YMMV. I'll admit to remembering this through nostalgia goggles. B-movie schlock fantasy somewhat below Conan level, but the art is charming. ( )

I read this book once or twice when I was younger and thought it was fabulous, but perhaps that was just the pictures that were part of the novel. I purchased this book online (used), and reread it. I was disappointed. The book was written around the artwork. The characters were not as fleshed out, the plot was too simple, and the scene transitions were clunky. The whole thing read more like a graphic novel or comic book horribly taken into completely prose form. I keep it only because of the art. ( )

I read this book at a friend's request, and although it's not the worst fantasy book I've ever read, it's not the best by a long-shot.

Most of the story is completely ripped off of the Lord of the Rings - up to and including the whole fight at the mouth of a volcano with the deposit therein of ancient relics and a villain, causing the downfall of a great evil empire, allowing the forces of good to win against insurmountable odds - and the main characters get rescued from the exploding lava pit by a wizard 'in' a flying beast ...

But, beyond that, it does have a couple twists of it's own, as well as a unique set of moral lessons - I HATE when authors steal those as well as the plot - and, not least, some great paintings and drawings by the Brothers Hildebrandt. ( )