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Greyhawk Adventures #7
The Eyes Have It
At long last, the Spider Queen is dead, but Kathryn Fern-Clyffe, Queen-for-Life of the Yeomanry, is gripped by a strange foreboding...
The Eye of Tiros is missing. The dragons are aloft. The minions of Kranoch the King are on the march. And directed by the dragons is a dark swarm of dread monsters...
The very future of Greyhawk is in the hands of an intrepid hero and his halfling companion, plus a mage-rat named Pfee-Guh and a grizzled dwarf piloting a lighter-than-air ship drawn by magical pegasi.
The Eye of Tiros is missing. The dragons are aloft. The minions of Kranoch the King are on the march. And directed by the dragons is a dark swarm of dread monsters...
The very future of Greyhawk is in the hands of an intrepid hero and his halfling companion, plus a mage-rat named Pfee-Guh and a grizzled dwarf piloting a lighter-than-air ship drawn by magical pegasi.
314 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 1, 1989
2 people are currently reading
156 people want to read
About the author
Rose Estes
51 books58 followersRose Estes is the author of many fantasy and science fiction books, including full length novels and multiple choice gamebooks. After contributing extensively to TSR, Inc.'s Dungeons and Dragons Endless Quest series (of which she wrote the first six, as well as others later down the line), she wrote her first full length novel, Children of the Dragon (1985). She continued to write for TSR by writing six volumes in a series of Greyhawk novels. She contributed to other series, but continued to write books and start series of her own that, like Children of the Dragon, take place in a fantasy or science fiction world created by her own imagination. She also wrote the Golden Book Music Video Sing, Giggle and Grin.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 16, 2022
Good fantasy story based on the D&D world. Recommended
June 18, 2023
Multiple threads collapsing into one, because everyone wants the MacGuffin - the Eye of Tiros. Our hero has no choice but to find it.
The reluctant protagonist travels from the Tiger Nomads to find his betrothed, who he has never met. But that's not the story, of course, it's the friends he meets along the way. Oh, and the crime he is accused of. Why did he visit the roughest tavern in town? Why was he waylaid by rogues and thieves, yet came out with more money than he started with?
So he and his friends come together, and he taps into some of his inheritance - a mysterious bag of unexplained. This is where the story really shines, the party aspect. Maybe old Tolkien had it right.
The villains are very two dimensional, and in the case of the golden ones, the villainy makes zero sense. The battle scenes for the individual party are good, but the major battles at the end are confusing to read - and not the way battle is confusing anyhow. The ending of the book also comes all in a rush. Characters also refer to magic levels, which breaks the fourth wall somewhat.
Beyond that fourth wall is Dungeons & Dragons. From a D&D standpoint (this was the last of the Greyhawk Adventures, and TSR was involved), this book is a mess. The "wizard" character goes from nothing to expertise in a very short time. The two major items make little sense - what exactly does this Eye of Tiros do? What magic powers this collar - and what are it's parameters? And again, I must bring up the gold dragons.
I haven't read Rose Estes other D&D books, but I understand this is one of the best. Looking forward to discussing with the bookclub. For me, this was 2½ stars out of 5.
The reluctant protagonist travels from the Tiger Nomads to find his betrothed, who he has never met. But that's not the story, of course, it's the friends he meets along the way. Oh, and the crime he is accused of. Why did he visit the roughest tavern in town? Why was he waylaid by rogues and thieves, yet came out with more money than he started with?
So he and his friends come together, and he taps into some of his inheritance - a mysterious bag of unexplained. This is where the story really shines, the party aspect. Maybe old Tolkien had it right.
The villains are very two dimensional, and in the case of the golden ones, the villainy makes zero sense. The battle scenes for the individual party are good, but the major battles at the end are confusing to read - and not the way battle is confusing anyhow. The ending of the book also comes all in a rush. Characters also refer to magic levels, which breaks the fourth wall somewhat.
Beyond that fourth wall is Dungeons & Dragons. From a D&D standpoint (this was the last of the Greyhawk Adventures, and TSR was involved), this book is a mess. The "wizard" character goes from nothing to expertise in a very short time. The two major items make little sense - what exactly does this Eye of Tiros do? What magic powers this collar - and what are it's parameters? And again, I must bring up the gold dragons.
I haven't read Rose Estes other D&D books, but I understand this is one of the best. Looking forward to discussing with the bookclub. For me, this was 2½ stars out of 5.
October 31, 2013
This time the main character is the great grandson of the protagonist from the preceding three books in the series. Beyond that relationship there is little to tie the stories together. Askar ben-oba decides to find adventure while he sets out to go to his arranged wedding. Along the way he gets a circlet placed around his neck by a lawman that requires to fulfill a quest or die, as the ring gradually tightens unless he fulfills his geas. Along the way he does meet some memorable characters, most notable is Pfee-Guh, a magician rat. Storyline is pretty good overall although parts of the book seemed rather scattered.
October 15, 2025
This book is probably a three star book, but being in Oreth and traveling the skies of the Yeomanry, the Sea Princes, and the HellFurnaces gave a bonus star. Spoiler alert that I am NOT happy with the end for Donovic. I would be happy to chat about that over a pint.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 15, 2023
Just couldn't bring myself to read this.
Skimmed my way through it, mainly since it was the final book in the series of the character with the Demon Hand. It explained what happened to that character.
But I skimmed it in under two hours.
I'll look for some Gygax novels.
Skimmed my way through it, mainly since it was the final book in the series of the character with the Demon Hand. It explained what happened to that character.
But I skimmed it in under two hours.
I'll look for some Gygax novels.
November 26, 2021
This is the final Greyhawk Adventures novel written by Rose Estes and the final in the Greyhawk Adventure series. The first two books were penned by Gary Gygax and introduced the character of Gord the Rogue. After a schism with TSR, Gygax continued the Gord the Rogue novels separate from the Greyhawk Adventures series which was then taken over by Rose Estes.
The books written by Rose Estes are for the most part awful. Characters have little growth or development, the constant references to magic levels broke the immersion, and the heroes are terrible people with the main character often talking about he is going to take a woman without her consent. Most of these books I gave a 1 out of 5.
The Eyes Have It is a vast improvement over those books and would probably be a 2.5 if Goodreads allowed half a star. The characters in this book have more personality, the writing is cleaner with a clear process to the story, and the heroes are ones you actually want to root for. The book is fairly entertaining but I wouldn't say its worth the read especially as to understand some minor elements to the story, you have to read the horrible ones that came before.
What holds this book back is that the main story line and other storylines meander separately for more than half the book. While its clear that all these story lines will eventually converge they do so in a very dues ex machina sort of way, where each side story pulled into the main story seems to 'save the day' for the heroes. In addition, the motivation and efforts of the 'villans' is somewhat weird. For example, a flight of dragons has an issue with a local town.....what do they do? Do they burn the town to the ground? No. They capture 'basilisk-like creatures' and put them in the sewere for....reasons?.....
The books written by Rose Estes are for the most part awful. Characters have little growth or development, the constant references to magic levels broke the immersion, and the heroes are terrible people with the main character often talking about he is going to take a woman without her consent. Most of these books I gave a 1 out of 5.
The Eyes Have It is a vast improvement over those books and would probably be a 2.5 if Goodreads allowed half a star. The characters in this book have more personality, the writing is cleaner with a clear process to the story, and the heroes are ones you actually want to root for. The book is fairly entertaining but I wouldn't say its worth the read especially as to understand some minor elements to the story, you have to read the horrible ones that came before.
What holds this book back is that the main story line and other storylines meander separately for more than half the book. While its clear that all these story lines will eventually converge they do so in a very dues ex machina sort of way, where each side story pulled into the main story seems to 'save the day' for the heroes. In addition, the motivation and efforts of the 'villans' is somewhat weird. For example, a flight of dragons has an issue with a local town.....what do they do? Do they burn the town to the ground? No. They capture 'basilisk-like creatures' and put them in the sewere for....reasons?.....
March 9, 2026
While I enjoyed the pacing and action of the book, I was always disturbed by the mixed POV (first person for Askar, third for everyone else). Also, fantasy world details like trebuchets and D&D elements were not correctly represented. It seemed the author was not much of an actual D&D player.
September 23, 2020
A bit of a rambling tale, which I suspect was supposed to come across as an epic tale of adventure, love and war but managed to fall a bit short in every category.
A few errors that would annoy D&D 2e purists but close enough to give the feeling of a reasonable Greyhawk setting and more references than the earlier Mika Oba books (to which this is only very loosely connected). On the whole, not bad but there are better D&D books out there.
A few errors that would annoy D&D 2e purists but close enough to give the feeling of a reasonable Greyhawk setting and more references than the earlier Mika Oba books (to which this is only very loosely connected). On the whole, not bad but there are better D&D books out there.
April 14, 2015
Has anybody read this book?
18 January 2013
Did I ever actually read this book - in fact did anybody actually read this book? I'm not really sure, but then I guess there is a point that a successful writer can get to (and I am not even suggesting that Rose Estes is a successful writer) where they can simply publish books without having to worry whether they will ever actually turn a profit, because they have made so much money from their original successful publications that they can write any old rubbish and still live a comfortable lifestyle. Hey, people might even actually purchase it.
I notice that nobody (at the time of writing) has actually made any comments on this book on Goodreads, so maybe that is because there isn't actually all that much to this book that anybody would want to write. The only thing I see is the little synopsis, namely what is usually written in the back of the book (normally referred to as the blurb) saying that one bid bag nasty threat to the world of Greyhawk has been stopped, but wait, now somebody has stolen a gem, and because somebody has stolen this gem guess what, the World of Greyhawk once again hangs in the balance, and it is up to a couple of no name people to go out and save the world.
Hmm, I wonder if, in 1860, when the future of the United States hung in the balance, as a civil war broke out between the North and the South, there was a small band of brave adventurers that could set out on their quest and single handedly bring both sides to the negotiating table. Or could they have gone over the Richmond Virginia, fought a massive Hollywood battle with General Robert E Lee, and then captured the rogue congress, and save America? Hmm, it did not happen that way did it? (though Abraham Lincoln and his friend did fight an epic battle on a train on the way to Gettysberg with the vampires, which managed to turn the tide of the war, at least according to Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter).
I guess that is why they refer these types of stories as pulp novels, namely because the only use they have for them is to throw them back into the vat, pulp them up, and make more paper on which more books can be printed. However the times are actually moving on now with the popularity of the kindle and the pads, where people no longer read books but can just read the stories on their Kindle. Hey, I still like my books, though I must admit that the kindle, and even the pad, are much more convenient. However, as I said, I like my books and am likely to continue to read my books on the train, or wherever else I am able.
18 January 2013
Did I ever actually read this book - in fact did anybody actually read this book? I'm not really sure, but then I guess there is a point that a successful writer can get to (and I am not even suggesting that Rose Estes is a successful writer) where they can simply publish books without having to worry whether they will ever actually turn a profit, because they have made so much money from their original successful publications that they can write any old rubbish and still live a comfortable lifestyle. Hey, people might even actually purchase it.
I notice that nobody (at the time of writing) has actually made any comments on this book on Goodreads, so maybe that is because there isn't actually all that much to this book that anybody would want to write. The only thing I see is the little synopsis, namely what is usually written in the back of the book (normally referred to as the blurb) saying that one bid bag nasty threat to the world of Greyhawk has been stopped, but wait, now somebody has stolen a gem, and because somebody has stolen this gem guess what, the World of Greyhawk once again hangs in the balance, and it is up to a couple of no name people to go out and save the world.
Hmm, I wonder if, in 1860, when the future of the United States hung in the balance, as a civil war broke out between the North and the South, there was a small band of brave adventurers that could set out on their quest and single handedly bring both sides to the negotiating table. Or could they have gone over the Richmond Virginia, fought a massive Hollywood battle with General Robert E Lee, and then captured the rogue congress, and save America? Hmm, it did not happen that way did it? (though Abraham Lincoln and his friend did fight an epic battle on a train on the way to Gettysberg with the vampires, which managed to turn the tide of the war, at least according to Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter).
I guess that is why they refer these types of stories as pulp novels, namely because the only use they have for them is to throw them back into the vat, pulp them up, and make more paper on which more books can be printed. However the times are actually moving on now with the popularity of the kindle and the pads, where people no longer read books but can just read the stories on their Kindle. Hey, I still like my books, though I must admit that the kindle, and even the pad, are much more convenient. However, as I said, I like my books and am likely to continue to read my books on the train, or wherever else I am able.
July 8, 2015
Not as good as the other Greyhawk books, story was poor, too many threads and little sub stories, each lacked depth then things were brought to a head too quickly and easily. The ability to become a magic user so quickly was silly, should have been shorter with fewer threads or longer and more in depth on the better plot lines.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews