From Publishers Weekly
In Norton and Rabe's serviceable sequel to Norton's
Quag Keep (1978), the first novel based on a role-playing game, the original seven adventurers have survived their quest and regained their memories of who they really are—gaming nerds from a variety of locales and occupations on Earth. The "grand purpose" for which they were spirited away to fight may never have existed. Trapped in a backward medieval world, the seven yearn to return home. Eventually, they meet another human in their same situation and discover there is a purpose involving Earth for which they must fight. For the most part, the story and characters lack the magic and imagination typical of the late SF Grand Master Norton at her best. While unrestricted by the gaming conventions of its predecessor, this remains stock fantasy that will appeal primarily to young readers and newcomers to the genre.
(Jan.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
In 1976, the late Norton, not yet declared an sf grandmaster, was introduced to Dungeons & Dragons by its founder, Gary Gygax. In 1978, she wrote
Quag Keep, a novel in which seven gamers were thrust into their collectively imagined world, cast as the characters each had chosen to play and set off on a quest that they had to fulfill before they could go back to their world. The quest was successful, but the players remained in the imagined world. In this long-delayed, coauthored sequel, the players discover another evil that endangers not only the world they are in but also the Earth they came from. Evil wizards, dragons great and small, intrigue, comradeship, and the irony that comes of trying to live one's fantasies--
Return to Quag Keep has them all. And a further book can be expected because while some of the players make it back to Earth, others don't. And no decent hero leaves comrades in distress.
Frieda MurrayCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
