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Pathfinder Tales: The Crusader Road

4.30/5 (based on 21 ratings)
Pathfinder Tales: The Crusader Road
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Taming the Wild!

When the aristocratic Vishov family is banished from Ustalav due to underhanded politics, Lady Tyressa Vishov is faced with a choice: fade slowly into obscurity, or strike out for the nearby River Kingdoms and establish a new holding on the untamed frontier. Together with her children and loyal retainers, she'll forge a new life in the infamous Echo Wood, and neither bloodthirsty monsters nor local despots will stop her from reclaiming her family honor. Yet the shadow of Ustalavic politics is long, and even in a remote and lawless territory, there may be those determined to see the Vishov family fail...

From New York Times best-selling author Michael A. Stackpole comes a new novel of frontier adventure set in the world of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the new Pathfinder Online massively multiplayer online roleplaying game.

400-page mass market paperback
ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-657-7
ePub ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-658-4

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The Crusader Road is sanctioned for use in Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild.

Download the Chronicle sheet — (395 kb zip/PDF)

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4.30/5 (based on 21 ratings)

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Novel protagonists for the line, but a bit of a slog

3/5 —

I appreciate the attempt at a YA, coming of age story, and particularly the allowance for *time* to pass. But overall it didn't come together that well for me. Might give it another go sometime.

Surprisingly Good

5/5 —

NO SPOILERS

Bearing the Goblin Works logo, Crusader Road was a novel designed to tie-in with Paizo's attempt to launch the Pathfinder Online MMORPG. The book is set in and around the location for that (ll-fated) game, Thornkeep--a small holding in the River Kingdoms. Novelistic tie-ins to other media projects can be real mixed bags, but Crusader Road is legit! The book really sets the atmosphere for Thornkeep and the mysterious forest around it, Echo Wood. The plot is interesting and intriguing--definitely something different than a traditional Pathfinder story. It is fair to say that it's so different it doesn't always feel very "Pathfinder" in terms of bringing gameplay mechanics into the story or involving other bits of setting lore, and could have been almost a standalone fantasy novel. But despite that, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the novel. I also *really* wish I had read it before running the Thornkeep adventure module as it would have helped to flesh out several NPCs.

SPOILERS!:

The novel starts out strong, telling how a disgraced noblewoman from Ustalav named Lady Tyressa has been practically exiled by being sent to found a new community called Silverlake in the wilderness near Thornkeep. But Thornkeep's ruler, Baron Blackshield, is a classic jerk and isn't going to make things easy. The novel is told from different points of view: Lady Tyressa herself and her son Jerrad, who starts to develop sorcerous powers linked to the fey of Echo Wood. I love the book's treatment of Echo Wood--the fey haunting it ensure it's creepy, terrifying, confusing, and occasionally whimsical all at the same time. The evolution of Lady Tyressa and her family from courtly sophisticates to rugged wilderness survivors is told well. Other elements from the Thornkeep module's description of the town make appearances, including a Muldoon, goblins, and the Wolfmane barbarians.

The book also features some great action scenes, with a great scene of fragile Silverlake rallying to stave off a goblin and ogre assault. Behind the attack is another novel from Ustalav, Baron Creelisk, who pretends to be helpful while secretly scheming to steal everything out from under Lady Tyressa's feet. Baron Creelisk has a plan (admitted far-fetched and convoluted) to raise some sort of undead army from the nearby haunted village of Mosswater to attack Silverlake. I got a bit confused on that plot element, but didn't mind overall because the conclusion is also downright exciting.

Crusader Road does a lot with its main characters, allowing them to grow naturally through their experiences. I wasn't really expecting much from the book--after all, both Pathfinder Online and the Thornkeep module weren't exactly stellar. But this novel is definitely worth reading.

Something different

3/5 —

I would give this 3.5 stars. I liked the whole pioneer story in a mostly low fantasy setting (here, the River Kingdoms), and enjoyed the coming-of-age story of the young Vishov boy. He was almost the antithesis of the normal hero, which was perhaps the point.

The setting was good, some decent characters, some unexpected twists, some nice dialogue, etc.

Minor quibbles would be that I really liked Tyressa, and would not have minded if she really was the main protagonist, like it early seemed she might be. I thought the daughter's progression from A to B was too quick and thus not credible. Not sure if I liked the quasi-illiterate speech patterns of the Muldoons. And, like many PF Tales novel I've read to date, the editing borders on unprofessional.

A good novel, but not what I expected

3/5 —

After being forced to go start a new city in the wilderness, Lady Tyressa Vishov... doesn't feature in this book. I mean, I guess she's in it, but she's barely a major character. Nearly everything she does is told through the perspective of the actual main character, her son, who this story is actually about.

And don't get me wrong, "Mouse" is a good character with a good fun fantasy coming of age story - but I was expecting the book to be about his mother. I was really looking forward to a book about a butt-kicking fantasy heroine, because those are so rare. Let alone with one whose motivations are the survival and benefit of her children.

But we actually get a book about a butt-kicking fantasy heroine's misfit son, and how he falls in love and discovers his magical powers and finds his father lost in the wilderness to ultimately save the day with a few low-level spells.

3/5 —

I kept expecting there to be a jump forward in time, and it never came.

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Webstore Gninja Minion

Announced for June! Cover image is a mockup and subject to change.

1 - I recognise the name of this writer. ;)

2 - I had not read this when I made up the backstory for my Wrath of the Righteous character.

and 3 - Yay, sounds fun!
The Exchange

Searching the author's name in Amazon.com has revealed several very well reviewed books by him, which obviously spikes my interest. Seems like this book couls serve as a way for me to test if I like the style of this guy.

Very interesting.
Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

Mike has long been one of my favorite writers, and I'm really glad we finally got him to do a novel for us.

Mike is one of my favorite writers and a friend. I can't wait to read it.
Sczarni

My favorite star wars author doing PF Tales nice...
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Cpt_kirstov wrote:
My favorite star wars author doing PF Tales nice...

Don't forget Battletech, his Kerensky Trilogy is awesome.

This is awesome news!

Michael Stackpole is one of my favorite Star Wars authors (He wrote most, if not all, of the X-Wing books). I have read some of his Battletech books and they were also very enjoyable.

-Aaron
Dark Archive

will be buying this.

Squee! From the rumblings of Mr. Sutter, I may need to start subcribing to the Tales line...
Managing Editor
Kairos Dawnfury wrote:
Squee! From the rumblings of Mr. Sutter, I may need to start subcribing to the Tales line...

Always a fine idea! :D

Kairos Dawnfury wrote:
Squee! From the rumblings of Mr. Sutter, I may need to start subcribing to the Tales line...

Come on... Drink the Flavor-Aid. Everyone else is doing it!

I have not regretted subscribing. Never regretted it. In fact, if I were to choose ONE subscription to keep and drop all the others, I would keep the fiction subscription.
Webstore Gninja Minion

Cover image and description updated!
Cpt_kirstov wrote:

My favorite star wars author doing PF Tal

es nice...

They've been doing a re-read of several of the early Star Wars novels over at tor.com - with the Stackpole X-wing novels featuring quite prominently. (Kinda made me wish I didn't have to sell them so I could eat back in the day.)

I mostly like the cover. It's a touch more violent than normal (Goblin beheading!), but no worse than Skinwalkers. A bit more cheesecake than normal, but not nearly the level of cheesecake that Seoni presents.

I'm anticipating this novel. It should be fun!
Liberty's Edge

I do not like the cover, mostly because of the severed head. It just feels off to me.

As a backer and a subscriber, I'm only getting one copy of this book right? (It's been awhile but I seem to remember this being part of the print add on as well)
Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

Pathfinder Tales subscribers who are getting this book as part of the Kickstarter should get one copy (and the cost of it should be covered by your Kickstarter pledge).
Vic Wertz wrote:
Pathfinder Tales subscribers who are getting this book as part of the Kickstarter should get one copy (and the cost of it should be covered by your Kickstarter pledge).

Well that's good to hear, I was worried that I would be getting two copies. Not that it's going to be bad to have two copies of the book of course . . .

I wonder if he can somehow shoehorn in an exploding fusion engine or two....... :P
Scarab Sages
Vic Wertz wrote:
Pathfinder Tales subscribers who are getting this book as part of the Kickstarter should get one copy (and the cost of it should be covered by your Kickstarter pledge).

I know it's still too early to be concerned, but my My Subscriptions page is still showing a price for the novel via sub, even though I'm getting it via the Kickstarter. Will that be updated before order spawning, or should I just mentally adjust? 8^)

Lantern Lodge Customer Service Dire Care Bear Manager
Arazyr wrote:
Vic Wertz wrote:
Pathfinder Tales subscribers who are getting this book as part of the Kickstarter should get one copy (and the cost of it should be covered by your Kickstarter pledge).
I know it's still too early to be concerned, but my My Subscriptions page is still showing a price for the novel via sub, even though I'm getting it via the Kickstarter. Will that be updated before order spawning, or should I just mentally adjust? 8^)

We're still working on figuring out the best way to do this.

Scarab Sages

Thanks, Sara Marie! I was more curious than anything.

Anyone know how prominent this tale will be in the PFO lore seeing as how its also a backer gift?

Looks like Belle from Beauty and the Beast has some goblin-hate.
Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber

So, how many river kingdoms books does this make? 3, The other 2 I can think of is 1)Liar's Blade and 2) Stalking Beast. Need more Cheliax or Garundi

I love the cover. Now that is how you treat goblins.

Though I am wondering how old are her kids...she kinda of young looking.

If this is anything like Michael Stackpole's other novels, it will be awesome!

I sort of love her expression. It seems so calm as if killing Goblins is a minor chore for her.

Really great book. Loved it being able to see a character grow.

Spoiler:
Was sad that Jerrad ended being a wizard. The build up of him learning from experience , becoming co-operative with the woods and Echo Wood being semi sentient was making me really hope he was going to be a witch that was bound to a location. But how the others developed I really liked. Hope we get to see more of Silverlake if not in a sequel then in a Scenario or AP.
Sczarni

Raef, I flagged your post for needing a spoiler tag in the third sentence. if it surprised you enough to be sad about it, than some people might not want to read it prior to street date
Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber

Is there no ebook version of this book?
Webstore Gninja Minion
j b 200 wrote:
Is there no ebook version of this book?

The digital release will not be available until June 25th.

Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber

ok, listing doesn't say that anymore. I was very sad, since I buy every single one of the Pathfinder Tales books for my kindle
Dark Archive

I was supposed to get a digital version as a Kickstarter backer. I've received my physical copy but not my digital.
Sovereign Court

Thought this book was fantastic. However, I think it's the first one I recall with so many formatting and grammatical errors. I'm just hoping that with the potential influx of new readers/subscribers who join the Tales world due to PFO isn't too severely affected.
j b 200 wrote:
ok, listing doesn't say that anymore. I was very sad, since I buy every single one of the Pathfinder Tales books for my kindle

Do you read it as a PDF? This is my first Pathfinder fiction as I got it through the Kickstarter. I got the paperback and the download, but I find the PDF is just too small to read on my kindle.

Kradlum wrote:
j b 200 wrote:
ok, listing doesn't say that anymore. I was very sad, since I buy every single one of the Pathfinder Tales books for my kindle
Do you read it as a PDF? This is my first Pathfinder fiction as I got it through the Kickstarter. I got the paperback and the download, but I find the PDF is just too small to read on my kindle.

You can use a free program called Calibre to convert the ePub to .MOBI format and read it on your kindle just like all the other books you buy on/through the Kindle.

@John Kretzer:

The Vishov kids are...:
a 13 year old boy and a 16 year old girl.
Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber

I read them all on my kindle. I have every Pathfinder Tales novel so far, and haven't purchased a single hardcopy. As Itchy said, I download the ePub format and use Calibre to convert it to .mobi format. No problems reading it after that.

How big of an area is Silverlake?
Associate Editor
Gordrenn Higgler wrote:
How big of an area is Silverlake?

This is the one Pathfinder Tales novel that I didn't have an opportunity to work on, but I'll run your question past Sutter when he gets back in the office next week. My best guess is that Silverlake is like a lot of River Kingdoms in that its size and borders fluctuate in response to local events and politics. Sutter might be able to give you a rough estimate of its area at the time the novel takes place.

Managing Editor
Christopher Paul Carey wrote:
Gordrenn Higgler wrote:
How big of an area is Silverlake?
This is the one Pathfinder Tales novel that I didn't have an opportunity to work on, but I'll run your question past Sutter when he gets back in the office next week. My best guess is that Silverlake is like a lot of River Kingdoms in that its size and borders fluctuate in response to local events and politics. Sutter might be able to give you a rough estimate of its area at the time the novel takes place.

I don't think it's specifically spelled out, but pretty small. Remember, the settlement doesn't exist at *all* at the start of the book, so in the beginning it's nothing but tents and shacks and animal pens, and by the end it's... well, that would be a spoiler, I suppose. :) The buildings are mostly clustered close together for defense, where that makes sense, so all told, I think the actual *town* is probably on the scale of hundreds of feet across instead of thousands, with outbuildings and stuff beyond that.

Liberty's Edge

Such a great book! This was the first of the Tales books I read, and just got 45 bucks in other ones because of it.

That being said someone need to light a fire under Mr. Stackpole and get him to typity typing on a sequel. I need more of the Vishovs, Murdoons, and Silverlake. :)
Grand Lodge
1 person marked this as a favorite.

is there a PFS related boon with this book?
Dark Archive

SOLD OUT! :-)
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