Item - The Paladins

This is something of an improvement over the previous adventure if only because it is more of an adventure story; there's a bit of episodic exploration and monster-fighting in keeping with the role-playing game that inspired the book. Also of note (to Forgotten Realms fans, at least) is the fact that this contains characters introduced in the earlier novel Pool of Twilight. Unfortunately, just because it isn't totally boring doesn't mean it's especially good. The characters are shallow, the attempts at humor are once again more painful than amusing, and few attempts are made to depart from the purely formulaic. Lazy copy editing is also on display, with the spelling of one character's name constantly shifting between "Piergieron" and "Piegieron." This might have made a passable gamebook, but as a linear novel, it's pretty much a waste of time.

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