Customer Reviews

The Verdant Passage (Dark Sun World)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Granted, I bought the books at a garage sale, but I still expected them to be entertaining enough to keep me interested from start to finish. I've played in the Dark Sun campaign setting and I liked it enough to want to read The Verdant Passage.

The plot at base has everything we need to be entertained. There are heroes that are underdogs, the bad guy has a heinous plot to rule the world, there are spies everywhere, there are gratuitous battle scenes and deaths, and there's a creepy old powerful man with a staff.

Where it fails is the writing. I became very bored with the way the book flowed. The writing was slightly more self-indulgent than the average fantasy novel and it caused the flow of the story to be secondary to the pretty combination of words. The characters aren't developed very well, we just get plopped in the middle of the character interactions and aren't shown much more than the body language of the characters in the interactions. They don't seem to have much motivation for themselves, I couldn't pick out a clear goal.

2 stars because the plot was good and I could finish the book in one sitting without much problem, but lacking in charisma and charm. It didn't get much better in the second book, and I couldn't get past the first few chapters of that.

So if you love the roleplaying world of Dark Sun and you really enjoy long written fighting scenes, then you would love this book. If you also like to have a gripping story with really likable stories, choose some other series to read.

This is not your standard d&d fare. It is set in a harsh unforgiving world that is slowly dying, and while you have the impression that they inhabitants of this world are doomed, they do not. In fact, there is a sense of optimism pervasive in each character, although it might not be readily evident. For a first book in a new setting this tale does well to both describe the land, the cultures, and still manages to entertain. I read this while riding to Florida and it really passed the time quickly. I barely noticed that I was in a car. While several of Mr. Denning's novels haven't been all they could be this book really displays his skills.

This is a fun series. I know this is TSR but I don't think of Dungeons & Dragons when I read this series. The barren, dune swept world of Athas is creepy, violent and populated by great hybrid's of races from the D&D worlds - Muls (human/dwarf hybrids), half - giants and very very nasty and deadly halfings. I'm currently up to the 4th book in the series (obsidian Oracle). The first 3 are great. Too soon to judge this fourth book. Enjoy! john

I've always been drawn to D&D based books, because the authors have such a wealth of pre-defined material to work with. When the entire world, from the peoples to the gods they worship, are already explained in detail, the author's should all be able to spend their time focusing on the characters and the story. Here that theory doesn't really hold true.

Denning seems like he'd be the perfect author for this sort of book - his other works focus on Planescape material, which is all rather odd in comparison to the standard fantasy setting, and Dark Sun is equally odd (but still very intruiging), but "The Verdant Passage" sticks to some pretty old and tired fantasy cliches. We've got the wisened old man who is always right, while constantly being sternly disapproving of everything the young whipersnappers could possibly do, then there is the evil wizard hell-bent on absolute power and domination (this one was actually done pretty well here, no big complaints about this cliche), and then we come to the "Test of Worth". Gah....this galls me every time it occurs in fantasy. The old forest gnome (or whatever he was this time round) needed the main characters to prove themselves before he'd give them the ultimate weapon to destroy the enemy. The party just has to say, "No, we don't deserve the weapon of ultimate everything-slaying, you can have it back" (knowing full well that's the answer to keeping it in their possession), and they pass the test! Why doesn't the wise and powerful old sage, bearing the prized weapon of doom, ever get off his hermetic butt and slay the enemy himself, instead of entrusting the fate of the universe to untried newbies? The world would be in peril far less often...

On the characters themselves - there is a prety diverse group here, featuring a psionicist, a sorceror, a couple of gladiators, and some templar-knight type characters. Actual characterization is minimal, though. At one point in the book, we must simply accept that the gladiator Rikus has always been in love with the sorceror Sadira - simply because someone off-handedly mentions that this is so. Nevermind that they have never had any romantic banter, and they never even give each other a moment's thought, or attempt to be with each other at any point in time. Amazingly, this occurs a second time in the book, when it's just assumed that Rikus and the psionicist of the party are at each other's throats fighting over Sadira - simply because Sadira *thought* about flirting with the psionicst once. Speaking of Rikus, I can't figure out why he's portrayed as the main character. Rikus get his backside handed to him on a silver platter in every single fight. He is always having to be saved by the rest of the party, yet they continue to treat him as though he were the greatest fighter of all time.

Despite these complaints, there are plenty of good things about this book. One of the scenes in this novel is an absolute favorite out of all the fantasy literature I've read. A sorceror and a psionicist both have a vested interest in purchasing a particular slave - and they pull out all the stops to prevent the other from succesfully doing so. This scene was expertly detailed, and was hilarious. The sorceror creates a dismebodied voice that sounds just like the psionicist saying "I withdraw my bid!", while the psionicst uses his mind abilities to steal the sorceror's gold pouch....ah man, you just have to read it.

Even after all my griping, I've still ordered the second novel and am excited to read it, so I guess that says it's not all bad - but be warned, it's not the best D&D has to offer.

I think some of the reviews here are simply un-called for. I've been reading (and re-reading) the Prism Pentad series for several years now. I think that whole story line of this book helps create an arch for the rest of the series. I just hope they make it into a movie someday.

I read these many years ago and am about to order them so I can read them again. They were all so good. Couldn't put them down. I've never been able to understand why Icewind Dale and Salvatore get all the attention. These 5 books put anything Salvatore has ever written to shame. An excellent read.

Dark Sun is being revived by the publisher and since I've been very satisfied with these modern pulp style novels in the D&D settings I decided to read the first of the original 13 novels in this world.

There's a lot of the feel of E.R. Burroughs Barsoom novels with a little bit of Dune and Ancient Egypt and the Roman Empire.
The wraparound cover art gives you a good idea with the revolutionary Senator with psionic powers, an elite gladiator, a freed slave who is also a sorceress, and a mix of the weird violent humanoids with some wicked looking weapons employed by the king to keep order.

The story quality is about average for this type of novel and I give it an extra star due to a strong ending and the "The Verdant Passage" being the kick off to a fascinating and different D&D series.

Fast delivery and excellent conditions. Amazon request for review very late for had book almost a month ago.

This and all the other books in this series are much different than the "orthodox" D&D settings. That holds especially true for the races. Elves are thieving and schemeing, Dwarves are mystical and hairless, Halflings are cannibalistic savages (far different from their counterparts elsewhere. Humans are as they've always been. There are other races not encountered elsewhere. Other races once existed in the distant past, but were exterminated in the war that left Athas barren. There also seems to be no impediment to cross-breeding. In addition to often seen half-elves, Athas has muls; human-dwarf hybrids bred primarily for the gladiator games, and half-giants to do the thug work. These combinations do not occur elsewhere in the D&D universe. Magic is also different. Instead of drawing enery from nowhere, the energy must be drawn from other living things, which can have consequenses for those that care. The heroes face an interesting dilemma; by defeating a great evil, they risk releasing an even greater evil into the world. They have an uphill battle, but continue on in the hope that the dictatorial sorcerer-kings, all of whom are aspiring dragons, can be defeated and the barren world of Athas can be made lush and verdant again. All in all, an interesting take.

I read the "Dark Sun" series of books when I was about 18 yrs old and now ten yrs later I still can not find a series of fantasy books that compare. I actually came on Amazon to get the rest of the series I had lost over the years just so I would be able to read them again.
You truely fall into the world of "Dark Sun" when reading Troy Dennings words.
This series is a must read for any fantasy reader!