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Guardians of the Flame #4-5
Guardians Of The Flame: The Heroes
It had begun as an evening of fantasy gaming - college students passing the time. Then the impossible
the players found themselves transported into the bodies and personae of their game characters - trapped in an alternate world where magic worked all too well, dragons were a fire-breathing menace, and only those quick enough with a sword, or their wits, survived.
The only way back to Earth was a legendary portal called the Gate Between Worlds, but there was no guarantee they'd pass through safely even if they managed to find it. And their new selves had precious little time to devote to the search; they were too busy just trying to stay alive. . .
Karl Cullinane, warrior in that fantasy game of long ago, had become a warrior in fact on This Side and won himself an empire. But the peace he'd recently established in his territories was uneasy. Certain members of the Wizards' and Slavers' Guilds would gladly destroy it, he knew - master slaver Ahrmin in particular - unless some of his own less-than-loyal subjects wrecked things first.
There had been insidious rumors that Karl meant to gain possession of a fabled wizard-killing sword - though, of course, the sword was meant for his son, Jason. The emperor understood such suspicion; it wouldn't have surprised him to hear that his old friends Walter Slovotsky and the dwarf Ahira were checking out the rumors - for their own reasons, and in their own ways. One never knew where trouble might start.
A slavers' raid on one of Karl's baronial capitals, for instance - elves, humans, and treasure taken. Was it an isolated incident or part of some larger plot?
the players found themselves transported into the bodies and personae of their game characters - trapped in an alternate world where magic worked all too well, dragons were a fire-breathing menace, and only those quick enough with a sword, or their wits, survived.
The only way back to Earth was a legendary portal called the Gate Between Worlds, but there was no guarantee they'd pass through safely even if they managed to find it. And their new selves had precious little time to devote to the search; they were too busy just trying to stay alive. . .
Karl Cullinane, warrior in that fantasy game of long ago, had become a warrior in fact on This Side and won himself an empire. But the peace he'd recently established in his territories was uneasy. Certain members of the Wizards' and Slavers' Guilds would gladly destroy it, he knew - master slaver Ahrmin in particular - unless some of his own less-than-loyal subjects wrecked things first.
There had been insidious rumors that Karl meant to gain possession of a fabled wizard-killing sword - though, of course, the sword was meant for his son, Jason. The emperor understood such suspicion; it wouldn't have surprised him to hear that his old friends Walter Slovotsky and the dwarf Ahira were checking out the rumors - for their own reasons, and in their own ways. One never knew where trouble might start.
A slavers' raid on one of Karl's baronial capitals, for instance - elves, humans, and treasure taken. Was it an isolated incident or part of some larger plot?
438 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 1989
2 people are currently reading
161 people want to read
About the author
Joel Rosenberg
87 books238 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Note: This is a different person than the political/thriller author, Joel C. Rosenberg
Joel Rosenberg was the author of the bestselling Guardians of the Flame books as well as the D'Shai and Keepers of the Hidden Ways series. He made his home in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Note: This is a different person than the political/thriller author, Joel C. Rosenberg
Joel Rosenberg was the author of the bestselling Guardians of the Flame books as well as the D'Shai and Keepers of the Hidden Ways series. He made his home in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 27, 2012
Books 4 and 5 actually improve the series by focusing less on Karl and more on his son Jason. This makes the books more interesting as the adventures they get involved in seem more real somehow without having a warrior around that wins every fight by just busting in and chopping heads off.
The weariness of the characters start to show, the reality of life starts to catch up with some and all in all its a pretty quick fun read.
The weariness of the characters start to show, the reality of life starts to catch up with some and all in all its a pretty quick fun read.
August 7, 2012
a great story about dungeons and dragons adventures
a compilation of the stories
a compilation of the stories
February 27, 2016
Took some much darker turns, but didn't make them worth the change in tone. Tough to re-read a lot of this stuff I loved as a kid.
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January 9, 2010baen ebook
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April 26, 2019I gave up on this one about 150 into it because, not having read the previous books in the series, I couldn't get a feel for the characters.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews