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Thorn of Breland #3
The Fading Dream
The award-winning creator of Eberron ® infiltrates the magical cities of the feyspires.
Thorn’s latest protect the prince of Cyre, a monarch in name only since his country was destroyed by the Mourning. But in that same cataclysm, seven cities of the Feywild—the feyspires—were trapped on the plain of Eberron , a concurrence the eladrin who rule the feyspires insist is no coincidence. They insist that with the right pieces they can repair the devastation of the Mourning. All they need are a few missing –one in the heart of a mysterious Cyran soldier and one that’s lodged in Thorn’s spine, carrying the soul of the Angel of Flame.
Intense secret agent action with all the magic and mystery of Eberron —the Thorn of Breland series has been a perfect mix of fantasy and adventure. James Bond meets J.R.R. Tolkien.
Thorn’s latest protect the prince of Cyre, a monarch in name only since his country was destroyed by the Mourning. But in that same cataclysm, seven cities of the Feywild—the feyspires—were trapped on the plain of Eberron , a concurrence the eladrin who rule the feyspires insist is no coincidence. They insist that with the right pieces they can repair the devastation of the Mourning. All they need are a few missing –one in the heart of a mysterious Cyran soldier and one that’s lodged in Thorn’s spine, carrying the soul of the Angel of Flame.
Intense secret agent action with all the magic and mystery of Eberron —the Thorn of Breland series has been a perfect mix of fantasy and adventure. James Bond meets J.R.R. Tolkien.
288 pages, Paperback
First published October 12, 2010
12 people are currently reading
254 people want to read
About the author
Keith Baker
73 books190 followersI've been interested in games since I first fell under the sinister influence of the Dungeons & Dragons boxed set, back in sixth grade. Over the last few decades I have managed to turn gaming from a hobby into a career. Here is a list of the highlights of my life as a game designer. If you have any questions, let me know!
From 1994-2002, I fell into the computer games industry. My first job was with Magnet Interactive Studios, in Washington DC. Sadly, Magnet never managed to hit the big time as a game developer. I worked on a number of projects during my stay at Magnet; for a time I was lead designer on a game called BLUESTAR, a position that was held at other times by such roleplaying luminaries as Ken Rolston and Zeb Cook. However, the only work that ever saw the light of day was some level design on the abstract arcade game Icebreaker.
Magnet began a slow implosion in 1996, and along with a number of other people I went to work for a Colorado company called VR1. I started as lead designer on VR-1 Crossroads, a text-based MUD centered on warring conspiracies – The X-Files meets Illuminati, with a world of dreams thrown in for good measure. When VR1 decided to move away from text games, I started work on a graphical MMORPG based on the pulp serials. After a few twists and turns, the project ended up being known as Lost Continents. But early in 2002 I decided that I'd had enough of the computer games industry and left VR1 to focus on writing. Then in June of 2002, Wizards of the Coast announced their Fantasy Setting Search, and I thought: What about pulp fantasy? And the rest is history. . .
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
From 1994-2002, I fell into the computer games industry. My first job was with Magnet Interactive Studios, in Washington DC. Sadly, Magnet never managed to hit the big time as a game developer. I worked on a number of projects during my stay at Magnet; for a time I was lead designer on a game called BLUESTAR, a position that was held at other times by such roleplaying luminaries as Ken Rolston and Zeb Cook. However, the only work that ever saw the light of day was some level design on the abstract arcade game Icebreaker.
Magnet began a slow implosion in 1996, and along with a number of other people I went to work for a Colorado company called VR1. I started as lead designer on VR-1 Crossroads, a text-based MUD centered on warring conspiracies – The X-Files meets Illuminati, with a world of dreams thrown in for good measure. When VR1 decided to move away from text games, I started work on a graphical MMORPG based on the pulp serials. After a few twists and turns, the project ended up being known as Lost Continents. But early in 2002 I decided that I'd had enough of the computer games industry and left VR1 to focus on writing. Then in June of 2002, Wizards of the Coast announced their Fantasy Setting Search, and I thought: What about pulp fantasy? And the rest is history. . .
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
February 12, 2015
The final book in the Thorn of Breland series was a let down after the strong start to the series. In this book, 4th edition intrudes stronger into the Eberron world, with the introduction of Eladrin, which are elves that are more elfy than the elves that already exist in the world. Despite that, Baker does a fairly admirable job trying to explain why they exist in the world when no one had heard of them before, but the entire process detracts from some other book that could have been a better fit in the first place.
Thorn is sent to the Mournland that used to be the nation of Cyre, to investigate tales that hint that these Eladrin could possibly remove the curse from the nation, freeing up Breland's resources. Along the way, she of course gets involved further than her initial mission, and gets embroiled in ancient history of the Eladrin.
Unfortunately, the entire book feels rushed, and the connection to the larger mystery of Thorn's past and unusual abilities feels tacked on at the end. The revelation is huge...but not really addressed, and not really related to the main plot of the book. It does hint that in the future, she'll deal with her secret head on, but to the best of my knowledge, there are no more books in the series, which makes addressing the revelation unlikely.
Thorn is sent to the Mournland that used to be the nation of Cyre, to investigate tales that hint that these Eladrin could possibly remove the curse from the nation, freeing up Breland's resources. Along the way, she of course gets involved further than her initial mission, and gets embroiled in ancient history of the Eladrin.
Unfortunately, the entire book feels rushed, and the connection to the larger mystery of Thorn's past and unusual abilities feels tacked on at the end. The revelation is huge...but not really addressed, and not really related to the main plot of the book. It does hint that in the future, she'll deal with her secret head on, but to the best of my knowledge, there are no more books in the series, which makes addressing the revelation unlikely.
April 13, 2021
Dragons, dreams, Mournlands, fey, sentient daggers, child inventors with Wolverine powers, elemental transport, rampaging trolls, all that good stuff.
February 21, 2025
It pains nobody more than me, but Keith Baker dropped the ball pretty hard, all around. Absolutely did not stick the landing with the last one when it mattered most.
The issues can be summarized best with literally reversing the story presentation: while in the previous two books we had sections of high-suspense action, working great to inspire the "pulp" aspects of Eberron, with the occasional noir theme of investigation and mystery in between them, here at best we have high-suspense interludes between aggressive, monotonous lore-dumping. This entire books is just an exposition dump after an exposition dump. In the previous books Steel had a bit of that effect, but its functionality in that regard was very smooth flowing, here we have everybody almost breaking in song about their history and ambitions without anyone really wanting to know.
It got boring, fast, which is why I struggled to read more than a few pages a day and had to force myself to finish it, in stark contrast with the previous books.
I could also get into detail into how the side characters were absolutely dull and how the overall plot was extremely ambitious, but failed to actually step it up at the end as well, like a pick-up artist who trips and falls backwards trying to run away when you agree to actually go home with them (I have no better way to describe how Baker tries to base everything around resolving the biggest mystery he himself created about Eberron, and ultimately deciding to leave it vague about whether it was resolved or not and whether it was all a red herring). Not ambiguous or deep, just annoying.
I am giving it 3 stars because I found the mystery of Thorn to be resolved in a pretty interesting way, and because it shows the key imagination we have seen before in the books, while also being a useful resource for anyone thinking of ways to incorporate some of the aspects of the ethereal plane into Eberron-based campaigns, but honestly, if I wanted a compendium with world building ideas, I'd just buy one. I was looking for a good fantasy adventure that would perfectly display the mood I need to create and feel while existing in this world, and I didn't find it here. It is sad really, I know from the previous two books that he could have done better, but it is what it is.
The issues can be summarized best with literally reversing the story presentation: while in the previous two books we had sections of high-suspense action, working great to inspire the "pulp" aspects of Eberron, with the occasional noir theme of investigation and mystery in between them, here at best we have high-suspense interludes between aggressive, monotonous lore-dumping. This entire books is just an exposition dump after an exposition dump. In the previous books Steel had a bit of that effect, but its functionality in that regard was very smooth flowing, here we have everybody almost breaking in song about their history and ambitions without anyone really wanting to know.
It got boring, fast, which is why I struggled to read more than a few pages a day and had to force myself to finish it, in stark contrast with the previous books.
I could also get into detail into how the side characters were absolutely dull and how the overall plot was extremely ambitious, but failed to actually step it up at the end as well, like a pick-up artist who trips and falls backwards trying to run away when you agree to actually go home with them (I have no better way to describe how Baker tries to base everything around resolving the biggest mystery he himself created about Eberron, and ultimately deciding to leave it vague about whether it was resolved or not and whether it was all a red herring). Not ambiguous or deep, just annoying.
I am giving it 3 stars because I found the mystery of Thorn to be resolved in a pretty interesting way, and because it shows the key imagination we have seen before in the books, while also being a useful resource for anyone thinking of ways to incorporate some of the aspects of the ethereal plane into Eberron-based campaigns, but honestly, if I wanted a compendium with world building ideas, I'd just buy one. I was looking for a good fantasy adventure that would perfectly display the mood I need to create and feel while existing in this world, and I didn't find it here. It is sad really, I know from the previous two books that he could have done better, but it is what it is.
December 10, 2017
So that concludes Thorn of Breland and I do not know whether Keith Baker wanted to tell this story all along or was forced to due to the edition transition to D&D 4E, BUT it certainly seems as though he was really leading up to this point; and that is pretty damn amazing.
Within short of 300 pages, this book has it all: grand adventure, the horror of the Mournland (and an RPG-fantasy-folktale-plausible explanation for it), nightmare creatures, the hero realizing she has misconceptions about the story she figures in, as well as the fact that the story is everything. Furthermore, Thorn's secret is explicitly revealed and more or less explained (with a few things open to interpretation).
There is an interesting paradox: I won't disguise the fact that I truly hated the 4th Edition D&D, having started on the path with AD&D 2.1. One of the things I truly hated, was the demotion of the majestic, 2nd Edition Eladrin to fluffy exotic Elf characters. However, Baker stunningly manages to keep their mystique and Fae Court feeling, while at the same time blending them in his own narrative and the planar intricacies of the world he has crafted. This is no mean feat, especially with a company who, at the time, had gone off the rails (and off target) with its marketing angle.
I will state once more that this is not the pinnacle of literature, but as far as D&D literature (and even fantasy literature) goes, it talks a really good game and is a worthy conclusion to the trilogy.
Within short of 300 pages, this book has it all: grand adventure, the horror of the Mournland (and an RPG-fantasy-folktale-plausible explanation for it), nightmare creatures, the hero realizing she has misconceptions about the story she figures in, as well as the fact that the story is everything. Furthermore, Thorn's secret is explicitly revealed and more or less explained (with a few things open to interpretation).
There is an interesting paradox: I won't disguise the fact that I truly hated the 4th Edition D&D, having started on the path with AD&D 2.1. One of the things I truly hated, was the demotion of the majestic, 2nd Edition Eladrin to fluffy exotic Elf characters. However, Baker stunningly manages to keep their mystique and Fae Court feeling, while at the same time blending them in his own narrative and the planar intricacies of the world he has crafted. This is no mean feat, especially with a company who, at the time, had gone off the rails (and off target) with its marketing angle.
I will state once more that this is not the pinnacle of literature, but as far as D&D literature (and even fantasy literature) goes, it talks a really good game and is a worthy conclusion to the trilogy.
January 28, 2021
This ends the Thorn of Breland series but I wouldn't really call it a "trilogy". I thought this final book would relate more closely to Thorn's back story and spend most of the time resolving those plot threads but instead it introduces a new story unrelated to the first two books. Some of the questions left hanging are eventually answered but aren't given much time and you end up with more new plot threads than you start with. This has a bit of a "the adventure will go on..." type feel but I also wish all of the future threads they teased had just been the plot of the second and third book...
June 12, 2018
A great finish to a great trilogy. Again, I only wish there was more to this book and really feel the story could've been expanded upon.
Like most good series, it does leave open questions and leads which could become another series. Will there be another? I certainly hope so, but I doubt it. Still, a satisfying ending to a great series.
Like most good series, it does leave open questions and leads which could become another series. Will there be another? I certainly hope so, but I doubt it. Still, a satisfying ending to a great series.
January 24, 2021
No no no...fine series up until this book.
4th Edition mess.
Supremely disappointed.
4th Edition mess.
Supremely disappointed.
December 15, 2022
Fun book with great twists.
July 17, 2023
Too many unanswered questions
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 26, 2016
THIS BOOK IS AMAZING!!!!!!!!
I think that this book should be on the shelves of every room in every house ON THE PLANET. The character development is amazing, the plot twists are amazing, the world is e most well thought out worlds I have ever seen. Did I mention that it's AMAZAWESOMENESS!!!!! You should absolutely read it, but only if you have read the first two and are prepared for a bumpy ride through a hard fantasy with an epic spy twist!
I think that this book should be on the shelves of every room in every house ON THE PLANET. The character development is amazing, the plot twists are amazing, the world is e most well thought out worlds I have ever seen. Did I mention that it's AMAZAWESOMENESS!!!!! You should absolutely read it, but only if you have read the first two and are prepared for a bumpy ride through a hard fantasy with an epic spy twist!
August 16, 2011
Overall a solid work of fantasy fiction. I found that I was surprised at some of the twists the story took, making Baker's writing style far more subtle than I had first thought. Overall I was pleased with the story, and look forward to reading more.
December 14, 2018
[REVIEW TO COME LATER UPON RE-READ.]
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews