Pathfinder Tales: Called to Darkness

Pathfinder Tales #12

by Richard Lee Byers

Kagur is a warrior of the Blacklions, fierce and fearless hunters in the savage Realm of the Mammoth Lords. When her clan is slaughtered by a frost giant she considered her adopted brother, honor demands that she, the last surviving Blacklion, track down her old ally and take the tribe’s revenge. This is no normal betrayal, however, for the murderous giant has followed the whispers of a dark god down into the depths of the earth, into a primeval cavern forgotten by time. There, he will unleash forces capable of wiping all humans from the region—unless Kagur can stop him first. From acclaimed author Richard Lee Byers comes a tale of bloody revenge and subterranean wonder, set in the award-winning world of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Role Playing Games

401 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 2012

About the author

A resident of the Tampa Bay area, Richard spends much of his leisure time fencing, playing poker, shooting pool and is a frequent guest at Florida science-fiction conventions. His current projects include new novels set in the Forgotten Realms universe and the eBook post-apocalyptic superhero series The Impostor.

Reviews

[Tim Martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wrote a review but it was lost. In short, something was off about this book. I quite liked the characters, particularly Holg. What I didn't like was the theme of revenge vs understanding. It got old.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good revenge chase through the Underdark with some interesting encounters. Low magic and high combat.

[Lorewarden]

This book was a lot of fun and the action starts right at the beginning. A frost giant youth, adopted into the tribe of northern barbarians, falls under the influence of a dark god and slaughters the entire tribe except for his foster sister. It's up to her to avenge her family and stop his madness. This novel has definite sword and sorcery vibes the entire time.

Two specific things about this book:

1) The cover art by Michal Ivan is great, and definitely makes you curious about why some random lady is fighting a frost giant in a jungle of all places.

2) I really liked the main character, Kagur, an excellently written female warrior. She plows through obstacles non-stop to find justice. There's no love crap, or her having to prove herself for being a female warrior, or her mind wandering to domesticity or abhorring the violence she's forced into. She's a supremely competent warrior that's laser focused on her objective that just happens to be a woman. I love Red Sonja, but Kagur is a much better heroine.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

The latest in the Pathfinder books, this one is set (mostly) in the Underdark caverns where the Ulfen barbarian(ess?--what do you call a female barbarian?) Kagur Blacklion tracks her adopted brother Eovath, the storm giant, after he kills the rest of her clan. Which reminds me--never trust a storm giant...

But, on to the story. It opens with a celebratory feast during which Kagur hopes to lose herself to another barbarian. However, after just a short time of foreplay (yeah, the first part of the book is probably not for the youngsters), she hears a commotion at the tent and returns. There, she sees Eovath awash in the slaughter of the Blacklion clan. A fight ensues in which Eovath nearly kills Kagur. She survives, though (good thing, because it really would have been a short book if she died in the second chapter...), and vows revenge. The remainder of the book details the chase that ensues and the attempt at revenge.

I liked the story. It was a bit of a different take on the whole buddy story. Kagur finds an old shaman, Holg, who accompanies her, against her will, on the journey to the Underdark and the caverns of Orv. Kagur's growth through the story from selfishly egocentric girl to a caring, responsible woman is welcome. It adds a depth to the story and moves it beyond simply a hack and slash novel. Now, don't get me wrong, there is plenty of hack and slash, and some really cool places in which it occurs. Now, the story is not the next great American novel, but it is engaging. At the heart of the story is that Kagur grows up and finds her new home. And that makes it pretty darn cool.

[Stefan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. Byers has more talent than this; just read the Realms of the Dead trilogy for example. Called to Darkness is very straightforward, with absolutely no plot twists, a predictable story of revenge. The writing is very ho-hum. It doesn't excite, interest, or engage and just carries forward with the "mandatory" journey through the underdark (or whatever the Pathfinder term for it is), the "interesting" discovery of a subterranean world and the "novel" building of alliances with the local humans and orcs, before the anti-climactic "final battle." It's like sitting in a waiting room, except instead of staring at the clock on the wall every 10 minutes you look at the page numbers to see how much more you "have" to read.

[Joel Flank · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great Conan/Edgar Rice Burroughs homage story, staring a barbarian from the Land of the Mammoth Kings, who in order to avenger her tribe's slaughter, must descent into a subterrainian world of magic and bizarre creatures to track down the foster brother who betrayed them. A fun overview of Golarian's underdark, as well as dinosaurs! Dinosaurs make anything better!

[Colin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A swords-and-sorcery-style tale set in the realm of the Mammoth Lords of the Pathfinder RPG. The last survivor of her tribe must hunt down the giant who betrayed them, through the "Underdark" to a "Lost World" setting with dinosaurs . . . It's well-written, and follows a pretty solid old-school sword-and-sorcery style. I enjoyed it, although it was no great story, by any means . . .

[Seth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty good read. It is a great throw back to classic pulp and horror adventures. A mix of Tarzan at the earth's core and Lovecraft. For a bit I thought the main character was not going to develop, but the author did deliver in a very believable way. The action was good and very detailed.

[Leliel Mitsukai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this addition to the Pathfinder Tales. While I wouldn't call it light-hearted, it was a fun, engaging read.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was another Pathfinder Tales book I picked up to better inform my Pathfinder campaign running. I had low expectations. But again, I was pleasantly surprised.

It's a fairly simplistic story with effective writing to move the plot. There are plenty of unusual and new non-cliche situations and settings. And surprisingly, some decent character development and a subtextual message about growth and acceptance.

The ending felt a little sudden to me and I felt it took a step back as far as extending character development to the villain but all in all a pleasant little sword and sorcery tale.

[Adam Windsor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Possibly the best Pathfinder Tales book I have read so far. The characters remain thin, as usual, and the narrative spends a lot of time on fetch-quests and the like (though frankly, that's quite true to the usual structure of actual RPG campaigns), but the thematic through-line is clear and tolerably well executed. Also, I am a bit a sucker for Lost World-esque settings, so that didn't hurt it, for me.

[Chuck · Rating 3 out of 5]

Called to Darkness is a well written RPG (role-playing game) fantasy.

Taking place in a subterranean world and paying homage to Conan The Barbarian and Edgar Rice Burrough's stories, it is an engaging read.

I enjoyed the mash-up of creatures that are familiar (dinosaurs, snake-men, giants) with the author's own take. I was a little put off by the constant focus on revenge, but it does move the story.

Altogether it was a fun, simple adventure story worth spending a few hours to read!

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was well written but I don’t think I’ve ever read a book with a more unlikeable main character...

[Garry · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was what it was... a pulp novel written for a gaming system. I was not disappointed, but neither was I expecting much.

[Todd Landrum · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't find the two main characters particularly interesting. There's no actual story here just a random series of encounters as they travel through the underdark. Gave up halfway through

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short take:

Byers spins some neat ideas and mashes some genre elements in interesting ways. I looked forward to the subterranean world theme, and Byers put it to good use, particularly in the way that he examined the prejudice shared by a few of the standard races in fantasy. Kagur is a good character. My main criticism is that parts of the book ran long and were repetitive.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with all pathfinder tales novels, this is also used to bring a corner or aspect of the Golarion game world into the light. And in this one you can take that quite literary. The main characters in this book go on a quest for revenge that lead them from the frozen tundra's of the Realm of the mammoth lords to the deepest area of the underdark.

The underdark is a D&D concept, slightly based on jules verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth. But bigger and even more dangerous.

I had fun reading this and it felt like a nice classic roleplay adventure and that is something I like in my roleplay tie in novels.

[Kenneth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel was not only a great fantasy RPG novel, but also an homage to Edgar Rice Burroughs Pellucidar series. It features barbarians from the frozen north, a hollow earth, woolly mammoths, dinosaurs, degenerate (and not so degenerate) serpent folk, ancient temples, oozy abominations and a plot to the destroy the surface world with ravenous beasts. The antagonist in the novel is either insane or the agent of bestial god - he also happens to be the foster brother of the protagonist, and the murderer of her entire family and tribe. Beneath the pulp-inspired adventure, there is a tragic story of family and betrayal. It's well worth reading.

I was also happy to see yet another strong female protagonist.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really fun read, fast paced and interesting.

The story revolves around Kagur, a barbarian from the Blacklions tribe who is left for dead when her adopted frost giant brother, Eovath kills her whole family and clan at the behest of a dark god's whisperings.

Nursed back to health by a shaman named Holg from another clan, Kagur takes it upon herself to track down Eovath and seek revenge for what he has done. Holg joins her on her quest, leading them deep into the bowels of the earth through the Earth Navel. It's not too long before they realize that Eovath and his dark god have plans to destroy the rest of humanity and it becomes a race against time to find the giant and kill him before he can complete his own quest in a lost primeval land where dinosaurs roam...

[Trevor · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book falls into one of the weaker books in the Pathfinder Tales series. There's just a lot of plot here that doesn't make sense, and the book often become tedious. Some plot streamlining would have gone a long way to make this book better, but most of the characters in the book are also fairly annoying.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pathfinder journeys to the center of the Earth, what's not to like! I must sound like a broken record with these Pathfinder Tales, but again an interesting set of locales and good characters mesh into an enjoyable read.

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting journey into the Darklands inside Golarion. It was fun trying to figure out the monsters that Kagur encountered on her journey under the earth.

[Geraint Harries]

Very fighty, very fighty indeed.

[Dave Walls · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable nod to ERB and Conan. The overall quality of Pathfinder Tales seems to be improving. I hope this trend continues

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rolicking tale with a journey into the depths of the Darklands. I really like the Hollow Earth concept so I was positive about this story from the get go. Really enjoyed it.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read books by this author before but this one was not great, by a long run! Maybe it was one of Byers older books?

[Adam Balshan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I tried to read something special for my 100th fantasy book, but the most recent Tolkien publication is in poetic verse. And ever since Wizards of the Coast unveiled their 4th edition catastrophe, forced those changes on the Forgotten Realms, and put the D&D monogram itself onto the spine covers, very little has been worth reading from my traditional setting's stock. So partly as a symbolic gesture, I read for my 100th my first Pathfinder novel, as Paizo's Pathfinder has effectively replaced the Wizards' chimera as the true legacy of D&D.

3 stars [Fantasy]
Writing: 2-3. Plot: 3.5. Originality: 3.
The novelty is the best thing going for this book. Set in a pre-medieval Stone Age in the heart of the earth, only a richly-equipped barbarian chieftain's daughter from the surface with some steel weapons might turn the tide. Betrayal, alien lands, and dinosaurs--without managing to be too hackneyed like all the rest who have tried.

As for the characters, everyone always seems to know what everyone else means, or realizes it quickly. Byers doesn't let a mystery sit for more than a few pages. But at least the one dozen characters he presents (about double a normal book of this scope) all seem different enough to be believable.