City of Hawks

Greyhawk: Gord the Rogue #3

by E. Gary Gygax

The young adventurer named Gord has stirred the imaginations of thousands of readers with his exploits. City of Hawks takes you to an early time; it is the action-filled tale of how Gord the waif grows into Gord the man. Unknown to him, the skinny boy who struggles to stay alive in the slums is destined to play a pivotal role in the fate of his world.

His obsessive desire to find out about his heritage thrusts Gord into a series of strange and dangerous encounters, some of which take place in a realm unlike any that readers of fantasy adventure have ever visited before.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Dungeons and Dragons, Science Fiction Fantasy, High Fantasy

400 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 1, 1987

Reviews

[Derek · Rating 1 out of 5]

Gygax finds the most weird and fascinating ways to make this book not good.

There is the whole story-arc scaffolding that surrounds Gord's life and sets him on a path towards being the most important person in the universe, including a whole pile of interplanar machinations and strategy. This all takes the form of Very Important Beings having Portentous Conversation and very vague indications about Gord's heritage and his role and other stuff having no ramifications for this book at all, but will eventually drown the series. It's dull and fiddly and vampire-sucks out the energy.

There are at least three conspicuous lacunae where events are referenced--the Guild War between the thieves and beggars, within the subterranean labyrinth of Greyhawk; the uncovering of the Middle Key; the fall of the Scarlet Brotherhood--but the story skips through it, picking up after the dust has settled. I sort of believe that the other novels, Saga of Old City and so forth, are intended to plug in there. But the referenced adventures sound so much more interesting than whatever is happening in-story that this reader was left feeling denied.

The author never uses structure to highlight or demarcate passed time. As in, the next chapter takes place years later. No warning, figure it out on your own. Gord is suddenly in Nyrond. In the most egregious example, the conclusion/epilogue (not labeled as such) places Gord in the Catlord's domain, with no explanation how he got there or what was going on. The previous paragraph may have hinted that it took place after Sea of Death and therefore this is immediately prior to Come Endless Darkness but the reader shouldn't be expected to just know this, and in fact makes the whole thing feel improperly structured.

And yet there are redeeming qualities when the author decides to focus. There is an early heist section where Gord is retrieving a treasure chest from some unknown subterranean aqueduct beneath the city. He has to research the problem, prepare, explore, battle, and extract. Much of this is very interesting, especially (paradoxically) when Gygax reverts to game-designer mode and details the city history and why all this infrastructure exists and how it works. It's clearly told, rather succinct, and interesting if you like that sort of thing. All of Gord's actual adventuring has a groundedness in practical details: how he determines a passageway is unused, how he locates a secret panel or activates it, how he carefully examines an object for hidden traps. You would think that the author has participated in something similar, possibly in a different context.

Likewise, under circumstances too stupid to explain, Gord finds himself in the Plane of Shadow, a place where the geography itself is wandering and which cycles between semi-light and total darkness with ramifications for all inhabitants. It's deliciously outré, but the author never puts wheels under it. Gord is there to kill some guy and take his stuff.

[Ross · Rating 2 out of 5]

Forced myself to finish this one, much to my surprise. I had previously read Gygax's Saga of Old City and Artifact of Evil, and expected more of the same. Instead, I got what may be considered a reboot of the previous novels, except fleshed out to include many (IMO) completely boring details of the behind-the-scenes machinations that turn what was a great Gord-the-Rogue character study in the original books into a giant, grand-scale Good vs. Evil conflict where at least 3/4 of Gord's life is plotted out for him with the aid of various benefactors, changing him from a featured figure (who grows and evolves on his own merits) into a pawn in a greater game. While some folks may enjoy that, I enjoyed the bootstraps-style improvement of Gord found in Gygax's original books, and didn't find the additional background details to be of much interest.

There were definitely some areas of interest in this novel that I appreciated, especially details later that filled in some of the gaps in Gord's magical items and weaponry, but overall I found myself just skipping complete paragraphs of exposition in an attempt to push through to the end. The only reason I continued to read to finish the entire novel is that I already have two other Gord the Rogue books that I plan to check out, having heard they are a little more interesting than this one.

If you haven't read any of the Gord series, I'd recommend skipping this one and getting your hands on Old City and Artifact instead. Sure, the writing is campy and could use a good editor, but then again, so could many other fantasy series of the '80s. The plot and cast is a little more streamlined, though, and keeps moving forward fast enough to keep your interest.

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Now I know why so much of this book felt familiar: it fills in lost of little crevices between and beyond the episodes of the rest of the series to date. Starting from shortly before the events of Saga of Old City, it later alludes to the Artifact of Evil and culminates (it seems) just after Sea of Death.

Apart from the disjointedness resulting from jumping over material already presented, this is the best of the Gord books I've yet read, and the one least like reading a transcript of a role-playing game. Giving a third-person nearly-omniscient view of the machinations taking place "behind the scenes" of the preceding books gives it a depth of plot previously lacking.

That said, it's still fantasy pulp, not literature. But even I can't spend all my time on Nabokov and Kafka.

[Allen Garvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is partially a rewrite of The Old City, partially a reboot that changes a lot of the factors of Gord's early life. The writing is vastly improved, and generally very good through the entire book. Perhaps he got a competent editor for this one. It's really rather a lot of fun.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is the fifth in the Greyhawk Adventures and #3 in the Gord the Rogue Series written by Gary Gygax, which follow's the adventures of a young Gord. The book starts with revelations about his birth and younger years, follows his adventures as a young man in Greyhawk and then fills in some gaps from previous stories. In general this book is very well written with an engaging story. Gord continues to deliver as a sell-sword and almost Robin Hood-like character who, while out for himself, always seems to be on the side of good. Its a fun read with a lot of adventure and story telling, and is very reminiscent of Night Errant (the 4th and 2nd books respectively) which is a collection of short stories that seem to fit together over the course of the book. Based on the writing and story telling, as a stand alone book, I would give this 4 stars.

So if the book was so good, why only 3 stars?

SPOILERS!!!!!

Unfortunately, I feel that this book 'jumped the shark' a bit. In the course of the story, it is revealed that Gord is a child of destiny who's mysterious parents left him in Greyhawk as the forces of evil were trying to find and kill them. Guided throughout his life by a mysterious group looking to maintain the balance between Good and Evil (and the total destruction of the multiverse), Gord develops from a simple pawn in the game, to a key, powerful piece (they use a lot of chess metaphors).

While this revelation is supposed to provide context for Gord's seemingly blessed life, I actually feel it devalues the earlier stories. Prior to reading this book, Gord was simple gutter trash who pulled himself out of poverty to become one of the best rogues and adventurers in all of Oerth. Now, his climb to success seems less impressive as some, not all, of his success was the result of the guidance and protection he had been given.

This reminds me of Orson Scott Card's Ender's Shadow book, which pulled back the curtain on Ender's Game and, while being well written and engaging, seemed to devalue the books that came before it.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again, I recommend keeping a dictionary handy when you read Gygax's prose, even if you got through the Dungeon Master's Guide without one. While this book is sometimes billed as a "prequel," only part of it takes place when Gord was a little boy growing up in the slums of Greyhawk before he joined the beggars' guild. In the opening chapters, Gord is an infant, and significant intrigue surrounds his birth, his parents, and the forces of chaos and balance sweeping him up. It is not a stand alone story, because many of the questions raised don't get answered by the end, and you'll need to have read the previous books to understand the closing chapters. The returning characters only have small parts, the forces of the Abyss are always plotting (even if Gord doesn't know it), and the competition for the artifacts of evil is still in full swing. Some of the scenes are tense, atmospheric, exciting, a bit scary, and should be a joy for fans of 1EAD&D and those who crave the tying of loose strings left by Saga of the Old City. Others, like the sidequest in the Shadowrealm, are far-fetched "high fantasy" that might be boring for realists and medievalists. If travel to alternate dimensions interests you, you might have a better time. There are no illustrations in this book the way there were in the first two, except for the cover art and the graphic of the chess variation at the very end, which is part of an endnote explaining the "giraffe" chess piece, which is a real thing, in a variation of chess I haven't been able to find when I tried to look it up. Not much time is spent on Gord's love interests either. As I've mentioned, if you want thickly fleshed-out characters, this might not be the best series to search for them.

[Charles Lupo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can remember reading this when I was a teenager. I know I was a huge Gord fan, but honestly I don't know why. This is the 5th book in the series now and none have been what I would consider good.

This book revisits Gord's humble beginnings, a lot of which was told in the first book, however now we get a meta layer where we come to find out that Evil wants baby Gord dead, and Balance wants him alive, so his whole life has been guided by unseen hands. Balance tries to do this from the shadows as much as possible, but again in this book, Gord is off camera for quite a large chunk of the novel, probably 30%.

I still have 2 more of these novels that I've saved for 30+ years, so I will press on, and then likely let them go.

[Francisco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another Gygax Greyhawk book. It's a prequel to the Gord the Rogue novels, that he's written so far, although it ends up kind of catching up with the previous books. As always Gygax is fascinated by alternate planes, and here we get not only the normal mortal realm, but also the catsrealm and the shadowrealm. And Gord goes through adventures in each. What is most interesting is the fleshing out of Gord's early childhood. Gygax isn't a great stylist, the book is also not a page-turner, but it's enjoyable nonetheless.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tried to make it though this book. I really did. Kept going back to it and having no recollection of what was going on. Made it half way though before giving up my attempt to read all the Gord books. Better books in my to read pile and life is too short . . .

[Rich · Rating 1 out of 5]

I only made it partway through this book until I couldn't handle it anymore.

[Bear Paw · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the second series of fantasy books I ever read. It made me fall in love with D&D, and led me to paper top role playing.. It all started with this series of books!

[David Sarkies · Rating 1 out of 5]

Another book exploring the background of Gord the Rogue
6 October 2012

Once again the other comments on Goodreads have saved me from stretching my brain even more to try to work out what a book that I read a long time ago was actually about without wasting the time reading it again. These days there is so much to read, with the internet and other magazines and newspapers that seem to land up in my hands, that reading a pretty substandard book that I read back in my teenage years to me is a complete waste of time, particularly since there are a lot of other more interesting writings out there to consider.
Anyway, apparently this book is about how Gord the Rogue became Gord the Rogue. Well, it suggests that he was always a thief of some sort, growing up in the slums of the City of Greyhawk, the major cosmopolitan city in Gary Gygax's world. Personally, I cannot remember too much about this book so unfortunately I cannot actually recall much of his background, and whether this background really created a solid character. The questions that are generally raised, at least by me, are who were his parents and did he know them, who were his friends, and who were the major influences in his life.
Apparently this book also deals with how he came to get some certain items, and also proves to be of a prequel to the Artifact of Evil Greyhawk Adventures 2. However, as others have also commented, Saga of Old City Greyhawk Adventures 1 probably did this just as well. Some have also mentioned large chunks of what could be called information dumps. These tend to hurt novels as they come across as almost dry, non-fiction accounts of something. I am currently reading a book where the author spends quite a long chapter with an information dump that pretty much outlines the history of the world. While this may be necessary, sometimes it needs to be shortened, or broken apart, so that the novel isn't thrown away in disgust.
Mind you, some non-fiction writers are able to write quite an intriguing and enjoyable account of some historical, scientific, or political fact, and also can use a style that keeps the reader interested and hungry for more, but that does take a lot of skill. However, having a rather dry and boring character performing what can be called an information dump, or even having the narrator give this in a rather dry and boring way, can pretty much undermine what could have been a really good novel. One way would actually keep it hidden and only revealed bit by bit as the novel progresses, keeping the reader intrigued and hungry for more.

[Alessandro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chronologically the first of the Gord novels, albeit the fifth published. Gygax is not a writer per se, but a great storyteller nonetheless. And here the character is somewhat more enjoyable than in previous novels. A good book, with the old kind of fantasy to which a D&D player can be accustomed and sympathetic. A must read for any Gord or Greyhawk fan.

[Dru · Rating 3 out of 5]

Again, GoodReads deleted my original review.

A re-read in 2022. The book is a shoddy mess of an attempt to bring together all of the parts of Gord’s story that were written before EGG got kicked out of TSR, but then it also attempts to add entirely unnecessary parts too.

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good fantasy read by the creator of dungeons and dragons. Recommended