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The Dragons' Return
Book by Cook, Monte
277 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
26 people want to read
About the author
Monte Cook
211 books123 followers
The game designer
Monte Cook started working professionally in the game industry in 1988. In the employ of Iron Crown Enterprises, he worked with the Rolemaster and Champions games as an editor, developer, and designer. In 1994, Monte came to TSR, Inc., as a game designer and wrote for the Planescape and core D&D lines. When that company was purchased by Wizards of the Coast, he moved to the Seattle area and eventually became a senior game designer. At Wizards, he wrote the 3rd Edition Dungeon Master's Guide and served as codesigner of the new edition of the Dungeons & Dragons game. In 2001, he left Wizards to start his own design studio, Malhavoc Press, with his wife Sue. Although in his career he has worked on over 100 game titles, some of his other credits include Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, The Book of Eldritch Might series, the d20 Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying Game, The Book of Vile Darkness, Monte Cook’s Arcana Evolved, Ptolus, Monte Cook's World of Darkness, and Dungeonaday.com. He was a longtime author of the Dungeoncraft column in Dungeon Magazine. In recent years, Monte has been recognized many times by game fans in the ENnies Awards, the Pen & Paper fan awards, the Nigel D. Findley Memorial Award, the Origins Awards, and more.
The author
A graduate of the 1999 Clarion West writer's workshop, Monte has published two novels, The Glass Prison and Of Aged Angels. Also, he has published the short stories "Born in Secrets" (in the magazine Amazing Stories), "The Rose Window" (in the anthology Realms of Mystery), and "A Narrowed Gaze" (in the anthology Realms of the Arcane). His stories have appeared in the Malhavoc Press anthologies Children of the Rune and The Dragons' Return, and his comic book writing can be found in the Ptolus: City by the Spire series from DBPro/Marvel. His fantasy fiction series, "Saga of the Blade," appeared in Game Trade Magazine from 2005–2006.
The geek
In his spare time, Monte runs games, plays with his dog, watches DVDs, builds vast dioramas out of LEGO building bricks, paints miniatures, and reads a lot of comics.
Monte Cook started working professionally in the game industry in 1988. In the employ of Iron Crown Enterprises, he worked with the Rolemaster and Champions games as an editor, developer, and designer. In 1994, Monte came to TSR, Inc., as a game designer and wrote for the Planescape and core D&D lines. When that company was purchased by Wizards of the Coast, he moved to the Seattle area and eventually became a senior game designer. At Wizards, he wrote the 3rd Edition Dungeon Master's Guide and served as codesigner of the new edition of the Dungeons & Dragons game. In 2001, he left Wizards to start his own design studio, Malhavoc Press, with his wife Sue. Although in his career he has worked on over 100 game titles, some of his other credits include Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, The Book of Eldritch Might series, the d20 Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying Game, The Book of Vile Darkness, Monte Cook’s Arcana Evolved, Ptolus, Monte Cook's World of Darkness, and Dungeonaday.com. He was a longtime author of the Dungeoncraft column in Dungeon Magazine. In recent years, Monte has been recognized many times by game fans in the ENnies Awards, the Pen & Paper fan awards, the Nigel D. Findley Memorial Award, the Origins Awards, and more.
The author
A graduate of the 1999 Clarion West writer's workshop, Monte has published two novels, The Glass Prison and Of Aged Angels. Also, he has published the short stories "Born in Secrets" (in the magazine Amazing Stories), "The Rose Window" (in the anthology Realms of Mystery), and "A Narrowed Gaze" (in the anthology Realms of the Arcane). His stories have appeared in the Malhavoc Press anthologies Children of the Rune and The Dragons' Return, and his comic book writing can be found in the Ptolus: City by the Spire series from DBPro/Marvel. His fantasy fiction series, "Saga of the Blade," appeared in Game Trade Magazine from 2005–2006.
The geek
In his spare time, Monte runs games, plays with his dog, watches DVDs, builds vast dioramas out of LEGO building bricks, paints miniatures, and reads a lot of comics.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 11, 2008
Gaming fiction always worries me. I read a lot of it as a teenager, but honestly, much of it is not great. There are some exceptions (Salvatore’s original Icewind Dale and Dark Elf trilogies, Stolze’s Demon: The Fallen trilogy, for ex.), but overall, I tend to find it dubious at best.
I grabbed this book at the same time I picked up Arcana Evolved, a “alternate player's handbook” put out by Monte Cook (one of the designers of D&D 3e, among other things), because I thought it might give me a sense of what kind of stories could be told in the Lands of the Diamond Throne (the default setting for Arcana Evolved). And, at the time, someone else was buying. So I figured, hey, what the heck.
As with all anthologies, this one is something of a mixed bag. Stan!’s (yes, that is how the author is credited) “The Land is in Our Blood” is a interesting, and kind of creepy tale that almost manages to stray in Philip Dick territory, but not quite. “Pride” by Wolfgang Bauer is a fairly classic tale of the honorable warrior fighting the good fight, but I enjoy that sort of tale in general, and enjoyed this one as well. “Memories and Ghosts”, “Loresight Legation” and “Oathsworn” were also fairly interesting. Some of the others I found less so. Ed Greenwood’s “Mad Mojh of Onteth” did nothing for me, but I’ve never really liked Greenwood’s writing that much. “The Essence of the Dragon” was ok, but a little clunky.
My only real complaint overall actually has to do with dragons, specifically, the inconsistent way in which they’re portrayed in these stories. In some of the stories, the dragons are the classic D&D model: Chromatic vs. Metallic, coloration determines power, and so on. In other stories, the coloration and such seems to be irrelevant…the dragons are simply dragons, and their external appearance has nothing to do with their abilities. I prefer the latter, personally, but I wish that there had been some consistency within the stories.
Fans of the Arcana Evolved setting ought to enjoy reading this, as might most fans of gaming fiction. Overall, it’s a pretty good read, and it certainly doesn’t require familiarity with the game in order to enjoy it. It also has the advantage of being a quick read, if that’s something you’re seeking.
I grabbed this book at the same time I picked up Arcana Evolved, a “alternate player's handbook” put out by Monte Cook (one of the designers of D&D 3e, among other things), because I thought it might give me a sense of what kind of stories could be told in the Lands of the Diamond Throne (the default setting for Arcana Evolved). And, at the time, someone else was buying. So I figured, hey, what the heck.
As with all anthologies, this one is something of a mixed bag. Stan!’s (yes, that is how the author is credited) “The Land is in Our Blood” is a interesting, and kind of creepy tale that almost manages to stray in Philip Dick territory, but not quite. “Pride” by Wolfgang Bauer is a fairly classic tale of the honorable warrior fighting the good fight, but I enjoy that sort of tale in general, and enjoyed this one as well. “Memories and Ghosts”, “Loresight Legation” and “Oathsworn” were also fairly interesting. Some of the others I found less so. Ed Greenwood’s “Mad Mojh of Onteth” did nothing for me, but I’ve never really liked Greenwood’s writing that much. “The Essence of the Dragon” was ok, but a little clunky.
My only real complaint overall actually has to do with dragons, specifically, the inconsistent way in which they’re portrayed in these stories. In some of the stories, the dragons are the classic D&D model: Chromatic vs. Metallic, coloration determines power, and so on. In other stories, the coloration and such seems to be irrelevant…the dragons are simply dragons, and their external appearance has nothing to do with their abilities. I prefer the latter, personally, but I wish that there had been some consistency within the stories.
Fans of the Arcana Evolved setting ought to enjoy reading this, as might most fans of gaming fiction. Overall, it’s a pretty good read, and it certainly doesn’t require familiarity with the game in order to enjoy it. It also has the advantage of being a quick read, if that’s something you’re seeking.
March 7, 2016
It might be an insult to a book titled The Dragons' Return featuring dragons, dragons, dragons, but the best stories here--"The Sand Veils", "Loresight Legation", "Envoy", "Essence of the Dragon" to some extent--are the ones only tangentially involving dragons. The dragons are presented as individual creatures with individual motives and methods, but this doesn't hide the fact that "dragon" as a concept is fairly played out: one can be noble or villainous, manipulative or breathe-fire-on-it straightforward, a menace or a guardian, or not knowing which of these to be, but it is a dragon.
Without dragons at the forefront, the more subtle and imaginative aspects of the setting show through: a race of psychics whose psychological troubles result in mutative physical effects and for whom the cost of cure is very high; the 'uplifting' of species by ancient civilizations into servitors, and those servitors in turn create servitors; dragon cultists physically transforming to take on characteristics of the object of their worship; the entire notion of the "akashic sea", a psychic plane where all the events of history are writ, and a practitioner can draw knowledge and skill sets (and proving that someone has read some theosophy).
Without dragons at the forefront, the more subtle and imaginative aspects of the setting show through: a race of psychics whose psychological troubles result in mutative physical effects and for whom the cost of cure is very high; the 'uplifting' of species by ancient civilizations into servitors, and those servitors in turn create servitors; dragon cultists physically transforming to take on characteristics of the object of their worship; the entire notion of the "akashic sea", a psychic plane where all the events of history are writ, and a practitioner can draw knowledge and skill sets (and proving that someone has read some theosophy).
May 12, 2014
The only story that saved this book from a one-star rating was "Vows." The others were flat, with colorless characters.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews