Item - The Cauldron of Fear

This book marks a major change in the series: the replacement of illustrator Gary Chalk with Brian Williams. Williams' work isn't as distinctive as Chalk's, but it is often a bit more polished-looking. In all, it's a fair trade, with each artist having different talents. Art aside, though, this is a good adventure with a fairly decent amount of variety; there's some dungeon crawling, some epic fighting and even a wee bit of political intrigue. It's a bit more text-heavy and linear than average, with a lot of sections ending simply in "turn to x" rather than a choice; still, I never felt that my options were needlessly limited. My only major complaint deals with the final confrontation that closes the book. If you bring the Sommerswerd along, you're actually at a serious disadvantage, being forced into a fight that is nearly impossible to win. If for some strange reason you leave your best weapon behind, you have a shot at victory, but it relies mainly on dumb luck. Due to its unreasonable difficulty and general senselessness, this is one of the most disappointing major fights in the series so far, and it detracts somewhat from an otherwise fun book.

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