Reviews for Dark Knight of Karameikos

The average rating for Dark Knight of Karameikos based on 2 reviews is 2 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2021-03-06 00:00:00 Hector Campos Sarabia This is one of those books where my star rating doesn't necessarily reflect my enjoyment of the story. I had fun reading Dark Knight of Karameikos, but I can't really rate it higher from a technical perspective. I probably got this book when I was about 12 and last read it about 25 years ago. It's been sitting on my bookshelf ever since. Unknown to me at the time, Dark Knight of Karameikos was published by TSR and takes place in the Dungeons & Dragons Mystara setting. Four novels were released in the Mystara line before it was retired around the year 2000. Dark Knight of Karameikos is the only stand-alone story in the series. Although Timothy B. Brown is a competent storyteller -- likely from his experience as a game development director at TSR and as a longtime roleplaying game enthusiast -- there isn't much backstory given for those outside of the D&D fandom. For example, we're shown repeatedly that there's friction between the Traldarans and Thyatians but never told why. For all intents and purposes, these two cultures are just words without meaning. We likewise don't get much history on Karameikos itself or the types of magic that exist there. Much like Wizards of the Coast today, which owns the D&D property, attitudes toward tie-in quality control at TSR were equally lax in the 90s. Dark Knight of Karameikos is littered with grammatical errors that should have been caught well before publication. So why did I enjoy the book in spite of these flaws? Likely because my 12-year-old self did. This is the kind of perfect entry level "adult" fantasy that would have spoke to me at the time, full of characters that are little more than archetypes and lots of canned lines. Dark Knight of Karameikos isn't a masterpiece by any means, but it was just the thing to spark the imagination of a reader who didn't know much better. One last note: The book's excellent cover was done by Jennell Jaquays, who is married to Rebecca "Burger" Heineman. Together, these two women had a massive impact on the early days of video games and tabletop roleplaying.

Review # 2 was written on 2013-12-12 00:00:00 Gregory Rubock A very satisfying end to the Twins Trilogy. And great character development for both twins. Raistlin will always, always be my favorite character in any D&D novel. Period. I keep thinking about who I'd cast as him in a blockbuster adaptation. He has to be super scrawny, sickly, sneering (but super charming) master manipulator. So confident that he can do anything, including walk into the Abyss, kill the Dark Goddess, and take her place? Loki, go away. You aren't good enough for this role. :) You need to be as smart as Moriarty, as ruthless as that jerk from 24, and as confident as Thanos. Who do we have that could fit that bill, anyway? I can't even imagine! Back to the novel and the capstone of this trilogy... Test of the Twins is super fascinating, but it's not without its flaws. Or the flaws that I think they are, anyway. I never cared much for Tanis. He gets a lot of facetime here. On the other hand, I absolutely adore the hulking brute of Raistlin's brother now and the smart alec kinder has grown on me. Especially since they did so much time traveling. The best part is the multiple futures and all the branching paths that had to be corrected. A lot of tragedy, but also a lot of excellent adventure. Dragons galore! Undead! Wizards! Destroyed worlds! Immense magical battles, and tons of mindf***ery. :) This deserves to be in the fantasy hall of fame. For real. It still remains a good sight better than most of the fantasy that keeps churning out today. That's saying a lot because I think a lot of modern fantasy beats the old stuff. By a lot. :) And weirdly enough, I can count this as a classic despite my prejudice against franchise fiction. It's worth reading, period, if you like fantasy.