Reviews for Eberron: The City of Towers (The Dreaming Dark Series, #1)

The average rating for Eberron: The City of Towers (The Dreaming Dark Series, #1) based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-09-20 00:00:00 Andrew Parks Keith Baker is really amazing at building worlds - the Eberron cosmology has rare depth and complexity. I greatly enjoyed the exposition - clunky or not - and the glimpses of a wide and living world behind the story. Sadly, these shine through like a diamond in the rough. The actual story is a mess of wandering sub-plots, afflicted by the the telltale maladies of a "D&D campaign as book." Each of the four protagonists (which I found myself referring to as the "player characters") is saddled with a special destiny and hidden past, and by the end of the book these have weighed the characters down beyond the lifting capacity of the muddled plot. Still, it is worth reading to acquaint oneself with the world and the characters.. but don't expect much of it. A very mediocre example of the D&D Fantasy genre, relieved only by excellent world-building.

Review # 2 was written on 2015-01-15 00:00:00 Brandon Neubauer This book definitely came as a pleasant surprise. Being new to the world of Eberron, I was delighted to discover a world setting for which I had been searching for a long time, one that combines fantasy and sci fi in such a way that opens up huge possibilities for storytelling and worldbuilding. And the setting for this particular tale is even more enthralling - a massive vertical city built upon impossibly tall towers, each housing its own kind of culture from the tops to the depths. But all that aside, I was surprised at the quality of the writing from Keith Baker. He definitely brings the world and the character to life in just the right way. That, and the performance of the narrator, made the dialogue sound witty and natural, and the characters burst with life. Also the nature of the story as kind of a detective-type story and not an epic world-shattering event felt very refreshing. Another thing that I like about Eberron is the integration of the races. In this world, the traditional evil races such as goblins, orcs, and even medusa are not simply enemies that pop out to try and kill the characters. These races exist in their own pocket of Sharn, with their own societies, and their own rules. Traveling there does not necessarily battle has to occur - although racial tensions still make such an encounter likely. But when battle does occur, it's just as likely to be between a human and dwarf, or some other race. That kind of leveling of the playing field also makes Eberron feel refreshing and interesting. I enjoyed this one a lot, and hope to check out the other two books in the series and maybe other books by Keith Baker.