Avatar Trilogy on Kindle (Dungeons & Dragons)
Before the Avatar movie, there was the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Avatar Trilogy. Older fans of Dungeons & Dragons should remember this Forgotten Realms series with nostalgia. Well, the Avatar Trilogy Forgotten Realms books are on Kindle, and that’s a good thing. (Please note, the entire Avatar series, including the later books 4 and 5 are on Amazon as well, but this article is just about the originals by Scott Ciencin, under the pen-name ‘Richard Awlinson’).
As an AD&D fan since I was 7 years old, I was really into fantasy and gods. I also liked to play AD&D computer games (the Forgotten Realms Gold Box Set, especially). Back in 1989 (a cool year) my classmates were reading every AD&D novel that came out, but Shadowdale (Book 1) was on another level of enjoyment for me. There was something mainstream about it, as opposed to the deep history of the early DragonLance novels. The gods get kicked out of heaven because the Tablets of Fate have been stolen, are now powerless, and take the forms of human avatars (the word stems from the Hindu concept). The band of adventurers include:
Midnight, the female mage who is being manipulated by Mystra, Goddess of Magic.
Kelemvor, a warrior haunted by a blood-curse which forces him to receive payment for his services.
Adon, a vain priest.
Cyric, a troubled rogue.
Author Scott Ciencin does an excellent job to stick to the “rules” of the fantasy world, including having random monster encounters. It is a dream for fans of AD&D 2nd Edition to actually read three novels that stay true to the source material. Many other D&D novels feature a lot of creative license.
My favorite scenes in the Avatar Trilogy have to do with the gods themselves. Bane, the God of Strife, is my favorite, of course. I wanted to know so much about the mysterious God of Gods, Ao, who banished them all to the Realms, and his loyal bodyguard Helm. Elminster the Sage- the most famous character in the Forgotten Realms- has a great part as well.
Some other reviewers say that Shadowdale, Tantras, and Waterdeep aren’t accessible to new readers, but they are missing the point: who is the target audience for AD&D novels? Fantasy gamers. We didn’t care if a spell name was given without explanation. It had nothing to do with the story at all.
Author Scott Ciencin wrote a solid and memorable series. The battles in the novels are very entertaining. It is easy to read, had suspense, and the plot was a major crisis in the world of AD&D. Cyric the rogue had the most twisted and deep characterization, and was a tragic hero. Actually all of the four characters were tragic in some way. No other AD&D novel that I have read ever came close to having such an evolution.
I would go far to say that Shadowdale is a good introductory novel for those on the fence about AD&D novels. Sure, sometimes the characterizations are cliched and the physical descriptions of the characters sound like the words of a Dungeon Master during a gaming session, but Scott Ciencin was targeting his demographics.
To prove that I wasn’t wearing rose-colored glasses I re-read Shadowdale, Tanras, and Waterdeep again and found them highly engaging. It’s true- I have more experience now and am highly critical of things- but the Avatar Trilogy is a solid series. Sure, there’s cheesy stuff in it, and at times it feels like it was written for Young Adults, but I liked it in 2012 as much as 1989.
Confession: I can read “commercial” mainstream fantasy books quicker than trudging through anything written by J. R. R. Tolkien or Fritz Leiber. I know- it’s sacrilege to say such a thing! But for me, I’ll take the Avatar Trilogy and its “low brow” entertainment value over mammoth classics which are overloaded with detail. In many ways, it’s no different than preferring to watch new movies vs. classic black and white films.
