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Realms of Chaos #1
A Hero Born
Locke, a budding swordsman, journeys to the City of the Sorcerers to seek his destiny beyond the Ward Walls in the realms of Chaos and finds himself in battle against an evil bent on the destruction of all human life. Original.
421 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published May 1, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
September 21, 2023
It makes me sad to say this, but I did not enjoy this book. And that is especially sad considering that Michael Stackpole is one of my favorite authors (who I've gotten the chance to interview before) and I've read 10 of his books previously and enjoyed each and every one of them.
But not every author is perfect.
This book was originally a tie-in book for a game produced by Flying Buffalo Inc. I don't know too much about the nature of the game, but this being a tie-in book was really fascinating to me. And the nature of the publication of this book (which is discussed in the afterward of book 2 "An Enemy Reborn") is actually really interesting to read. Michael Stackpole really discusses well the publishing industry, and I'd love to read all about it from him.
This book is set in a world with unfortunate worldbuilding that either feels bland or copied. The idea of having a wall that separates Chaos and non-Chaos is interesting (although it got popularized by Game of Thrones), as is the idea of the main character going into the Chaos to find his long lost father.
Unfortunately, the execution of the book is not good. The plot doesn't really kick off until 2/3 through the book, and even then when it does come its not interesting. I spent the whole book figuring out what would happen, and wishing I was reading something else. That is not a feeling I enjoy having when reading.
The main character's grasp of this world's version of Chess was interesting as was the somewhat limited political elements of the book. But Stackpole can absolutely write political elements better, as he did in "Eyes of Silver". For that matter, he also wrote plot much better in "Talion Revenant".
Because of the way they are used, the rest of the crew that accompanies Locke on his quest were neither interesting nor memorable.
I'm so sad to have to rate a book this low, especially from an author I enjoy reading so much, but I have to be honest. 3 out of 10. Maybe next time Stackpole.
But not every author is perfect.
This book was originally a tie-in book for a game produced by Flying Buffalo Inc. I don't know too much about the nature of the game, but this being a tie-in book was really fascinating to me. And the nature of the publication of this book (which is discussed in the afterward of book 2 "An Enemy Reborn") is actually really interesting to read. Michael Stackpole really discusses well the publishing industry, and I'd love to read all about it from him.
This book is set in a world with unfortunate worldbuilding that either feels bland or copied. The idea of having a wall that separates Chaos and non-Chaos is interesting (although it got popularized by Game of Thrones), as is the idea of the main character going into the Chaos to find his long lost father.
Unfortunately, the execution of the book is not good. The plot doesn't really kick off until 2/3 through the book, and even then when it does come its not interesting. I spent the whole book figuring out what would happen, and wishing I was reading something else. That is not a feeling I enjoy having when reading.
The main character's grasp of this world's version of Chess was interesting as was the somewhat limited political elements of the book. But Stackpole can absolutely write political elements better, as he did in "Eyes of Silver". For that matter, he also wrote plot much better in "Talion Revenant".
Because of the way they are used, the rest of the crew that accompanies Locke on his quest were neither interesting nor memorable.
I'm so sad to have to rate a book this low, especially from an author I enjoy reading so much, but I have to be honest. 3 out of 10. Maybe next time Stackpole.
February 19, 2022
Locke has been trained from early childhood in the arts of using a sword, and of battles.
He hopes to one day be able to live up to his father's reputation who was a hero that won battles in the realm of Chaos.
He goes to the capital to celebrate the new year with his grandmother.
During the celebration, the leader of one of the bands from Chaos manages to
breakthrough the barrier, and steal a scepter that has the power to bring the dead
back to life so he can rebuild his armies.
He hopes to one day be able to live up to his father's reputation who was a hero that won battles in the realm of Chaos.
He goes to the capital to celebrate the new year with his grandmother.
During the celebration, the leader of one of the bands from Chaos manages to
breakthrough the barrier, and steal a scepter that has the power to bring the dead
back to life so he can rebuild his armies.
October 31, 2011
In many ways this was a typical fantasy novel. The story seems based on a typical dungeon crawl, and the acknowledgements by the author bear that out. However the world is an imaginative one divided between a realm of chaos full of monsters and dark magic, while the other half is normal. Those exposed to the chaos realm changed and mutated by it.
An evil sorcerer finds a way over the ward wall that separates chaos and normal realms. There he grabs a mystical weapon, with which he plans to resurrect dead warriors of his race!
The hero of this story has trained his whole life to walk in his father's footsteps as a chaos rider, a warrior trained to go into the chaos realm in an effort to hold the chaos warriors and powers back! Soon, he is sent to stop the coming resurrection of evil beings!
The author tells a mediocre story set in a wonder-filled world. The manner in which he weaves the game of chess into the story is clever and imaginative and the final resolution shows that the author had a clear path from the beginning of the book to the end. This ending and the hints that were seeded throughout allow me to bump up my rating a notch. Well done, even if it is just a dungeon crawl!
An evil sorcerer finds a way over the ward wall that separates chaos and normal realms. There he grabs a mystical weapon, with which he plans to resurrect dead warriors of his race!
The hero of this story has trained his whole life to walk in his father's footsteps as a chaos rider, a warrior trained to go into the chaos realm in an effort to hold the chaos warriors and powers back! Soon, he is sent to stop the coming resurrection of evil beings!
The author tells a mediocre story set in a wonder-filled world. The manner in which he weaves the game of chess into the story is clever and imaginative and the final resolution shows that the author had a clear path from the beginning of the book to the end. This ending and the hints that were seeded throughout allow me to bump up my rating a notch. Well done, even if it is just a dungeon crawl!
May 20, 2015
I really liked this book. I didn't give it five stars because half way through the book they still hadn't even assembled a team to send to Chaos. When they finally got to Chaos and their first battle, I felt like there were only 50 pages left, so it felt like the rest of the story was a bit rushed. For a while there, I thought for sure that there would be a sequel to the book. So I docked a star for the book making me question the length of the book. Despite that, I really liked the author's descriptions. I felt like I was right there in the action, learning about the Chaos world as Lachlan was learning it. I would have never guessed the ending.
January 3, 2023
The world was interesting, the plot cliche-but-passable, but what annoyed me about the book was how information was presented in the first-person perspective. I am not against a first-person perspective in general (the Dresden Files is told in this style and is one of my favorite series), but in this case it hampered more than helped. It's not a good sign to learn that something important happened in something I just read, and I didn't notice until it gets mention a few pages later.
November 10, 2019
Fun ending.
November 11, 2025
It was slow at times, but the end battle was GREAT. Even had a twist.
November 22, 2010
i really liked "a Hero Born", specially for its originality. the author did a great job on creating his own world with it's own creatures and it's own laws. Of course, every story has been done before, it's how you tell it that makes the difference, and Stackpole does a splendid job of telling it in his own way. Stackple has a wonderful sense of character development, and our hero progesses alot not only in his quest, but in maturity both socially and on the battlefield. there is a wide range of characters, and stackpole doesn't cling to them, a flaw that many other authors retain themselves. Locke is your classic underdog, he lives in the country with his two elder brothers and his grandfather who runs a fighting school. His only pupils consist of Locke and his brothers. Although he isn't the best fighter, he has a brilliant mind and is an expert chess player. Because of the results of a contest between he and his brothers, Lockes grandfather sends him to the capital of the Empire to escort his grandmother to a ball at the Royal Palace. during the ball an evil wizard who has escaped from the Chaos Realm and into their land steals some great magical artifacts and interrupts the ball to instill panic into those attending. Due to his courage, Locke gets entangled in the whole mess, and ends up being selected to lead an expidition into the Chaos Realm like the Chaos Riders of old to retrieve the artifact. Throughout the adventure Locke discovers who he is and all that great stuff. The whole story is intriguing, and definitely holds your interest as you root for the hero to succeed in all of his exploits. Stackpole writes simple passages, leading through a complex story that is very exciting from beginning to end.
November 12, 2013
I'm about 2/3rd of the way through, and I'm not going to bother finishing this. There's much more on my shelf that I'd rather get to.
It started out really well with an interesting premise, having the chaos behind the wall, and introducing characters and a realm warped by it but so little was done with it, as it was just brushed aside as "evil, destroy it."
So many exceptions to the world were used just for the sake of pushing the plot and main character forward. We're told early on and numerous times how important badges are and how they demote respect in this world; but then the main character is allowed to access to situations and given responsibility far outside his ranking. Everyone just agrees with him, and moves along behind him.
Eye-rolling, trite, and worst of all, mostly boring.
It started out really well with an interesting premise, having the chaos behind the wall, and introducing characters and a realm warped by it but so little was done with it, as it was just brushed aside as "evil, destroy it."
So many exceptions to the world were used just for the sake of pushing the plot and main character forward. We're told early on and numerous times how important badges are and how they demote respect in this world; but then the main character is allowed to access to situations and given responsibility far outside his ranking. Everyone just agrees with him, and moves along behind him.
Eye-rolling, trite, and worst of all, mostly boring.
June 21, 2010
First of all, do yourself a favor and don't skip ahead in the book, you'll ruin it. This story is Stackpole at his best. An original setting, convincingly and logically written. The author clearly considered the implications of the environment he created. The foreshadowing was available without being obvious; characters were well described and seemed to stay within prescribed personalities. The only qualm I had with this book was that toward the end it was hard to keep track of who was alive, who might be dead, and who was really dead. Fortunately, that's all explicitly stated close to the end of the novel.
An excellent read, order it and enjoy. If you want further excellence from Stackpole read The Dragoncrown War cycle, starting with Dark Glory War.
An excellent read, order it and enjoy. If you want further excellence from Stackpole read The Dragoncrown War cycle, starting with Dark Glory War.
April 28, 2011
it feels like it took forever to get through this book. I first read it years ago and held on to my copy because I really liked it. reading through it again, it's still a good book but the problems with it become more noticeable. the imagry is very vivid but tends to go on and on. and the dialog tends to be a bit stiff. the most interesting thing, and what I remembered most over the years, was the twist at the end. knowing it was coming didn't really ruin the story but made the authors attempts at forshadowing seem pretty obvious... then the last twenty pages or so is filled with totally unnecessary explaination.
March 2, 2014
This was/is an interesting and entertaining read. My only dislike is the main character seems to be a vehicle through whom the author is basically going "See how smart that idea is? I am so smart. And this thing is witty, I'm witty too. See how witty I am?" Exempting that, I do own the book and reread it every now and again, and not because I dislike it.
February 17, 2017
Your basic '80s 'I have a sword and a legacy!' RPG fantasy. Nothing catching or compelling about it. In fact, I probably remember more from Weis (sp?) and Hickman's first Dragonlance book (another RPG story, which I only read once back when it first came out) than I do from this book less than two months later.
January 2, 2008
I decided to try out Michael Stackpole after reading his X-Wing Star Wars books. This novel is awesome as are his books TALION: REVENANT and ONCE A HERO. Unfortunately, many of his other books I've tried aren't as great.
January 24, 2017
Barring the pointless expositional initial chapter this started off well but then I found myself steadily revising my rating downwards as it went on. Some great concepts but too flawed in their execution sadly.
August 17, 2008
Stackpole has a knack for taking basic fantasy themes, and twisting them to create a unique story. This book is engaging and interesting.
January 9, 2009
This book was ok. I read it because Isaac liked it. It has a pretty good surprise at the end. I would recommend this book if you like fantasy.
June 20, 2016
Really good sword and sorcery tale. Started maybe a bit slow but picked up quickly and kept me reading.
November 5, 2016
An enjoyable but flat fantasy, in classic style. I can't say anything in this book really surprised me, but sometimes that's what you're looking for in a book.
November 1, 2015
Interesting and imaginative
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews