Customer Reviews

The Savage Caves (Dungeons & Dragons Novel)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I haven't read too many of the other DnD books (Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, Ravenloft, etc) because I found them, especially the earlier ones, to be a bit too much like a bad gaming session. They also seemed to be written more for Young Adults than grown up gamers like myself.

That being said, I am really looking forward to this series. Sort of a back to basics gaming novel, without 20 years of history to have to muddle through.

I enjoyed The Savage Caves quite a bit. It sports a rather unique, though, as I said, basic, storyline. The iconic characters in this story are Regdar the human fighter, Jozan the human cleric, Lidda the halfling rogue and Naull the human wizard. The characters are well portrayed, if a little stereotypical (but what do you expect from DnD, which is rife with stereotypes). There is some genuine chemistry between the characters (especially Lidda and Regdar) and a little love interest as well (though not between Regdar and Lidda).

I have to say that my favorite character is Jozan. Though this is ostensibly Regdar's book, Jozan shines here, especially in his interaction with Lidda.

I do have two complaints about the book, though.

The first one is the length. It is a very thin novel and costs as much as a larger one. The print is small, though, so there is some meat to the story, and I didn't feel like I didn't get my money's worth, so that complaint is a small one.

The second is the slang. Lidda frequently uses what I consider to be current slang (i.e. "My bad" and the like) which interrupts the flow of the novel, in my opinion, and smacked me in the head with it. Although I don't expect a bunch of "thee"s and "thou"s from the characters, Lidda's slang (not to mention Naull's pumping her fist and exclaiming "Yes!" when she was able to cast a particularly well-timed spell) was a little disconcerting. I removed one star from my review for this, as it really affected the whole feel of the novel.

So, all in all a good start, with a few bumps, and I am really looking forward to "The Living Dead".

The Savage Caves by T.H. Lain is a quick and fun return to what gaming should be and can be. Lain does an excellent job of giving the reader a solid little story that has re-kindled my intrest in gaming. The characters (based on D&D 3rd's ICON Characters) are fleshed out and stay true to the character class they represent. Now I am not going to say that this new series is Dragonlance or The Forgotten Realms, its a little stripped down. But thats ok. This little novel is action packed and predictable, but its so FUN. The dialog is pretty funny and a bit hokey, but he only had 182 pages. Hopefully as the series continues, Lain will give us a little more seasoning and depth, but for now enjoy a quick fun read. Forget the grand morality plays, let Lain place a torch in your hand and a mace in the other. Explore the Savage Caves, and still be back in time for bed. A good start to a new book line. Looking forward to the Living Dead.

"The Savage Caves" is the first in the new line of books based on the popular Dungeons & Dragons role-playing. These books seem to be written for two groups: new readers of fantasy and long-time players who seek a feeling of nostalgia. This one wasn't a masterpiece by any means, and as fantasy novels go, was just an average story. However, it was a fun story that gives the reader a sense of playing the game, keeping track of hit points, magic spells used, etc.

"The Savage Caves" revolves around a band of adventurers who are on a quest to stop giant spiders from stealing the livelihood of a small town -- their sheep. The fighter and mage agree to stop the spiders if a halfling scheduled for execution is freed and allowed to join their party. Along the way, they meet a young mage who has just left her mentor after years of training.

The group eventually follows the spiders to a series of caves. There they encounter goblins and a large hobgoblin that is running the show. The adventure is basically a hack 'n slash one as the party battles the spiders and goblins, eventually leading to the non-surprising big battle with the hobgoblin leader. However, the mystery behind the spiders' actions is also revealed as the story reaches a predictable, but satisfying ending. Overall, if you enjoy fun fantasy with little plot or character development, "The Savage Caves", and most likely the following books in the series, would be a satisfying read.

Is the best way I can sum up this book quickly. As the first in a new series centered around the Iconic D&D characters as seen in the Player's Handbook, The Savage Caves is a fast and fun read, and does a good job in introducing our heroes, bringing them together in true D&D fashion and setting them on the path to adventure.

I gave this book 4 stars out of 5 because it is so very short, and reads more like juvenile fiction than I expected, but don't let that keep you from enjoying the story. T.H. Lain keeps things flowing well, switching from character to character and even showing things from the point of view of the "bad guys" to keep the perspective intruiging. I look forward to seeing how further books in the series evolve the ongoing story of these characters.

I bought this book hoping for some mindless entertainment on the bus. Turns out, it really isn't that mindless, but it is entertaining. It's a D&D book, so I really wasn't expecting much, but it did a good job of capturing the mood of a good D&D game, a "first adventure" plot to start a campaign. Lotsa action, lotsa fun, and some clever things thrown into a pretty straightforward plot. The only thing that did bother me, as an earlier poster pointed out, was the use of modern slang. Several times, my tenuous suspension of disbelief was shattered by it. In spite of that, I actually found myself worried about Naull and hoping she wouldn't be killed. After the bus ride, I finished the book and bought the The Living Dead the next day.
Aside from a fun action-packed fantasy, it does a good job of sticking to third edition D&D rules for the characters, and illustrating their implications to the characters. And, I'm gonna rip off the entire village and cave system situation for my group's next adventure.

Some books you read as the equivalent of a three course meal: you want to learn something, be highly entertained, and step into another world where your second-hand experiences give you a new thought or two to ponder, relish, and digest.

Sometimes you want a pop tart. "The Savage Caves" is such a literary pop tart. Easily digested, with a heavy dose of mind-candy fun, this book (re)introduces us to the core "Iconic" characters from the Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition put out by Wizards of the Coast. And it doesn't fail on that level: Regdar is your typical fighter, Jozan your typical cleric, Naull is very much the young wizard in awe of her own abilities, and yes, Lidda the halfling rogue reads like a catty cynical teenager - but enjoyably so.

The plot is straightforward: Dungeon delve, on behalf of a city where giant spiders are suddenly munching down on the local sheep. What's motivating the spiders? Who is behind it all? How fast can the four heroes spell, crush, stab and otherwise toast those villains? In 182 pages, that's how fast.

My only complaints being, really, the somewhat straightforward plot and the short length, "The Savage Caves" was still a single half-afternoon's blast to read, and brought out my inner geek. I was grinning to myself and pointing out the use of a colour spray spell. If you play D&D yourself, you'll notice all the ways the plot was written to accomodate the system. If you don't, likely you'll not even notice.

Brain candy fantasy, without the foil wrapping.

'Nathan

Fun book and brought back memories of my bygone gaming days. Best points--lots of well written action, original use of giant spiders and some depth added to the much maligned goblin race (usually just used by DM's as sword-fodder). Bad points--too short and lazily written dialogue (kinda like a real game). Series has definite promise.

I suspect that T.H. Lain is in this instance actually Phillip Athans. The poor prose, lack of a cohesive plot and reliance on gory fights bear his thumbprints.

Essentially we have 4 neophytes trying to save a village from spiders. The spiders being disturbed by a hobgoblin who wishes to be king of the goblin tribes. The adventurers in this short novel obviously don't get fleshed out, which is ok since this is just supposed to be an entertaining dungeon crawl.

The party is quickly seperated and the novel begins to show severe weaknesses. The author moves back and forth from character to character too quickly in buzz-flash MTV type video edits for someone with absolutely no attention span. I am speaking of repeatedly moving from character to character after just a page or less quite often. The characters roam around the dungeons like beheaded chickens and of course prevail. Rather than being a short and sweet fun dungeon romp we have a short, but confused and stupid dungeon romp.

A very weak start to this series. The good points, what few there are, would be the ambigous morality of the goblins being neither good nor bad, just cowardly and selfish, the four primary characters, though unfleshed are pleasent enough excepting the halfling with her modern slang and foul mouth.

If you want something quick, and unchallenging you might want to give this a look, but there is better fluff reading out there.

To be honest, this is the only T.H. Lain book I've read, so I can only judge his writing with this particular novel. That being said, it was an all around weak effort.

In itself, the story had potential .... The problem lies in Lain's writing style . . . or more precisely, his lack thereof. I would call his writing as an odd cross between an early-teen novelist and a poor adult writer. Sometimes it is way too simplistic, and other times you have to read the sentence five times before you can figure out what he's talking about.

Now, I expected the characters to be one-dimensional, and the plot to be straight forward. After all, it's D&D. This alone did not bother me. I didn't buy a book called "The Savage Caves" for an epic Tolkenesque saga. As I mentioned before, the tale had promise. Unfortunately, it was unfulfilled.

Lain's most common criticism is that some of his characters use dialog that sounds like it comes from the 90's. This can be bothersome. But what I found irritating was his constant use of the same word over and over. The words do not flow from the pages. Everything is choppy and lacks vivid meaning. His descriptions leave much to be desired. Often you'll read phrases like this, "The cave rounded and opened up into a larger cave in which the floor leveled off, making it easier to run through the cave." What is that?

Also, the editing is either atrocious or was never done in the first place. The are several typos throughout the piece, and sentence structure would make any self-respecting writing keel over and die of shock. Perhaps Lain has improved over time (he had written six or so of these books), but don't read this one thinking you're reading a literary masterpiece.

Imagine you get together with a number of your friends for an evening's worth of D&D. Afterward, your DM transcribes the adventure, adding some dialogue/love interest/background story for effect. That's what this basically is. The young adventurers fight spiders that are being stirred up by a goblin war going on underground.

On one hand, it makes me want to play D&D- it smacks of classic adventure. On the other hand, it's painfully unoriginal. It's worth the time it takes to read- maybe an afternoon or so.