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They Grey Witch is the first story in the Lodoss War saga, so this may be where new readers may want to begin. This is the second book, however, and the first one I’ve read. It wasn’t hard to understand what was going on and the synopsis of the previous book was adequate to get me going. Also, there is a section describing the main characters, and this is very handy considering there are six of them. There’s Parn the human fighter who is seeking answers about his father’s past, Deedlit a magical elf fighter, Etoh a young human priest, Ghim a dwarven warrior, Slayn a human sorcerer, and Woodchuck a human thief. In this book we find that the Island of Lodoss is in turmoil. The evil creatures of Marmo are rising up. The Knights of Valis, who worship Pharis the god of light, are the main force who must stop the threat. We join our group of heroes as they are traveling to Valis to join the cause. Along their journey they see at a distance, a group of Valisian Knights who end up battling a group of travelers. The Valisian Knights lose, at the hands of the Grey Witch. By the time our heroes get to the battlegrounds the enemy is gone and only one Valisian Knight is left living. They find out from the survivor that the Grey Witch has captured the Princess of Valis. The heroes then set out to free the girl, but Ghim may know more about the Grey Witch than he is telling the others. I really like the art of this book. It is a very traditional manga look, with fairly detailed characters with relatively large eyes. It stays really consistent throughout the book. Also, the action sequences aren’t’ too muddled and confusing as I have seen in other books. The writing is fitting and this book is worthy of being a part of an epic. The problem is that this particular book has the feel of the average role-playing experience. The main characters spend way too much time learning about the situation and wasting time, and when there is the chance for action, non-player characters end up doing all the dirty work. Finally when the heroes get into the action, they only get to defeat two low-level guards. If you split the experience six ways, it comes out two like to exp. each. Yeah, if you’re reading this you probably know what I’m talking about.
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