RSS RSS Facebook Twitter Email
Pathfinder / Fiction / Tales / Novels

Pathfinder Tales: The Crusader Road

4.30/5 (based on 21 ratings)
Pathfinder Tales: The Crusader Road
Show Description For:
Non-Mint

Print Edition Unavailable

Add ePub/PDF $6.99

Non-Mint Unavailable

Facebook Twitter Email

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

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

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

The Crusader Road is also available as a digital edition on the following sites:

Product Availability

Print Edition:

Unavailable

ePub/PDF:

Fulfilled immediately.

Non-Mint:

Unavailable

This product is non-mint. Refunds are not available for non-mint products. The standard version of this product can be found here.

Are there errors or omissions in this product information? Got corrections? Let us know at store@paizo.com.

PZO8521

See Also:

16 to 20 of 21 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | next > last >>

Average product rating:

4.30/5 (based on 21 ratings)

Sign in to create or edit a product review.

A good story

4/5 —

This would be a great Pathfinder Novel for someone who is new the the PF world. Basic villains and creatures, nothing too heavy that could bog down new readers.

The story was well told and held my attention. I did think the ending was a bit weak. (Sort of telegraphed and predictable.) But it didn't detract for the overall enjoyment of the story.

I hope the author writes a follow on novel. The city and characters really deserve more adventures and I would love to see them developed further.

A great read!

5/5 —

This was my first Pathfinder fiction apart from the stories in the Adventure Paths, and I haven't read much fantasy for a long time. I got the book as part of the Kickstarter campaign so I thought I'd give it a try to learn a bit more about the Crusader Road and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. It turned out to be one of those books that I actually made time to read as I enjoyed it so much and I'd like to hope that there will be more stories of Silverlake and the Vishov family.

Great premise delivered on.

5/5 —

An exiled noble and her family have to carve a city out of a wild region near the River Kingdoms. I read the sample chapter and I was hooked. This is a very entertaining PF Tale and one of the best in the series. Stackpole writes likable and engaging characters. I would love to see a sequel to find out what happens next. Check it out, you won't be disappointed.

Excellent story well told

5/5 —

This is adapted from my review on GoodReads and doesn't so much deal with the Pathfinder Online tie-in. The star ratings on GoodReads are much more strict than standard (if you go with it as designed--and I do), so a four star there is easily a five star elsewhere (in case you notice the discrepancy).

---
The Crusader Road is a good choice to invite people into the Pathfinder Online setting and a strong tale well told. The story is a relatively simple one: the Vishov family (mother Tyressa, older teen daughter Serrana, and young teen son Jerrad) comes to the river kingdoms (sparsely settled lands open for settlement) to carve a place for themselves to escape shame visited on them in their home country. They have a group of loyal folks with them so it's not just the family, though the rest of the settlers are kind of faceless minions (one of the few weaknesses in the book, really).

In structure, the story could be seen as a mirror of the Kingmaker adventure path because it, too, concerns building a kingdom from nothing, making deals with established neighbors, and making peace (however uneasy) with the wild things (the fey, yes, but also a kind of gestalt presence that represents the wood itself) that have palpable presence. Fortunately, Stackpole is author enough to make this a tightly-paced story and infuse it with characters we come to care about.

The story mainly follows Jerrad as a coming-of-age tale as he morphs from the "mouse" he is in the beginning into discovering his own strengths—both of character and of mind. It helps that he's as diplomatic as he is intelligent and that he seizes the opportunities he finds to learn and expand as he encounters this land of danger and beauty. In the shadow of the heroic father who left on the crusades a decade ago, he has to find his own way to shine and learn that real heroes are measured by those they serve rather than those they defeat.

We get almost as much from Tyressa's perspective. She's the leader of the settlement, after all, and her actions carry the strongest, or broadest, consequences. She makes a commitment at the beginning of the story to remain with this community and bind herself and her fate to the region—even after her term of exile (20 years) is up. That's quite a decision up front, essentially giving up the long heritage of her noble family to settle in the back of beyond (and without any guarantee of success let alone prosperity). She's a wise leader, though, and that bone-deep commitment infuses her actions and interactions with neighbors, rivals, and enemies alike.

But my favorite transformation is Serrana who starts off the whiny favored daughter bred for court who finds herself transplanted wholly against her will and with no recourse. She yearns for "home" and wants nothing more than to hold onto hope of return. Her transformation is kind of quick, but completely believable and I just love seeing her blossom as the future leader of these people as she chooses to transform herself into someone they know they can trust. She gets the least screen-time of any of the other characters, but I still loved seeing her grow and develop.

Stackpole creates some major defining moments in the life of this settlement and those moments are important, meaningful, and competently earned. But he doesn't forget those quiet moments and personal connections and decisions that are as important in the life of the growing community. I loved how completely I was drawn into the story and how much I enjoyed being there with them.

I'm not sure how broad the appeal of the novel will be to those not interested in Paizo's Pathfinder setting, but I suspect it'd hold up well as stand-alone fantasy novel. Certainly, no prior knowledge or previous work is necessary to understanding the events or their impact on the characters.

Great right out of the gate!

5/5 —

Wow! This is one of the very best of Pathfinder Tales. I was captured in the first chapter and could not put this book down. Never a dull moment. I will be recommending this book to lots of people, and already have just a few chapters in. I want a sequel and/or more Pathfinder setting books from Michael A. Stackpole. His writing has some serious style.

1 to 5 of 21 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | next > last >>
Search Thread

Search this Thread:

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! :-)
Community / Forums / Paizo / Product Discussion / Pathfinder Tales: The Crusader Road All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.
Recent threads in Product Discussion