Here's my review:
Most magical action yet!
About page 33 of the new Dave Gross Novel "King of Chaos" I realized it was part of a series. About page 44 I went ahead and ordered the other three books in the series, but since I was already hooked, I kept reading....
I like reading fantasy novels, sometimes including those set in a gaming universe. The problem with those is sometimes the authors are third tier , hired to crank out some hack books just to support the game side. Not so with Pathfinder Tales. James Sutter, the Editor, has taken great care to get some solid authors for his line of Pathfinder Tales fiction.
Now, sometimes the authors come out with a fantasy tale, which other than the setting, is not particularly ‘set” in that gaming universe. The characters don’t have “classes’, don’t use a lot of easily recognizable spells, and magic items are few and far between, unless they are a macguffin. This works as it gets in readers who don’t play that particular fantasy roleplaying game.
But as one of my friends was complaining, they don’t read as if they are set in one of those High Fantasy High Magic universes. I mean sure- the locations are there, but where’s the magic?
Well, this one does. There are scads of spells being tossed around here, not to mention magic items. Characters use scrolls, quaff healing potions, and fire spells which are clearly from the pages of the Player Handbook. Most of the characters (other than those with a mysterious secret background, of course!) are clearly identifiable as to their class, and those who track the spells, etc used can even get a fair guess as to level. Summoners summon their eidolons, wizards burn thru scrolls like it’s my Friday nite game, Paladins lay on hands, etc.
This is cool, fun & refreshing. And the combats! Ah here, Dave Gross excels! Our heroes are fighting a literal legion of demons from the depths, not to mention a despicable Undead Lord, who is definitely not sexy or sparkly.
In general, I am not fond of those books where the narrative shifts from character to character, but Dave handles that pretty well too, since the narrative stays with one of the three main Characters each chapter, and each is clearly labeled. I’ll also mention that our three main characters are well thought out with fascinating backgrounds and raison d'être .
Now yes, I imagine that those who don’t play Pathfinder or D&D might be a little lost (however there’s a complete glossary at the back) but those who do will love this book!
Cool.
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On Wednesday I fly down to San Antonio for Worldcon. On Thursday, I'll be the first of many writers to stop by Reddit/fantasy for a "pop AMA" (Ask Me Anything).
A few of the regulars have already posted general questions, but I'd love to see some specific ones from Paizo people. Ask me anything about Radovan and the Count, King of Chaos, or any of the previous novels and stories.
Reviews are cool! And I'm quite looking forward to this book on Kindle this weekend.
Somewhat related, if you want to give a star rating, you can use the separate "Reviews" tab here.
Done!
Hey there! When did King of Chaos officially release?
August 15th (first day of GenCon 2013).
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I might expand my thoughts more in a full review, but I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed this book. The third POV was a surprise and a fun one. This series gets passed around my gaming group quite a bit and all my Radovan and Jeggare books all show wear.
I'm expecting Radovan's terminology to show up around my table.
*I'll be terribly disappointed if our two heroes don't get Miniatures in the Legends of Golarion set.
I might expand my thoughts more in a full review, but I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed this book. The third POV was a surprise and a fun one. This series gets passed around my gaming group quite a bit and all my Radovan and Jeggare books all show wear.
I'm expecting Radovan's terminology to show up around my table.
*I'll be terribly disappointed if our two heroes don't get Miniatures in the Legends of Golarion set.
There actually is a Radovan miniature I have one :). It's based off the image of him from The Lost Pathfinder short story.
Ahh, misunderstood my bad -_- I still haven't painted mine mostly because I don't want to mess it up.
The cool thing about mine was I actually won it from Dave himself during a little contest they ran. I created a build for Radovan and he liked it enough that he chose it as one of the winners which was pretty cool.
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I splurged and hired one of the premiere miniatures painters, Meg Maples, to tackle both of the boys in a little diorama. She's posted a few early photos of the unpainted base, and I'm eager to see how they turn out over the next week or so.
Check out her work on Facebook under Arcane Paintworks. You might see her version of the boys before I do, depending on when she posts.
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Contributor
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There actually is a Radovan miniature I have one :). It's based off the image of him from The Lost Pathfinder short story.I might expand my thoughts more in a full review, but I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed this book. The third POV was a surprise and a fun one. This series gets passed around my gaming group quite a bit and all my Radovan and Jeggare books all show wear.
I'm expecting Radovan's terminology to show up around my table.
*I'll be terribly disappointed if our two heroes don't get Miniatures in the Legends of Golarion set.
You are correct. Eric Belisle's fabulous artwork is the basis for the Radovan & Varian miniatures.
Fiction and miniatures completists might also recognize the Hellknight Captain miniature as based off a certain paralictor's illustration in "Hell's Pawns." I would cite the artist, but I'm not sure who it was from the AP credits.
Are there any elements from Mythic Adventures in the novel?
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If I could comment on that, even though it wasn't intended as mythic, it certainly feels like it.
Flash forward to the end of King of Chaos, with Radovan summoning all five devils into his body at once and fighting the demons. It almost feels like this was his moment of "ascension" and the Count using the book to feed his magic was his. Then we hit the epilogue and Radovan is back to the same devil from Prince of Wolves, and the Count has to "re-learn" magic just like in the first book. So it feels to me that the boys were rising to this climax, ascended to mythic status for the fight, and then it disappeared and they are left back to the beginning.
That's just what I felt about it anyways
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I know I'm a bit late to the party, but I just capped off a day-and-a-half reading bender with King of Chaos, and I wanted to come say thank you. My house, laundry pile, and husband may not appreciate it, but glutting on Master of Devils, Queen of Thorns, and King of Chaos in such quick succession was definitely my idea of time well spent. That I read all three back to back when it's been months since I've found the time or motivation to pick up a book is a high compliment - promise!
If you don't mind, though, I have a couple of questions:
We're at a crossroads in *our* story where we could part ways without ruining our enjoyment of future "official" appearances, I believe. We've found a fourth player to fill in, but she's new to TTRPGs, and while we were all thinking the GM would just hand over Azra's character sheet to her...we all sort of have a thing for keeping our campaigns in sync with the fiction line. We don't want to mess that up :).
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I know I'm a bit late to the party, but I just capped off a day-and-a-half reading bender with King of Chaos, and I wanted to come say thank you. My house, laundry pile, and husband may not appreciate it, but glutting on Master of Devils, Queen of Thorns, and King of Chaos in such quick succession was definitely my idea of time well spent. That I read all three back to back when it's been months since I've found the time or motivation to pick up a book is a high compliment - promise!
If you don't mind, though, I have a couple of questions:
*...
Thanks for the kind words!
Here are some spoilery answers. I'm not kidding about spoilers. Don't read these if you haven't read King of Chaos or would rather avoid hints about possible future revelations.
Nothing is written outside of a few "One day I'd love to _____" notes I keep in my ideas folder, but yes, I do have some ideas on what has happened with Azra (and Malena, and Milosh, and quite a few others from Prince of Wolves), as you probably guessed from Chapter Two of King of Chaos. For now, those are only ideas, possibilities I might one day pick up. It's also entirely possible future stories will go in another direction.
I think the player portraying Azra should do whatever she likes with the character. That one is the Azra of your campaign. I like to think there are other Azras in other campaigns, some of them Clerics, others Witches, others Oracles, and all of them doing different things, unhindered by guessing what may happen with "my" Azra one day, if and when she returns to print.
That said, I appreciate your desire to keep it close to "canon." I felt the same way years ago when running a Forgotten Realms campaign and trying to include events from the novels.
Here's as much of a spoiler as I feel comfortable offering for the couple of years since Radovan left Ustalav: Azra continues to travel the land in that tinker's wagon, which is still drawn by the ornery Luminita, and they're still making stops at places like the village at the base of the Hungry Mountains to look after the most accursed and afflicted Ustalavs. If helping them requires, well, an adventure, then she's up for it.
Malena remains with her Sczarni clan, who between crimes and capers keep an eye on Azra now and then to ensure that the Anaphexis are keeping up their end of the bargain they made with Count Jeggare. The only difference is that now the Sczarni werewolves sing songs about the hoped-for return of their Prince of Wolves.
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Oh wow, thanks! I really appreciate your input and the time you took to give it. You've made me feel MUCH better about the decisions we made in Carrion Crown.
"Our" Azra ended up as a special oracle built to suit, with a mute curse roughly based on the one used in Jade Regent. The early levels allow her to communicate empathically; I liked the idea that whatever Radovan might have thought, his ability to "read" her had less to do with his touch with the ladies and more to do with her magical abilities. We also gave her the bonded mount revelation, which allows an oracle to treat a mount as a druid's animal companion. That seemed to reflect her relationship with Luminita nicely.
I don't know why keeping to the fiction has become a sticking point for our group, especially when we've had no problem veering from the setting materials themselves. At least with Prince of Wolves, we all read it BEFORE we started playing Carrion Crown. For Shattered Star, I took the campaign trait that made you a disgraced member of a noble house, picked "Derexhi" from the list, and then bought a copy of Blood of the City to learn more about the family. I don't know if you've read that one, but if so you can imagine the creative acrobatics I had to go through to make it work. It was totally worth it, though!
My review of Prince of Wolves is now on Amazon and here, and soon, Master of Devils.
Great reads. Kudos to you and James Sutter.
Folks, here are some other ways to help a fave author on Amazon (and these mostly work elsewhere) besides the usual buy the books, and write a review:
1. If the book is not out yet, add it to your Wish List, even if you plan on buying it straight from Paizo.
2. If you find a good review, mark it helpful. This adds verisimilitude to the review, which helps the book. It also makes the reviewer happy.
3. Look for other books by the same author.
Want this novel, for obvious reasons...but I don't want to have to mess with trying to get it to work on my Kindle Fire like the other books I have on it.
Why no Kindle version on Amazon? Seems like that would be losing revenue.