Toade-y

 So, after reading a few reviews, and searching used book sites, I finally got to read Jeff Grubb's Lord Toade. one of the books detailing the lives of minor characters from the DragonLance campaign setting. Unlike some of the others, this one is written in a very very dry and deadpan style, and has the effect of being funny. 

You can see he's quite fetching.

 

 

Toade is an odd one, since it's set AFTER the War of the Lance and after the events in the Legends trilogy. Indeed, it's set after Toade's ignominious death becoming dragon chow thanks to some quick thinking Kender prisoners. Indeed, we open in the Abyss, where in two demons, the Abbot and the Castellan (One thick and short, the other quite tall and skinny), make bets on whether or not an evil person can be noble. (This obviously predates Dragons of the Summer Flame, which brought the concept of Evil Paladins to Krynn.) As such, Toade is sent back to Krynn to be Noble. Or become A Noble as he first thinks. By which he assumes to mean that he should return to his Lordship over that wretched hive of scum and villainy, Flotsam.

Any rate, his first attempt ends poorly, and he comes back again 6 months later. (Killed by a Draconian.) Second attempt (eaten by a swamp dragon) ends just as poorly. Another 6 months, and he gets run over by an abyssal demon. His last attempt, though...

Oh lord. His former second in command who was doing well cooking for a tribe of Kender has taken over Flotsam, and everybody he's interacted with throughout the book wants to overthrow Groag (Toade's old friend.)  (That everyone, from the Necromancer to the Kender to the Scholars to the Gnolls also want to stick a knife in Toade's back as well doesn't matter much.) It's quite amusing how many things Toade is given credit for come back to haunt him in this incarnation, like some erotic Ogre poetics being given as a book of leadership...

At any rate, when we finally reach the very end, our Protagonist does indeed become our Hero. As someone once said, he's back with a joyous malice in his heart and a worse tune being whistled. 

If you can find it, it's a fun read, and an unexpected departure from the generally deadly serious High Fantasy (with occasional lighthearted Kender moments). It's good to be bad.