Pathfinder Tales: Beyond the Pool of Stars

NO SPOILERS

Beyond the Pool of Stars is a fantastic trade paperback in the Pathfinder Tales line. Set in Sargava (a jungle, coastal region in the Mwangi Expanse that has thrown off Chelish control), the novel follows the exploits of Mirian Raas, part-Pathfinder/part deep sea salvager. I thought Howard Andrew Jones' previous novels in the Pathfinder Tales line were fine, but this one really impressed me. It's full of heart, surprises, action, and makes great use of an interesting setting. I definitely recommend it.

Beyond the Pool of Stars is a heart-touching story set in an often-overlooked corner of Golarion. While I have enjoyed many other Pathfinder Tales novels, this one was "close to home" because I'm running the Serpent's Skull adventure path as well as an Eleder-based revolution campaign. I was a little worried that it would follow the mold of Serpent's Skull and be a tacit endorsement of pulpy imperialism, but it was actually very complex and respectful. The main goal of the protagonists is to help a dying lizardfolk tribe reclaim its cultural heritage, rather than to e.g. loot a Mwangi tomb and sell relics. The characters - Mirian, Jekka, and Alderra especially - had depth and well-defined motivations, and when they were in trouble I was on the edge of my seat. This is a fast-paced narrative with complications in every chapter, and although it didn't quite have the unspooling motivations of Stalking the Beast, it was a bit more of a pageturner because I cared about the characters more.

One of the few things I didn't like about the book was the number of deaths! I won't spoil which ones, but some of them felt extraneous to the narrative - and they unfortunately didn't enhance the realism, because I'm running a game in the Mwangi Expanse and I gotta say we're not having that many casualties. Another beef is that Jekka and Mirian didn't get together, but I can't say I expected that.

I do need to commend Howard Andrew Jones on the realism of his lizardfolk characters. Their relationships with humans and each other are among the best parts of the book! And they inspired my own group of three lizardfolk in the aforementioned SS campaign. This book has been a great resource for both my campaigns and I fully intend to have the Raas salvaging family interact with my parties in the future.

Overall, this is my favorite Pathfinder Tales novel read so far. It's got great descriptions, great characters, and a compelling narrative.

Having read Plague of Shadows and then Stalking the Beast both in the past week, I was honestly a bit crushed to find the author had moved on from Elyana's adventures, and started w/ a new character.

Familiar benefits of reading this particular author came through: party-based adventure, interesting companions, realistically-high body count in a dangerous world...

Also, of the 9 PF novels I've now read, this was only the 2nd outside of Avistan, so I really appreciated the change in setting. If only b/c it was fresh and new to me.

I can't help but admit I didn't care for this as much as his previous 2 novels, as I compare Mirian Raas to Elyana anyway.

I deeply appreciate and admire what he did w/ the Lizardfolk, though. I was rooting for them long before the end, and I will have a hard time playing a PnP game and considering them mere enemy fodder after reading this book.

I adored this book. The plot is sufficiently convoluted (hmm that word sounds bad... whats the good version of it?) to be very interesting, the characters have interesting struggles and flaws, the ups and downs were fun to read and in no way paint-by-numbers or telegraphed 100 pages in advance. It truly felt like there were six or so main characters, all fully flushed out and well crafted to stand on their own. I pray theres a sequel!

Best of all, my goodness do you get won over by the lizardman culture. it is so alien to our own, but it comes to life, in a consistent and highly believable fashion. I dont know if Mr Jones patterned it after Mayan or who knows what on earth, but it is so believable and yet clearly alien to "human" culture that it is worth the read just by itself. Its internal logic is clear and, as you learn about them, all of their actions make perfect sense under their foreign set of values of what is important and unimportant.

Great story, great characters, and all set with a clash of cultures - how many books can you say had you on the edge of your seat as two characters discussed the meaning and purpose of a legal contract? Haha!

Its fantastic, a must-read for any fantasy fans.

Howard Andrew Jones has placed this incredible story exactly halfway between a pirate's search for loot and a noble tale of sacrifice to preserve a culture (or two!)

Every character rippled off the pages with life - keep these coming!