Rating: 
Summary: Fun, but short dungeon hack 'n slash adventure
Review: "The Savage Caves" is the first in the new line of books based on the popular Dungeons & Dragons role-playing. These books seem to be written for two groups: new readers of fantasy and long-time players who seek a feeling of nostalgia. This one wasn't a masterpiece by any means, and as fantasy novels go, was just an average story. However, it was a fun story that gives the reader a sense of playing the game, keeping track of hit points, magic spells used, etc."The Savage Caves" revolves around a band of adventurers who are on a quest to stop giant spiders from stealing the livelihood of a small town -- their sheep. The fighter and mage agree to stop the spiders if a halfling scheduled for execution is freed and allowed to join their party. Along the way, they meet a young mage who has just left her mentor after years of training. The group eventually follows the spiders to a series of caves. There they encounter goblins and a large hobgoblin that is running the show. The adventure is basically a hack 'n slash one as the party battles the spiders and goblins, eventually leading to the non-surprising big battle with the hobgoblin leader. However, the mystery behind the spiders' actions is also revealed as the story reaches a predictable, but satisfying ending. Overall, if you enjoy fun fantasy with little plot or character development, "The Savage Caves", and most likely the following books in the series, would be a satisfying read.
Rating:
Summary: Fun, but short dungeon hack 'n slash adventure
Review: "The Savage Caves" is the first in the new line of books based on the popular Dungeons & Dragons role-playing. These books seem to be written for two groups: new readers of fantasy and long-time players who seek a feeling of nostalgia. This one wasn't a masterpiece by any means, and as fantasy novels go, was just an average story. However, it was a fun story that gives the reader a sense of playing the game, keeping track of hit points, magic spells used, etc. "The Savage Caves" revolves around a band of adventurers who are on a quest to stop giant spiders from stealing the livelihood of a small town -- their sheep. The fighter and mage agree to stop the spiders if a halfling scheduled for execution is freed and allowed to join their party. Along the way, they meet a young mage who has just left her mentor after years of training. The group eventually follows the spiders to a series of caves. There they encounter goblins and a large hobgoblin that is running the show. The adventure is basically a hack 'n slash one as the party battles the spiders and goblins, eventually leading to the non-surprising big battle with the hobgoblin leader. However, the mystery behind the spiders' actions is also revealed as the story reaches a predictable, but satisfying ending. Overall, if you enjoy fun fantasy with little plot or character development, "The Savage Caves", and most likely the following books in the series, would be a satisfying read.
Rating: 
Summary: Blast From The Past
Review: Fun book and brought back memories of my bygone gaming days. Best points--lots of well written action, original use of giant spiders and some depth added to the much maligned goblin race (usually just used by DM's as sword-fodder). Bad points--too short and lazily written dialogue (kinda like a real game). Series has definite promise.
Rating:
Summary: Fun little adventure
Review: I bought this book hoping for some mindless entertainment on the bus. Turns out, it really isn't that mindless, but it is entertaining. It's a D&D book, so I really wasn't expecting much, but it did a good job of capturing the mood of a good D&D game, a "first adventure" plot to start a campaign. Lotsa action, lotsa fun, and some clever things thrown into a pretty straightforward plot. The only thing that did bother me, as an earlier poster pointed out, was the use of modern slang. Several times, my tenuous suspension of disbelief was shattered by it. In spite of that, I actually found myself worried about Naull and hoping she wouldn't be killed. After the bus ride, I finished the book and bought the The Living Dead the next day.
Aside from a fun action-packed fantasy, it does a good job of sticking to third edition D&D rules for the characters, and illustrating their implications to the characters. And, I'm gonna rip off the entire village and cave system situation for my group's next adventure.
Rating:
Summary: Fun little adventure
Review: I bought this book hoping for some mindless entertainment on the bus. Turns out, it really isn't that mindless, but it is entertaining. It's a D&D book, so I really wasn't expecting much, but it did a good job of capturing the mood of a good D&D game, a "first adventure" plot to start a campaign. Lotsa action, lotsa fun, and some clever things thrown into a pretty straightforward plot. The only thing that did bother me, as an earlier poster pointed out, was the use of modern slang. Several times, my tenuous suspension of disbelief was shattered by it. In spite of that, I actually found myself worried about Naull and hoping she wouldn't be killed. After the bus ride, I finished the book and bought the The Living Dead the next day.
Aside from a fun action-packed fantasy, it does a good job of sticking to third edition D&D rules for the characters, and illustrating their implications to the characters. And, I'm gonna rip off the entire village and cave system situation for my group's next adventure.
Rating:
Summary: Back to Basics
Review: I haven't read too many of the other DnD books (Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, Ravenloft, etc) because I found them, especially the earlier ones, to be a bit too much like a bad gaming session. They also seemed to be written more for Young Adults than grown up gamers like myself. That being said, I am really looking forward to this series. Sort of a back to basics gaming novel, without 20 years of history to have to muddle through. I enjoyed The Savage Caves quite a bit. It sports a rather unique, though, as I said, basic, storyline. The iconic characters in this story are Regdar the human fighter, Jozan the human cleric, Lidda the halfling rogue and Naull the human wizard. The characters are well portrayed, if a little stereotypical (but what do you expect from DnD, which is rife with stereotypes). There is some genuine chemistry between the characters (especially Lidda and Regdar) and a little love interest as well (though not between Regdar and Lidda). I have to say that my favorite character is Jozan. Though this is ostensibly Regdar's book, Jozan shines here, especially in his interaction with Lidda. I do have two complaints about the book, though. The first one is the length. It is a very thin novel and costs as much as a larger one. The print is small, though, so there is some meat to the story, and I didn't feel like I didn't get my money's worth, so that complaint is a small one. The second is the slang. Lidda frequently uses what I consider to be current slang (i.e. "My bad" and the like) which interrupts the flow of the novel, in my opinion, and smacked me in the head with it. Although I don't expect a bunch of "thee"s and "thou"s from the characters, Lidda's slang (not to mention Naull's pumping her fist and exclaiming "Yes!" when she was able to cast a particularly well-timed spell) was a little disconcerting. I removed one star from my review for this, as it really affected the whole feel of the novel. So, all in all a good start, with a few bumps, and I am really looking forward to "The Living Dead".
Rating:
Summary: Very Enjoyable D&D Entry
Review: I liked this book. It is very short, but has some nice ideas. Could be very good for DM's. It adds good life to the goblins, rather than just making them arrow fodder. It is also refreshing to see low-level characters in a book. These guys _can't_ do everything and often fail at simple tasks. The end is a tad disappointing, but since you won't invest too much time in it, it is forgivable.
Rating: 
Summary: Short, not sweet
Review: I suspect that T.H. Lain is in this instance actually Phillip Athans. The poor prose, lack of a cohesive plot and reliance on gory fights bear his thumbprints. Essentially we have 4 neophytes trying to save a village from spiders. The spiders being disturbed by a hobgoblin who wishes to be king of the goblin tribes. The adventurers in this short novel obviously don't get fleshed out, which is ok since this is just supposed to be an entertaining dungeon crawl. The party is quickly seperated and the novel begins to show severe weaknesses. The author moves back and forth from character to character too quickly in buzz-flash MTV type video edits for someone with absolutely no attention span. I am speaking of repeatedly moving from character to character after just a page or less quite often. The characters roam around the dungeons like beheaded chickens and of course prevail. Rather than being a short and sweet fun dungeon romp we have a short, but confused and stupid dungeon romp. A very weak start to this series. The good points, what few there are, would be the ambigous morality of the goblins being neither good nor bad, just cowardly and selfish, the four primary characters, though unfleshed are pleasent enough excepting the halfling with her modern slang and foul mouth. If you want something quick, and unchallenging you might want to give this a look, but there is better fluff reading out there.
Rating:
Summary: Short, not sweet
Review: I suspect that T.H. Lain is in this instance actually Phillip Athans. The poor prose, lack of a cohesive plot and reliance on gory fights bear his thumbprints. Essentially we have 4 neophytes trying to save a village from spiders. The spiders being disturbed by a hobgoblin who wishes to be king of the goblin tribes. The adventurers in this short novel obviously don't get fleshed out, which is ok since this is just supposed to be an entertaining dungeon crawl. The party is quickly seperated and the novel begins to show severe weaknesses. The author moves back and forth from character to character too quickly in buzz-flash MTV type video edits for someone with absolutely no attention span. I am speaking of repeatedly moving from character to character after just a page or less quite often. The characters roam around the dungeons like beheaded chickens and of course prevail. Rather than being a short and sweet fun dungeon romp we have a short, but confused and stupid dungeon romp. A very weak start to this series. The good points, what few there are, would be the ambigous morality of the goblins being neither good nor bad, just cowardly and selfish, the four primary characters, though unfleshed are pleasent enough excepting the halfling with her modern slang and foul mouth. If you want something quick, and unchallenging you might want to give this a look, but there is better fluff reading out there.
Rating:
Summary: Simple, Straightforward, Enjoyable...
Review: Is the best way I can sum up this book quickly. As the first in a new series centered around the Iconic D&D characters as seen in the Player's Handbook, The Savage Caves is a fast and fun read, and does a good job in introducing our heroes, bringing them together in true D&D fashion and setting them on the path to adventure. I gave this book 4 stars out of 5 because it is so very short, and reads more like juvenile fiction than I expected, but don't let that keep you from enjoying the story. T.H. Lain keeps things flowing well, switching from character to character and even showing things from the point of view of the "bad guys" to keep the perspective intruiging. I look forward to seeing how further books in the series evolve the ongoing story of these characters.
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