This is a brand new book by Paul Kidd, the author of numerous popular novels. The Rats of Acomar is fast reading, with vivid word pictures of the events taking place when the mythical Rats rise up to take what they feel is rightfully theirs. I enjoyed reading this science fiction, fantasy and could readily relate to how the mythical events described, really remind one of events actually taking place in real life. Only the players have been changed. Worth reading.

In the broken wasteland of Acomar, a land teeming with starvation and death, the rat Itheem live. Their bones litter the waste, fallen in the endless battles over territory and food. In terror of the Itheem, the canine Uruth built the great wall to keep them imprisoned in Acomar. But with the rising of an overlord, G'Kaa, everything is changing. The Itheem clans are uniting, planning to take the lands of the other races. But what can a free-spirited coyote, Tupan, her greyhound companion Surolf, the pony Hern, and the rebal rat Ra'sish do to stop them? A very good read, simultainously exciting, sad, and laugh out loud funny. Terrie Smith's illustrations are excellent as well. :-)

After reading Paul Kidd's other new book, "A Whisper of Wings", I did a search here on Amazon and came up with The Rats of Acomar. After the delightful experience I had with Whisper, I picked this one up at Barnes & Noble, too. Talk about a slam-bam exciting storyline that grabs you in its teeth and runs! This book is the first in a new series, and if they're all half as good as this one, I suspect it'll be one of the best sellers ever. This series is sort of like, well, a really COOL version of Brian Jacques' Redwall series... but with ten times the excitement and none of the boring food fetish that chokes his books (and their readers) from stem to stern. This story has it all... action, adventure, humor, great villains, quirky heroes and a rich, detailed world. Paul Kidd really seems to have a talent for bringing characters to life, which is only helped by all of the full-page illustrations in the book! You just never see that in most books these days. As a matter of fact, Whisper, Paul Kidd's other novel, was the only other book I've seen with that sort of thing in my last five years of reading. This book, and Whisper, are the two best Paul Kidd books I have read since "Mus of Kerbridge", from TSR. I totally recommend this book. Five gold stars!

The king of Aglirta has returned to his century-old slumber, but the country is torn by civil war. Magicians, barons, and mercenaries vie for the thrown in complete disregard for their vows to the true king, his regent, Baron Blackgult, or for the four over-Dukes he had set to retain the peace. With the continuing efforts of the snake priests and a few mad mages thrown into the stew, things look rough indeed for the Band of Four and for the future of Aglirta.

All of Author Ed Greenwood's Band of Four novels are filled with nonstop action and A DRAGON'S ASCENSION is no exception. When Embra loses her magical stone, even Hawkril's massive sword and Craer's quick daggers seem like weak hope for the future of the nation. And unfortunately for the kingdom, the many plotters seem unwilling to kill each other off. Instead, the Four and the Regent must face each in turn, with fewer and fewer resources at every turn.

Greenwood seems to have turned up the emotional complexity of his writing a notch, allowing the reader to feel more involved in the story and less like he is watching someone else's fantasy roll-playing game. The story stakes are also higher. The emergence of the Serpent represents a disaster for the entire world.

A DRAGON'S ASCENSION is fast and compelling reading with murder and battle on almost every page. It may not be a literary masterpiece but it's a fun read.

Through all of his books and in all of his worlds, Ed Greenwood has brought us many fine characters. The Band of Four are no different. His Forgotten Realms work is what made his name in the fantasy genre, but he has certainly not rested on his laurels.

A DRAGON'S ASCENSION is the third book in his Band of Four series. Hawrdil, Craer, Sarasper and Embra (the warrior, the thief, the healer and the sorceress, respectively) have returned to stop the barons of Aglirta from destroying them.

As always, Greenwood's plot is fast-moving and his characters are well-conceived (if a little archetypical). Fans of high energy fantasy will be well served by A DRAGON'S ASCENSION.

If you like Animal Farm, 1984, Brave New World and other "creepy society" books, you'll love this one. Four intellectuals find a..., well, a strange manuscript, in a... copper cylinder, yeah. It is the account of a man's discovery of a literally "backwards" civilization where the social pyramid is inverted : people strive to be poor, and the wealthiest citizens are considered bums. Life here is torture, because the ultimate goal of every person is to die. Pick up this book to be intrigued and fascinated.

I actually picked up this book on accident - I had no idea what it was about nor had I ever heard of it. A wonderful masterpiece on society and cultutre, it includes much symbolism. The book makes us question what is truth -

Just so you know, if you're buying this book to use in a d20 city campaign, you might as well save your money.

First, there's absolutely no statistics for any NPCs save their race, class, and level (ooh, thanks for all the help!).

Second, there's not hooks, twists, story lines, miniadventures or anything! What the . . . what player wants to sit and listen to a 3-page history of Foreign District?!

Where's the building maps?! Don't expect any here!

One good thing, though, it did have a nice walkthrough of the entire city included on the large, full-color map that comes with it.

To summarize, do NOT get this book thinking you're getting something that you can simply piece together with your own ideas. In order to make a worthwhile campaign, you're going to have to devote a lot of time and energy to maps, NPCs, and twists that, in my opinion, should have been included in an accessory such as this.

If you have time to do this, that's great! If you're studying for the Bar Exam in July like I am and don't have 5 hours a day to devote to making a decent adventure, don't get it!

Okay, so I actually like a recent TSR publication, and why not? It is a well written tome filled with skads of detail of a place that has until recently been the purview of the RPGA. Greenwood does an excellent job in detailing the city-and most importantly, the families of note complete with histories! Wow! Best of all, it isn't overly replete with characters who made pacts with every god and major demon lord to get where they are. Aside from Greenwood's obsession with mages and the fact that there are just too darn many of them to be found anywhere in the Realms, Raven's Bluff is an ideal book to base a series of adventures, but I wouldn't run a campaign in it. It could have done with a better thieves guild, but other than that, this is well written book, and it's layout and maps are extremely well done. Well worth the money.

At last - the authoritative text on the irresistibly alluring City of Ravens Bluff! Drawing on the famous LC modules, and the best creative writings of the players and DMs who have participated in the RPGA over the past decade, Ed Greenwood creates an unbelievably detailed and fascinating look at the best-developed city in the Forgotten Realms. Even Waterdeep pales in the shadow of this intricate work! This huge compendium is 160 pages, in microscopic print - you'll literally need a magnifier if you plan on reading much of this in one sitting. In the back is a glorious full-color poster, unveiling an entire world of adventure. If you've been looking for an exciting new setting from which to base your next adventuring campaign, look no further - this city is as detailed and fascinating as Greyhawk itself, which makes it one of the best urban settings of all time, for any game!

Just returned from a trip to Ireland using this book and most of the information was seriously out-of-date. Tourist offices there actually know that the bad information you received is from this book. Also, pretty sketchy on the details. Stick to the Internet for better info.

Ireland might seem a simple place, but it isn't. During a month in Ireland, Cadogan's "Ireland" by Catharina Day (Globe Pequot Press, ......)was my constant travel companion, and I'd highly recommend the newest edition to anyone traveling in the Emerald Isle.

The book contains excellent maps, historical perspectives, a guide to the politics, historic chronology, Gaelic language, geology, myths and legends, and religious complexities of this beautiful country. It also has a fairly hefty section on practical travel advice tailored specifically to the Irish traveler.

The book is divided into very logical sections, and information is generally easy to find in its rather comprehensive index. Best of all, the island is divided naturally in this guide into its four regions -- Munster, Connacht, Ulster and Leinster -- so the traveler needn't thumb through the whole book to find things that might be one mile apart. It is further divided county by county, and travel is laid out very nicely and clearly, in the order you would see it by car. I found only minor errors, none that would have significantly changed my travel plans for the day and none that might not have been the effect of changing markets and seasons.

I often would read this guide in bed at night, it's so well-written, entertaining and informative. I would highly recommend this book to the American traveler in Ireland. It's complete, funny and quite educational.

There's a new edition of this great guide available, as of March 1999. This is definitely the one to go for.

Even in lowbrow fantasy, there are some ground rules: you need to like the good guys, dislike the bad guys, and enjoy reading about the heroes using their strength, cleverness and/or innate goodness to triumph in the end. It also helps if there's a finite number of evil schemes going on--say, five. And if you're going to have over forty characters, you need to make sure they're very distinctive so that readers don't get confused and overwhelmed. In this book, on the other hand, the good guys are annoying, the bad guys are annoying, and the heroes go through each fight looking like Bill Gates in the boxing ring with Mike Tyson. It's hard to believe they could rescue a barn from an upset cow, let alone restore a kingdom...and apart from the fact that they're snarky with each other, why should we care about them at all? Maybe if we had more time to get to know them we'd care more, but the 'Dramatis Personae' (at the end of the book, and full of information and backstory that would've made this book less confusing if it'd been placed better) lists 96 characters. In a 319-page book, that works out to a new character every 3.32 pages. Why, why, why??? Oh, and the word 'whelm'? Get used to seeing it a LOT. It's as if the author gets a check from the Whelm Boosters of America every time he slips it in. This author's done better work--maybe it was because of a different editor, or maybe it was because he actually cared about the characters. This book feels to me like someone sitting down with the old notes of a D&D campaign he never actually took part in, and trying to make a book out of it.

This is a great novel. very suspenceful and adventurous. One of the best band of four novels that he has written. This one is defonetly better then the Kingless Land. It is solid combination of horror,suspence,and fantisy. A very good novel if you love fantisy.

I thought the Vacant Throne was a outstanding book. The way it picked up from the Kingless Land was most impressive. It even brought back old foes that made it even harder to put down. It became more darker in it's plot and showed a closer view of the barons in the land that made really interesting. The way the he had Embra and Hawkril coming closer together really got me excited. After all i would have to say this was a great sequel.

If you're looking for elf lore, don't look here. Although I applaud Ed Greenwood's pioneering works for Forgotten Realms, and I'm sure he was an excellent DM, he didn't do his homework on established elven lore ... the Reverie, male vs female roles in nobility, and where did this fascination with mushrooms come from? And the sentance about a second human mage dropping his disguise countered all that Ed had led up to about the challenge Elminster faced in getting into the city in the first place.
I do support Ed's vision of the politics of bickering, quarreling elven houses. Sure, they sound like drow in that regard... but remember the Crown Wars. Power corrupts, and elves are not immune to that.

After reading a few books by Elaine Cunningham featuring elves as main characters I admit I'm a little spoiled. This novel just didn't do it for me. Myth Drannor is described pretty well, but Greenwood has a problem fleshing out the elves. There is none of the magic that Cunningham so easily captures when describing elven life. Elves are special magical creatures in her novels. Having read other novels by Greenwood I noticed that his elves talked, and acted exactly the same as his humans do. If he didn't tell you they were elves you'd never know. In on scene the Coronal is described as snoring. Ed, surface elves don't even sleep! Argh! Stuff like this bothers me. And of course the most beautiful elf in the book will eventually fall in love with Elminster (of course we all know that Elminster is Greenwood's alter ego, Greenwood even looks exactly like a young Elminster). Greenwood frustrates me. He's not a bad writer, but his super-characters are getting old. I was disappointed.

This was the best Ed Greenwood book I've read so far, although thats not saying much. It was much better than Making of a Mage (the worst book I've ever read) and much better than Corymr: A Novel (the second worst book I've ever read). Compared to the other Forgotten Realms books this was below average.

Greenwood books are so predictable. Elminster always calls on Mystra to save the day; can't he do anything by himself? And the women always end up naked.

And damn it, Ed, we all know Elminster is just a fantasy version of you which is why he's invincible and beautiful women fall in love with him even though he's ugly.

If there's ever a book where Elminster permanently dies, I'll be the first in line to buy it. If Ed's latest book was titled "Elminster Goes to Hell" I'd buy that one too.

I'm a recent transplant to the fantasy genre, having arrived via the Lord of the Rings movies, thence the books by JRR Tolkien. Hungry for some heroic fantasy-adventure, I bought a bunch of books with interesting covers. Sadly, this series is too mindless even for me. Since it is a series founded in video games, I suppose I have nothing to complain about. The Band of 4 is interesting enough, and they manage to plunge into one pointless adventure after another where they use magic to extricate themselves. Failing that, someone with greater magic comes along and rescues them. Without realizing its foundation, I thought the book much like a video game, where players advance from one level to the next to confront different hazards and a multitude of villains. In fact, this book has so many villains, it should have a playbook, not that most of the bad guys are distinguishable from one another. They exist only to cause mayhem for the heroes. But if you like your reading so shallow that the author should be accused of causing a creative drought, this might well be the series for you.

I buy about twenty fantasy and sf titles a month, and best like books that I can relax in, enjoy again and again, and that don't try to impress me with "the greatest since Tolkien" stuff. This was one of the best of those I've read in the last four or five years...just good fun. The bad guys are bad, everybody in the story is well-rounded, I can see sequels ahead...and I'll line up to buy them, you can be sure. Aside to "James" from France, who posted a review here: Richard Knaack wrote the Huma Dragonlance book, not Greenwood.

Over forty years of reading fantasy novels, I find they are either: brilliant (very rare), good but flawed (lots of those), and drek. This new Greenwood book is good but flawed. It doesn't try to be anything more than popcorn-and-beer reading, and gives the reader a whumping good ride. Lots of cinematic scenes and blasting action but little touches of characterization here and there that tell us these people are real and we should care about them. I really liked it, and will buy any sequels that appear. Expect the Lord of the Rings, and you'll be disappointed. Expect a really fun read, and this is it.

This book is the result of a collaboration between two authors, one an experienced, artful writer of fantasy fiction, and the other, Ed Greenwood. They seem to have divided the chore up by setting the novel's four characters in different areas within the realm of Cormyr, with Troy Denning handling the action with Talaslanta and Vangerdahast, and Ed Greenwod handling the war in the north featuring Alusair and Azoun. As a result, half of the novel is competently done. It is pretty easy to figure out which author did which section, because Denning's half completes the story he started in "Beyond the High Road" and is written in fairly engaging prose. Greenwood, on the other hand, writes as though English literature reached its apotheosis in the lesser works of Sir Walter Scott. Consequently, his sections are peppered with snappy dialogue such as the following: "Sir Messenger, rest your horse. We shall tarry here for a time, while the Princess Alusair essays an attack, planned yestereve, on those who harry us." Bad prose and worse dialogue were not a problem in the first book of this series, "Cormyr: A Novel," which was also a collaboration with Ed Greenwood. The first book had as a coauthor Jeff Grubb, one of Greenwood's fellow game designers at TSR/Wizards of the Coast. My theory-- and this is just a guess-- is that due to his greater prestige at TSR Grubb had either the confidence or the clout to tell Greenwood what to do with his dialogue. (I could make a few suggestions along that line myself.) The story is good, with only two plot holes, and Denning's half is easily worth reading. But if you want a combination of story and unleavened writing ability set in a world that looks suspiciously like Cormyr, read Simon R Green's "Blue Moon" series.

An additional note about the series. This is the third book in a trilogy. If you do choose to read this book (not an altogether bad idea-- I've read much, much worse books, like one of Greenwood's solo efforts, for example), I would suggest reading "Beyond the High Road" first, as it does set up much of the plot of "Death of the Dragon," and I rather suspect that someone who read the latter book without reading the former would find "Dragon" confusing. Additionally, volume 1, "Cormyr: A Novel" is genuinely quite good in its own right, beyond what it adds to the understanding of volumes 2 and 3. I'd advise picking that one up whether or not you have any plans to read the last two novels.

This is a well written story by authors Ed Greenwood and Troy Denning. As the third installment of stories beginning with "Cormyr: A novel" and "Beyond the High Road" this book takes us through the long expected end of the reign of the Forgotten Realms longest and most stable monarchy. That's not really a spoiler since it is implied in the synopsis above and on the cover (as well as fan mailing lists for the last 9 months). In the FR shared world time goes on, people die, and governments change, which is to be expected. It's the fact that the FR setting changes with time that makes it so great - as long as the changes are within reason and don't force us out of our willing suspension of disbelief.

The writing of Greenwood and Denning is excellent, and the difficulty of author's working together on a story is transparent, the storyline nearly seamless. Even longtime fans of both writers will be hard pressed at times to tell which author wrote what portion. Either Ed & Troy work well together or the editor is to be commended - probably both. Action, dialogue and the story itself are well constructed. A kingdom at war with a giant dragon (book cover) and other beasties has to have lots of action to it and for fans this story has plenty. War IS hell, and the writing takes you through both the hack & slash attitude common in this genre as well as the gripping reality of war in all it's horrible consequences. It's not gory in the descriptiveness though, so if you can handle watching ER you're more than prepared for this book. This is one of the great features of these authors in that they can show the horror of combat without resorting to the common day 'fill it with gore and it will sell' phenomenon. Oh, it has that, but it is well done and is not overmuch. Action alone is often not enough and this story both fills the reader with pride at the marching armies and tugs at heartstrings during some very well written emotional moments.

The story itself is compelling (you'll not want to put the book down until you're finished). At certain portions in the story, if you don't find yourself welling up with emotion or wiping your eyes, you're a hard heart indeed. Very few FR novels can have this said of them, and by far this story makes it one of the best (if not THE best) stories to be born from this setting created by author Greenwood.

*Helpful Hints*

"Cormyr: A Novel" is not a required read, but a recommended one. The historical details of this book do come into play in the third volume. They are well explained n "Death of the Dragon" but the details are in the first book and definitely round out the story as a whole.

"Beyond the High Road" is almost an absolute requirement. Without having read this book you'll have little understanding of what Alaundo's prophecy is (See back cover of Death of the Dragon); who and what the creatures mentioned are; and the "why" of it all. You'll also need this book to be able to identify many of the characters & their place in the grand scheme of things. It *is* possible to read "Death of the Dragon" as a stand alone book, but without at least book II of the series the reader will be full of questions at the end as well as be confused throughout most of the book.

This is one of the best, if not the best, fantasy epic adventures that I have ever read. The story is gripping; the characters are real; the plot lines are original; the magic is original; there is even an original monster or two; and there is a dragon -- a very big dragon. I read 'Cormyr: A Novel' quite a while ago and was very impressed with the magnitude of the history of the world it described. It stood out as a book-among-books because of its scope and credibility. It weaved two story lines, one of now, a strand of sky blue, and one of then, a strand of gold, to tell a fantastic tale. 'Beyond the High Road' continues the tale of now with lots of references to the tale of then to lay the foundation for 'Death of the Dragon'. Normally, I don't like books that merely set up the next book but I gladly accepted it in this case because of the wonderful story and originality that went into it. 'Cormyr' is not necessary reading but it is strongly recommended and will make 'Dragon' much more enjoyable. Reading 'Beyond the High Road' is an absolute must otherwise the reader will be quite lost and confused.

Without giving too much away, let's just say that this book turns the typical stereotype of never-a-doubt that Good will prevail and stretches it to the extreme. Normally few, if any, good guys actually die. If they do it is only after the momentous battle that is the conclusion of the book. Not here. Greenwood & Denning show much more reality in the battles. They must have taken cues from WWII film footage. You will see where death keeps her sting. This book will draw you into the story and make you read it because what happends next is never predictable. The story is one long perilous journey; there is no safe place to rest and no safe place to close the book.

This trilogy is a must read for any fan of the genre and a great first for someone just beginning it.

It was certainly interesting to see how Elminster began. His adventures up until the point when he becomes a chosen are pretty well thought out and have a decent plot. Unfortunately, Greenwood begins Elminster's habit of crying out to Mystra every time he is in need of help, no matter how slight. The ending where Elminster and Mystra become lovers I found to be ridiculous. Magic is all screwed up in terms of D&D, but it isn't too internally inconsistent. The inconsistencies there raise some questions, like "If Elminster can cast this one spell that he cast before, why doesn't he use it here? He's supposed to be brilliant. Hmm." At least the elves in this book are decently, if shallowly, done. Don't read the next book, Elminster in Myth Drannor, if you are interested in finding out what elves are like. If you can gloss over the inconsistencies and ignore the whining helpless Elminster at the end of the book, it makes a decent source of history of Elminster's beginnings if you want history for a Forgotten Realms campaign world.

Elminster: The Making of a Mage is a wonderful book! It focuses on the early life of one of the most famous wizards - if not THE most famous - in all the colorfully decorated realms, Elminster. He goes from nobility to thieving to flicking spells around and much more fun! My favorite quote:

"The chamber pot! Never somewhere nice!"

Want to find out why...? Elminster is a good book, but one of the downsides is that if you haven't read some other books, you won't enjoy it quite as much. Knowing how he turns out is part of the fun. So, for all puposes of reading without previous knowledge, this is a 4-star. If, however, you've read some others...priceless. Have a go!

This is probably what I would call the BEST AD&D world based novel I have read so far. It delves so deep into the personality and background of what many would call THE main character of the Forgotten Realms background. When I first started it I was a little sceptical. After all how many pages can you write about someone who appears in all Forgotten Realms written works ? But once again I experienced the true wonder of Ed Greenwoods writing, and as the subject says : the night ended before the book did.. This book definately has a space on my fantasy shelves.