Shadow World: The Burning Goddess

Shadow World #1

by Clayton Emery (as Ian Hammell)

In a fantasy adventure based on the role-playing game, experienced navigator Zed must use his teleportation skills to brave the perils of the planet Kulthea--and the wrath of an evil goddess--to unlock the world's long-lost secrets. Original.

208 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 1, 1994

Reviews

[Mtabacman]

It's in Kulthea, the Shadow World, and there are like 5 books in the world that have that, so I'm glad for it.
But the style of writing is quite boring, and the adventure has too little magic for a world I know and have played in for decades, and know to be so much more than that.

[Derek]

I found myself liking it, but not for the right reasons. The setting is compelling: a world that mixes science and technology with magic in the best gonzo-kitchen-sink-whatever-goes fashion, and one whose long-ago cataclysm has effects to the current day. We don't get to see anything other than the lost city and forest/jungle environs in this book, and I'm curious to see where this goes in the rest of the series. Unfortunately you don't have to scratch the surface too deeply before finding the elf/dwarf/magic sword/angry god conventions of the genre, and my fear is that later books revert to conventional fantasy.

The romance between the main characters felt forced. Given the circumstances--she ambushed his travelling party, and later participated in dumping hot coals on his chest as torture--I can't see how mutual attraction could develop.

[WonderGoon]

Pretty good. Gave me a lot of ideas for traps, which is always nice.