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Book 3 of the Trilogy of the Second Age by Richard Dansky
286 Pages, $6.50
A Game Fiction Review
INTRODUCTION
This isn’t a good book.
How can I say that?
Well its pretty simple. I read this book at the weekend and its now Tuesday.
And I can’t remember anything about it!
I can vaguely remember the process of reading it. I know that I have read it. I know that I owe RPG.net a review of it, but I’ve much better recollection of my meals that day (Roast chicken, with slightly too many low quality supermarket sausages). I remember the TV I watched after reading (24! Jack nearly kills Nina! Someone blows up the plane. Kims in trouble again! And Kates been kidnapped! What is it with blondes in peril that it happens nearly every hour, on the hour in 24?)
But the plot and characters of CotD? Not a memory. I recall a vague feeling of irritation after reading it, and there’s some engrams associated from when I read Book 2 of the series (Beloved of the Dead) but it’s only with force that I can remember the ending. But mostly I’m getting a major sense of disappointment.
So I think we can safely conclude 2 things. Either Children of the Dragon is a dull and very forgettable read, or its so gawd-awfully atrocious that I’m suppressing the memories abuse-victim style.
Anyway, I’m getting to reopen the book and skim-read it again and hope I can give you a meaningful review. Come back after the opening credits and normal service will be resumed........
TAKE 2
OK, the book opens with a zombie called Ratcatcher, who at the end of the last book had been mashed into a tree by hard man, martial artist Holok the Sidereal Kung Fu Monk. He gets rescued by Malfean servants to return him to the Underworld. He gets to meet some Malfeans (but their BIG CAPITALISED ITALICISED WAY OF SPEAKING IS LOST) ‘cos they talk through an interpreter. He gets told he’s a successful failure, so he qualifies for the free prize of a new body and doesn’t meaningfully appear again until the end of the book.
Solar-wise, we’ve got Eliazer Wren, the uber munchkin who got the free gift of a thousand XP worth of powerz and a kewl sword as well. He wanders around and finds the annoying kid Yushuv. Yuhuv actually gets a significant speaking role in this book. Unfortunately its a speech on par with Anakins “Obi Wan is so mean” soliquoy as he argues with Lilith why its a good idea for him to leave his mentor and seek his destiny on his own. Unfortunately he’s the kid prophesised to destroy the world, so you’d really expect the Oedipal pairing of Lilith and Dace to exercise some parental responsibility! Yushuv wanders around and people give him stuff all the time- big ass swords, orichalium daggers and the gift of life.
Then we’ve got Kejak, the machiavellian Bronze faction Sidereal who you might remember from the Exalted rulebooks. He actually has a bit of fun in this book, summoning Gods, scaring lackeys and drinking tea, Blofeld style.
And then we move to the worst character betrayal in game fiction history.
Holok.
Now in the last book, I rather liked Holok as a pithy, salt-of-the-earth badass kung-fu monk. He was entertainingly written with plenty of gusto and vim for life. In the last book he wipes the floor with assorted redshirts, breaks Ratcatcher into pieces and hooks up with the prematurely crone-like Unforgiven Blosson ‘cos shes got an orichalium dagger she shouldn’t have.
In this book, that Holok lasts all of 10 pages. He fights a ninja-like Night caste Solar NPC who he’s stayed up all night to surprise. Its a brief fight. Then he goes to sleep again in the same room as the astrologer biddy Unforgiven Blossom who (and I quote) “sprinkled a potion to ensure deathlike sleep on his lips, and then drawn the orichalium dagger across the backs of his ankles..... it was unlikely he’d ever walk again”.
Exeunt Holok.
WHAT!!?!?!!?!
The author got rid of the one character who had panache in the whole trilogy! In 3 lousy paragraphs! At the beginning of the book! And in a way that makes no sense!
Holok is a 1,500 year old, paranoid Sidereal Exalted. Unforgiven Blossom is at best a 30 year old mortal astrologer/alchemist. He has more Charms and foresight up the wazoo than Blossoms had hot meals, yet somehow she can successfully plot his maiming, creep over to him and pour potion on him (which somehow he isn’t immune to and hasn’t seen coming) and then hamstring him.
And, this is the same character, who in the previous book put a chair across the door of his room, and a bar across the window and put certain protections against harm in place. For a moment he felt a twinge of embarassment at the thoroughness of his precautions, but that, he reminded himself, was how he’d lasted fourteen centuries, when those who’d scoffed at him was dead”
So all of a sudden, Holok (who has just been attacked by a ninja-caste Solar) has a sudden personality inversion and loses all his caution while sharing a room with an Oblivion touched former servant of a Deathlord. Doesn’t make sense, and wastes a perfectly good character.
At this point I notice that the book seems to speed by. Chapters are getting ridiculously short (2 pages for chapter 12!) and people have stopped talking, instead merely appearing on screen briefly, look around and then exiting stage left post haste. Occasionally they give Yushuv something, but since its not a clip round the ear, I no longer care. I get the sense that the writer is hurrying this along to its end and thats a thought I can endorse.
Dansky tries to introduce another Sidereal in this book, but after writing off Holok its too little, too late. Her schtick is that she drips. Yep, when she walks around, she sheds moisture, Water-aspected Terrestrial style. T’fillit (Revered Hunter of the Ancient Enemy) is OK, but comes across as Holok-lite as she assembles a huge 50+ DB Wyld Hunt! She heads off for the climatic battle along with everyone else.
Then we’ve got the Prince of Shadows, his traitorous exchequer Pelesh and an uber-spirit Bonecrack. They mess around pointlessly, before heading to the big finale.
And what an anticlimatic finale of a trilogy it is. There some fights, but by then I cant bring myself to care. Fair Folk and zombies in the woods tangle up the DB’s. Wren and Ratcatcher refight their Book 1 battle and kill each other. Yushuv fights his Deathlord nemesis and drops a temple on the Prince of Shadows. Somehow its not exciting. I’m not feeling zest, or tension in the battle. It seems more like a rote battle where the GM is telling the players what happens and not to bother rolling those annoying buckets of dice.
Stock mythological lessons are rolled out. The young hero defeats his opponent. The mentor passes on, having passed on the burden. Those who do evil are punished for it.
I quickly begin to forget again how it all ends, ennui devouring my memories again.
Nope, this is not a book to remember
CONCLUSION
I’m still surprised at myself for my reaction to this piece of game fiction. The last book was an enjoyable enough piece of light reading/Exalted research, but this one seemed like it was written by someone entirely different.
It had no vim or vigour to it, with a hurried writing style that made me want to hurry through it too. Surprisingly there was little of use to Exalted gamers- no great descriptions of ridiculously named Charms, or surprises about the metaplot.
The best bit about it, was probably Kejak summoning a Gawd of Birds- a surprisingly fearsome entity. The repartee between arch-plotter and the beastgod Who Sees All was pretty good and would give your GM some ideas on how to run these encounters.
But what really lets down the book is that Holok is written out early in a way inconsistent to his earlier portrayals and the disapointing and incredibly unmemorable finale.
But this is the first time I’ve actually forgotten something I’ve read 2 days previously so probably best to not to have high hopes for this. It’d probably only appeal to those dedicated Exalted fans who really need to know how the story turned out. For the casual reader its definitely one of those books that gives game fiction a bad reputation.
Substance- What substance? Gets a 1 rating.
Style- There was style? I must have forgotten. Gets a 1 out of 5 as well.
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