Guardians of the Flame
                            by Joel Rosenberg
		
                 Review copyright (c) 1994 by Doug Ingram

[Bibliographic information at the end of the article.]

	Guardians of the Flame is a fantasy series that was first released 
about 11 years ago.  The most recent book is now almost two years old,
and what with the author's other works, it is not clear to me if or when
another book will come out.  Like most series written over a long
period of time, the style and quality of the books changes during
the series.  Although I would argue that the series has gotten weaker
with the last two books, I still think the series is a very good one
overall and worth reading.

	The opening chapter of this series filled me with a sense of
dread...not just that, the opening SCENE.  The setting is one most
role-playing-gamers are familiar with...a group of friends sitting
around a large table in an open classroom/meeting room on the nearby
campus.  But something isn't quite right with this gaming session...
the Game-Master is set to transport his group to the world they thought
was a fantasy.  Each player is transformed into the personification
of the character he or she played and "set adrift" in the new fantasy
world, with a mission to carry out a quest in the hopes of great reward.

	Well...now maybe you can see why I was filled with such dread.
Surely such a trite premise couldn't work.  But it does.  And, believe me,
I give Rosenberg a lot of credit if not for his initial way of starting
the story, then for his ability to overcome such a huge negative as
his first chapter.  I guess the real key to this whole series is the
way the author's characters use their real-world intelligence in a way
that gives them an advantage.  From the beginning, while it is clear
the characters ARE intended to be outfitted as virtual demigods in their
world, various things quickly happen to them that reveal their frailties.
Thus, instead of the standard fantasy device of having a few characters
"Rambo" their way through the bad guys, the central characters have
a variety of interesting and unusual strengths and weaknesses because
of their backgrounds.

	As the first book begins, the characters are transported to
this new world and faced with a task of finding a gate between worlds
to bring their former Game-Master through (he can't do it himself,
which is why he tries to manipulate his friends to do it for him).
Rather than a "cake walk" to this gate, as promised, the characters
soon run into enough difficulties that their lives are in great danger.
As a side note, I'd like to note here that the scene with Lord Lund
in the first book was very surprising and good...I got the feeling
this was Rosenberg acting out one of those "if only I could wipe
that smirk off his face..." scenarios that happens when one member
of a gaming group is just a little too big for his britches.  The
group ends up trying to accomplish their mission, but in a much more
roundabout way.

	Their quest leads them to a large city called Pandathaway,
which is the center of two major organizations in the world,
the slavers and the wizards.  The way magic works in this world is
very well done, and the characters learn a lot about it while in the
city.  They also come to the conclusion that they intensely dislike
the way the slavery industry is so prominent in this world.  The
group's ostensible leader, Karl Cullinane, decides to act on an
impulse and free an enslaved dragon, which later becomes a valuable
companion to the group.

	Of course, this gets the group in trouble, as does their success
in thumbing their nose at the world's "establishment" in a variety of
ways.  They eventually overcome a lot of hardship and difficulty to
reach this gate.  Once there, however, things start to go from bad to
worse as the group eventually is all but forced to stay in their new
world and live out their lives.

	The group decides that their main goal in life will be the
elimination of slavers, a group that has caused the world and their
group in particular a great deal of grief.  So they set out
on an orchestrated campaign to destroy the slavers' guild.  This 
eventually leads to a personal rivalry between Karl and some of
the leaders of the guild.  As time passes and Karl has a son, Jason,
the enmity is passed down from generation to generation, amidst the
establishment by the characters of a new walled city called "Home"
and a series of skirmishes with slavers.

	The first four books, the strongest of the series, cover a
period of time up through Jason's coming-of-age.  The rivalries between
the slavers and Homelanders as well as the subplot of the development
of technology in the new world by some of the former engineers of the
group are all very well done and entertaining.  But the focus of the
series is on Karl, as it should be.  Karl is by far the most entertaining
character, Walter Slovotsky (the sarcastic thief) included, though all
the characters have strong points.

	Because the books no longer center on Karl after the 3rd or 4th
book (saying any more would be a spoiler), they get weaker.  It may
also be because Rosenberg's writing style has changed over time, but
the last two really give me the impression of being potboilers...
interesting books but just not the same feel as the first four.
Nevertheless, I would recommend the whole series.

	One question that may come up is this:  Since the series does
seem to rely somewhat on knowing and appreciating the skill with which
Rosenberg brings to life so many little aspects of role-playing-games
(such as healing potions), I'm not sure that non-RPG'ers will enjoy this
series.  I think it is very well-written and entertaining, but it may
have one too many "in" jokes for the tastes of some.

	This series has been written over the course of 9 years, with
the Sleeping Dragon first copyrighted in 1983 under the Signet books
label.  The first four books in the series were originally published
under the Signet label, but they now appear to all be available from
the publisher who picked up the series starting with the 5th book
(The Warrior Lives), Roc Fantasy.  The price of each book was $2.95
when they first came out, but I'll bet they'll be more for newer
editions, so I list the price of the last one.  Dontcha just LOVE book
price inflation over the last 10 years?  To be safe, I've included all
the information below in the hopes that the moderators of r.a.sf.reviews
will edit out anything unimportant. 

%A Rosenberg, Joel
%S Guardians of the Flame
%C New York
%P 1600 pp.
%O paperback, US$5.50 each (approximately)

%T The Sleeping Dragon
%I Signet Books
%D November 1983
%G ISBN 0-451-12574-6

%T The Sword and the Chain
%I Signet Books
%D April 1984
%G 0-451-12883-4

%T The Silver Crown
%I Signet Books
%D April 1985
%G 0-451-13531-8

%T The Heir Apparent
%I Signet Books
%D May 1987
%G 0-451-14820-7

%T The Warrior Lives
%I Roc Fantasy
%D April 1990
%G 0-451-45001-9

%T The Road to Ehvenor
%I Roc Fantasy
%D November 1992
%G 0-451-45191-0

Doug Ingram // d.ingram@tcu.edu // "Carpe Datum"
	http://personal.tcu.edu/~dingram/books.html (for more reviews)