When this “tiny” thing called “The Internet” began a bunch of years ago, my friends in college and I used to hang out at a lot of mIRC channels, and a few of them were into mIRC Dungeons and Dragons. I tried to do it myself, but I never could understand, plus, the hours when they played were just plain difficult for me, studying and all, however, it still presented something of an interesting theme to research and always wondered what it was like.

Fast forward to about 2 or 3 years ago, when The Boy mentioned that he played Dungeons and Dragons with his friends, live, not online. After having played World of Warcraft for a bit, I wanted to try the real thing. So, along with The Boy, Aldar, Said, Kezzerdrix, and a few others we began playing. I do NOT regret it at all.

I also had to mention the guys because this book was written in the Forgotten Realms setting, which is our setting. The places and several characters were recognized the moment I read about them in this book.

I had to give this bit of a prologue because Pool of Radiance is a book based on a Dungeons and Dragons game, mostly written from the Thief (or Rogue)’s point of view. Kestrel is a thief, and a good one at that, however she is extremely egotistical and only thinks of herself.

Getting herself drunk was a mistake. She agreed to get into a party of people who would face a dracolich, in order to help repair the Mythal of Myth Drannor. She doesn’t trust anyone… at first. After a while she begins trusting each and every one of them, except for the Paladin. Corran would be someone I, personally, would also hate. He seemed, at the beginning, so very much conceited and worried about himself that he would put Kestrel to shame. After a bit you start understanding a bit more about Corran, and about each of them. You don’t get to see all the aspects of every one of them, but I can say each of them has good qualities (yes, even Corran).

The characters meet with different, problematic, foes, everytime getting to a point where Kestrel will despair a little and rethink what she’s doing there, however she keeps at it.

I can’t mention many details about it, as usual, because I REALLY would like people to read it. I can’t lend it to anyone because this was one of those books that The Boy lent to me (I’m cleaning up, reading HIS books first because I REALLY need my space), but it’s definitely an easy read for anyone who wants to get into the D&D thing… though it’s better if you just play it on your own first, and find out about different characters after you’ve grasped a bit of it!