Not Exactly the Three Musketeers

Guardians of the Flame #8

by Joel Rosenberg

Kethol--The pretty fellow, a long and lanky redhead with an easy smile and an easygoing attitude that his clever eyes deny. He is quick with a quick...and quicker with a sword.

Durine--The big man, a head taller than most and twice as wide, built like a barrel, with a loyal heart and hands too thick to use anything more delicate than an ax handle.

Pirojil--The ugly one, his face heavy-jawed, with an eye ridge that would mark him as a Neanderthal only to the most gracious. But looks deceive, and his might be the rarest gift of all.

Athos, Porthos, and Aramis they're not.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Unfinished, Science Fiction, High Fantasy

336 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 1, 1999

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Note: This is a different person than the political/thriller author, Joel C. Rosenberg

Joel Rosenberg was the author of the bestselling Guardians of the Flame books as well as the D'Shai and Keepers of the Hidden Ways series. He made his home in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Reviews

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been reading Joel Rosenberg from an early age, and his Guardians of the Flame series is a guilty pleasure. Or maybe not so guilty, because despite an initial premise that seems a bit silly ("D&D players gets sucked into a fantasy world inside the bodies of their characters") it immediately revealed itself to be some mature storytelling and what some have called "speculative fantasy."

If you were to take a relatively normal fantasy world, with dwarves and elves and wizards and such, and injected some extraordinary people from modern Earth onto it--what would be the consequence? For many books, Rosenberg has interwoven the personal stories of some great characters in with a world that was rocked by modern ideas and a bit of technology.

Not Exactly the Three Musketeers takes three previously minor characters and thrusts them into the spotlight. Soldiers Kethol, Pirojil, and Durine are given what should be a minor assignment by the dowager empress that turns into a giant pain in the ass. It was an interesting choice for Rosenberg to shift away from heroes related to the Other Side (a.k.a. our world) and go with skilled-but-relatively-unimportant folk. I only wish it worked better.

I enjoyed the book, and seeing things through the eyes of the not-quite-Musketeers gave me an even better feel for the Eren lands that I've read about so many times before. There were some great fight scenes, some good psychology of the characters, and a few twists. But ultimately the story just wasn't as interesting as many of the other Guardians of the Flame novels. The pace just wasn't there, and it didn't feel like were building up to anything. The "villain" of the piece just wasn't menacing, and the resolution just didn't quite match my expectations--based on years of loving the other books in this series.

That said, it certainly wasn't terrible. It was quite readable and made me seriously think about digging for my older novels and reading them, or forging ahead with the next book in the series. I liked this book. The problem was that I wanted to love it.

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good storytelling, but a lame tale. This is the eighth book of a series, not the best place to start. But it was what was available in our public library.

I notice the steady downward trend among the Guardians for the Flame novels; apparently Rosenberg ran out of ideas before he ran out of paper (or contracts). The Robert Jordan syndrome.

[Tim Baruffi · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a tedious read. I could go on but that would be redundant... Like much of this book

[Nicole (bookwyrm) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked enough to finish, not enough to continue series.

[Miranda W · Rating 1 out of 5]

it would have cost zero dollars to not make the main character a r*pist

[Greg Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of the last three books after Joel had signed to Tor. Using mostly former peripheral characters as main characters, he keeps the ‘story’ alive, although most of what happens in this book has nothing to do with the original quest.

Same writing style and pacing. People have complained about how the characters usually have great timing and luck and breeze through situations. Nothing is new on that end and also like the past books, Joel wasn’t afraid to kill off an important character.

This book gives you some further insight into the character of Beralyn. As in past books, our main characters run into trouble, this time Kethol, Prijol and Durine are on a mission for Beralyn and have zero problems continually finding trouble. Here you have new characters to love and hate, and since the main three characters are regular soldiers, they are extremely endearing.

I have it a 4 for the quality of the story, characters, and writing. It is not ground breaking in any way although there’s surprises, but it is very entertaining and keeps up with the past 7 books.

[Robert D · Rating 3 out of 5]

You don't necessarily need to have read all the previous books as the major plot points from them is covered as needed by the current story line. It does help if you've read some of them and are familiar with how the previous main characters operated.

This story focuses on three of the lesser players from previous work. They were soldiers and followers of the main hero and in their own right could be considered heroes, albeit not quiet as heroic. Their flaws are many but as a team they work moderately well. Pirojil is the thinker but cursed with ugliness. Durine is the big brawny fighter type. And Kethol would prefer to go back to being a woodsman. They are tasked to look into a little matter for the Emporer's mother. In doing so they risk discrediting their true liege lord, themselves, and possibly making a mess of things.

There's a B plot that slides along in the background but actually turns into part of the main plot line by the end.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up at a used book sale on as part of a $5 for a bag deal. The title and short description had me expecting a funny adventure story, perhaps with some allusions to it's namesake, a book I did enjoy. Unfortunately, the title should be taken as more literal, since it seems only to reference the number of main protagonists. Those three are unintentionally (I think) unlikable, and unfortunately we spend a lot of time in their heads while nothing much happens (inside or out). I was skimming at the end, but was interested enough to try to finish.

I have some major concerns with the logic of the plot, but not enough for to care to elaborate. I won't be reading more. Also could round down a star for the repeated casual use or discussion of rape. If complain about the flat women characters as props, but the men weren't that much better.

[James]

Kethol--The pretty fellow, a long and lanky redhead with an easy smile and an easygoing attitude that his clever eyes deny. He is quick with a quick...and quicker with a sword.Durine--The big man, a head taller than most and twice as wide, built like a barrel, with a loyal heart and hands too thick to use anything more delicate than an ax handle.Pirojil--The ugly one, his face heavy-jawed, with an eye ridge that would mark him as a Neanderthal only to the most gracious. But looks deceive, and his might be the rarest gift of all.Athos, Porthos, and Aramis they're not.

[Acidrazzor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one was actually better than the last in my opinion but again why are we dithering around. Carl died and Arta Myrdhyn needs his hero to step up and start his journey. It seems like another author either got lost or they are stretching it out to make more money. I did enjoy this book so I'm not too disappointed but I would like to see the actual quest that everyone was sent here for started and completed.

[L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little thin on plot, and casual Guardians of the Flame fans might not appreciate its tangential relationship to the series.

[Ted Manahan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gritty. I should have started the series at the beginning, since there are lots of backward references that I don't understand.

[Carol & Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was hard to put down.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've not read any of the previous Guardians of the Flame novels, but this one stood alone quite well. The three heroes are surrounded by a number of interesting characters as they are dispatched to a distasteful task by the dowager empress. Of course, they uncover that something is rotten and there is some politicial manuevering going on, but the story moves forward in an interesting manner toits unique climax.

This is a unique fantasy world (flintlocks exist) and seems to be a world where some bad stuff from an adjoining universe came in and did something.. This one, gets it right, though. Orks, dwarves, magicians, sword fights, and even telepathic dragons. WOW!

I'll be checking out other titles in this series, but in the meantime I enjoyed the manner in which each of these characters were each unique and it certainly was as exciting as The Three Musketeers.

[Taddow · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really miss the Original (Other Siders) characters of this series. While I still enjoy the author's writing style and the story was not that bad, there just isn't the same interest that I got out of the original novels. Additionally, while this story started off intriguing, I thought the ending (the last 100 pages or so) was rushed and felt unfulfilling when all said and done.

[Jared · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing's pretty good. Plot's okay. Characters are largely uninteresting and flat. And I can't figure out what all of the scenes with the emperor and the later ones with the dowager empress had to do with anything. The book would have been significantly shorter without them, and not lost much.

[Fatbaldguy60 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite as good as the first trilogy.

[Aaron Amend · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was better than the last one but not nearly as good as the first five.

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

looking at friends ship and adventure in a Dungeons and dragons inspired series of books

[Erik]

Don't know why, but without the people from Earth front and center, just couldn't get into it.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book 8 of the Guardians of the Flame series, it introduces 3 new characters, but takes a while to get going.

[Keil Hunsaker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another ok book in the series. I am too stubborn to quit, I will read the rest of the series for completeness. Hopefully the next couple are better. Generally enjoyable but not great.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was better than the last one.

It had a great story line, very interesting.

[Just Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

The saga continues with this in depth look at the world of Guardians of The Flame

[Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

not for young readers. very good book