Subject: Guardians of the Flame by Joel Rosenberg

From: [email-masked] (Doug Ingram)
Date: Wed, 5 Oct 1994 18:17:46 GMT

Guardians of the Flame
                            by Joel Rosenberg
		
                 Review copyright (c) 1994 by Doug Ingram

Guardians of the Flame is a fantasy series that was first released
about 11 years ago.  The most recent book is now almost two years old,
and what with the author's other works, it is not clear to me if or
when another book will come out.  Like most series written over a long
period of time, the style and quality of the books changes during the
series.  Although I would argue that the series has gotten weaker with
the last two books, I still think the series is a very good one overall
and worth reading.

The opening chapter of this series filled me with a sense of
dread...not just that, the opening SCENE.  The setting is one most
role-playing-gamers are familiar with...a group of friends sitting
around a large table in an open classroom/meeting room on the nearby
campus.  But something isn't quite right with this gaming session...
the Game-Master is set to transport his group to the world they thought
was a fantasy.  Each player is transformed into the personification of
the character he or she played and "set adrift" in the new fantasy
world, with a mission to carry out a quest in the hopes of great
reward.

Well...now maybe you can see why I was filled with such dread.  Surely
such a trite premise couldn't work.  But it does.  And, believe me, I
give Rosenberg a lot of credit if not for his initial way of starting
the story, then for his ability to overcome such a huge negative as his
first chapter.  I guess the real key to this whole series is the way
the author's characters use their real-world intelligence in a way that
gives them an advantage.  From the beginning, while it is clear the
characters ARE intended to be outfitted as virtual demigods in their
world, various things quickly happen to them that reveal their
frailties.  Thus, instead of the standard fantasy device of having a
few characters "Rambo" their way through the bad guys, the central
characters have a variety of interesting and unusual strengths and
weaknesses because of their backgrounds.

As the first book begins, the characters are transported to this new
world and faced with a task of finding a gate between worlds to bring
their former Game-Master through (he can't do it himself, which is why
he tries to manipulate his friends to do it for him).  Rather than a
"cake walk" to this gate, as promised, the characters soon run into
enough difficulties that their lives are in great danger.  As a side
note, I'd like to note here that the scene with Lord Lund in the first
book was very surprising and good...I got the feeling this was
Rosenberg acting out one of those "if only I could wipe that smirk off
his face..." scenarios that happens when one member of a gaming group
is just a little too big for his britches.  The group ends up trying to
accomplish their mission, but in a much more roundabout way.

Their quest leads them to a large city called Pandathaway, which is the
center of two major organizations in the world, the slavers and the
wizards.  The way magic works in this world is very well done, and the
characters learn a lot about it while in the city.  They also come to
the conclusion that they intensely dislike the way the slavery industry
is so prominent in this world.  The group's ostensible leader, Karl
Cullinane, decides to act on an impulse and free an enslaved dragon,
which later becomes a valuable companion to the group.

Of course, this gets the group in trouble, as does their success in
thumbing their nose at the world's "establishment" in a variety of
ways.  They eventually overcome a lot of hardship and difficulty to
reach this gate.  Once there, however, things start to go from bad to
worse as the group eventually is all but forced to stay in their new
world and live out their lives.

The group decides that their main goal in life will be the elimination
of slavers, a group that has caused the world and their group in
particular a great deal of grief.  So they set out on an orchestrated
campaign to destroy the slavers' guild.  This eventually leads to a
personal rivalry between Karl and some of the leaders of the guild.  As
time passes and Karl has a son, Jason, the enmity is passed down from
generation to generation, amidst the establishment by the characters of
a new walled city called "Home" and a series of skirmishes with
slavers.

The first four books, the strongest of the series, cover a period of
time up through Jason's coming-of-age.  The rivalries between the
slavers and Homelanders as well as the subplot of the development of
technology in the new world by some of the former engineers of the
group are all very well done and entertaining.  But the focus of the
series is on Karl, as it should be.  Karl is by far the most
entertaining character, Walter Slovotsky (the sarcastic thief)
included, though all the characters have strong points.

Because the books no longer center on Karl after the 3rd or 4th book
(saying any more would be a spoiler), they get weaker.  It may also be
because Rosenberg's writing style has changed over time, but the last
two really give me the impression of being potboilers...  interesting
books but just not the same feel as the first four.  Nevertheless, I
would recommend the whole series.

One question that may come up is this:  Since the series does seem to
rely somewhat on knowing and appreciating the skill with which
Rosenberg brings to life so many little aspects of role-playing-games
(such as healing potions), I'm not sure that non-RPG'ers will enjoy
this series.  I think it is very well-written and entertaining, but it
may have one too many "in" jokes for the tastes of some.

This series has been written over the course of 9 years, with the
Sleeping Dragon first copyrighted in 1983 under the Signet books
label.  The first four books in the series were originally published
under the Signet label, but they now appear to all be available from
the publisher who picked up the series starting with the 5th book (The
Warrior Lives), Roc Fantasy.  The price of each book was $2.95 when
they first came out, but I'll bet they'll be more for newer editions,
so I list the price of the last one.  Dontcha just LOVE book price
inflation over the last 10 years?  

%A Rosenberg, Joel
%T The Sleeping Dragon
%I Signet Books
%C New York
%D November 1983
%G ISBN 0-451-12574-6
%S Guardians of the Flame

%A Rosenberg, Joel
%T The Sword and the Chain
%I Signet Books
%C New York
%D April 1984
%G ISBN 0-451-12883-4
%S Guardians of the Flame

%A Rosenberg, Joel
%T The Silver Crown
%I Signet Books
%C New York
%D April 1985
%G ISBN 0-451-13531-8
%S Guardians of the Flame

%A Rosenberg, Joel
%T The Heir Apparent
%I Signet Books
%C New York
%D May 1987
%G ISBN 0-451-14820-7
%S Guardians of the Flame

%A Rosenberg, Joel
%T The Warrior Lives
%I Roc Fantasy
%C New York
%D April 1990
%G ISBN 0-451-45001-9
%S Guardians of the Flame

%A Rosenberg, Joel
%T The Road to Ehvenor
%I Roc Fantasy
%C New York
%D November 1992
%G ISBN 0-451-45191-0
%S Guardians of the Flame

Doug Ingram -- [email-masked] // "Carpe Datum."
  More reviews:  http://www.astro.washington.edu/ingram/books.html