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Pathfinder Tales: Called to Darkness

3.80/5 (based on 17 ratings)
Pathfinder Tales: Called to Darkness
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Kinslayer

Kagur is a warrior of the Blacklions, fierce and fearless hunters in the savage Realm of the Mammoth Lords. When her clan is slaughtered by a frost giant she considered her adopted brother, honor demands that she, the last surviving Blacklion, track down her old ally and take the tribe’s revenge. This is no normal betrayal, however, for the murderous giant has followed the whispers of a dark god down into the depths of the earth, into a primeval cavern forgotten by time. There, he will unleash forces capable of wiping all humans from the region—unless Kagur can stop him first.

From acclaimed author Richard Lee Byers comes a tale of bloody revenge and subterranean wonder, set in the award-winning world of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

400-page mass market paperback
ISBN–13: 978-1-60125-465-8
ePub ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-466-5

Called to Darkness is also available as a digital edition on the following sites:

Called to Darkness is sanctioned for use in Pathfinder Society Organized Play. Its Chronicle sheet and additional rules are a free download (209 KB zip/PDF).

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3.80/5 (based on 17 ratings)

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Exciting and Fun!

5/5 —

Called to Darkness is an exciting and fast paced read filled with adventure and great characters. Richard Lee Byers has crafted a tale that feels like a tabletop adventure, complete with strong action and vibrant scenes. This is the first novelization of an RPG that I've read that truly feels like playing at the table. Grab a copy now, and immerse yourself in this wonderful tale!

A Fun Adventure in the same veins as Lovecraft and Burroughs

4/5 —

A rare coupling, Called to Darkness manages to pull off the unusual combination of pulp elements and some Lovecraftian goodies to spice up a tale of revenge and magic that also lends itself to the Conan type vein. The main character, while being driven by revenge, shows just enough development and personality to get you to like her while still showing the cold detachment and self-reliance that makes you remember that she is still from a brutal culture. The travel through the darklands was as much fun as the events that transpired as they reached their destination, and even the secondary characters and villain were enjoyable. Overall an excellent addition to the Tales line.

A bit too one-dimensional and tedious

3/5 —

I've read all the Pathfinder Tales novels up to and including Called to Darkness, and I'm sorry to say that this was the only one I seriously considered giving up on less than half-way through.

Both the protagonist Kagur and the plot seemed to lack depth. The frost giant's violent act in the first chapter (which is mentioned on the back cover, so it's not a spoiler) sets the scene for the revenge theme that comes to dominate the entire book. The root cause of his actions was never uncovered (there's a clear surface answer but this was not satisfactory for me).

Ultimately, perhaps the biggest problem is that I couldn't identify with Kagur - while she's both strong and honorable, she's not interesting, and it took some willpower to finish a nearly 400 page novel focused on her. The book did pick up toward the climax at the end, and for that, I reluctantly give it three stars.

4/5 —

A friend lent me this book because Kagur reminded him of one of my Pathfinder characters, a female Kellid druid/barbarian. I really enjoyed the book and the uncanny similarities between my PC and the main character of the novel. I thought Kagur was kind of one dimensional with her lust for revenge but it was a compelling and enjoyable read overall. We need more strong female heroes who don't always wear chain mail bikinis.

3/5 —

There were some things I thoroughly liked about this book, but I cannot count it among my favorite Pathfinder Tales (Death's Heretic, Night Glass, anything by Dave Gross).

Only minor spoilers below:

The vengeance plot/theme was just a little too dominant for me, as though a single note was being played from the very first chapter to the last. It didn't leave room for character development or growth for much of the novel. My interest waned as the quest plodded along for the first half of the book - being exposed to the Darklands for the first time as a Tales reader couldn't make up for the fact that the plot was simply to track the antagonist from point A to point B.

My interest was once again piqued later in the novel when the protagonists started interacting with the human and orc tribal characters. It was here that I finally began to like Kagur, as she came into her own as a leader and softened just the slightest bit. I wish the journey to Orv could have been fast-forwarded, and we could have spent more time with the tribes.

Reading the other two reviews online at the time I write this, maybe I just wasn't the target audience for this one, not being a huge fan of Burroughs.

To leave on a high note... Things I liked:

- that you could not only identify one of the main characters as an oracle, but you knew exactly what curse he had. Continuing to highlight uniquely "pathfinder" classes (like the alchemist in City of the Fallen Sky) helps distinguish the Tales line from other fantasy stories.
- battles with strange creatures (like the gibbering mouther) that don't actually refer to the monster's name, especially when the fish-out-of-water characters wouldn't know what it was.
- strong female protagonist
- Mammoth Lords getting some love in the Tales line

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Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

Announced! Cover image is a mockup, and will change prior to publication.
Dark Archive
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Sounds like a interesting story.
Dark Archive

Richard Lee Buyers! Sweet lord I love his books... if his adventures are anything like his books, it will rock!
Silver Crusade

More Great White North love! Gimme!

It's a Darklands Western!
Liberty's Edge

Hmmm. Is it your standard Darklands setting or does it take place in one of the Orv vaults?
Dark Archive

Richard Lee Byers? Yes please!
Contributor
S. Werner wrote:
Hmmm. Is it your standard Darklands setting or does it take place in one of the Orv vaults?

Both!

The cover art for this book on the 2012 catalogue is different (and much better).Is that the correct one or another mockup?

That will be the first Pathfinder novel I will not buy.
Contributor
Fabius Maximus wrote:
That will be the first Pathfinder novel I will not buy.

Can you tell us why?

Liz Courts wrote:
Fabius Maximus wrote:
That will be the first Pathfinder novel I will not buy.
Can you tell us why?

I'm sorry if this comes across too harshly, but I think Mr Byers is an inept writer. I've rarely read something as boring as his dragon trilogy, and the one about Thay isn't much better. He did not manage to make me feel any connection with his characters, and the storylines were too predictable. I certainly hope you do not plan to hire Ed Greenwood, James Wyatt or R.A. Salvatore as novelists. That would be even worse. Paul Kemp on the other hand...

I've also become a bit disillusioned about the Tales series recently, because I think the more recent books suffer from a lack in editing and feel rushed. I was especially disappointed in Mrs Laws' and Mr Gross' second novels. Both wrote excellent first books, but they probably needed more time working on "Master Of Devils" and "Blood In The Streets", respectively.

I certainly don't expect literary masterpieces from the Tales - although "The Worldwound Gambit" comes close (I will probably get flak for that) -, but I want stories that don't read like they were shoddily cobbled together.

*sigh* Now I wrote more than I wanted to. Sorry about the rant.
Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer
Gandal wrote:
The cover art for this book on the 2012 catalogue is different (and much better).Is that the correct one or another mockup?

The image currently posted here is an early mockup. The image in the catalog is still a mockup, but it uses the correct artwork. The final cover should be up here in a couple weeks.

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer
Fabius Maximus wrote:
I was especially disappointed in Mrs Laws' and Mr Gross' second novels.

Robin Laws is a Mr. too.

Vic Wertz wrote:
Fabius Maximus wrote:
I was especially disappointed in Mrs Laws' and Mr Gross' second novels.
Robin Laws is a Mr. too.

G~% d&!mit!

I knew that, I just automatically associate the name 'Robin' with a woman.

Sorry.
Owner - House of Books and Games LLC

Will this be another book with an antihero as the protagonist? I could go for an actual hero one of these days :)
Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

She's not an antihero... unless you feel that a character whose primary motivation is deadly revenge can only be an antihero.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
thebwt wrote:
Richard Lee Byers? Yes please!

X 2!! Richard is great!

Final cover image and product description are up!
Dark Archive

That's ... great art.

Realy pleased to see Richard Lee Byers name added to the Tales series. Had great time reading his FR novels.

Now we just miss a Paul Kemp and it will be perfect for me!
Contributor

Awesome cover art...I'm liking the small reptilian (dino) critter running along with her. Animal companion? Looking forward to this one!

Who is the cover artist, by the way?
Acquisitives
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

WANT.
Paizo Employee Developer
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Chris A Jackson wrote:
Who is the cover artist, by the way?

Michael Ivan

It's interesting to see how people react to the tales line, but for me I've loved them all.

My favorites being Dave Gross' works.

Downloading to my nook now for reading tomorrow.

Just finished the book, and it didn't disappoint.

I now have some new perspective on the darklands, and the various layers.

All in all a great stand alone novel.
Contributor
TheChozyn wrote:
All in all a great stand alone novel.

Good to hear!

Do Tales subscribers get access to the downloads early? I've been patiently waiting 'til Wednesday.

Yea I had the PDF/epub when my order shipped on Tuesday at no additional cost. If you're picking up the novels here at Paizo.com there's no reason not to be a subscriber.

Still don't have the physical book in hand yet due to shipping delays.
Sovereign Court RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
1 person marked this as a favorite.

I liked how the Oracle(s) were portrayed.

Having grown up on ERB, the vault warmed my pulp heart too
Contributor
TheChozyn wrote:

Yea I had the PDF/epub when my order shipped on Tuesday at no additional cost. If you're picking up the novels here at Paizo.com there's no reason not to be a subscriber.

Still don't have the physical book in hand yet due to shipping delays.

A little perk, eh? That's cool. I actually haven't been buying the physical books, just the epubs of the novels and short stories and novellas and so on. Can you subscribe to just the electronic versions of things?

Ahhh, sadly no, the subscriptions are only for the print products.
Matthew Morris wrote:

I liked how the Oracle(s) were portrayed.

Having grown up on ERB, the vault warmed my pulp heart too

Yea I kept getting a Land of the Lost vibe from the vault.

Contributor
TheChozyn wrote:
Ahhh, sadly no, the subscriptions are only for the print products.

I shall consider it nonetheless. Thanks for the info and for the early review!

Sovereign Court
2 people marked this as a favorite.

Some thoughts:

- This is the most action-packed Pathfinder Tales novel, apparently the darklands are pretty hostile places...

- Some of the set pieces create great mental images

Spoiler:
Frost Giant riding a triceratops into battle! Barbarian goes one-on-one with a T-Rex! Gibbering Mouther!

- The orcs are exactly how I imagine them.

- Oracle is spot-on.
Dark Archive
1 person marked this as a favorite.

Is it just me, or is the binding on this much, much cheaper than earlier Tales books? I just started reading my copy and the first 60 pages or so were barely attached to the binding and are about to fall out. Story's good so far, but I won't be able to read it a second time ...
Sovereign Court
tribeof1 wrote:
Is it just me, or is the binding on this much, much cheaper than earlier Tales books? I just started reading my copy and the first 60 pages or so were barely attached to the binding and are about to fall out. Story's good so far, but I won't be able to read it a second time ...

Mine is exactly the same as all of the others, you have probably just got a faulty copy.

Contact Customer Services, they're usually very good.
Liberty's Edge

This is the first of the Tales books I have purchased. Construction quality was fine. Overall it was an enjoyable adventure yarn touching on themes of vengeance and community. Perfectly good read.

Oddly, the only 'frustration' I had was that I kept being drawn into thinking of it as an adventure/campaign setting background book and having all kinds of unanswered questions;

Spoilers:
What were the little 'beast men' that attacked after the serpentfolk market? Kobolds?
What would the stats on Eovath's breastplate be? And where did it come from?
What was the plant with the paralytic effect that they hid under in the vault? Some kind of giant venus fly trap?

And most vexing of all...
What were the bloody Elder Things doing building a giant multi-dimensional pyramid in Orv?

I don't suppose Paizo has ever considered including these kinds of game details with the stories? Or in some sort of followup material? Are the stories considered part of the 'same' Golarion as the game or are the authors allowed to take liberties that would be vetoed in true game setting books?

Spoiler:
=spoiler for some of the questions in DBDunkerson's spoiler]The beastmen would be morlocks.

And the books follow the rules of the game, except where doing so would be absurd (for instance, it's presumably much easier for a low-level character to take out a high-level character in the books, seeing as in real life you don't have an increasing number of hit points)
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