Return of the Damned [Mass Market Paperback]

My first issue was that the main troupe of characters is entirely made up of fighters. A human fighter, an elf fighter, a dwarf fighter, and a dwarf fighter cleric. Having Mialee or Lidda around usually helped the books... anything for a little more variety. Joazn teh cleric makes a cameo in the beginning and returns and we know Naull will appear at some point... but when you get four fighters as the party you can be assured that there will be some hack and slash on its way.

As to the fights... Lain writes a very interesing fight with folks feinting and ducking and blades nicking or pommels hammering... but there were a few too many of these just in the first few chapters. I'm still going to read the last book as I'm hoping this one just didn't come together.

Our returning line-up consists of Regdar the fighter, Naull the wizard, his long lost love, in a supporting role, Pelor the cleric and Alhandra the paladin in walk on roles. Regdar is joined by 4 fighter companions for the majority of the book that we have not seen before.

In the service of the Duke of Koratia Regdar is bent on suicide by dungeon delving. After being berated by the duke since Regdar is a captain and not to be risking himself he hears that Naull may be alive. Regdar commits treason by leaving the duke's service, and compounds it by taking the four best fighters with him under false pretenses.

They proceed to hew their way through wave after wave of cannon fodder, showing that Regdar is still as dumb as he was when fighting goblins in book one The Savage Caves. This approach of a head on attack against insurmontable odds succeeds in most improbable fashion with our heroes killing everything that moves no matter how powerful despite having no plan, no subterfuge and no skills other than hitting things really hard and fast.

There are heroes who can take on insurmountable odds and win, without making the reader roll his eyes in disbelief. This book does not do this. Regdar is so stubborn and limited in his uses I was hoping for the blackguards troops to take him out.

Despite some bright moments early on, and the redeeming Plague of Ice, this franchise of rotating authors has turned into novel after novel of slapdash plots, conflicting character portrayals and backgrounds and uninspired prose. Star Wars quotes are not funny in a dungeon crawl though apparently the authors don't understand this as they appear in more than one book. Perhaps it was a running gag that they each try to hide one Star Wars series quote in each book. It wasn't funny guys, it was stupid and it jerks the reader right out of their willing sense of disbelief.