The Death Ray

I have to say I have read a few of Lain's books and I generally walked always feeling they were rather cookie cutterish. While this one wasn't that action packed, it was fast paced and the ending was spot on. I enjoy it when the hero loses. I mean really loses; not that watch-me-come-back-in-a-later-chapter-better-for-my-lessons-learned crud most stories have and for that fact, this book was powerfully refreshing.

While I have not purchased these books, I have borrowed a few and they were very good! But, I'm sure you know that if you're here! My review is really for a question! I would like to know if these books will be combined in on novel...maybe a hardback...maybe not! but, I would like to purchase an ensemble of the books combined! If anyone would have info on this, feel free to e-mail me or just post a review! Thanks

Argh! Okay, before I dissolve into abject frustration, I'll begin with saying that this book was leagues above 'Return of the Damned.' The writing style returns to Lain's previous decent level, and the plot is a bit more involved. There is no mystery here - you are in on the bad guy's every thought and plan, but the villainy is quite well orchestrated: Bad Wizard uses Shield Golem to kill off young rivals to the soon-to-marry Duke's daughter. But when the Duke's daughter decides that our intrepid Regdar is more to her liking than any other possible suitor, and the Duke grants a title to Regdar to make him a potential suitor (as he's currently a commoner without that title). Enter Naull, Regdar's girlfriend, and somewhat jealous of this unfolding situation, and huzzah - the set up for plot is complete. Indeed, it unfolds quite well, with Lain's typical one-liners and cute humour all about. As usual, however, you can measure the half-life of a non-Iconic character with a pocket ruler. And the villain is a bit dim near the end in his choice of confrontations. But, this is D & D fiction, not grand literature, and it was enjoyable. The ending, however, brings me back to that 'Argh!' I mentioned. Consider yourself warned that you'll likely find the ending extremely frustrating. Not in a badly-written way - oh no, it wasn't a cop-out ending, or a rushed ending. I'm quite sure Lain wrote this on purpose. But gosh, I could have screamed when I got there. Very well done. And that 'Argh!' is also the sound of someone who is certainly going to buy the next one, just to see what happens next. 'Nathan