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A review by kodermike
The Barrow by Mark Smylie
3.0
I won't hold back - this is a train wreck of a book. At first pass, these are the stock characters every GM has dealt into an ongoing campaign, the initial quest as straight forward as they come: rob the ancient tomb, plunder some gold, get the magic sword.
Why read it, then? There's an argument there. You could say its because it's a Michael Bay train wreck, a Wachowski style production. Larger than life explosions, Brandon Frazier as one of the male leads, over the top dungeon crawler.
And then chapter one starts.
The Barrow is a well written tale of gritty fantasy. The biggest problem this book faces, I think, is that if you haven't read the comic it's a prequel to, then there's no way to filter the volume of information being dumped on you. What's important? What's filler? I couldn't tell, and that's a problem. In a sea of gritty fantasy epics, this is certainly dark, more adult than most of its competition. Sadly, it didn't work for me, but it wasn't from a lack of style or ability, so your mileage may vary.
The ARC for this novel was kindly provided to me by Pyr for review.
Why read it, then? There's an argument there. You could say its because it's a Michael Bay train wreck, a Wachowski style production. Larger than life explosions, Brandon Frazier as one of the male leads, over the top dungeon crawler.
And then chapter one starts.
The Barrow is a well written tale of gritty fantasy. The biggest problem this book faces, I think, is that if you haven't read the comic it's a prequel to, then there's no way to filter the volume of information being dumped on you. What's important? What's filler? I couldn't tell, and that's a problem. In a sea of gritty fantasy epics, this is certainly dark, more adult than most of its competition. Sadly, it didn't work for me, but it wasn't from a lack of style or ability, so your mileage may vary.
The ARC for this novel was kindly provided to me by Pyr for review.