Not Really the Prisoner of Zenda

Joel Rosenberg ends his Guardians of the Flame series with a pretty good finale. It wraps up the loose ends of the previous two books pretty well, and how the loose strings get tied up is pretty interesting.

The series as a whole was worth reading, although I felt there were several novels that added virtually nothing to the series, there were other books that were quite good fantasy reads.

What a lame ending for a series that started out great and then took a nose dive. The Guardians of the Flame series pretty much plays out this this. The first four books are great though they have huge time gaps between them. The next three are okay but are closer connected. The last three (the "Not" trilogy) are garbage with "Not Really the Prisoner of Zenda" being the worst. Essentially it's an extended epilogue where nothing really happens. The main characters in the first 7 books are essentially ignored and none of the story threads are ever tied up. Instead it focuses on characters who seem to belong in a different series entirely. It's almost as if Rosenberg wanted to do a new trilogy but figured the books would sell better if he show more used a known universe. When the hell is Jason going to get the sword and destroy Pandathaway and the Guild Council dammit?!? show less