Customer Reviews

Ragnarock (Shadowrun 38)

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It's been a while since we've been graced with a Shadowrun novel, and this one was pretty good. It centers around Talon (from Crossroads and the Dragon Heart trilogy before that), which of course means more high magic. This one is a standard "shadowrun" type story in that it's actually about a team of runners, hired by a Johnson, going on the mission, et al. Why did I like it? The story was interesting, had some different elements that kept you guessing, the characters were good, and it was set in a different location (Germany), which is new as far as Shadowrun novels go. What didn't I like? I'd like to see some new characters! Talon is an interesting focus, powerful mage, neat magic item, etc., but I'd like to see some variety in the SR universe since FASA hasn't been putting out as many novels lately. Final verdict - if you're a fan of the Shadowrun universe, check it out. A key player in the SR mythos is featured that hasn't been used that much, and besides that it's a good story. I just can't wait until the next one!

Ragnarock was one of the last Shadowrun novels to be published by ROC. The original novel line lasted for roughly nine years and had a good run before FASA and ROC closed shop in the franchise. Enter Ragnarock, a book scribed by Stephen Kenson who has written numerous Shadowrun novels and sourcebooks over his career.

The book's main character is a talented mage with immense power named Tommy Talon. Talon made his first appearance in "Beyond the Pale" and his stories carried over to Kenson's first novel "Crossroads." Kenson uses the same characters and essentially the same team in Ragnarock. Coming off a successful run for Saeder Krupp, Tommy and his crew are hired to go to Germany to track down a mysterious artifact and the archeologist who is in possession of the item. Along the way the run into radical Humanis Policlubs and come face to face with the Great Dragon Lofwyr. What occurs is a fast paced, action packed, Shadowrun novel with a good mystery and decent intrigue. The characters lack development and levels of dimension. Kenson does a good job fleshing out Talon as a competent leader and an overall altruistic Shadowrunner. Outside of that, everyone else fits a their stereo types; a good nature Troll Street Samurai, the veteran Ork Street Sam, and the female brainy decker. Kenson does a good job setting up a possible conflict between the teams Rigger and the rest of the group, but drops this plot halfway through the book. The Rigger is the female with blue hair on the cover of the novel, and is a character whose path originates in Germany (The main setting of the book). At first the Rigger refuses to go with the team on the run because of that fact that they have to return to Germany. She eventually joins them and faces some of the demons from her past. This subplot had so much potential, but Kenson does not develop this in the second half of the novel.

The novel has good action and a decent plot. It is not a novel that will blow you out of the water, but it is a good popcorn style Shadowrun novel. It is an enjoyable read for Shadowrun fans and was one of the better novels ROC released for the Shadowrun novel towards the end of the line (This and Run Hard Die Fast and Wolf and Raven). Read this if you are a fan of the magic of Shadowrun. Read this is you are looking for a popcorn style Shadowrun novel.

this novel was all right...for a shadowrun book, but other than that it wasn't particulary that good. The writing was very bland. The characters were poorly underdeveloped and the story was slow. The author needs to develop the characters more and put a lot more description in the overall story, The introduction of a new dragon was pretty cool and also the involvement of Lowfry which is a character not written about to often in the shadowrun universe. The books in the shadowrun universe need to be better written. All the books seem to follow a trend of having the same plot outline. I would like to see more effort be put into shadowrun books. This book was not bad though. It was a good read although it was like reading a manual. The author did a descent job of it, just needs to work more on character development and overall plot.

This is not the best shadowrun book I have ever red it doesn't evan come close. What it is, is a good injoyable read plenty of guns magic and explosions Intresting people and places, with main characters you don't automaticly hate and wish someone would put out of your misery In short everything Shadowrun,those few books published lately, have been missing it got an extra star out of me in hopes of others following Mr Kenson lead A good read which I heartily recomend.