea that she and the city are the source of all the explanations that people have tried to give for the central fact of suffering. Yet the Lady herself does not know her own origin. The hero is a famous figure from Western mythology, who finally asks the question, "Is it better to know who you are, or to forget?" Planescape seems to derive from dark, philosophical "adult" comics books. Despite Denning's substantial achievement, the generally negative reviews confirm that even D&D players think that Love, rather than Pain, is the central mystery of the universe. "Pages of Pain" will appeal especially to people who like books about serious subjects that demand a lot from their thinking readers.

I think that if one simply removed the planescape logo and offered this as the Modern Theseus, it would have been more widely read.

This is an amazing book. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a classic, but rather a modern myth for modern times. The story's narration was excellent, and the ending wasn't necessarily shocking and instead more akin to a tragedy in which you know what will happen but are enthralled anyway.

This has to be one of the best books I've read in recent memory. Even without a typical plot, the book continually drives the reader onward. I longed for satisfactory chapter endings where I could put the book down for awhile, but they were few and far between. Too often, I found myself unable to stop and forced onto the next chapter.

The reader goes through several levels of revelations, even as the characters themselves do. While some of the characters seem one-dimensional superficially, if that is the case, why does your heart tug so when the full trajedy of this book is visited upon them?

The treatment of the Lady of Pain herself is wonderful. She is the darkest side of the city of Sigil personified, and she forms the entire emotional tone of the novel. As the very embodiment of suffering and pain, we expect to find the evil delight that fills her, but has ever such a loathsome villain raised such empathy? Gollumn was surely deserving of pity, but not the Lady of Pain who revels in her cruelty, who believes it an actual necessity. Yet her longing, as is that of every character in this novel, is palpable and undeniably human.

This is primarily an emotional maze the characters find themselves lost in, and those seeking a hack n slash adventure should look elsewhere, but those who remember that it's role-playing and not roll-playing, should definitely check this out.

I was so *excited* to read this book, having just recently discovered, and delved quite deeply into, the Planescape campaign setting. I love Planescape, it's wonderful as a backbone for a campaign, and perhaps it's partly the fault of the campaign setting itself that novels about it aren't all that "interesting" character-wise, because to be TRUE to the setting, BELIEFS ARE EVERYTHING. But the characters in this novel acted more like NPCs than PCs, if you know what I mean -- so very VERY one-dimensional that with each page I became less and less interested in where their one-dimensional journey (try to picture THAT one!) would take them. Their goals were flat and uninteresting, and their personalities never developed. One thing I noticed -- no one seems to SLEEP in the book (OK, a few times, but not enough); no time passes, really, or at least not enough to give any meaning to the rudimentary development the characters undergo. [Sigh...] I was so excited to read this book, but frankly I couldn't finish it, because I stopped caring about whether the characters would succeed or fail, or anything in between. But: nice descriptions of settings here, although a bit dark (even for Sigil)...

In a genre overfilled with narratives of treasure-seeking elves comes a truly original work. "Pages of Pain" spins the story of a man with no memory, ordered by a god to deliver a "gift" to the enigmatic and terrible ruler of Sigil, a city more or less at the center of the universe. The Amnesian Hero hopes that the task will lead to the restoration of his past -- but the mysterious Lady of Pain intends to show him that desire is what makes anguish possible. Denning's novel is told from a shifting point of view and is unlike any other in the AD&D mythos. A must read.

Have you ever read a poem, or seen a movie without completely understanding them - yet still found you really loved them? This is one of these stories. This is the story of a memory-less hero, who embarks on a quest to find his memory. The tale of his exploits is not an ordinary adventure tale: his adventures are poetic - philosophical. This a story which really makes the reader think. I know I did not fully comprehend all of it. Yet it is worth the read. This book will be great to anyone who loves philosophical fantasy novels - or loves the planescape setting.

As of the date of this review, there are 4 published novels for the Planescape setting. Of the four, this is by far and away the best. However, it leaves much to be desired. The Planescape setting is brilliant, with endless possibilities for storys and settings. There is potential for great novels that could dwarf the more popular Forgotten Realms novels - but so far none have materialized. Instead, we have novels that either poorly explore the Setting with implausible storylines (such as the Blood War Trilogy) or novels that are too focused on one aspect of the setting, such as Pages of Pain. The novel has, in my opinion, three faults: One, the majority of the novel stays in one area, with the characters essentially doing the same thing, with the same goals. This makes the book quite tedious. Two, the characters are extremely one-dimensional. Each character essentially thinks the same things and has the same motivations throughout the novel - they do not grow. Three, the most mysterious figure in the Planescape setting, the Lady of Pain, is presented as a somewhat normal being in the story. Part of what makes the Planescape setting (particularly Sigil) so alluring is the fact that no one *really* knows the Lady of Pain. No one talks to her, knows where she lives, knows her motivations, or knows her past. This novel presents her "talking" to the reader in the first person, talking about her feelings and glimmers of a past for her. I thought this a poor choice by the author. In the end, a not too satisfying representation of an excellent setting.

Is there a rule that all Planescape stories must star an amnesiac invincible hero? It's hard to write a third-person narrative about a nameless hero. The author's solution is to alternate strictly between "the Amnesian Hero" and "the Thrassan". I found two places in the book where this pattern is broken -- the scars, presumably, from an editor's knife.

Pages of Pain has some good moments on the philosophy of mazes, and of being a hero. But it's not a good book. Here's a taste: "Then my body nettles with a blistering itch no ointment can heal, and the greater my woe, the more scalding the anguish that seethes from the the greater my woe, the more scalding the anguish that seethes from the empty well inside. I boil in my own sick regret and I cannot staunch the flow. I burn with the shame of a thousand evils I cannot recall, and still the well pours forth..."

Mixed metaphors abound (like the hot breathy kiss with long fingers!) and the prose is turgid -- swollen and distended -- making it hard to read. The editor should have cut more. The bad prose is confounded by a terrible choice of typeface.

The book reads like an account of a roleplaying afternoon. Most of the story takes place inside a dull hazy maze, fighting a dull hazy monster, while the characters make maps and get steadily weaker. None of them have any character. The author has rolled up their stats, and looked up a page of quirks/specials for each, and spends the story revelling in these quirks. There's little character development, and little substance to the characters behind their quirks.

If like me you enjoyed playing the computer game "Planescape: Torment", and you're looking for a way to extend that experience, you probably won't find it in this book.