The Road to Neverwinter is a prequel novel to the new Dungeons and Dragons movie Honor Among Thieves, which is coming to cinemas soon.
And I have to say, if this is how Wizards of the Coast wants to monetise their D&D brand, I’m all in.
Road to Neverwinter is not only a good D&D novel, but also a good fantasy novel in the Sword & Sorcery genre in its own right, and if the quality of the novel is any indicator of the quality of the film, then we probably have the first really good Dungeons & Dragons feature film here with Honor among Thieves. (Disclaimer: I bought the original English version. I haven’t seen a German translation, I can’t say anything about the quality of any translation, and I didn’t receive a review copy or anything else from WotC to write this review).
I will try to keep the following review as spoiler-free as possible.
Summary
The framing story is Edgin telling his daughter a bedtime story about the adventures they’ve had together and how their family has grown together. The rest of the story, then, is a narrative by Edgin.
Edgin is a father, a widower and has to look after his young daughter Kira on his own. He is also a former Harper agent. He meets Holga in a tavern, a barbarian who has been cast out by her tribe. Two lost souls who find each other, help each other and care for Kira together. Together they experience adventures, and with each adventure the little family grows by another member: Forge, the rogue, and Simon, the sorcerer. Thus, little by little, a small group of adventurers emerges, as known from many D&D campaigns. In total, there are four different adventures that they experience together, with the last one taking up about 50% of the entire book.
Yes, especially the beginning is not the typical D&D novel plot. It’s about family, about bonding, about personal and everyday problems, like getting enough food on the table.
There is not a single fight in the first 15 percent of the book. I think that’s a brave choice, but it works out perfectly. It shows that Dungeons and Dragons can be more than “kick down the door, kill the monster and steal the treasure”.
The characters are always outmatched in combat, the monsters and enemies are always stronger or outnumbered, and they have to use cunning and planning to get through the battles. Since I don’t want to spoil anything, I won’t reveal more here.
But if the whole thing were a D&D campaign, I would like it.
Top
Overall, I think the novel perfectly conveys what a D&D campaign would feel like. You would think, yes, that’s what my group would do. But at the same time I would say that you can read and understand the whole novel without having been exposed to Dungeons and Dragons before. It is a very good fantasy novel even without D&D.
The characters all make sense, the magic is not overdone and solves all the problems of our heroes, they have to solve the problems with their minds and when they do stupid things it gets them into trouble. You feel for the characters and don’t feel they are flat, they are real.
The references to the D&D rulebook are there, but not distracting. All in all, the novel is well written. The language is natural and understandable. The plot is varied and not always predictable, but not unrealistic either.
I would say The Road to Neverwinter would make a perfect short TV or Netflix series. Maybe 5 or 6 episodes.
Flop
There is not much to criticise about this novel.
There are a few anachronisms, a few descriptions that seem modern. But these are so few individual sentences that they don’t bother much.
One could perhaps be bothered by the fact that especially the last heist is not really well planned and the planning itself is rather skimmed over, but at the same time this is how it would go in many D&D campaigns.
Conclusion
Dungeons and Dragons – Honor Among Thieves – The Road to Neverwinter is a critical hit. Author Jaleigh Johnson has rolled a natural 20 here and I will be checking out her other (D&D) novels. The book is fun and I can recommend Roads to Neverwinter to anyone who likes D&D novels, who likes Sword & Sorcery novels and who wants to read a fantasy novel with a rather small focus, with personal stories and low stakes, where for once the fate of the whole world is not in the hands of the protagonists. The novel is also good for D&D newcomers and the curious, as it conveys very well what a low-stakes D&D campaign can look like.
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Yours truly, A.B Funing