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Post by KaiLord on May 4, 2004 14:19:45 GMT
Some may love them...others may have a diametrical view of them.
The story told in the actual RPG books was powerful and exciting. When all the extraneous characters are figured in with the novels, the overall tale becomes diluted.
When the story bogged down on Alyss fawning over Banedon in the first book, I painfully kept reading. When the next book turned the burrowcrawler from a simple creature into some symbiotic conglomeration of parts, I started to wonder how much more I could take. When Lone Wolf basically slew an entire hoard of creatures at Alema Bridge, yet only pages before had resorted to running from TWO mountain giaks, I had almost reached my limit of tolerance. When I realized that Qinifer was going to be in more than just this book, I sadly shook my head and left the rest on the shelf.
Maybe it's just me--I had the expectation that the novels would adhere strictly to the RPG storyline.
Anyway, just thought I'd open up a thread for everyone to laud or lament over the Legends series.
KL
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Post by Archdruid on May 4, 2004 14:57:18 GMT
I don't know if I can really say anything about the series as a whole, since to my knowledge there were only 5 books released in the US, and when I read them I was really too young to know that they weren't really that good.
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deiseach
Kai Lord
Champion of the Sommerswerd
Posts: 170
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Post by deiseach on May 4, 2004 15:45:44 GMT
I'm reading them at the moment. I'll get back to you in a few months, but I remember enjoying the five I read the first time round, so a provisional 3
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Post by The Wytch-King on May 4, 2004 16:00:06 GMT
A good idea to open a new thread for that. The poor Lone Wolf's Companions thread probably already has trouble breathing ... As for adherence to the game books, I would say: Not necessarily strictly - expand somewhat, on characters, plots, descriptions - but don't change or ignore the game book storyline. (At least not too much.) Keep the style and the atmosphere of the game books, they are the basis of the whole saga. Maybe a good comparison would be: The relation should be like that between a book and a (really) good movie adaption of the book. ("Book" meaning the novels and "movie" the game books, in this case, even though in this case, the movie was first.) The movie gives you a more streamlined version of the story, but the book goes more into depth, characters et al. But the story itself is the same, and enjoyable in both versions. And that was what I hoped for with the Legends novels. As probably each of you did or does. The one I've read so far ( Claws of Helgedad, as mentioned in several other places by now ... ) rather devastated my hopes, but outspaced's comments revived them somewhat in the above-mentioned thread. We'll see. As I don't know the novels enough (yet) to cast a vote, I'll have to wait with that. But it'll be interesting to watch this thread! The Wytch-King, expectantly waiting (and meanwhile reading his second book of the series) edit: Just added a link.
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Post by Sarra on May 4, 2004 16:14:34 GMT
Right now I am reading through the Legends series for the first time and am on Sword of the Sun. So far I have actually really enjoyed them despite the all-too-frequent droll parts. I'll hit you all back on this once I have finished the series.
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Nerethel
Kai Lord
I wear pants.
Posts: 75
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Post by Nerethel on May 4, 2004 17:35:35 GMT
I've read the first 7 or 8 (I'm not sure: it's been a LONG time; have to check my book shelf), and I'd say that I enjoyed them. Sure, they have their problems, but what adaptation doesn't? If a movie is made from a book, it's almost always of lower quality. If a book is written from a movie, the same rule applies (Star Wars novelizations, IMHO, are an example of this). Dragonlance novels were written from a game module, so I think are valid comparisons. Of course there won't be the same feel, because in reading a book, you can't take on as much of a pivotal role.
I'm not saying Lone Wolf in Legends is more than a thin veneer of the character portrayed in the game books, or that Alyss isn't too prominent for a Lone Wolf novel, or the aformentioned characters of Qinefer, Benedon, Viveka, Thog the Mighty, etc., are much different from the game books, because they are. As a whole, though, I like the Legends series.
Do I like the books? Yeah... I'll likely read them again if I ever get a chance. Do they compare to the original gamebooks? Not at all. If I were to do that, they wouldn't work for me at all.
So, I'll say I rate the Legends a 4.
Nerethel
P.S. Did I just ramble?
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Post by Vonotar on May 4, 2004 17:47:54 GMT
I really didn't like them. Partly because they made such ridiculous deviations from the gamebook storylines, and partly because I thought they really weren't very good books.
I didn't like Alyss, or Qinefer, or even Banedon. Viveka was okay, and I could just about handle the way they altered her storyline. But some of the other improvisations were awful. I really didn't like Lone Wolf dying and then getting resurrected in Ragadorn.
I got as far as completing Hunting Wolf (which along with the very first one wasn't too bad), and then I just gave up. If they had gotten rid of Alyss and Qinefer I might have continued.
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Post by outspaced on May 4, 2004 19:38:43 GMT
I read and still own all 12 of them. I rated the series a 3/5. It was difficult because the series really does run the gamut from the sublime to the ridiculous; from the good to the bad to the stupid. Alyss got too much screen time, Banedon got too big-headed, Qinefer got everything except what was coming to her and Lone Wolf got on my nerves. However, some of the background detail was enlightening, the world of Magnamund was shown to be a somewhat more gritty and grimy place than a standard fantasy world, Kai Disciplines were rarely used overtly (which is fun in a gamebook, but to read in a novel: 'Lone Wolf tapped into his Sixth Sense and felt danger' would be irritating shorthand), the quality of the writing improves steadily even if the plots get worse towards the middle of the series, and some (note: only some) of the secondary and tertiary characters are fleshed out to become more interesting and memorable (the port official in Port Bax, Viveka).
As for rambling, I think one of my posts in the Lone Wolf's Companions thread was so big it went critical mass.
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Post by Relenoir on May 5, 2004 23:04:49 GMT
I haven't voted yet, but if I were to do so right now I'd give it a 3. This is, however, due to the fact that I'm just getting out of what I think Outspaced referred to as the "low point in the series." I just started reading book 9 last night, but unless I win the next few on eBay the others will take me longer: I usually read when I have no other responsibilities for the day, which is basically when I'm in bed and my wife is asleep. I don't think it would be fair for me to vote on the entire series until I've read all of them.
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Post by outspaced on May 6, 2004 8:51:49 GMT
I haven't voted yet, but if I were to do so right now I'd give it a 3. This is, however, due to the fact that I'm just getting out of what I think Outspaced referred to as the "low point in the series." I just started reading book 9 last night Book 9 is definitely when the writing style improves immensely. Despite not advancing the Magnakai plot, it's also a rattling good read. The first three stories are very good (even if Banedon has a big head), though the fourth didn't interest me much; it's still well-written, though. However, for another reason why I hate Qinefer so much (it's always gotta come back to this, hasn't it? ) read the introduction to Carag's story (The Fourth Story / The Autumnal Equinox) to see how the author uses both Banedon and Lone Wolf as mouthpieces for his opinions and how they deify Qinefer in a truly stomach-churning way. Enjoy. Or not. ;D
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Wobblie
Kai Lord
A mad writer...
Posts: 3
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Post by Wobblie on May 6, 2004 14:34:35 GMT
Like any other series, it ranges from awesome to abysmal. Some parts are truly memorable, like the humorous sections(Port Bax as mentioned before), self deprecating thoughts of the characters, and a generally realistic depiction of the characters as they don't take themselves too seriously(some of the time anyway), knowing that they're still small fry in the greater scheme of events. This worked particularly well for LW and Banedon in the early books.
It's only characters like Alyss and Qinefer that muck up the works. If the authors had stuck to only Lone Wolf, Banedon, and a few other mortal companions with their own flaws and strengths to aid and hinder in the quest, it'd have been a lot better.
That said, the best books were 3, 4(without the useless Alyss parts), and 8, 9, the ones where LW and Banedon had to search out the Book of the Magnakai(IIRC). LW was not very powerful, which placed him in rather awkward and humanising situations(like ending up in the Vassagonia sewer and getting out naked), which IMO adds to the tale. And this aspect is played out very nicely.
All in all, it's hard to write when characters get too powerful. What and how are you going to challenge the hero? Thankfully, the series never got bogged down like other fantasy series I can name. Drizzt, anybody?
Wobblie
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Post by StormBrow on May 8, 2004 1:15:19 GMT
The first one I read, and my favourite one, is #11 - very interesting philosophically and just as a rattling good yarn. Having read all but Claws now, I can say that they're generally pretty good, but...well, yeah, Alyss and Qinefer got on my nerves too. The bits where they focused on Lone Wolf and Banedon (especially together, eg the Book of the Magnakai) are my favourites. But only after Banedon has a spine of his own.
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Post by adgramaine on May 8, 2004 17:32:28 GMT
I only own 1-5, and i was actually re-reading them when I found this thread... Deviations and added flavors aside, I have to admit that I enjoy the novels as it stands. I do also have to admit I HATE Alyss (who prattles more than Q from ST-TNG), and Banedon does not seem to be written the way I would have done so myself. I personally like Quinifer and Viveka, and I love the fact that LW is a killing machine not without some pity and remorse for what he is doing, and I can see how the young Kai might go from "sympathetic butcher" to "savoir of Sommerlund" very well. I just wish I could read the rest of the series....
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Post by Archdruid on May 10, 2004 17:13:02 GMT
She and Qinefer are so preachy. How about that time in Hunting Wolf when Alyss and Banedon go to visit LW at the still-under-construction Kai Monastery and she doesn't approve of LW's taste for half-cooked venison and gets all moralistic about his lack of caring about killing things?
I know if one of my friends brought his girlfriend over and all she did was complain, I'd handle it a lot less gracefully than LW did.
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Post by Magnamundian on Aug 27, 2004 13:35:58 GMT
The series is fine as long as you don't overtly compare it to the GameBooks.
In the end the Legends series is a different take on the LoneWolf story in much the same way that a film adaptation of a book would be different too.
Personally I still enjoy reading the 12 books and wish that more would be written, I've even harbored hopes that some of the more gifted fans would attempt to continue the story in the same style as fan-fiction, but judging by the comments on many of these threads that sounds very unlikely.
I do think the books did the right thing in balancing the characters more. I don't think a novel told entirely from the point of view of LW would have worked anywhere near as good.
Yes I am a Grant/Barnett fan as well as a Dever fan...
Magz
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