The Crimson Legion: Prism Pentad, Book 2

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My first thought is: Does time ever change your perspective. I remember not liking this book when I read it when it first came out but I couldn't understand why. Now, older and "wiser", I can see that it's probably because a Rikus, the main protagonist, is one of the most dislikeable characters out there. And b The ending so ambiguous as to make very little sense. So little is resolved by the end of the book it's maddening.

With Tyr's army reduced to shreds because of Rikus's "plan" Full frontal assualt on the city is a plan, right what prevents Hamanu from striking out against it again? How will Agis and Sadira react to Rikus's account that Tithian tried get him killed on more than one occasion? How will the people react to the fact that Rikus refused a truce with Urik because he's ginormous douchebag?

Another thing that irked me is the whole strategy of how Rikus wins his battles flies in the face of what history has taught us. Rikus and his gladiators run to troops of "regulars" and comes away with little to no casualties. Of course this is because this book and most books churned out by TSR in that period used DnD logic instead of real world logic. On paper, a group of mid to high level gladiators will make mincemeat of low-level fighters but I've grown to like battle plans that are more intricate than: Still I'm high on nostalgia and looking forward to my campaign so my judgement is definitally biased.

If you're not a DnD player, stay away from this book.

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In fact, stay away from any book with TSR o the cover. Feb 29, Timothy McNeil rated it liked it Shelves: Twenty one years after having read it the first time, Troy Denning's The Crimson Legion was not exactly as I remembered it. Two of the major characters disappear in short order check but are effectively unaddressed for the rest of the book not what I remembered. For some reason, in the intervening years, I confused Bors and Rajaat, which made the question of " what happened to Bors?

What did remain consistent is that Rikus does not make for a compelling protagonist whe Twenty one years after having read it the first time, Troy Denning's The Crimson Legion was not exactly as I remembered it. What did remain consistent is that Rikus does not make for a compelling protagonist when he views everything as a him-against-the-world gladiatorial match. The book does a good job of developing the larger conflicts of Athas past and future.

The dragon is somewhat explained, how magic works is given a better description, and the social structures are better examined. What works less well perhaps because of outside influence are how the fighting scenes are described. Maneuvers take focus away from the combat, and in doing so makes the stakes of each battle feel muddled.

And the manner in which several of the supporting cast are dispatched feels detached from any concern on behalf of the author, which makes the reader wonder why he or she should care that those characters are dead. Some of the things I thought were in this book clearly come from book four in the series, so I am somewhat glad I am doing the re-read before finally getting around to the fifth book.

Averages out to two stars for me. On the one hand, great flavour and lore, on the other, rather unrealistic action. I didn't really like any of the characters in the first book. In this one, they are either more of the same or worse. Rikus was definitely worse. I don't see how he can inspire confidence and leadership when he all does is improvise and turning out lucky. He's overconfident, arrogant, and completely tactless. But at least there was a point I guess, right at the end you'll see why. Wh Averages out to two stars for me. What I didn't like about the battles is that they are completely unrealistic.

Food and water were only used as plot mechanics as opposed to being essential in a military campaign out in the desert. There's no strategy to speak of yet trained soldiers fall like wheat to the scythe - completely ineffective against Tyr's gladiators, which doesn't really make sense.

Gladiators are great at duels and skirmishes, but they should not be able to bulldoze soldiers in large-scale battles where tactics and discipline are crucial. I did like the side story regarding the lore of the dwarves and getting to see another of Athas' city and sorcerer-king. I guess this is the set up to the next book. I'll be happy to get back to just focusing on things on the smaller scale. Sep 08, Jared rated it liked it Shelves: Well this was a challenge to get through. It seems like there was at least two book's worth of plot in The Verdant Passage, but this book stretched a few chapters of material into pages.

There were some interesting moments scattered throughout, though the moments of critical plot development were overwhelmed by seemingly endless combat scenes. Entirely too much fighting with very little payoff at the end. The resolution was rushed and disjointed from the earlier thrust of the story, so while Well this was a challenge to get through.

The resolution was rushed and disjointed from the earlier thrust of the story, so while I really enjoyed the first book greatly I can't say the same for The Crimson Legion. View all 4 comments. The only character that develops at all is the Mul, who learns more about what it takes to be a leader and the nature of real power. The undead stuff is awesome. The additional history and color of the world of Athas is amazing. This book gets a lot of bad press for just being one long fight scene, but I thought it read well and was a lot of fun.

Oct 13, Mark rated it did not like it. The Crimson Legion reads like a page fight scene. The acknowledgements at the end of the book tell you everything you need to know - the author gives props to "Lloyd Holden of the AFK Martial Arts Academy in Janesvill, WI, for contributing his experience to the fight scenes;".

Do you get what I am saying here? Don't read the book!

I enjoyed 'The Crimson Legion' well enough, and the 'boss fight' at the end for that is very much what the story's climax is was entertaining, but it wasn't anything more or less than a couple of hours' disposable escapism, so if that's what you're looking for then it could be worth checking out. I had hoped that this one would do more with the world of Dark Sun than the first novel in the series did, but it seems I am destined to be underwhelmed by the Prism Pentad and left hoping to one day f I enjoyed 'The Crimson Legion' well enough, and the 'boss fight' at the end for that is very much what the story's climax is was entertaining, but it wasn't anything more or less than a couple of hours' disposable escapism, so if that's what you're looking for then it could be worth checking out.

I had hoped that this one would do more with the world of Dark Sun than the first novel in the series did, but it seems I am destined to be underwhelmed by the Prism Pentad and left hoping to one day find my way into a Dark Sun tabletop game. May 08, J. Gillespie rated it it was amazing. One of the first entries to fantasy I had as a young kid. Mar 08, Mike rated it it was amazing. Sep 03, Mikael rated it really liked it Shelves: Awesome Athas stuff continues but the plot gets a bit lost in war stuff. Mar 14, Corbin S.

This story follow Rikus the gladiator from the first book. He's definitely not the best main character and quickly becomes paranoid about everyone and everything. K'Kriq the Thri-Kreen is one of the best characters in the book. Story wise this book can be skipped without worry about losing continuity as the Prim Pentad 3 Amber Enchantress dedicates its prologue and first chapter to summmarize this. May 12, Steve Howarth rated it liked it Shelves: An interesting yarn and enjoyable when younger. Feb 06, David Sarkies rated it it was ok Recommends it for: Fantasy and Darksun Fans.

Recommended to David by: Stewarddungeon master at the time. The story of the counter-revolution 6 February Well this book sort of begins where the last book finished off, but then this is a five book series so I am not surprised that this is the case. The funny thing about a lot of these series is that once again they are trying to be like Lord of the Rings.

Lord of the Rings was originally one book but it was so big that the publishers decided to divide it into three. As such we have three books, but the three together provide the story arc. Sometim The story of the counter-revolution 6 February Well this book sort of begins where the last book finished off, but then this is a five book series so I am not surprised that this is the case. Sometimes, though, I feel that this serialising of books turns them into little more than a bad soap opera than anything else.

There can be probably three types of serials: This would be where this series falls in: Finally, and while this is a forth it probably falls into one of the others, is a category I call the Robert Jordan category, and that is that you have an idea of where the story is going to go but you just get so involved in the world that you keep on releasing book upon book and then, opps, you die before you can complete it. Now, I should mention something about this book and it has a lot to do with the status quo.

In the previous books the heroes were escaped slaves, and gladiators in the Darksun world fighting in the arena is one way to fame and fortune, no doubt modelled on the Roman arenas who return to the city of Tyr and destroy the sorcerer king before he can become a dragon. The idea is that the sorcerer kings are incredibly powerful sorcerers who rule the city states of Athas, however the dragon is immensely more powerful almost godlike , and to become one is a goal of many of the sorcerer kings if not all of them. Obviously the other sorcerer kings would object, but moreso they would object even more if one of their own was deposed, as has happened in Tyr.

Obviously revolution cannot be tolerated which is generally the case in our world as well, that is it the revolution acts to overthrow a friendly government and in turn installs an unfriendly government , so the neighbouring city sends its army in to crush this upstart revolution, because it can't get out that not only can slaves overthrow a sorcerer king, but they can actually establish their own government.

Also, if one city successfully revolts then that could not only give ideas to the slaves of the other cities, but they could also have outside alliances which could even further threaten the stability of the system current.

As such, these upstarts must be stopped. This is reminiscent of the communist revolutions of the early 20th century as well as the French Revolution. This threatened not so much the people of the capitalist countries though we would not enjoy the luxuries that we now enjoy but rather the power elite of these countries. It cannot be seen that a capitalist dictatorship can be overthrown by the labourers.

However, the Soviet system was not a paradise, but that did not matter, it had to be crushed, and quickly, which was why, immediately after World War I, troops were deployed in Russia to overturn the Bolshevik revolution. Like the attempted counter-revolution in this book, the Soviets prevailed. Apr 10, Percy Procrastinator rated it liked it. I am having a tough time giving a rating to this book but not talking about this book.

I should say that I think this book was intended to give more history and flesh out the Dark Sun DND campaign setting. The first boxed set had very little detail and this book, and the previous one, really give a lot of good details, both in daily lives and in the history. However, it's not all good.

I am not sympathetic toward Rikus at all. I don't like the decisions he made or the reasons for them. Neeva or ev I am having a tough time giving a rating to this book but not talking about this book. Neeva or even the templar would have been a better leader, even if they couldn't have done all that Rikus did. I don't think he was a good leader, he was just thrust into that role.

Further, the whole reason that the Roman army was so good was because of it's discipline. Like the Greek Hoplites, the Roman army could handle a tougher enemy because of their training. Yet, that's not the case in this book.

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The gladiators wild charges carry them through "regulars" and even elite squads that should have inflicted a lot more damage. So, I have a tough time believing in the battles, especially that Rikus managed to get any number as far as Urik. Away from Rikus, though, this book has some excellent history and flavor for the Dark Sun world. The history of the dwarves and Borys and how they are entwined was interesting.

The descriptions of Hamanu and Urik left me wanting more. The slave tribe descriptions were also inspiring in how they were set up. Even the spells this time were not done as jarringly as book one, probably because we don't have any spell casters to watch. Here, the spells function as they are needed, not constrained by any rules. That's for the best in a novel. Therefore, as a book on details and some history of the Dark Sun world, I give it a four.

However, as a book on war and about Rikus, I give it a two, maybe two and a half. It still has me inspired to run a Dark Sun game but certainly not about Rikus. Sep 13, Yaro rated it it was ok. May 16, Slobodan rated it liked it Shelves: After the assassination of King Kalak and Tithians declaration of freedom for all slaves in the city of Tyr - The Crimson Legion continues the story as Rikus the gladiator and now General of Tyr's forces, heads out to meet the invading army of the city Urik, ruled by the Lion King Hamanu.

The Crimson Legion's main protagonist is Rikus, followed closely by his lover and partner from the arena, Neeva.

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