Item - The Shadow's Rage

Note: This review refers to the old print version of this title. I am told that the electronic inebooks re-release is a major improvement over this version thanks to considerable editing; hopefully I will eventually find time to play and evaluate it.

While it pleases me that print on demand technology is making it easier for authors to create high-quality editions of works that major publishers wouldn't touch for various reasons, it turns out that sometimes the publishers were wise not to touch certain books. The last print on demand effort I encountered, Sean-Robert Shaw's debut Rangers of Taradoin book, proved to be unreadable and unplayable, and while this book is marginally better, it was ultimately too amateurish for me to tolerate through to the end. The game system is concise, which is a good thing, but it's also rather unbalanced and ambiguous, so I can't compliment it too highly. The writing, though, is where it all falls apart. The storyline is all too familiar, and it is executed without any style whatsoever. Grammar errors and goofy names abound, and descriptions and characterizations are as generic and boring as you can imagine. Worst of all, the word "moon" is inserted before every unit of time to strangely maddening effect. If I read about one more "moon day" or "moon age" or "moon minute" (I made that last one up), I will surely scream and scream until I can scream no more. The authors deserve some credit for writing a fairly substantial work and getting it into print, but I cannot in good conscience recommend the end result, especially considering the relatively high price of print on demand products.

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