2024-06-28 - Book Review - The Fallbacks: Bound for Ruin

image from author's website

 

Dungeons & Dragons: The Fallbacks: Bound for Ruin By Jaleigh Johnson

With a resurgence of popularity in Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) thanks to Stranger Things, the most recent D&D movie, and Critical Role (and Gen X getting ahold of adult money), we’re starting to see more D&D books getting published.

There were several books that tied in with the movie but this is a standalone novel set in the land of Faerun, specifically the area around Waterdeep. I couldn’t find a clear reading level but it is easy enough to read that I would recommend it for middle school readers or higher. But don’t worry grown-ups, it’s still a fun enough read to keep you entertained too.

My biggest complaint with the book is right at the beginning. There just aren’t enough words dedicated to describing the characters in the main party. I found myself trying to tie their names to the cover art. They were different enough as characters to be memorable but some characters were stronger and stood out more (I’m looking at you Lark the bard). A map would have been nice, but that’s a whole discussion on its own.

The plot is relatively simple and the story arc is easy to follow. There are a few flashbacks to give characters deeper depth and most chapters follow a character’s point of view. The chapters giving the reader an inside look at Uggie’s thoughts are hilarious. As with most D&D campaigns in real life, the party adopted a creature, in this case Uggie, the three limbed, three tentacled, otyugh that’s not evil but sure looks like a monster.

While some of the plot is a bit predictable, it was nice to read a story where the good guys win in the end. For those hardcore D&D nerds, this is an easy read with some easily recognizable spells and locales. But that shouldn’t keep you from reading it. I myself plan to borrow some magic items (the daggers and the tavern for sure) for my next campaign. For those not really into D&D but want to know what it’s like, I’d say this is a pretty fair approximation of what an adventure is like when playing a campaign. A party of five or so characters work together to take down the big bad evil guy (BBEG). For everyone else that’s interested in fantasy books, this is a great beach read. Light and airy, fast moving, easy to read. Not quite cozy fantasy but certainly adjacent.