A fantasy novel set in the Dungeons and Dragons 'Spelljammer' setting - meaning spacegoing sailing ships! You have to ignore the physics and other practical science considerations and read this as a fantasy adventure. For that, its not bad, though it wasn't memorable. ( )

Look, I am not going to give any of these books a really high rating simply because they are shameless spinoffs from an Advanced Dungeons and Dragons setting. While that won't bother many people, for me it is a part of my life that I have put behind me simply because there is so much more quality writing out there that I really don't have time to waste reading what is in effect an advertisement (or an accessory) for a game.
Once again, it does not mean that the setting or the story is bad, but then it does not necessarily mean it is good either. This is pretty much an average book written by an author who is probably more adept at writing complex rules and adventure models (though I must admit he is a lot better than Ed Greenwood: wait until I start adding some of his books and see the number of 1s that they score). For a teenager/young adult that has not been exposed to the classics, then they are okay books, but one should always be looking forward to more challenging works of literature.
Spelljammer is a setting for the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons game and it is set in space. When I first heard that TSR (as it was then) were planning on creating such a setting, my expectations where incredibly high. However I must say I ended up becoming a little disappointed, namely because I was expecting something more like a high science-fiction setting with real spaceships and more realistic planets, however it turned out that it wasn't. Personally, that was not a bad thing because what Spelljammer does is that it turns science-fiction into a fantasy setting, meaning that wooden ships ply the spacelanes, and people can survive without complex life support systems.
As for this book, it deals with a farmer named Teldon Moore who witnesses a meteorite crash near his farm. When he investigates he finds a dying woman who puts a cloak around him - however it suddenly turns out that he cannot remove this cloak. Basically it is an artifact and the only way to remove this artifact is to either kill yourself or be killed by somebody else. Once again, it is an artifact, meaning that it is an incredibly powerful item, so surprise surprise, lots of people want to kill him to get it.
I won't go into any further details here about this particular item because that is for the latter books (there are six in the series I believe). This one particular story is more of a springboard to take the main characters into space, and also to introduce the reader into this new and exciting realm. As I have said previously, and will say again, these books are more for fantasy roleplayers who want to understand their game world better, but in many cases it doesn't really do all that much to advance the imagination. An imaginative person should be able to develop adventures without the need of books, though they can and do help. As for me, these days I use Shakespearian plays as a means of developing adventures. ( )

Pre09:
Characters: Erm yea. Main guy was likable. That's all I remember. That kender in the last one was so atrocious I still remember her.
Plot: All over the place. Fantasy-Sci-Fi was a good idea. Should have picked one good author and stuck with them.
Style: 80-90's fantasy. Nothing outside that box.

The later books just got worse. Still can't believe I paid that much to read the last crappy book.

Okay, this one help some promise to a young reader. But really, it wasn't that good and the other ones just got worse. ( )

This book started off very, very slowly. It did begin to redeem itself about halfway through, though, and I ended up enjoying it. I wasn't quite sure what to think about the gnomes of Mt. Nevermind, but Cook did a good job of holding my interest while keeping me laughing. It was good enough that I think I'll read the next book. ( )

A decent start for what appears will be an interesting series of adventures for Teldin Moore as he tries to unlock the mysteries of his gifted cloak. Perhaps a little slow at the beginning to set up the story, it does pickup to a good pace. ( )