Blood Hostages

Blood Hostages is a fantasy novel by J. Robert King, set in the Planescape campaign setting, and based on the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. It is the first novel published in the "Blood Wars Trilogy". It was published in paperback, January 1996.

Blood Hostages
Cover
AuthorJ. Robert King
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
SeriesBlood Wars Trilogy
GenreFantasy novel
Published1996
Media typePrint
ISBN0-7869-0473-9

Plot summary

In Blood Hostages, a kidnap reveals an uncle's dark past; his teenage rescuers endure a process of self- discovery that reveals royal parentage; a mysterious mentor assembles a company of rogues to aid them; the kids have one of the most powerful magic items in the world; and a demon-god aims to use it to rule the universe.[1]

Reception

Trenton Webb reviewed Blood Hostages for Arcane magazine, rating it a 5 out of 10 overall.[1] He commented that "This book may be formulaic fantasy but it's fun. Perverse enjoyment comes from the ceaseless parade of fantasy fiction conventions, while genuine pleasure comes from the headlong charge through the bizarre Planescape multiverse."[1] Webb commented that the novel "shamelessly employs every fantasy cliché", but concluded his review by saying "Despite this, it's a tolerable read. The flat characters are rescued by the energy, variety and weirdness of the planes. No attempt is made to explain how each world works: the characters only see how that plane affects their skills, echoing the style of the Planescape manuals. Experienced Planescape players will warm to Blood Hostages as their game world is brought, somewhat functionally, to life. It's a useful source of planar descriptions, an example of how they can be played and an excellent introduction for those who wish to explore them. Just don't turn to it for plot inspiration."[1]

gollark: How wasteful.
gollark: Or, well, the obvious alternative.
gollark: Maybe. On the one hand I at least like to think I'm vaguely better than average at actually paying attention to explanations for things and won't just immediately consign them to "outgroup → bad" or "not convention → bad". On the other hand probably most people think that since people are bad at comparing things. On the third hand, which I totally have, the alternative is to just assume people doing things are probably right, which seems wrong.
gollark: No, which is why I said I didn't care that much.
gollark: > that might be valid but itS' also an easy to abuse excuse to dislike almost anything> because you can always say that you don't see the pointThis is typically why people explain things.

References
  1. Webb, Trenton (April 1996). "The Great Library". Arcane. Future Publishing (5): 83.
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