Novelization by James M. Ward and Jane Cooper Hong.
From a video game devleoped and published by Strategic Simulations Incorporated.
Available for Apple II, IIGS, MAC, IBM, C-64/128, ST, AMIGA computers.
Based on Advanced Dungeons and Dragons created and published by TSR Inc.
…
“Keep the Staff of Power in the Cloth of Many Pockets until you are forced to use it. I advise you not to use the staff in front of strangers unless you plan on killing them, or you are willing to trust them with your life. Many a young mage has lost his life as a result of displaying such power to newfound friends.”
-James M. Ward and Jane Cooper Hong, Pool of Radiance (1989), p. 22.
...
Review by William D. Tucker.
Three honorable mercenaries are hired by the corrupt government of the city of Phlan to clear out the bad guys in this readable, if basic, novelization of the seminal computerized role-playing game.
In the actual game, you create your own party, using a version of the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons rules set to roll up characters of your choosing.
In this novel, authors Ward and Hong have to create their own heroic trio to navigate the dangers of Phlan, and they do okay. You’ve got a combat-oriented magic user seeking vengenace-she’s the most intriguing one. You’ve got a rough’n’ready ranger dude. And you’ve got the healer, a cleric guy, who’s pretty cool, who patches up the squad when they get dinged up on the field of glory. They make it work, y’know?
There’s schemes afoot. The corrupt city government is corrupt. They hire you to use you and betray you as politicians are wont to do in the Forgotten Realms.
You’ve got undead hordes.
You’ve a dragon with some lousy intentions.
Ahhh . . . there’s fight scenes.
There were fight scenes, right?
Um . . . yeah, the heroic trio gets into some dust-ups.
Look . . . this novel is readable . . . but also pretty forgettable. If you like Dungeons and Dragons shit, you’ll be amused. It is neither brilliant nor horrible. It’s the beginning of a trilogy, so, I dunno, maybe I’m not getting the whole story?
I suppose one criticism I would make is that . . . things just kinda come too easy for the heroic trio. They’re appealing characters, but if you’ve played the actual computer game, you know how detailed and demanding the combat is-the video game is actually more consequential in terms of combat than this novel. Which is weird, right? Video games are usually more of a power fantasy than even the most simplistic literary depiction of violent struggle. But here the shit is reversed.
Hmm . . . what else, what else . . .
OH!
I remember . . . there’s a part where someone is riding on horseback-through a graveyard if memory serves-and a horde of undead well up out of the ground and skewer the belly of the horse with a spear. That was my favorite scene. A gnarly fuckin’ moment, right?
Heh, heh . . . yeah.
I didn’t hate it, okay.
Some things . . . they’re just kinda . . . just very light entertainment, when you get down to it.
Mm-hmm.
Okay, I think I need to hang it up now.
Good talkin’.
(Hangs up. Falls silent . . . but then William’s lips keep moving, his hands keep gesticulating wildly, knocking shit over . . . the forms persist . . . yet what of the substance . . . ?)
