2011; 348 pages. Full Title : Crimson Blade – The Wrath of the Gods, Book 1. New Author? : Yes. Genre : Fantasy; Quest. Overall Rating : 6*/10.
We’re off to see the Wizards! And the Warriors, and the Rangers, the
Giants, and the Magic! It’s going to be
a great tournament and the competition will be fierce. The stands will be packed so we should get
there early in order to get good seats.
I’ll be rooting for The Crimson Tide, er, The Crimson Band, led by
that legendary mercenary, Eucibous.
They’re the odds-on favorites. It
will be interesting to see who they get paired against in the first round. And of course, who knows which of the competitors
will be favored by the gods.
But let’s not sit too close to the action. I don’t want the view to be spellbinding. I don’t want to take a chance of getting injured
by flying objects. Things like bats, clubs,
and fireballs. And body parts.
What’s To Like...
The above might sound like this is a sports
story, but after you meet the various “players” – orcs, goblins, mages, ogres,
gnomes, dwarves, elves, and a host of dead and undead beasties – you may be
thinking more along the lines of LOTR.
But Crimson Blade is really a quest
written in the style of an AD&D (Advanced Dungeons and Dragons)
adventure. There are gods, there are
heroes, and there are magical, god-given artifacts dispensed by the deities to
their designated champions. The three
AD&D alignments – good, bad, and neutral - are also employed here, and dead
characters can be resurrected. The
author certainly qualifies as being the dungeon master. The only thing missing is the 20-sided dice.
The
action – mostly fighting, snarling, and spellcasting – is non-stop. The gods have their foibles just as the
mortals do. The fact that there are
three alignments means this is not simply a “good vs. evil” storyline, and
makes for some curious, if temporary, alliances.
I particularly enjoyed the flashback portions, which detailed how each
member of Eucibous’ band of mercenaries came to join the Crimson Band.
There
is some mature language and adult situations.
But nothing lurid, and the cussing is what you’d expect to hear from any band of teenage gamers. The writing is adequate,
but not particularly powerful.
Character-development is non-existent, but in a role-playing scenario you expect the characters to conform to their prescribed alignments. It would be a faux pas for a lawful evil warrior to suddenly start doing good
deeds. And I liked that Eucibous was not
a boring lawful-good hero. I prefer my
protagonists to be “gray”.
Kindle Details...
Crimson Blade sells for $2.99 at Amazon. So far, this is the only e-book offered by
Corey Soreff. Four years is a long time
to wait for a sequel (and this is proffered as a “Book One” in a series),
but it appears the author has been busy fulfilling his military service, so
we’ll cut him a ton of slack.
Excerpts...
Eucibous was
thrilled to learn that he would have a chance to fight two of the best warriors
in history in their prime. It was hard
for him to wait this long as they grew, but they would be fights worth waiting
for. He had also agreed to be Gurnac’s
champion, since the God had told him he didn’t care what he did. Representing a neutral God wasn’t half bad,
you just do whatever you want. (loc. 268)
Kol’thakal sat
atop a large wingless black dragon as he led his army forward through the
forests of Adanantus. Such beasts
without wings were rare and revered in drow society. “So many trees on this damn continent. This place reeks of … life.”
Lithak rode aside
his King as always, atop a fine black horse.
“It won’t when we are done with it, my King.” (loc. 998)
“I am a fool. I am falling for a Goddess.” (loc. 2055)
There are weaknesses. The pacing is poor. Far too much time is spent on prepping for the
tournament and its opening round. The fighting tactics and magic spells are detailed in great length, but they really have no
bearing on the plotline. The whole last third
of the book is devoted the chaos that arises at the tournament and a
save-the-world battle going on simultaneously.
Okay fine. But then the aftermath – the fall of a kingdom, the flight of
the losing side, and the shake-up in the celestial pecking order, are all just hurriedly glossed over. Should more text be devoted to these significant events?
Eucibous and his
Crimson Band may be worthy foes of the gods and their select champions, but
against any creature less than that, they’re simply too overpowering to create
any suspense. I suppose this is okay when one is narrating a quest, but if the reader isn’t a Dungeons & Dragons
enthusiast, then this may become a tedious read.
In
short, while we can say that the Crimson Band
achieves its goal – writing an adventure that might have appeared in the magazine Dungeon – that goal will have a very narrow target audience. Corey Soreff certainly
demonstrates excellent world-building skills.
The next step is to go beyond the AD&D limitations and write an ambitious and innovative tale that any reader of fantasy would be drawn into.
6 Stars.
Add 1 star
if you still have your level-27 character’s stat sheet from all those years
ago. Subtract 1 star
if you think “AD&D” stands for Attention Deficit and Disorder.
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