13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An action-packed, and fun romp of a story, December 16, 1999
This review is from: White Plume Mountain (Greyhawk) (Mass Market Paperback)
White Plume mountain was a rite of passage for gamers such as myself years ago, and Paul Kidd has a grand time bringing us all back home again in his new novel. His book has all the makings of classic fantasy. A rugged hero to root for, an evil villain to boot, and a sassy Faerie sidekick to make us wonder how come our games didn't have pixies like her! The mountain scenes are well done, and even though some of the other interesting rooms were missed. You do get a feeling of Deja-Vu reading them after all of these years. A fun read, and enjoy it!
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Why do I like this book?!?, April 11, 2002
This review is from: White Plume Mountain (Greyhawk) (Mass Market Paperback)
Paul Kidd is a comic book writer, and it shows. The author doesn't spend a lot of time establishing mood, or world-building, or even using depth in his characterization. He concentrates on action and witty banter, like the game the book is drawn from.
The characters are mildly archetypical, with vague and unrealistic motivation; the villains are of the Trying To Take Over The World and Insane Wizard With A Plan varieties, and there's even commentary from characters internal to the story parodying the aspects of "heroism" found in everyone's earliest stabs at playing the game. There are humorous moments related to the plot, but some of the tropes of gaming itself are the butt of the joke in a number of scenes.
The characters unashamedly spout anachronisms at every turn-- you can almost see the players pausing between handfuls of Cheetos to rattle off a modern idiom or two. The faerie is like something out of a Boris Vallejo ilLUSTration: there's a point where the word "naked" is used to describe her condition twice in a matter of about five sentences. When she's not nude, she's busy trying to assemble an outfit which is as suggestive as is possible for an adolescent male to imagine-- which is the whole point of the joke, obviously.
The book adamantly refuses to apologize for its lack of modern fantasy acoutrements such as rich motivations and character complexity... and bludgeons its way through to win your heart regardless. If you seek serious fantasy fare, or mindless Dragonlance drivel, look elsewhere.
This book is beer and pretzels-type fare, with all the swashbuckling and lack of seriousness that implies... but unless I miss my mark, Paul Kidd has also embedded the book with some serious commentary on the D&D game itself, and how it has evolved in the years since its infancy.
In fact, unless I'm ascribing more genius to the work than Kidd intended, the book acts as a deconstruction of legacy D&D campaigns and even the modern angst-ridden White Wolf-style gaming heroes... and it works!
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining Novel on It's Own, December 19, 2001
This review is from: White Plume Mountain (Greyhawk) (Mass Market Paperback)
I don't play any role-playing type games, although I have read several of D&D's novels, mostly in the Forgotten Realms series. Having said that, I must say this is the best adventure novel from D&D, and one of the most entertaining fantasy novels I've read in a long time.
The ironic thing is, White Plume Mountain almost seems to be a satire of D&D, if not an outright parody of it. The characters of the Justicar and Polk, are especially earnest, while the author is showing us that he doesn't take them too seriously and neither should we.
And the real strength of the book is the characters' interplay. There's a real sense of fun here, while also poking fun at the wholesale manslaughter present in many sword-and-sorcery type novels.
I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the books in the series.
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