N12: Kothar: Barbarian Swordsman by Gardner F. Fox

Book Review!

N12: Kothar: Barbarian Swordsman by Gardner Fox

I chose Kothar: Barbarian Swordsman by Gardner F. Fox to represent the Kothar series recommended by Gary Gygax in “Appendix N” of the AD&D Dungeon Master’s Guide since this book comes first in the series. For this review, I flipped back through one of my favorite paperback novels. My copy of Kothar comes in at 153 pages with a copyright of 1969.

The Good

*I love science-fiction-based fantasy and the 2-page introduction to this book explained that Kothar lives on one of many worlds left behind by a massive civilization in the future. Apparently humanity moved out into the stars and colonized many worlds, but left them behind without technology due to some sort of apocalyptic event. Thus, what looks like a fantasy novel actually provides a post-apocalypse twist. Of course, after those 2 pages that element really disappears - but I like the concept.

*The book works as a collection of adventure stories.

*Fox created an interesting concept by making Kothar decide between keeping his powerful magic sword (with its curse that he never gets to keep his treasure) or becoming a rich man.

The Bad

*Many people accuse Kothar of existing as a literary “clone” of Conan the Barbarian; for the record, I feel the similarities between the characters create familiarity and the differences allow them enough uniqueness to know the difference between them.

*The parts of the book act more like a collection of short stories than as a cohesive novel. A reader not knowing this going into the work might feel let down by a lack of much overarching plot from one part of the book to another.

D&D Connections & Inspirations

*The fact that Ed Greenwood named his D&D setting the “Forgotten Realms” makes me think he embraced the same science-fiction based concept as the Kothar series since the fallen intergalactic society left “forgotten” worlds behind when it collapsed; many D&D authors likely established their worlds as a futuristic post-apocalyptic setting disguised as fantasy and the majority of fans simply missed the clues. Gary Gygax clearly embraced this concept with crashed spaceships and such in the Greyhawk setting.

*In the beginning of the story, an old lich give Kothar his magic sword.

*The story resembles a solo quest of a barbarian player plagued by an evil sorcerer, with some interesting NPCs involved along the way.

Overall

For whatever reason I love this simple adventure story. For my tastes, the book gets a 8/10 rating. This book exemplifies what I want to read to relax on the weekend, even if the text lacks literary merit.