Join me as I review The Middle of Nowhere by Paul B. Thompson live! Share your thoughts on this final novel in the Dragonlance Crossroads series, released by Wizards of the Coast on July 1, 2003. You can buy a copy here: https://amzn.to/4qEzZFJ
About The Middle of Nowhere
The latest title in the world-spanning Crossroads series. Popular Dragonlance author Paul B. Thompson pens the latest novel that explores an area of the setting that has been mentioned but not previously described in detail to readers.
The peace of a rural village is shattered by the sudden appearance of a band of renegade warriors seeking slaves. The farmers of Nowhere have no hope unless they can raise a company of champions to defend them, but the motley group of saviors who take up their cause–a shipwrecked sailor, a minotaur poet, a kender treasure hunter, a shamed half-ogre, a disgraced foot soldier, and an eccentric sorcerer–seem nearly as dangerous as the slavemasters
Review
Intro
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga review episode. It is Palast, Deepkolt the 23rd. My name is Adam and today I am going to give you my review of The Middle of Nowhere by Paul B. Thompson. I would like to take a moment and thank the DLSaga members and Patreon patrons, and invite you to consider becoming a member or patron. You can even pick up Dragonlance media or get $10 by signing up to StartPlaying.Games using my affiliate links. This is my perspective only, and if you have any thoughts or disagree with mine, I invite you to share them in YouTube chat.
Review
We start in the town of Nowhere, a simple hard-working farmer village. A group of bandits arrive, mainly with ogre brutes, but led by Lord Rakell. He has claimed control of the village and killed all who resisted. Then he demanded able bodied men and women to mines in the mountains with fresh ones to go a few weeks later. Malek, a farmer tried to fight, but was knocked down, and Rakell saw that an old Solamnic Knight leader of his was in the town. He took Marren and his daughter Laila with them, and left. The townspeople were beside themselves. They couldn’t stand up to these brutes, and their livelihood would end without the mena dn women Rackell took.
Malek decided to recruit warriors to fight back. He, Nils, his brother, Caeta, and Wilf all travel to the town of Robann and attempt to recruit warriors. They have no money, only food to cover, and so most laugh at them or ignore them. They discover a Minotaur who is ostracised by his family for being a poet who agreed to fight with them. A Khur nomad named Hume agreed to go as well. They adopted a kender named Carver, and a sailor mercenary named Raika. Together they aided the escape of a Kagonesti hunter named Amergin who killed the son of a gang leader in a duel. They only needed a leader and came across a disgraced Knight of th eRose named Howland. He agreed to help them, and they all left town, evading the gang.
They came across a lynching where the crowd was paralysed. Ezu, a traveler, was going to be hanged by these villagers for being an outsider, but he paralysed them hoping to escape his bonds. He was unable, so the group let him out and he joined them. They continued on their way to Nowhere and Raika was trapped by a Kagonesti bounty hunter, but rescued by her group, and they all captured him. He turned out to be the famous Robein the tireless. THey all arrive at the town and let Robein go. He agrees to help, but will need to deliver his bounty afterward. They all rally the townspeople and start to build defences when some of them go to scout the enemy camp.
They hide while some prisoners and guards are going to get water, then attack, killing some of them. The guards fight back and end up killing Hume, as the others flee. Malek saw Laila and was trying to rescue her which is what led to Hume’s death. He is scolded and they return to Nowhere hoping their plans haven’t been ruined. They spend a significant amount of time digging trenches, teaching villagers to fight and making plans for Rakell to return. By the time Rakell was supposed to return, he did not. The bounty hunter and Kagonesti had a brief back and forth about fighting each other when scouts arrived and they slew them, then returned to camp. Rakell sends a soldier with troops to test the fortifications.
The villagers fought off all the probs by the invaders. Howland sent Malek and Nils to scout the area and report back. And then the real battle began. They fought off the invaders, taking damage, but delivering it in kind, and then they planned to parlay for peace. When they went, they were captured but Ezu the traveler cast a darkness spell and Howland escaped with the aid of the seemingly traitorous Marren uth Aegar. Rackel also knew Howland from the same Solamnic Knight company, but he was only a Sergeant not a Knight. He is led to Malek and Nils who all escape even though Malek wanted to find Laila.
They return to the village and the battle resumes, this time with catapults and ogres attacking. In the end they fought off the invaders, killed the ogres, and many of Rackell’s bandit soldiers abandoned him. They ended up losing Amergin, Carver, and Khorr in the battle. Ezu returned to camp to deliver a message, and Rackell used him as a distraction to attack the village again! Rackell’s forces are diminished, but they fought well. In the end Howland and Rackell faced off against each other and dueled. It was a pitched battle, back and forth, bothering the other, but in the end Rackell died before Howland could deliver a final stroke. Turns out Amergin wasn’t dead after all as his metal throwing star was plunged into Rackell’s neck.
With his death, the battle was lost. His bandits fled, and the town returned to normalcy. They buried all the dead, and honored the fallen Khorr. Turns out the kender Carver wasn’t dead either, just stuck in a house from the battle. And Howland, Raika, and Robien all went to free the remaining slaves from Rackells mine. Along the way Ezu arrived and revealed he is a wanderer. Whether they are inferring he is Valthonis or something else entirely, I really don’t like him in the story. This is an era where there are no gods, so someone wandering the land with the powers of a god is off brand and out of place. He leaves and they all arrive at the mine.
It was destroyed and revealed the slaves all revolted after a red dragon assaulted the mine. Left behind are stacks of steel bars. The remaining three take what they can carry and travel in different directions to their own futures. In all it was a trite and expected story, falling back on old Kirasowa tropes that bled into and informed American westerns. It was entirely derivative and I had to force myself to read it, rather than enjoying it. It was well written, but just not a good telling of the familiar story. If you are a completionist, by all means read it, otherwise, you can skip this novel entirely.
Outro
And that’s it for my review of The Middle of Nowhere by Stephen D. Sullivan. What did you think of the familiar tale? Do you like divinity present in the Fifth Age? Feel free to email me at info@dlsaga.com or leave a comment below.
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