Question about Dave Gross's Novels

[Cori Marie]

So my local BAM! finally got some Pathfinder Tales books in, only problem is that they only got Pirate's Honor (which doesn't interest me that much, sadly) and Kings of Chaos. I did buy Kings as I've heard great things about Mr. Gross's novels, but wanted to know how lost I'll be if I haven't read the other novels.

[Dave Gross]

A number of readers have told me they started with King of Chaos and didn't feel lost, but several of them also immediately picked up Prince of Wolves to start over from the beginning.

Of course, "the beginning" is debatable.

There's a more complete answer at my website.

[Cori Marie]

Thanks Dave! Good to know I can read it without getting lost :) I do plan on buying some of the others soon too :)

[Dave Gross]

Cori Marie wrote:

Thanks Dave! Good to know I can read it without getting lost :) I do plan on buying some of the others soon too :)

Don't neglect Pirate's Honor. You might be pleasantly surprised. It's more than "just" a pirate story.

I'll also plug Elaine's Winter Witch, to which I contributed a few verbs. And Howard Andrew Jones' sequel to Plague of Shadows is coming soon. That's a good one to be caught up on when it arrives.

And while I'm in a plugging vein, waiting for a podcaster to call, if you like Aprian from King of Chaos, check out his earlier appearance in Robin D. Laws' The Worldwound Gambit (which is also a great choice for anyone playing in the Wrath of the Righteous AP). And Jelani and Ederras began their Pathfinder Tales lives in Liane Merciel's "Certainty" web fiction and the latter receives a brief and intriguing mention in her novel Nightglass.

[Set]

Dave Gross wrote:

And Jelani and Ederras began their Pathfinder Tales lives in Liane Merciel's "Certainty" web fiction and the latter receives a brief and intriguing mention in her novel Nightglass.

That name sounds so much like the naming convention that went into the Iconics, I had to Google it! She totally belongs in a party with people named Merisiel and Lirriane. :)

[Cpt_kirstov]

I have to reread Certainty and KoC now. Blah

[Dave Gross]

I'm going to read that as, "I get to reread 'Certainty' and KoC now. Yay!"

[Itchy]

I think what Captain Kirstov means by "Blah" is that by rereading Certainty and King of Chaos, he will be putting off other reading that he means to get done.

Once I finish Pride and Prejudice, I'll be rereading the whole Varian Jeggare/Radovan line of stories. I may put off starting that HUGE chunk of reading until after reading Stalking the Beast.

Thank goodness for eBooks on the iPod Touch and the iPad! My new favorite way to read!

-Aaron

[Cori Marie]

Well ordered the other three novels from Paizo, so I'll just have to wait a week or so to read the series. Not like I don't have enough Campaign Setting books to read at the moment :)

[Cpt_kirstov]

Itchy wrote:

I think what Captain Kirstov means by "Blah" is that by rereading Certainty and King of Chaos, he will be putting off other reading that he means to get done.

Exactly, I'm currently at 129 books in my 'to read' pile... too many more and Its going to topple over. (this is also the reason I have stopped playing video games)

[Rosgakori]

Hey, question about the cahracter in King of Chaos!

Spoiler:

Alase and Tonbarse: 1. How do you envision the whole god-caller summoner? I got a pretty good idea from reding the book, but how does a god-caller like Alase feel about Iomadae and other gods and how they position with gods of Sarkoris like Tonbarse? Or does he see the whole term "god" very differently?

2. Did Tonbarse walk on two feet or four? I'm having a bit of argument over it :D

Thanks again! King of Chaos was awesome reading, and it got me excited about the Wrath of Righteous! Thank you for the this awesome book!

[Dave Gross]

Rosgakori wrote:

Hey, question about the cahracter in King of Chaos!

** spoiler omitted **

Thanks again! King of Chaos was awesome reading, and it got me excited about the Wrath of Righteous! Thank you for the this awesome book!

Spoiler:

1. I'd imagine that Alase considers gods who don't come when called to be lazy. On the other hand, since she can see the paladins' spells working, maybe she just thinks they're too fussy to get their paws dirty.

2. Tonbarse gets around on four legs, unless you offer him a really big Scooby snack.

[Cori Marie]

Well the books arrived yesterday :) Printed out Hell's Pawns and read it in the bath tonight. Really good stuff. Look forward to reading the rest :)

[Dave Gross]

Glad you enjoyed "Hell's Pawns," Cori Marie. Don't forget to pause between stories to dry off from the bath and post a review.

[Vic Wertz]

Dave Gross wrote:

Don't neglect Pirate's Honor. You might be pleasantly surprised. It's more than "just" a pirate story.

It's one of my very favorite in the line! It's got this Firefly/Serenity vibe to it.

[Cori Marie]

So, you will all be happy to know that over Christmas, I got a large amount of Amazon gift cards. I used them to purchase the entire Tales library. I got through Master of Devils just two days ago (really good, just took a bit to read because I didn't feel like explaining the title to overly religious family members... most who think D&D is the devil's work anyway... I get away with Pathfinder around them only cause they're not in the know that it started as D&D...) and am halfway through Queen of Thorns now. (and Dave, I do plan on reviewing all of them, but I'm going to save the reviews until I'm caught up on the series) After Queen, I plan to read Worldwound Gambit and then Kings. And then the HAJ books, and from there I don't know what order. Maybe, just maybe Salim will be back in my hands by then... but not likely so I'll figure it out as I go :P

[Itchy]

Cori Marie wrote:

After Queen, I plan to read Worldwound Gambit and then Kings. And then the HAJ books, and from there I don't know what order. Maybe, just maybe Salim will be back in my hands by then... but not likely so I'll figure it out as I go :P

If I may presume to suggest a slight change in your reading order. I would suggest reading Blood of the City after King of Chaos. There is a character from The Worldwound Gambit that appears in Blood of the City. Then continue on to the most excellent HAJ books.

Also: be ready for a slightly different reading experience with The Worldwound Gambit. It is written in present tense, which unfortunately caused enough complaints that (to my knowledge) Paizo won't publish any more of the Tales in present tense. That said, The Worldwound Gambit is a fun and exciting book! I enjoyed it enough that I have read it more than once!

Blood of the City was good enough to earn three readings from me (thus far) and is the book that I generally loan out as an introduction to the line.

That's all my own personal opinion, though. Sprinkle liberally with salt and make your own discoveries!

-Aaron

Edit: Regarding reviews: it is my experience that if I don't write the review just after finishing the story, I won't get it done. Partly because I won't remember the story well enough, partly because I'll feel buried trying to write 4 reviews at once. But that's just me, I'm not everyone. Just me.

[Matthew Morris]

Cori Marie wrote:

So, you will all be happy to know that over Christmas, I got a large amount of Amazon gift cards. I used them to purchase the entire Tales library. I got through Master of Devils just two days ago (really good, just took a bit to read because I didn't feel like explaining the title to overly religious family members... most who think D&D is the devil's work anyway... I get away with Pathfinder around them only cause they're not in the know that it started as D&D...) and am halfway through Queen of Thorns now.

In Master Of Devils, did Arnisant's voice sound like a certain squirrel chasing animated dog in your head, or was it just me? ;-)

[Cori Marie]

I guess I'm missing the reference Matthew... I did love the Arni chapters but I didn't have any specific voice in my head.

Itchy, that actually was my plan, I loaned Blood of the City to a friend who loves Magnimar, so we'll see if he's done with it by the time I get done with King.

[Matthew Morris]

You're lucky. I read every chapter with him sounding like Doug from Up.

Blood of the city is a good one to 'feel' an Urban Druid. Though The Dagger of Trust became one of my favourites after reading.

[Cori Marie]

Ah, there it is. I'm like the only person in the world who hasn't seen Up

[Dave Gross]

While I didn't have Doug in mind, Matthew isn't the only one to make the Up comparison. I try to put it out of my mind, because the moment I think of Doug, I hear it now too.

There's a character from The Worldwound Gambit in King of Chaos. It's not a terrible spoiler to read them out of order, but I agree that it might be fun to read Worldwound before King because you'll enjoy two different perspectives on the Worldwound region and the sort of characters who fight there.

[Itchy]

Cori Marie wrote:

Ah, there it is. I'm like the only person in the world who hasn't seen Up

I haven't seen it either.

I am willing to loan my copy of Blood of the City to you if you are in Southern New England. If you live outside Southern New England, then I cannot get the book to you.

Dave Gross wrote:

There's a character from The Worldwound Gambit in King of Chaos. It's not a terrible spoiler to read them out of order, but I agree that it might be fun to read Worldwound before King because you'll enjoy two different perspectives on the Worldwound region and the sort of characters who fight there.

When I was reading King of Chaos I had an "Aha!" moment when that character started telling his backstory.

-Aaron

[Cori Marie]

Oh, like I said, I do own it. Mine's just in a friends possession at the moment. Judging how quickly he got Prince of Wolves back to me when I loaned him that book, I don't think it'll be a problem :)

[James Sutter]

Cori Marie wrote:

So, you will all be happy to know that over Christmas, I got a large amount of Amazon gift cards. I used them to purchase the entire Tales library.

AWESOME! Thanks, Cori Marie! :D

[Dave Gross]

Itchy wrote:

When I was reading King of Chaos I had an "Aha!" moment when that character started telling his backstory.

-Aaron

By the bye, thanks for the recent reviews, especially of the web fiction. I hope you and others will continue to review the short stories and novellas, not only mine but all that have appeared in the past few years.

[Tengu Verymuch]

Vic Wertz wrote:

Dave Gross wrote:

Don't neglect Pirate's Honor. You might be pleasantly surprised. It's more than "just" a pirate story.

It's one of my very favorite in the line! It's got this Firefly/Serenity vibe to it.

You just sold it for me!

To the bookstore!

[rknop]

Cori Marie wrote:

most who think D&D is the devil's work anyway...

People still think that? I thought we were past the 80s!

Then again, we're 150 years past Darwin and 60 years past the discovery of DNA, and people are still creationists, so....

[rknop]

Itchy wrote:

Also: be ready for a slightly different reading experience with The Worldwound Gambit. It is written in present tense, which unfortunately caused enough complaints that (to my knowledge) Paizo won't publish any more of the Tales in present tense. That said, The Worldwound Gambit is a fun and exciting book! I enjoyed it enough that I have read it more than once!

I want to echo that The Worldwound Gambit is a enjoyable read. The present tense didn't bother me. (Heck, read If On a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino sometime. It's quite a ride, has a fractured narrative, and is written in second person.) I play a fair amount of PbPs, and present tense is how those are written, and that might be why it wasn't as jarring to me as to some, but if you're mind is open, you get into the swing of it and enjoy the ride of The Worldwound Gambit without being distracted by the tense.

The other thing to be aware of is the title. "Worldwound" is obvious, but "Gambit" is just as important. This is a caper novel, full of an Ocean's 11 style group of rakish misfits pulling off wacky hijinx. If you like that sort of thing (I do), then, to paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, this is the sort of thing you'll like. If you don't, you'll probably be disappointed by this "Worldwound" novel.

[Itchy]

Dave Gross wrote:

By the bye, thanks for the recent reviews, especially of the web fiction. I hope you and others will continue to review the short stories and novellas, not only mine but all that have appeared in the past few years.

You are most welcome. I am currently in the throes of reading the entire published set of Varian/Jeggare stories. My intent is to review each one as I finish it. I neglected the early ones because they already have a number of reviews. In the case of Prince of Wolves, I believe reviewed it a long time ago.

We'll see how I do. I need to write a review for Husks today.

-Aaron

[Zahir ibn Mahmoud ibn Jothan]

Vic Wertz wrote:

Dave Gross wrote:

Don't neglect Pirate's Honor. You might be pleasantly surprised. It's more than "just" a pirate story.

It's one of my very favorite in the line! It's got this Firefly/Serenity vibe to it.

I found the female lead to be incredibly, ummm, believable, despite being incredibly nonstandard. I need to fit such a character into a campaign. Such things are almost always played as being Evil, but dangit, Neutral means Neutral, so why not have such a character?