The Warrior Lives (The Guardians of the Flame, Book 5) (1988 original; edició 1990)

What I was dreading was going to happen, dreading, dreading, never happened Though the author would bring Karl back kudos to Rosenberg for keeping the series fresh. ( )

Good transition in the series to the next stage.
UPDATE (2/24/15): reread to refresh the memory because I aim this year to read the last three in the series that I could never get into. This go around concurs with the "good transition", but I can see Rosenberg starting to get tired ( )

What I loved about this series was that it was the anti-high fantasy. In the very first book of the series, seven role-playing college students are transported to the world of their game as their alter egos. Those who survive stay and bring technology--and a crusade against slavery to their new home. I did adore the idea of those college kids from contemporary America shaking up that brutal world, trying to bring to it the Industrial Revolution, democracy, and with it the end of slavery. And I liked the characters--Karl, Walter, Lou, Ahira, Andrea--and the conflict contemporary people brought to this medieval fantasy setting. So, the end of the last book killed off Karl. In a way I do feel it takes guts to have a Jossian ruthlessness towards your characters, that Rosenberg makes it clear no one is safe. On the other hand, somehow this did break the momentum for me. With this book, Jason and his generation born into this world of elves, dwarves and dragons take up the dreams of their parents. Though still readable and enjoyable, the series was just not the same. After this I lost interest in the series. ( )

(Alistair) And next in the booklog pile, the next of the Guardians of the Flame series, The Warrior Lives. In which we see the fallout of the death of Karl Cullinane, the maturation story of his heir comes to a climax (completing the arc from the last book, The Heir Apparent), and decisions are made with regard to the future of the Empire and its tension with the Other Siders mission against slavery, etc.

This time, I'm not even going to give the metacommentary, because it's exactly the same as it has been for the last book and the ones before that, and I don't really have anything else to say. The quality holds up and it continued to be enjoyable, although really, I'm starting to think I'd have preferred to get fewer longer books and break the story up less.

But on we go.

( http://weblog.siliconcerebrate.com/cerebrate/2009/10/the_warrior_lives_joel_rose... ) ( )