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dark_reader's review
2.0
Not too bad, in comparison, after some other abysmal Forgotten Realms books. David Cook produces some atypical stories in this setting. His past efforts include [b:Horselords|291736|Horselords (Forgotten Realms Empires, #1)|David Zeb Cook|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328327023l/291736._SY75_.jpg|283053] and [b:Soldiers of Ice|291710|Soldiers of Ice (Forgotten Realms The Harpers, #7)|David Zeb Cook|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1389683001l/291710._SY75_.jpg|283027], both of which have a srong ethnographic or fantasy cultural anthropological component. King Pinch might have benefited from a bit of this; the distant city of Pinch's birth that he returns to lacks characterization to set it apart from any other busy city-state in this world. I suppose you can say that Cook is doing a cultural study of a criminal element instead.
Pinch is in no way a likeable character. Amoral, abrasive, scheming, paranoid, self-dealing, the list goes on and on. He uses some highly colorful phrases and interesting metaphors, as though he has been living in a hard-boiled crime thriler for so long that he forgot how to speak like a normal person. He's not even a particularly skilled thief. I was never rooting for him, yet I enjoyed reading his story. The plot is also atypical for these books, sorely lacking in structure, but somehow it works. It is not what one might call a "good" book, but given it's company it's a worthy entry in the FR line. David Cook is a more accomplished RPG adventure writer than a novelist, but his storytelling ability is such that it can cross these formats, unlike many other TSR creative staff who attempted the same.
You would do well to read the short story Gallows Day in the anthology [b:Realms of Infamy|291561|Realms of Infamy (Forgotten Realms Anthologies, #2)|James Lowder|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1312020112l/291561._SY75_.jpg|282878] prior to this book, because the crux of that story, in which Pinch saves one of his crew from a hanging, is referred to A LOT.
Pinch is in no way a likeable character. Amoral, abrasive, scheming, paranoid, self-dealing, the list goes on and on. He uses some highly colorful phrases and interesting metaphors, as though he has been living in a hard-boiled crime thriler for so long that he forgot how to speak like a normal person. He's not even a particularly skilled thief. I was never rooting for him, yet I enjoyed reading his story. The plot is also atypical for these books, sorely lacking in structure, but somehow it works. It is not what one might call a "good" book, but given it's company it's a worthy entry in the FR line. David Cook is a more accomplished RPG adventure writer than a novelist, but his storytelling ability is such that it can cross these formats, unlike many other TSR creative staff who attempted the same.
You would do well to read the short story Gallows Day in the anthology [b:Realms of Infamy|291561|Realms of Infamy (Forgotten Realms Anthologies, #2)|James Lowder|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1312020112l/291561._SY75_.jpg|282878] prior to this book, because the crux of that story, in which Pinch saves one of his crew from a hanging, is referred to A LOT.
xterminal's review
3.0
David Cook, King Pinch (TSR, 1995)
The typical Dungeons and Dragons-related novel has one pace to it: breakneck. I've wondered more than once if one of the writing guidelines for new TSR authors is Poe's old maxim that all novels should be written as if they are to be read in one sitting. (This, of course, is why Poe wrote only one novel.) I've read a lot of D&D-themed novels, and very few break that mold. The most recent to cross my desk is David Cook's King Pinch.
Pinch is a thief of indeterminate birth who leads a band of merry men (and one overly merry woman) down a road of small-time crookery-- that is, until a member of Pinch's past life shows up and takes him and his companions back to Ankhapur, the city of Pinch's birth, with promises of a nebulous job that will put enough money in their bank accounts to keep them comfortable for life, and threats of their heads on pikes if they don't come.
The book starts off in an almost leisurely way, with Cook taking some time to develop Pinch's character before getting into the action. While that's never a bad thing, it does jar in the greater scheme of things. The pace does pick up as the novel goes on, but I wonder if most series readers who focus on TSR novels won't abandon this one given its initial slow pace. More fool them, however, because the reader of swords-and-sorcery fantasy will find much to enjoy once it gets going. ***
The typical Dungeons and Dragons-related novel has one pace to it: breakneck. I've wondered more than once if one of the writing guidelines for new TSR authors is Poe's old maxim that all novels should be written as if they are to be read in one sitting. (This, of course, is why Poe wrote only one novel.) I've read a lot of D&D-themed novels, and very few break that mold. The most recent to cross my desk is David Cook's King Pinch.
Pinch is a thief of indeterminate birth who leads a band of merry men (and one overly merry woman) down a road of small-time crookery-- that is, until a member of Pinch's past life shows up and takes him and his companions back to Ankhapur, the city of Pinch's birth, with promises of a nebulous job that will put enough money in their bank accounts to keep them comfortable for life, and threats of their heads on pikes if they don't come.
The book starts off in an almost leisurely way, with Cook taking some time to develop Pinch's character before getting into the action. While that's never a bad thing, it does jar in the greater scheme of things. The pace does pick up as the novel goes on, but I wonder if most series readers who focus on TSR novels won't abandon this one given its initial slow pace. More fool them, however, because the reader of swords-and-sorcery fantasy will find much to enjoy once it gets going. ***
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