The Temple of Elemental Evil (Greyhawk) [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

Decades have passed since I first visited the Temple of Elemental Evil and the Village of Hommlet. There is an undeniable amount of fun in revisiting places I once saw only through the imagination of my mind and that of my fellow gamers.

The story: Shanhaevel, a young elven wizard is accompanying his aging master on a mysterious mission to the village of Hommlet, for reasons unkown to Shanhaevel. An ambush on the road results in the death of his master, and the burden of the mission falling to the elven wizard.

His task: go with several adventurers to scout out the ruins of the Temple of Elemental Evil, a place of powerful evil (as the name implies, ^_^ ) and find out if the forces of the temple, which were defeated at great cost a decade ago, are on the rise. As often happens, things don't quite go as planned.

Nostalgia aside, this is a fairly pedestrian book. Mr. Reid doesn't spend much time on character development, the group bonds far too fast, etc. The wit and verve of a writer like Paul Kidd, who has written 3 other of the Greyhawk dungeon novels is not apparent in Mr. Reid's style.

So, this book is nothing special, but it doesn't commit any major offenses. The book reads sort of like a checklist: it appears that the author was told he needed to do certain things, which he did, but it still has almost an outline feel to it.

The true rating of this book should be 2.5 stars, but I freely admit to being a tad biased by nostalgia, which is why I gave it 3 stars.

The good:

1: It was great getting a refresher in the structure of the temple, and it brought back a lot of memories. It also gave me some interesting ideas.

2: It was not written in the typical preteen fashion that many books derivative of the games are.

3: It was entertaining.

The Bad:

1: Not the greatest character development -- it seemed a bit rushed.

2: Anyone who's played the game will recognize that this went entirely too easy and quickly to even compare.

3: A bit too many stereotypical elements.

All in all, if you love the game, you will enjoy the book. If you are just looking for a good fantasy novel, try Tolkein or Alexander.

The vilians are equally drab. So drab that not even tired old vilian cliches can be attatched to them. They are underdeveloped and you dont believe their motivations. Hedrach seems kind of intriguing at the beginning but as the story develops his intrigue quickly diminishes.

The only reason this book deserves two stars instead of one is that avid gamers will recognize certain familiar elements. Many spells used, and dieties named, and secret doors found will ring bells.

If you want to read a better book set in the Greyhawk campaign world read some of Paul Kidd's novels they are well written and have more interesting characters.