Rogues Hour by Scott Ciencin

Rogue’s Hour by Scott Ciencin
A review by Neil Richard

Overall Rating = 2 out of 5

Wow.  And that’s not a good wow.  It should be more “Ugh” than “Wow.”  But anyway.

I was continually surprised by Scott’s writing in Rogue’s Hour.  I literally plowed through the last 100 pages just so I could get to my next book about a ploughman’s son.  I didn’t know what to make of this work.  I’ve read a few titles by Scott before and even now I still can’t swallow that Scott could write this.  I hate to say it, but I almost hope he was distracted by something in his personal life or was forced into a bad book by an even worse contract with CDS.

As to the story itself, well, there wasn’t much of one.  A rogue losses his memory, travels in search of the McGuffin, gets betrayed, attacked, rescued, and makes it to the end of the story.  Something I barely did myself.  There were clear attempts at humor that were completely lost on me, stomach churning dialog, and a stream of characters so confusing, I started ignoring names.

Now, to do something I don’t want to do, explain my score of 2 out of 5.  I prefer to keep my criteria for ranks to myself, mostly because I don’t have criteria.  But also because I don’t feel those reading my reviews should put up with more of my drivel than they have to.  So back to my 2 out of 5.  I really wanted to give this book a 1 out of 5.  And in reality, that’s what I’m giving it.  But I’m weighting my score for three reasons.  The first half a point was because I felt this was so out of the ordinary for Scott and because Salvatore was the driving force for the series (which I can only hope ends after this book).  The second half of a point was due to my lack of knowledge of the Ever Quest game.  I know it’s popular and can only hope those that play the game understand the book better then me.

All in all, this left a really sour taste in my mouth.  The action was written like a bad recounting of a 30-year-old’s session on EQ in his mother’s basement the night before.  The plot, characters, and settings were worse than I’ve seen on the back of Magic cards.  Fortunately, there is at least one positive thing I’ve learned from this.  In the future, I may begin implementing a 40 page rule.  If I don’t enjoy the first 40 pages, maybe I shouldn’t read it.

Neil@TK42ONE.com
©2005 TK42ONE.com Productions