Glory And Greed.

[Bewildered Badger]

Well I've just finished reading this and I've enjoyed it very much. It took a little time to get going, but once it did it made for a compelling read. There was good use of descriptive prose, alongside some strong characterisation.

Only bad point, there were a few irritating misprints throughout. Nothing major though. I guess that proves it's a Mongoose book! :wink:

Just a suggestion: if the 'goose ever plans to sell these to the general public (as opposed to the hard core Lone Wolf crowd) perhaps the cover blurb should be amended to make reference to 'the world of Magnamund', as opposed to just Magnamund, which will likely mean nothing to a casual browser in a book shop.

Anyway, must read Dragons of Lencia now. So, how soon till the next release?

 

[WritingWolf]

I've finished reading Glory and Greed now. It's a good story, though I found it a tad hard to get into at first as I'm not familiar with the Telchoi before - the book does nicely fill you in on all the important details though and the second half of the book is excellent, helped a lot once the reader figures out what is to come!

Unfortunately the book is constantly let down by poor proof-reading. Several times I found instances where words had been left out, or wrong words inserted - for example on page 241 (at the bottom) it says "Nala's cream" when it should be "Nala's scream". Whilst the reader can in all cases work out what should be printed, it is an annoying distraction from the story. The lack of them in Dragons of Lencia (certainly none that I can remember) only highlights the errors in Glory and Greed even more. This has the effect of making it seem that Glory and Greed was rushed through, which is a shame. I can live with the errors, but there are considerably more than I would have liked and I would hope they are not present in the remainder of the trilogy.

A word about the American spelling too. Dragons of Lencia had English spelling, and Glory and Greed has American. Is there a reason for this? Being English, I would prefer the English spelling. However, if it is going to be American then that is fair enough - it's more a query than anything else.

Overall though the story is a good one and has some important lessons for today's political leaders. If the errors can be removed then things would be perfect, but in terms of story-telling I enjoyed the book and am looking forward to the next one.

 

[August]

The spelling was because the author is American.

As for the misprints, those fall strongly onto my shoulders. I did my best to catch them all but I knew some would slip through. There was no rush; I just make mistakes.

I promise the rest will be far better checked, though.

Glad you at least liked the story,
-August

 

[WritingWolf]

Ah I thought the author may have been American - that would explain that, so no worries there.

As for the mistakes, thanks for posting on here - it's pretty easy to miss things like that as when you read them through your brain fills in the blanks! It's only a fresh pair of eyes and all that.

Still a good story and I would definately recommend the book to others.

 

[Jack Frost]

Yeah, a good read - and great to learn more details about an area of Magnamund that was relatively unkown. Looking forward to the next part. Will we be moving into other areas of Southern Magnamund?

 

[Zorkaan]

For my first post on this forum (Hello everyone) I wanted to congratulate August Hahn for his work on Glory and Greed.
I'm french and it is a bit hard for me to read it, but the story he wrote is may be the most original ever published in Magnamund World!

1) For the first time, an other Age of Magnamund is presented, I has hoped for that for years. So Age of Old Kingdoms is not only the Age of the Great Plague, it is also the Age of the fall of Telchoi Empire.

2) We discover a totally different world from the ones that we knew in Magnamund: the land of Telchos, in past and in present. The city of Avan-Telchoi, with its Pillars of Dawn, is impressive! The way of life of extant Telchoi is also very surprising, even if we heard about it from the RPG.

3) The storyline is far different from other Lone wolf books and gamebooks. The heros are humans without supra-powers, and they fight against something they don't understand. Political and psychological manipulations of the Agarashi Demonlord Shoongath (A contender to Dark Sidious) are delightful! But the story is also scaring, with this dream-invader demon...

4) The idea of the Night Well and of the true source of its power is very exciting! Light and Darkness mixed together (I can't spoil anymore)!?

I have still 80 pages to read, but I am happy with which I had already read!

 

[August]

Thank you very much!

I am thrilled that you all have been enjoying the stories. The next installment should answer a lot of questions and fill in even more details about the Telchoi and their culture.

As for moving south? Not yet... but stay tuned on that one.

With luck, I'll get the green light to explore more of Southern Magnamund in other stories.

-August

 

[Zorkaan]

Dear August, it's a pleasure to see you answering here and so quickly! Have you an idea when this next installment will come? Can't wait for the sequel!

Are you working with Richard Ford too? Because in Dragons of Lencia the Telchoi ask Lencia for help against a rise of Agarashi... I supposed it is a coordinated work of both of you with Joe Dever, to settle the background of the Storms of Chai...

Afrer reading your book, I'd truly like to know if the old crypt of Nyxator stands under Telchos (it is a problem for the story of Sun Eagle already wrote by a fan that settles it under Gorgoron Chasm in Dessi)... And I can't wait to learn if Agarash is dead or not (or between both states^^).

If you work someday elswhere in South, please show us the Cener Druids of Kaum, the government of Grey Star or the giant country of Starn ^^. You could even wrote a story similar to Glory and Greed for Shasarak in Taklakot ^^.

Before I forgot, congratulation also for your book Darklands! You introduced a great new material with your biographies of Darklords and the provinces of Darklands (we worked a lot on them in French editor Le Grimoire). The idea that the true power behind the Darklords is in fact the Nengud Kor Adez is so exciting...

 

[Balgin Stondraeg]

3) The storyline is far different from other Lone wolf books and gamebooks. The heros are humans without supra-powers, and they fight against something they don't understand.

'scuse me? You've played Lone Wolf books in the past, right? I think it was generaly only in the John Grant books that Lone Wolf's powers of perception, cunning, intuition and being keenly in touch with nature suddenly had to become giant comedy oversized manga powers .

Oh and welcome to the boards Zorkaan. It's always nice to see new people.

And August, we can't all catch all the grammatical errors but a few really did glare out at me (and I'm only two or three chapters in). Lert's hope the next one's got less mistakes eh?

 

[Zorkaan]

'scuse me? You've played Lone Wolf books in the past, right? I think it was generaly only in the John Grant books that Lone Wolf's powers of perception, cunning, intuition and being keenly in touch with nature suddenly had to become giant comedy oversized manga powers Razz.

lol right, John Grant sometimes did a little too much :lol: (I was particularly disappointed when Ulnar beat Vasha in fight in The Sacrifice of Ruanon). Just to say that appart the priests and the Agarashi in Glory and Greed heroes like Kaya (at least at the beginning, after... she's changing), Tomaris (I love this character), Nala and Vagus have less powers than a Kaï Lord, a Wizard of the Cristal Star or a Dessi Magician. Only Kamai seems to be really powerful with his Kai Light.

Oh and welcome to the boards Zorkaan. It's always nice to see new people.

Thank you very much, nice to meet you

For the grammatical errors in Glory and Greed, I am not able to detect them :lol: .

 

[BlackCat]

With luck, I'll get the green light to explore more of Southern Magnamund in other stories.

Like in a bonus adventure for the new gamebooks?

Are you working with Richard Ford too? Because in Dragons of Lencia the Telchoi ask Lencia for help against a rise of Agarashi... I supposed it is a coordinated work of both of you with Joe Dever, to settle the background of the Storms of Chai...

...

If you work someday elswhere in South, please show us the Cener Druids of Kaum, the government of Grey Star or the giant country of Starn ^^. You could even wrote a story similar to Glory and Greed for Shasarak in Taklakot ^^.

You should take a look at issues 17 and (soon) 18 of the Rising Sun as the give some answers to your suggestions.

 

[Zorkaan]

Like in a bonus adventure for the new gamebooks?

Bonus adventure of Lone Wolf 22: Why Grey Star leaves his Palace of Shadaki. Agarash or Shasarak's legacy involved?

Bonus adventure of Lone Wolf 28: Dessi Ambassador Zinair is flying to Dessi with the Claw of Naar, in order to destroy it. But his travel is not so easy... People would like to use the Claw to resurrect an old power.

Please... :lol:

You should take a look at issues 17 and (soon) 18 of the Rising Sun as the give some answers to your suggestions

I immediatly check it Thanks!

 

[WritingWolf]

Actually I thought John Grant did the Kai very well in the Legends series. I think he went overboard with the magical powers though, by making Vonotar so strong he then had to make Alyss so strong, but Banedon and the Magi too? Come on ...

As for Ulnar beating Vashna, I suppose he was wielding the Sword of the Sun - so perhaps Kai was with him?

As I say, I think he got the Kai right but the magicans were all a little too powerful for my tastes - Vonotar aside as that is the whole point of Vonotar after all.

 

[Zorkaan]

If I remember well, Vonotar grew even stronger (or equal) to Zagarna in the Legends. Moreover, Darklords can be destroyed by the combined powers of several Nadziranim (when a draw game occurred between Slutar and Haakon for the conquest of the throne of Helgedad).

 

[WritingWolf]

That's a good point about the Nadziranium - perhaps you could argue that Naar had grown tired about the constant bickering of the Darklords and enhanced the Nadziranium to serve Gnaag.

Personally I think Vonotar alone should be at least as powerful as a Darklord as it makes for a better story for Good to win.

 

[Zorkaan]

perhaps you could argue that Naar had grown tired about the constant bickering of the Darklords and enhanced the Nadziranium to serve Gnaag

That's possible, but in the Legends of Lone Wolf, it seems that the Nadziranim have had the same powers since the beginning of the Darklands. In fact, according to John Grant, Naar splitted the dark power between the Darklords and the Nadziranim. Darklords obtained the physical and the political power. Nadziranim the Right Hand powers. And Gnaag has been the only Darklord to understand the true value of the Nadziranim. Valuing the talents of the Nadziranim, strengthening their trust, exciting their pride, Gnaag managed to reunite the Nadziranim of all the other Darklords to help him. And got a power bigger than even Vashna when they joined their Right Hand powers for him...

Personally I think Vonotar alone should be at least as powerful as a Darklord as it makes for a better story for Good to win.

In The Captives of Kaag, we learn that Vonotar has become a very powerful sorcerer. Indeed, Rimoah fears that the Nadziranim join the Right Hand and the Left Hand Magics, as Vonotar did. Such a reunion would be important enough to resurrect the Darklands...

 

[WritingWolf]

Yes that would imply that Vonotar is more powerful than them all.

What you say about the Nadziranium is true also - I think Grant did a better job in using them as he kept their magics at bay more so than the Brotherhood and Elder Magi where it was excessive and gratutious.

 

[Zorkaan]

I agree that Grant depicted interesting facts related to the Nadziranim, such as they have a common spirit.
But nevertheless, I don't think that the Nadziranim in Joe Dever's world are the supreme owners of Right Hand Magic, and that the Darklords are only stupid warriors. Indeed, we learn in Darklands that Ghanesh and Tomogh were very powerful sorcerers. I suppose they were stronger than the Nadziranim in Right Hand Magic (Even if any groups they can be more powerful in this domain).
In fact, I do think that Darlords are alone at the top of the Darklands, possessing both strengh and dark magic. Below them, 2 groups can be found: the powerful Xaghash, and the black sorcerers Nadziranim.
Nevertheless, Gnaag understood the true power that the Nadizranim can together have, and convinced them to join him...

 

[burns flipper]

(sorry to get back to the topic...)
I agree this book took a while to get going. I don't think I enjoyed the writing style as much as I did with 'Dragons', but once I got into it it soon started flowing.

 

[JB-Mongoose]

Hello, I got this book way later then I wanted, for christmas 2009!
Already read Dragons of Lencia which is a wonderful book.
G&G was excellent too and cannot wait for the 2nd book.
Yes I agree it took longer to get into the book but once you are in it... enjoy.

I have always preferred North Magnamund over South but the South are gaining on me.. however I'm less good at south Magnamund geopraphy and REALLY missed a map in this book, can one be added for book 2?

except for missing a map this book is perfect.