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Against the Giants (Greyhawk Classics) | 
 enlarge | Author: Ru Emerson
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
Category: Book
List Price: $5.99
Buy Used: $1.46
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Avg. Customer Rating:  16 reviews
Sales Rank: 325026
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 310
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.9
ISBN: 0786913797
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780786913794
ASIN: 0786913797
Publication Date: July 8, 1999
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Product Description
Vengeance will be served
A village burns while its attackers flee into the night. Enraged, the King of Keoland orders an aging warrior to lead a band of adventurers on a retaliatory strike. As they prepare to enter the heart of the monsters' lair, each knows only the bravest will survive. Against the odds. Against the giants.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 11 more reviews...
 "Gea nukh!" (p.105) December 30, 2005
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Against the Giants is Ru Emerson's attempt at novelizing the classic 1st Edition Dungeons and Dragons modules G1-2-3.
The end result is not really something to be proud of, in great part due to the writing, which is rather poor and the dialogues, which could have been a lot better.
To start with, there were way too many characters that both the reader and the writer have a difficult time keeping track of. It's confusing, annoying and tiring!
Apart from the paladin who was portrayed well (with the exception of abusing the number of times he could use his Lay Hands ability as well as repeatedly granting what seemed to be above-maximum hit points), the rest of the characters were really not that interesting or likable; e.g. the half-elf twins. They lacked development, and the way they carried themselves was not very elf-like. How were they any different from a pair of twin human rangers?
In addition, there was the whole Maera-Florimund affair better suited to a lame soap opera and not the novelization of one of the best modules of all time! The half-elf Maera, was behaving more "irrationally" than a human, acting like a love struck teenager who cannot tell when it is time for romance and when it is time for business/serious work, not to mention straining her relationship with her twin sister.
The giants were killed way too easily, as if they were kobolds; p.181 "Lhors (a first level character) felled a fire giant in one shot." Hmmm...
The paladin on page 240 casts a spiritual hammer spell (2nd Edition damage is 1d4 +1, +2 or +3), while 3rd Edition damage is 1d8...) and kills a frost giant with one hit!!!
The party dealt with their powerful foes primarily with arrows and javelins, sleep and forget spells! Is there something wrong with the picture here? These are not goblins!
As for the chances of dispatching dark elves (!) so easily (no magic resistance or saving throws applied), basically making it a piece of cake, are slim indeed!
Moreover, it got tiring and confusing very early on with the never-ending twists and turns and the endless doors and hallways.
Furthermore, the mage just happened to know giantish, which is a language more common to a ranger or fighter and not a wizard. Coincidently he also had lived with the drow??? And knew (of) the drow leader??? And was her lover??? And had escaped??? Anything else?
Also, did Nemis have an endless supply of spells or what? Not to mention that he kept using the same spells over and over: "reveal" and "forget."
And what about magical items? He and his master had ventured into the Underdark, into the lairs of Hill, Frost, and Fire Giants, and he doesn't have as much as a ring to show for it except for a "charm" to let him know about traps?
On the positive side, on pages 169-170 there is a very good description of alignment clashes between Rowan and Maera and Vlandar, e.g. p.169 "You would better serve Heironeous than Ehlonna."
Ru Emerson did a good job of describing the qualities of magical weapons and their alignments, on page 202: "They are made for good and will serve you well."
In conclusion, there is the great quote on page 171: "A warrior who won't help the broken and downtrodden is nothing but a thug with free room and board from his king."
Though the potential for a great book (or a set of great books) was definitely there, the end product fails to take off. As other readers have very accurately pointed out, there should have been a trilogy of books as there was a trilogy of modules and not to cram everything into one. A shame really...
 So much Potential wasted. October 7, 2005
I am not sure if I should blame the author for this injustice or Wizard's of the Coast for their forced literary requirements. The reason I say this is because WotC makes their paperback writers adhere to a 300 page limit. I played and DM'd these modules in my younger years and there was just so much left out or not developed it is hard to place the blame on any one particular group. On the other hand Paul Kidd did a very good job with his paperback books so its hard to say. This novel could have easily been 3 books and they probably would have been fantastic. It is a shame that the Greyhawk themed books are treated like the red headed step child. Borrow this book or buy it used but do not buy it new.
 one problem June 2, 2004
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
the real problem that i fould with the book was that during certain battles the author would leave out some of the people. the worst is when it came to malowan
Wasted ideas, missed opportunities May 20, 2003
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book attempted to take three really fine D&D modules and cram them into one small novel. The results are scattered plotlines, undeveloped characters, and frankly unbelieveable resolutions. Emerson did a decent job of uniting the three modules into a plausible storyline, but so much was going on that in truth this needed to be 2 or 3 books, not one. Because she had to fit so much in, the author glossed over character development and ran the group through some tough situations so easily that at times the reader would snort in disbelief. At times the action would stop just long enough to allow the group (and the reader) time to catch their breath and actually interact with one another, then- zoom! Off they go again. By the end of the book they were actually running to get done before they ran out of pages! Kind of ridiculous.
There are many disappointments waiting the D&D purist, as Emerson here commits so many faux paus that either she had never played the game before, or she was playing a different one than I did as a kid. In particular the mage, Nemis, apparently had access to an almost unlimited supply of magic spells, and he always seemed to have another "non-detection" spell memorized when the party needed it. Now how many times did that happen in the game? And giants, which were pretty tough adversaries both in the game and in most other literature, fell like nine-pins to almost everyone in the party, even to the main charcter Lhors, who was just a farm kid! The party was always apprehensive about attacking the giants, but when they did they easily overcame them, often without anyone getting hurt. So are the giants tough or not? And the "climatic" fight at the end, which the party was dreading the whole book, is carried off virtually without a hitch (save for the sacrificing of 2 characters, neither of whom were very central to the story). Of course, they were almost out of pages by then!
In summary, let me say that no matter whether you have played the game and these modules and are reading for nostalgia, or are just looking for something new, I'm afraid you are in for a disappointment here. All of the other Grayhawk Classic books are better than this one, and you'd be better off going to any one of them, even the other one by Emerson, the Keep on the Borderlands.
 Beyond terrible November 4, 2002
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
About a third of the way in, I could only think, "Who the hell is Ru Emerson, and why did WOTC let her write a book about a classic module which she's obviously never played?"About halfway in, I just gave up. Terrible characters, zero plot, nothing to hold my interest. I have to thank Ru for one thing, though -- she's given me hope as to actually becoming a published writer one day. There's no way I could do a worse job than this. Then again, neither could a half-drunk wildebeast.
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