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I had a stab of nostalgia, seeing Knaak's name, as I devoured his Dragonlance books in the early nineties as a kid. Those were fond memories, but based on this novel I fear like much of the Dragonlance canon, those books wouldn't stand up well to the test of time.

Knaak is exceedingly obvious as a writer. He tells you *absolutely* everything - the first few pages are a rare "characterisation info dump", and the book doesn't really improve much beyond this.

Everything the characters feel or think is told you as a reader. Often the same thing is told multiple times, in just one chapter. There is nowhere near as much telling and it renders the characters flat and their arcs predictable.

The attempts at mystery are disappointingly transparent. You'll see where the book is going within the first thirty pages. And this drains much of the excitement from the ensuing narrative.

Much like the previous tale, Shy Knives, I felt like Knaak wasn't really familiar with Golarion or the Pathfinder world. Another book about the Worldwound and surrounding area was not really necessary - especially when it's been done so much better before by Dave Duncan. What Knaak delivered felt... patchy, incomplete. The world only existed to move the characters from point A to point B.

For me, the top Tales writers are Liane Merciel, Chris Jackson, Tim Pratt, James Sutterand Howard Andrew Jones, Dave Duncan. Those books are insta-buys for me. This fell far, far short and I'm a little worried editorial quality is slipping a bit.

Paizo took gambles fresh writers previously which delivered very enjoyable books (though those writers haven't come back, much to my disappointment), this is a gamble that didn't pay off in my estimation.

PS also the names were terrible. "Daryus Gaunt"?! Why not call him "Max Steele" for goodness' sake!

Pathfinder Tales had been on a bit of a tear lately. I've only read maybe 3 of the tales I didn't care for, and only 2 I would say were out and out duds, but this was definitely on the weaker end of the spectrum, more what I expect for "Franchise fiction".

Sykes has a potentially interesting character, but frankly his writing is not up to snuff. He can't resist a very snark adolescent flavour to his protagonist - it might be attempting to be clever but it comes off as clumsy and trying to hard. A kid's idea of what cool is, rather than actually being cool (like the effortless Radovan and Jheggare!).

Some of the scenes worked well but the pacing overall was a bit uneven and it didn't have the cohesive feel other tales have had for me. The world-building felt a bit one-dimensional, and I had trouble visualising the milieu.

There is potential here, but I'd think twice before buying another Sykes tale.

As overall editor, Sutter is arguably the star of the Pathfinder Tales novels, and his debut was terrific. I'm pleased to report I enjoyed its sequel just as much, though I do look forward some for developed in the future.

Salim is sent to that hive of scum and villainy, Kaer Marga, tasked with tracking down a disparity in the accounting of souls. His adventure will take him all through the city, and below it - and through the domains of heaven and hell as well.

Sutter seems to reserve the most creative and fabulous settings of the Pathfinder universe for his own books, and The Redemption Engine is no exception.

Every location is stuffed full of interesting people, cultures, and scenery. Salim's whirlwind tour through half a dozen locales that could easily serve up a stand alone novel on themselves was delightful to me. I never knew what Sutter was going to through up next.

This sense of surprise persisted with the narrative. It would be a stretch to call The Redemption Engine a mystery, but there is a procedural element to it. Salim gathers clues, and pieces them together before a spectacular conclusion. I was never bored, even when the mystery was was clear to me because Sutter is always invested in his characters first and foremost. Even minor players get a back story and a sense of something bigger in their lives and the greater world. I enjoy it very much, particular Salim's sidekicks in this outing. Pathfinder again demonstrates its willingness to go beyond the familiar trope - I really applaud its comfort in depicting characters with alternative sexualities and cultures, and taking it seriously.

Which bring me to the, not flaw exactly, but weakness of the book. Salim has been a lone wolf for so long, and it does lend a more episodic sense to the book than warranted. Sutter works hard to give us a sense of how Salim is developing and changing, but I would love to see some regulars in the books, in the same way that Dave Gross has expanded the cast to great effect in his books in this universe. Still, this is a quible, The Redemption Engine is a great read, and Sutter sets the standard again.

Skinwalkers is not the strongest entry in the typically reliable Pathfinder Tales series. A mediocre narrative marries to a heretofore unseen level of violence to produce a brutal, but somewhat flat novel.

Jendara is thrown back into her tumultuous past when a group of strange raiders attack her home and people. Can she solve the mystery behind these attacks and confront her own unhappy past?

This wasn't a bad book, but it was decidedly average. I felt like Wagner was always writing to a plan - but not in a good way - rather, chapters, incidences and twists all felt pre-decided, and that it was simply a matter of getting the characters in position for things to happen. It all felt a little rote to me.

This isn't helped by a dearth of characterisation. Jendara is fleshed out, but virtually no one else gets any flavour; they felt largely interchangeable to me. It doesn't help that, as a character, Jendara is pretty simple. Coupled with the simplistic narrative, I was left with what would have made a fine short story but really groaned under the weight of being a novel.

In addition the setting felt so homogenous - dare I say monotonous. The archipelago itself was boring to me, and unchanging, and the character's never got out of it except for a completely unnecessary diversion to an incongruous pathfinder library that seemed to exist only to pad the length.

Coupled with the grisly violence, which was gratuitous and failed to add anything, I didn't love this book.

If you are after a freezing setting in the pathfinder world, Elaine Cunningham's Winter Witch is a stronger book on all counts.

ave Gross continues the adventures of Count Varian Jeggare and his hellspawn bodyguard, Radovan in this charming - and surprisingly sweet - wuxia tribute.

Sent to far off lands, Varian finds himself in training at a monastery whilst Radovan - supposed dead - is in fact terrorising the land as a fearsome devil. Can the friends reunite before the kingdom falls?

I enjoyed this book quite a bit more than its predecessor - Gross seems more confident with his characters and less inclined to hammer home their character traits.

The pace is fast, and the alternating chapters work well - both perspectives are interesting. The world itself, like most Pathfinder constructions, feels real. It's comfortable, but with enough unique flair to make it interesting. In this case, the similarities to Barry Hughart's Bridge of Birds are readily apparent (and welcome).

Perhaps the most surprising part of the book was Gross' willingness to give his characters a sense of pathos, if not tragedy. Of course, this is not out of place in a Wuxia novel, but such... emotional landscapes are rare in adapted fantasy, let alone sword and sorcery novels. I really, really appreciated it, and the fact that you can have a bit of light and dark without thousands of pages of melodrama. Pathfinder Tales continues to impress me.

I enjoyed this Vance-ian style diversion. It's not the strongest novel in the pathfinder series, but it's refreshingly unpredictable and the prose is up to snuff.

Enterprising thief Krunzle is strong-armed into a mission to retrieve a powerful merchants daughter, compelling by the sorcerous, mind-reading necklace round his neck. But a job that never added up starts making even less sense, and it becomes clear that Krunzle is just one pawn on a whole chess board of pieces...

Cheerful amorality has a storied history (ha) in sword and sorcery - it can work well but it can also bring with it a glibness that reduces a reader's ability to care in what happens. Matthews avoids this with a helter skelter narrative that barely pauses for breath, and plot sprinkled with mysteries that gradually unfold throughout the book.

Its relatively short length is a critical part of its success, but for all that I had no problem devouring the book. Whilst not quite up to the eloquent tomfoolery of Jack Vance, the novel's debt is clear and the homage is is passable, and pleasurable.

Like the best sword and sorcery, Song of The Serpent frequently hits at a greater world, in which our protagonist is but a tiny part. It's something I really enjoy about the genre and it's rare done so well as it is here. A fun way to pass a day.

athfinder Tales have been shockingly reliable for an RPG fantasy franchise. They regularly recruit high quality writers, and have done so again with Tim Pratt's City of the Fallen Sky.

An alchemist on the run, an ancient ruin, a greasy cutthroat and a beautiful rogue. Sound fun? It is.

Pratt does a very good job in this book of incorporating his (and Paizo's) world-building into the narrative in a very smooth and natural way. I never felt like the narrative was pausing to unleash an avalanche of information on me for the sake of context. It all slots into the plot and characterisation very deftly.

And the characterisation is good. Pratt is smart enough to not give up everything about his characters (except the main one), and I was really happy to see a gay character, where the... gaiety was just another aspect of the character rather than a Big Deal - which is often the case when books like this attempt it, and really end up with a wan kind of tokenism.

The action (of which there is plenty) is also well-written. It's very clear what's going on and doesn't descend into action move pyrotechnics.

On the whole, this was one of my favourite Pathfinder books so far, and I do hope Pratt is up for a sequel.

I enjoyed this book, in large part because of two very interesting settings, and a memorable main character that underwent an internal journey as much as in external one.

Raised in the horrific dark land of Nidal, Isiem is a gifted spellcaster uncomfortable with the torture his life is built on. But will he be able to extricate himself from it, before it extricates his various organs?

There are two clear parts to this novel, but they never feel disjointed under Merciel's accomplished hand. She covers a lot of chronology in a way that feels efficient and aerodynamic.

The world of Nidal and the wild west Chelaxian outpost Isiems ends up in are both rendered well, but more impressive is how Merciel conveys Isiem's outsider status in both locations without descending to cliche.

He is an easy character to root for and it gives the book an emotional centre which is satisfying. In some ways, I was reminded of Hobb's Forest Mage trilogy with this novel, which shares many of the same ingredients, but thankfully skips the hundreds of pages of filler and teenage angst.

Inventive in the right ways, but also textbook where it counts - novel construction. I was impressed by this book and will definitely read more of Merciel's work.

Another strong outing by Gross, who is happy to investigate the inner lives of his characters as much as new lands and challenges. The combo is appealing.

Varian and Radovan are off to the elven homeland of Kyonin. The original intent is to repair Varian's wrecked carriage, but the duo are quickly given new jobs by the Queen, along with some new companions. What they find in the forest is surprising, but what they find in Radovan is even more so.

Gross is developing into a latter-day Fritz Leiber, with Varian and Radovan his Fafhrd and Gray Mouser. Whilst he's not yet at those dizzying heights, the books, and characters, continue to grow in depth and the adventures are always enjoyable.

The setting is enjoyable, though I would have liked a little more of the Elven court - which is important in the story, but featured largely offscreen as the group plunges through the wilderness.

That said, the wilderness, as always, is very interesting, filled with monsters, spells and artefacts. The book comes to a very satisfying close and promises many adventures to come. Good stuff.

One of the longest Pathfinder novels is also one of the weakest. Byers has written an Edgar Rice Burroughs homage that unfortunately apes many of the flaws of Burroughs, along with his strengths.

Barbarian warrior Kagur is on a quest of vengeance, after her adoptive giant brother slaughters her clan. Accompanied only by an aging spirit shaman, their adventure will take them deep underground to face dinosaurs and more in a bizarre subterranean world.

Sad to say, this is the first Pathfinder novel that confirms to a lot of the negative expectations people have about RPG adaptation novels. It's not a bad book - well, maybe it is. It's certainly not a good book, and really lacks the fluency and depth of other Pathfinder Novels.

Firstly, the novel is episodic in the extreme. Every chapter feels like a drawn up piece of someone's campaign, and the piece don't snowball or add up together. There are several chapters you could remove from the book and it simply wouldn't be noticeable because what they contain has no bearing on the broader narrative.

Compounding this flaw is the fact you can practically hear the dice rolling during these confrontations. Dexterity checks, perception checks etc. It felt really obvious to me, and it gave the encounters a stale feeling, with little originality.

Further, it robbed the book of any sense that something was at stake. As a character, Kagur is very thin, and her "growth" is telegraphed miles away, and it was both predictable and uninteresting. I never felt any of the characters existed except as a means to move the narrative (or I should say campaign) to its conclusion - which is also easy to see coming.

These things really drain the book of sense of drama or tension. The fact that's it's a long book didn't really help matters I finished it - it's not a challenging read, I just thought it was really pedestrian and didn't measure up to the other fine efforts in the Pathfinder Tales series.

Tim Pratt returns to the Pathfinder Tales franchise with this Fafhrd and The Gray Mouser homage which is a rollicking adventure that retains Pratt's gift for sneaking in unexpected originality and characterisation.

Rodrick is a swindler more than a thief. With his enchanted sword Hrym, the two are conning their way over Golarion. When a squishy priest and his nice-yet-creepy sidekick hire them to help find a religious artifact, it seems like easy money. But nothing is ever easy...

This was a pretty good one. The debt to Lieber is clear and Pratt has a lot of fun with it. His banter is reasonable, but I found his situational comedy the most amusing. A pleasant bonus - as was the case with Pratt's previous Pathfinder book - is his efforts to render all the characters three dimensional, with their own struggles and goals etc. It lends the party and their interactions a depth that wouldn't be present otherwise, and it really elevates the book.

This would count for little, of course, if it wasn't for Pratt's deft - almost seamless - sense of pace and structure. These are well built book's and the conclusion is very satisfying.

It's hard to rate the Pathfinder books - I mean, no one would confuse this as high literature, but they are really good at delivering what they promise. On that metric, they are very successful indeed

This has been my favourite Pathfinder Tale to date - and I've read all of them bar two.

Jackson has a written a piratical/nautical/revenge/heist novel. Torius Vin, swashbuckler and captain has been tricked by one of his former victims, and is determined to take revenge. But when that revenge involves his naga lover pretending to fall for the mark, things start to get messy...

I was really impressed with how much tension Jackson got out of this narrative - and it wasn't from the physical struggle, but the internal emotional danger his characters were in. I was genuinely excited and ripping through pages as fast as I could.

It is, ironically, a ballsy writer that makes the lynchpin of his RPG novel a romance, but Jackson does so, and he does it so effectively the book gets more mileage out of its central romance than any of the derring-do amongst the rigging.

Not that the derring lacks do, far from it. Pirate's Honor has some great show-stopper scenes that call to mind Captain Blood and the like. Jackson's experience on actual boats is clear and his prose is comfortable and confident on the high seas.

His characterisation is equally assured, which is critical due to the nature of the story. I really loved reading a sword-and-sorcery novel where the writer isn't afraid to invest so much time and plot into the characters and their feelings. I thought it worked brilliantly, and is a real sign of maturity in a genre that often lacks it.

I'm very keen for a sequel to this one.

Howard Andrew Jones, one of the strongest writers in the Pathfinder stable, returns with a sequel to his first book with Pathfinder, this one is nearly as good, but not quite.

Elyana and half-orc Drelm are on the track of a huge invisible monster that is ravaging the River Kingdoms. Can they and their motley crew find and destroy it, before it destroys them?

Jones' best asset is his construction in my opinion. This book, like all his others, is built very well. Jones is adroit at hitting his marks, his pacing is superb - you barely notice it - and he's syncs the internal journeys his characters take with what's happening outside.

Elyana's thoughts take more of a backseat in this one - it's really more Drelm's book, plus an intriguing new character, a gun-slinger named Lisette. While I missed Elyana's flinty perspective, the other characters more than make up for it and Jones builds up a nice and varied party around her.

There's certainly no shortage of action, though the plot and motivation behind it is a little on the slight side.

This is just a quibble though as in Jones' hands, you know you're always in for a good time.

A flawed book, and a weaker entry in the Pathfinder Tales series. Willrich's writing has its strengths, but they are often stymied by weak prose, a predictable narrative and the slightly silly milieu.

Gideon Gull is attending bard school, but it's also secretly a spy school, training up bards for intelligence work. When a magical fog starts driving peopl crazy, Gull reunites with his old flame and some fellow bards to solve the mystery.

The first thing that leapt out at me with this book was the prose, but unfortunately not in a positive way. In an effort to lend the book a suitably bardic tone, Willrich writes with a flowery overstated style, heavy on metaphors that break the flow and possess questionable efficacy. He also seems to struggle incorporating dialogue with action; the book veers wildly between the two at times, and the dialogue was quite... odd in parts. At points, it flows very naturally, but at others it seemed stilted and forced. It felt almost performative - what someone *thinks* they would say, rather than what they would actually say.

It doesn't help that the book has somewhat of a stop-start plot, very episodic and also quite predictable. The druid sections work best but are featured only a little. The villain is immediately guessable and the conclusion foregone.

It's a shame as there are parts of the book that work, but they are sporadic and it's just too inconsistent. I don't know how much of this is down to the setting (the Harry Potter like bard/spy school really is a bit much, as is the vast and powerful array of spells that *students* have), but Willrich seems like a writer who needs to write a few more books to get up to scratch.