Dungeons \u0026 Dragons: The Fallbacks: Bound for Ruin by Jaleigh Johnson

Dungeons \u0026 Dragons: The Fallbacks: Bound for Ruin Reviews

• 
  Enaka

  Huge thanks to Random House Worlds for the advanced copy!
  
  I'm a big fan of anything fantasy, and doubly so when it has "Dungeons & Dragons" printed somewhere on the cover, so when I got the chance to review The Fallbacks: Bound for Ruin, I was HYPED. And all I can say is: this did not disappoint.
  
  Tessalynde (Tess to her friends) dreams of putting together Faerûn's best adventuring party. She already has Anson the fighter at her side, as well as Uggie the otyugh, and goes to recruit three more members to balance the party: Cazrin the wizard, Baldric the (unorthodox) cleric, and Lark the bard. Together they take on their first quest in hopes of lauching their reputation as Faerûn's new greatest adventurers, but of course, things don't quite go as planned, and it's up to them to save both their reputation and their lives.
  
  It's a character-driven story with little conflict between party members, which is honestly refreshing. Everyone gets their turn in the spotlight, so if you're like me and ready to give your credit card info to Lark with no strings attached (I was hooked on his character from the moment he showed up, sue me), you'll get some chapters from his point of view, as well as everyone else's. And I mean everyone. Uggie's chapters are works of genius adding vital character and depth to everyone on the team.
  
  One of the things that made Honor Among Thieves one of my favorite movies ever was how it felt like I was watching a D&D campaign play out, and the same can be said for this book. It feels like a group of friends made a D&D group and played through a campaign. If you like Critical Role or Dimension 20, you'll love The Fallbacks.
• 
  Lauren Stoolfire

  This was pretty fun. As soon as I saw this was by Jaleigh Johnson, I knew I had to read it given how much I loved her Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves: The Road to Neverwinter. While this didn't hit the same highs, it still fun if you're looking for a fantasy adventure romp.
• 
  Daniel Lavan

  This was fine, nothing really more than that. It was a fun adventure with familiar locations and cool enemies, but everything felt very surface level. It felt like a "safe" book, like they wanted to put out another DnD book but didn't want to take any risks with it. Glad I read it though!
• 
  Erin crackedspinesandbookishvibes

  2.5 rounded to 3
  
  I picked this book up because some friends and I are going to be playing D&D soon. While the story was good, and the characters were likeable this book was kinda meh for me.
  
  This was a quick and easy read that had me wanting more. I would put this book at an easy young adult level.
  
  I wanted this to be more in-depth, less surface level. This book felt safe, like there were no chances being taken. It felt easy, but I guess I wasn’t looking for easy when I picked this up.
  
  The world of D&D is familiar to me, but this book felt like a soft introduction to it all. Maybe they are hoping to bring in new readers? But for some of us who know the world it was a little bit of a let down.
  
  I sadly won’t be continuing the series, and honestly I don’t think I will pick up anymore novels about D&D.
• 
  Andi

  I won this ARC on twitter. As someone who plays D&D I was excited to see what would come of this.
  
  I think the author can write, and I her characters.
  
  That being said, if you're looking for depth or a strong fantasy you're not going to find it here. This is more for newbies or people who don't quite understand how D&D works. I can tell what bits were what if played in a normal game - what rolls, what spells, why this and this was done instead of that. And in my opinion, it took away the fun and mystery of what could happen in the story.
  
  So, if you never read a D&D book before you'll enjoy this a lot more than I did. It's more of a 2 star read, but I gave it 3 because of novelty of it all.
• 
  Becca

  A lighthearted fantasy adventure perfect for DND lovers! This book was fun, fast-paced (read in one day), with a ragtag group of characters that you can’t help but love! Dare I say this is cozy-fantasy adjacent?
• 
  Richard Radgoski

  Solid forgotten realms novel with good characters, plot and integration of dnd concepts
• 
  April Odom

  I received an advanced copy. Started off and remained fast paced. I definitely needed to refer back to the cover art  because you are introduced to quite a few characters in the first few pages. Each of the characters is lovable and it's a fun and enjoyable read. This was my first time reading any D&D books and I was able to follow along easily.
• 
  Michael

  My first book by Jaleigh Johnson, and it's a good one!
  
  It is a straightforward adventure story set in D&D's Forgotten Realms setting, and it introduces us to a likeable cast of misfit adventurers.
  
  The story moves along at a breezy pace, giving glimpses into the characters' pasts and dropping some little hints about them, probably to be expanded upon in later stories. The overall plot is nothing really shocking, but good enough to have kept me reading to find out what happened next.
  
  All in all, it read like a fun and upbeat adventure story, the tone not unlike the recent D&D Honor Among Thieves movie. And I hope we see more of the Fallbacks in further stories.
  
  Also, I did not know what an Otyugh was before reading this, but Uggie is precious and must be protected at all costs.
• 
  Andrew

  This was a fun read about a bunch of imperfect people (two humans, an elf, a dwarf, and a tiefling) coming together to form an adventuring party, only to find themselves in the middle of some high-stakes action as they try to come together as a team. Each character has a personal backstory that highlights the obstacles they must face in order to learn how to trust other members and themselves to do what needs to be done. I assume this is going to be a series because the story definitely ends with plenty of plot hooks to explore.
  
  The novel takes place in the Forgotten Realms, although that term shows up nowhere on the cover or title page.
• 
  Sam

  A bit middle of the road, tame story with fairly predictable outcomes but overall entertaining. Does a lot of telling and not showing, especially with how the characters perceived each other. Great, well done characters, great plot, engaging dialogue, and as a DND player I enjoyed it, but for how tame and safe it felt, I found myself disengaging from the storyline sometimes.
  
  I did really enjoy the Faerun name drops and that was sometimes the most exciting part of this book, but that's just a predictable outcome to the kind of nerd I am about these things lol
  
  Would recommend for an early YA audience, or highschool level DND enthusiasts.
• 
  Thibault

  Alright, I would have given this book 5 stars out of 5 before I even read it, just because of what I envisioned with the cover and the blurb alone.
  
  And holy Otyugh did it rise up to my expectations. Johnson perfectly entwines what it feels to play in a campaign with a written fantasy story. To people who have yet to play D&D, this book is what it feels to play the game. And to people who already play the game, it feels as a written down version of somebody's campaign (in all the good ways!).
  
  Here's hoping this turns into a series!
• 
  Bree Hatfield

  The Fallbacks feels like a spiritual successor to Jaleigh Johnson’s previous Forgotten Realms novel, Road to Neverwinter; both books are about the beginnings of an adventuring group, the leader of which is led by a rogue of some sort, and comedy is a big focus. However, I think Road to Neverwinter does it better. I didn’t hate this book by any means, but it was lacking in many areas.
  
  First, what did I like? The portable tavern was really cool. It wasn’t a new idea by any means, but it’s still a fun thing to incorporate into the story. I really liked Anson’s character, I thought he was the most intriguing of them all. And I loved the casual queer representation, it seems like Wizards of the Coast is pushing for a more queer-normative world in their novels, which is wonderful. I wish one of the main characters was queer (although I’m not sure that Lark isn’t), but still.
  
  What didn’t I like? The plot wasn’t super engaging. It was interesting at first, but it wasn’t developed as much as I would have liked. I think much of that has to do with the characters, which is my next point. Cazrin is the central character of this novel. In terms of the actual plot, she is the main character. And yet, she gets very little actual development. She learns to trust her friends over her pursuit of knowledge, but it doesn’t feel like she really changed all that much by the end. We don’t get to see her struggles throughout the journey. The other characters are fine, but they also don’t get much development. Lark and Baldric have interesting character traits (Baldric especially), but neither of them have an arc of any sort.
  
  Tess and Anson are the only two that I feel get proper development. Tess grows slowly throughout the novel until the end, where we get this beautiful line: “It had taken Tess a while to understand why she’d been last, but in the end she believed that was the way it was always supposed to be. She would never have been able to feel fully at home in the tavern if the rest of the group didn’t also feel they belonged there together. She couldn’t be the party’s leader if there wasn’t a party to lead.” By the end of the novel, I feel like we have gotten to know Tess and we can see a very clear arc. She’s the only one who has a true arc.
  
  Anson doesn’t get an arc, but he is the most complex out of the whole cast. He has an interesting past which informs his unique worldview which brings an interesting perspective to the table. We don’t explore it much, but it’s obviously there. If this becomes a series, I’m hoping more focus will be directed on Anson.
  
  In short, Johnson should have focused on two or three central characters and their journeys instead of trying to tell all of their stories. With such a plot-heavy book, it’s hard to also tell an ensemble-driven story, and this is a good example for why that is. This isn’t a bad book by any means. It’s a good setup for a series, but it doesn’t deliver on many character moments that I wish it did.
• 
  Matthew Gilliland

  TLDR: Do you want a book to introduce you to D&D? Then this book is for you. If not is probably a pass.
  
  When I was a kid in the 90s reading D&D books I was always confused why they were Fantasy Stories without any elements of the Game Engine.
  
  This book does just that and I understand now why they didn't do that before. It feels wrong and reads at a lower level.
  
  If I had this book when I was a kid I probably would have loved it and given it 5 stars chomping at the bit for the next. Instead I had problems with immersion and connection to the story and characters. As for a sequel, I would probably still read it, but with lower expectations now that I know the style.
  
  The Positives:
  
  Do you want to read people playing D&D? Then this book is absolutely for you.
  The Characters are likable and the chapters from their perspectives really help to flesh them out and is one of my favorite writing styles. Especially when their view reveals misconceptions that they or the other characters have.
  The most enjoyable chapters are the Otyugh's. They open an entirely different writing style and what I imagine a Dog's POV is like. When I read the first chapter from her POV was when I moved this book into the like category.
  The Magic Inn and how it changes and why where also highlights.
  0 clerical errors!!! Amazing!!! I don't know if I have read a book in the last 5 years that did this.
  
  The Negatives:
  
  The game engine being evident in the writing.
  The story is basically tiny Lord of the Rings. They have an item and have to go to where it was created to destroy it to prevent it being captured by ultimate unkillable evil. It also corrupts the bearer.
  Lark: I don't know if he is supposed to be an unlikable character, but I expected his chapters or by the end of the book that I would begin to like him, but instead I was hoping he just left or was killed. If he is supposed to be a heel or represent "That Player" then congratulations you nailed that archetype, but I'm just not sure that was the intent.
• 
  Adriann Frerichs

  a solid 3.5 stars! like this book was good but there was nothing special about it necessarily ya know?
  
  i liked the characters. they reminded me of the cast of balders gate. lark reminded me a lot of astation and he was maybe one of my favorite characters. i also likes the wizard but i forgot how to spell her name lol. i’m curious about the stories of the characters. this book set up a lot of background questions for everyone that i would be curious to see if they get answered if this book series continues
  
  the story itself was okay. it was very journey. which was good but at times very slow. also like previously mentioned this book leaves a lot of questions and plot to be explored in a future book. yet it still felt like a complete story if you didn’t want to read more.
  
  this book isn’t for everyone but i think most people could enjoy it if they like fantasy. i would say tho it’s best for people with a background/ knowledge of dungeons and dragons (or related lore such a balders gate) because this book assumes you know the setting and lore already! but if thats your jam i think you might like this book! its an easy dnd themed read!
  
  i will say tho.. i hated that it assumed you knew the lore but then repeated background lore stuff at the same time? like it assumes i know waterdeep but then like mentions how their an adventure group several times? it was a weird balance
• 
  Francisco

  The first Dungeons and Dragons novel starring a completely new set of characters for a while, if you exclude the middle grade Dungeon Academy books, this is something which has been needed for a while. Lately all DnD novels have been continuations of long standing series, such as R.A. Salvatore's Drizzt novels or the new Weis and Hickman Dragonlance novels, and while these have been a joy to read there has been a distinct sense of DnD novels winding down a bit.
  
  During the 90s and early 2000s there was a crazy proliferation of DnD novels, there seemed like there was always something new on the shelves to read, this stream dwindled down to a couple of releases a year in recent times. Not that long ago, however, Jaleigh Johnson had already given us a treat in the shape of a Honor Among Thieves tie-in novel which was really fun and captured the spirit of the movie really well. 
  
  That is very much the mood that Johnson brings to this new novel, with a whole new party, full of whimsical characters with dark secrets in their past, mixing fun action with more emotional beats and some good comedy. I mean the party has a pet Otyugh. And easy read and a fun novel, I'd like more of this please.
• 
  Dana

  I really liked this! As an avid D&D fan, I really took this as just plain fun. There's a lot of criticism about how it really doesn't do anything new and it's a very run-of-the-mill adventure, but to me, that's where the fun is! Besides, my groups are so utterly insane that this was a nice reprieve.
  
  I liked having moments when I identified certain spells or effects and knew that some of them "made their save" or "failed their save". It was pretty cool to know almost exactly how the magic worked.
  
  I really liked the characters even if they were all fairly "predictable". I really enjoyed Tess and Cazrin's friendship too (maybe something more in the future??) as well as Tess and Anson's friendship (which felt familial to me). I love me a good found family book and this one ticked all those boxes. I loved how they each had to earn their key and room in their magical inn by acting as a team and looking out for one another.
  
  All in all, a fairly predictable and safe D&D novel, but extremely fun and fast paced nonetheless. I sincerely hope there's more!
• 
  Jake Victor

  Being a huge Dungeons and Dragons fan (I DM weekly for my friends and am an avid follower of Critical Role), I was incredibly excited to return to the Forgotten Realms with The Fallbacks: Bound for Ruin. Unfortunately, I found this book a little disappointing and quite a slog at times. Any player or DM reading this novel will find their immersion frequently interrupted by not-so-subtle allusions to game mechanics and other meta elements of D&D. This style of D&D storytelling stands in stark contrast to other Forgotten Realms series, such as the Drizzt books, which do not treat their stories like novelisations of a tabletop roleplaying game. Furthermore, the characterisation sometimes lacked subtlety, and a number of character arcs felt rushed and consequently unconvincing. Despite these flaws, the main storyline around the cursed tome was quite engaging, and certain creative choices, such as the pet otyugh and the visits to Candlekeep and Undermountain, were certainly fun.
• 
  Sierra

  I can't read anymore. I really wanted to like this but it lacks actual story telling requirements. For one, I get there is a picture of the characters on the cover, but they still need to describe. It throws the reader in with six different characters, immediately in battle and expects the reader just to know who's who (side characters or villains don't even get descriptions that tells the reader who they are). I had to look up the creatures like Uggie and the assassin, just to know what I was reading.
  The author can't assume that the person picking up their book is a dungeon and dragons expert and will just know everything. If the author is going to use the name/term, Zhentarim, they might want to tell the reader what that is (Which, by the way, I looked it up its basically an assassin). These are major problems and it's very frustrating.
• 
  BONNIE SMITH

  I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway and was pleasantly surprised to find it was an ARC!
  A big thank you to the author and Random House Worlds for allowing me to get a sneak peak.
  This was my first foray into a D&D novel, and I must say- it was FANTASTIC.
  The characters are well built, Tessalynde, or Tess as we call her quickly, has quite the fellowship of misfit hooligans, including one huggable pet otyugh- see cover, he's totally lovable. Each character has a nice story line and get equal billing.
  
  I am not familiar with D&D, but something about this book gave off Indiana Jones/ Lord of the Rings hybrid vibes. If that sounds appealing to you, absolutely give this a try. It is easily a stand alone and no need to read any other D&D books to enjoy it.
• 
  Mark

  A decent fantasy read set in the Forgotten Realms/Sword Coast. A new adventuring company finds that their first job together is not as simple as they were expecting, plenty of things go awry, and they have to work through differences and personality issues to come together.
  
  As a D&D gamer, I also look at these stories that are specifically set in D&D settings with an eye to how closely setting and game mechanics are followed. Are there elements that seem completely out of place or unbelievable for the setting? I am happy to have finished the book without seeing any blatant disregard for the setting and the characters were portrayed as behaving believably for their class and experience.
  
  I am looking forward to how this new adventuring group continues and grows in future works.
• 
  Jack Shaftoe

  I'm glad they're making new Forgotten Realms novels, but...
  
  This feels like a book meant to list off all the tropes of a D&D session. Not a book meant to stand on its own. The dialogue is corny. There's very little narration of the characters' thoughts. Very little description of settings and characters to help immerse the reader. The story is fine, a little uninteresting.
  
  It feels like a book written in a boardroom. The D&D people should go back to licensing fantasy that's good on its own like they did in the 90s. This just feels pandering.
  
  I agree with the other reviewer who wrote that it feels like an anime for children.
• 
  Vlad G.

  I'm a sucker for found-family stories and The Fallbacks delivers that beautifully! Tess, Anson, Cazrin, Baldric, and Lark were wonderful to get to know, but Uggie was the one that stole the show.
  
  Atmosphere was true to D&D, complete with wonderful combat or ability use scenes that captured game mechanics in a cool and fluid way. Most of all, I loved the way in which Baldric and Cazrin's abilities came into play.
  
  Definitely recommend and I look forward to more adventures with The Fallbacks!
• 
  Norrin Shearer

  I had a lot of fun with this one! For starters, I really enjoyed the party. Each member of the Fallbacks is distinct from the rest, you always know which character is speaking. They’re funny and their banter feels really natural. One of my favorite aspects of the book was hearing how they all had to learn to trust each other before becoming found family. The plot of the book was exciting as well. Stakes felt high and the action was really fun to follow along. I hope we get another adventure with the Fallbacks soon!