Cav's Place

If the first half of this series of novellas included with The Bard’s Tale IV: Barrows Deep got worse, the second half got better, so now I’m rather disappointed that I finished all of it. And I’ll once again point out that those who played the game would probably get even more from these novellas, and I didn’t. But, yes, I can say that I liked this one even a little more than Promises Made By Moonlight. The songs add a fair bit to it, but I also found both Fiona and “Soriac” quite likable, which is saying something when it comes from me, and in fact I’d consider it quite an omission that only Fiona was mentioned in the description I found. Not that I’d actually know, but I guess that the reason for that is that only she appears in the game, yet the novella really is about two characters, not just one. But it does offer information about that character and some more details about the world, features some interesting action even if it’s lighter on actual combat, has some moments that are at least somewhat amusing, and there are even a couple of twists that I doubt you can see coming.
Of course, I’ll once again point out that the good impression and rating take into account that this is just a novella written for a game, not a “proper” book or something that would be expected to stand on its own. And on top of being the shortest of the series, those included songs mean that it is in fact even shorter than it appears at first glance, so it makes rather liberal use of shortcuts in order to advance as desired, some things happening because they need to and others being all too quickly left behind, and the way things play out may not really stand scrutiny. But, again, if you take what it’s meant to be into account and keep your expectations in check accordingly, it’s a surprisingly pleasant way to spend a couple of hours.

Rating: 4/5