So, pretty much everyone on Athas is an ass

 Finally finished up Troy Denning's The Prism Pentad with The Cerulean Storm, in which we find out everyone left alive in this series is an ass. 

So, when we left off Tithian had more or less killed off his rival Agis, had sent two dwarf banshees to encourage the Mul son on Neva and Caelum to kill the dragon, and had taken possession of the Dark Lens. Rajaat, who isn't dead so much as imprisoned in anextraplanar prison, is plotting to take revenge on his former champions (the current Dragon Boris and the Sorcerer-Kings) as well as escape from Shawshank. Sadira is still married to Agis and Rikus, although she's widowed on one front. The Sorcerer-Kings know the Lens is running loose and want to recover it before Tithian does something remarkably stupid.And the Half Giants are coming for Tyr, since the Lens lets them gain intelligence. 

All of which turns into a very long extended chase to the Dragon's lair, where pretty much everyone gets what they deserve to a degree. 

Again, it's epic sword and sandal and sorcery, with a bunch of characters you love to hate. I do love the ongoing visual of the silt skifs, riding the tides of dust in the dried up waterways of the desert. I like the idea that the villains in here were all Evil, but doing what they thought was best for the world. 

All in all, the series holds up as a memorable D&D adventure series, although one probably not as high quality as the DragonLance Sagas.

Tithian is an ass.

 So, I'm a lot behind on a lot of things, due to issues of a personal nature. I actually finished The Obsidian Oracle a few weeks ago, but...

Anyway.

This is actually an ugly read. Tithian, King of Tyr, gets in trouble at the outset by sending slavers to the Dwarf city near Tyr, which in turn sets off Neeva, since the slavers nearly take her son. This gets Agis involved, since he gets tasked with tracking down Tithian to bring him back to Tyr to face justice. 

Tithian, it would seem, was actually also after some Dwarven artifacts to get his hands on the eponymous Oracle, currently in the hands of giants. 

The narrative swings back and forth between Agis and Tithian, as they are forced to work together to get the Lens and survive a battle between two factions of giants, one with normal heads, and ones with animal heads. 

And a hell of a lot of betrayals.

For a D&D novel, this is really heavy material to deal with, as even the dering-do is overshadowed by some really ugly actions on pretty much everyone's part in the narrative.

Elves on the run

 Book 3 of The Prism Pentad by Troy Denning concerns Sadira, The Amber Enchantress, who again proves there aren't any particularly nice characters in this series. At the end of the last book, we heard about The Levy owed to Borys AKA the Dragon, and in this one, Sadira heads off on her own to find the Pristine Tower, where the dragon was born, to find a way to stop or kill him. This is made complicated by several factors, among them, Nok, the halfling wizard whose staff she bears wants it back and is a bit annoyed by her holding on to it. We also have King Tithian riding the mind of her Kank (a horse sized ant) trying to get her killed. Oh yeah, and her long lost father, chief of the Sun Runners elf tribe and her half brothers and sisters. 

Now, to say Sadira has Daddy Issues is an understatement. Daddy left her mom to rot in the slave pits of Tyr. When she eventually gets around to confronting him, he doesn't even remember her mother's name. Mind you, the worst comes in the City of Nibenay, where Sadira and her half sister get wrapped in a plot to incapacitate Daddy, but they also have to keep giving him the antidote due to various complications. 

Mind you, the half centipede prince is out to get Sadira after being tipped off by Tithian, and half of her allies want her dead because she keeps abusing her magic. (This book delves deep into how magic works on Athas. Most magic users draw energy from plants. Problem being, you grab too much, you kill the plants, making you a defiler. Certain users can draw on the energy of animals, although again, it's possible to kill people by drawing too much. Thus the levy. Anyway, Sadira does manage to kill several plants along the way, instead of dying as her allies feel she should have.) On the other hand, when she does eventually reach the Pristine Tower, we find it has a strange metamorphic field that causes any wound to start transforming the bearer into....something else. 

By the end of this, we know the Sorcerer Kings are keeping something imprisoned, and the shadow people aren't happy about it. We know the Kings are afraid of something. Oh yeah, and Tithian wants to be a true Dragon King. 

Fun book. Not a single good person in it.

Legion of DOOM!

 So, we're back in Athas for The Crimson Legion as Rikus and his partner Neeva lead the Tyr legions to defeat Hamanu of Urik, who's trying to take over Tyr. Added drama by the love quadrangle or Rikus sleeping with both Neeva and Sadira, and Sadira sleeping with Agis, leading to a bunch of relationship drama that would fit right in in Genoa City or Port Charles. (Or maybe Passions, since Rikus gets possessed by a racist wraith halfway through the novel.)

Anyway, plotwise, we're dealing with an "odds are against us" military story, as the free legions are far outnumbered by Urik forces, who also happen to be led by Rikus's first owner. Said owner, is also a master psionicist who is able to get magic from Hamanu, as well as having a shadow giant he can summon. 

We play cat and mouse northeast through the desert as both belligerents try to outwit one another. We find a Dwarven city that happens to have a bit of metaplot within, as well as two maguffins for Rikus to survive combat. (One is the sword of Borys, which cuts through everything AND lets the bearer hear conversations from some distance; the other a belt that catches any missiles aimed at the wearer.) We find out Tithian isn't at all happy about the Senate not respecting his authority. (That King Tithian has two floating shrunken heads as advisors should have tipped us off.)

Anyway, by the end, we know that Borys was on a quest to exterminate the dwarves, and we also know he's since become The Dragon, and the Dragon will eventually demand tribute from Tyr. (We also find out gnomes don't exist in this setting.) We also get our first look at one of Kalak's old buddies and get a better look at how Dragon Magic works. (In this setting, sorcery mixed with psionics. Dark Sun was famous for giving everyone psionic stats. Which, to me, was basically more math is the math game that can be D&D.) 

Overall, a good continuation, and we get to know Rikus better by the end, even as he loses almost everything.

Slavery is bad, ya'll

 It's been several years since I last slogged through Troy Denning's Prism Pentad (which is pretty much the story of D&D's Dark Sun setting), and I'd forgotten how much I occasionally enjoy the desert soap opera. 

The Verdant Passage sets the stage for the next four books (which mostly focus on individual characters in here), as fate aligns the lives of Slave gladiators Rikus and Neeva with escaped slave and sorcerer Sadira, and again with Noble senator Agis and Templar Tithian in the city state of Tyr. 

Basically, the King of Tyr (Kalak) is holding gladiator games to celebrate the building of his ziggurat. Well, except the edifice is actually part of his goal to become a dragon. 

Rikus and Neevah as selected by the Veiled Alliance to kill Kalak during the games. Sadira, who works with the alliance and has been schtupping Rikus, starts schtupping Agis to get him on board after finding out he's all about taking down Kalak. Agis, in the meantime, thinks that because he doesn't abuse his slaves, he's an ok slave owner. His majordomo, on the other hand, would rather become a dwarven banshee than remain a slave. 

Tithian agrees to not interfere, since he has his eyes on becoming king if Kalak buys the farm. (He's also terrified of what Kalak intends to do.)

We end book 1 with Kalak dead, the slaves of Tyr freed, and Tithian wearing the crown. 

It's torrid and turgid, but it's engaging. Worth reading.