Cav's Place

Now that I decided to finish this series of novellas included with The Bard’s Tale IV: Barrows Deep, I looked it up and found that this second half of it presents the backstories of some of the characters that can be recruited, so they should make more sense for those who played the game, and I didn’t. However, I found this one surprisingly good even so. It’s written well, and alternating between Sybale’s current adventure and her recent past that provides the backstory for it allows it to offer more, about both the character and the world, than I expected. There is some decent action as well, but I’d consider that much less important, the other elements creating the reasons to care.
Of course, the good impression and rating take into account the fact that this is just a novella, and one written for a game at that, so I’m not really comparing it to a “proper” book or to something that I actually expected to stand well on its own. The action could have been more thrilling, the information more detailed, and the romance should have definitely been developed and presented much better. And this last part is my main complaint, because it’s the motivation behind it all and yet it’s all too instant and then gets swept away after a single scene. Assuming that it’d have been done well, dedicating at least a chapter to this would have allowed the reader to actually understand what it’s all about, become emotionally involved instead of having to just take it for granted, take the character’s “word” for it, if you will.

Rating: 4/5