The Kingless Land (Band of Four )

In the glittering Advanced Dungeons & Dragons firmament, the star power of Ed Greenwood twinkles somewhere between the bright glow of E. Gary Gygax and the somewhat dimmer shine of Zeb Cook. As creator and Dungeon Master-in-chief of the enormously popular Forgotten Realms setting, Greenwood has secured his status as a legend of gaming--doubly so by inventing the Realms' most illustrious citizen (well, except for Drizzt Do'Urden, of course), Elminster of Shadowdale.

With Kingless Land, Greenwood breaks free of the Realms with a mainstream fantasy novel, the first title in his Band of Four series. But faster than you can say "melee round," you'll suss out that Greenwood's Band looks a heck of a lot like your classic dungeon-faring party: a thief (Craer, the "procurer"), a fighter (Hawkril, a "thick-headed sword-swinger" by Craer's estimation), a wizard (a hot babe whose baron-dad wants to turn her into a castle--neat!), and a cleric (the healer Sarasper, who also gets to be a shapeshifter, presumably to make up for the fact that clerics suck). So, predictably, Kingless Land doesn't cover much more ground than Greenwood's AD&D novels, which were always hit (Cormyr, with Jeff Grubb) or miss (Spellfire--ouch!) at best. But if you can get past the indulgently italicized fantasy bluster ("Sargh and bebolt it!"), Kingless Land certainly proves equal to the best of Greenwood's previous genre work, not unlike a night spent listening to the effortless spin of an expert DM. --Paul Hughes