Another look at Terrinoth through the third installment of Acolyte’s Descent books by Robbie MacNiven

The Gates of Thelgrim is the their book to be released by Aconite Books in the Descent / Terrinoth series, and the second Descent book to be written by Robbie MacNiven. This story is a stand alone story so you can really read them in any order and it won’t affect the story, since they take place at different undisclosed times and follow unrelated characters. This is also the first book to have the subtitle “Legends of the Dark'' to coincide with the release of the new Descent Board game. Having a little knowledge of the Terrinoth setting either through the games or TTRPG certainly helps but again, isn’t necessary since the fantasy setting is fairly standard fare.

I have been provided with an advance copy of the new Descent: Journeys in the Dark book The Doom of Fallowhearth by Robbie MacNiven, published by Aconyte Books, so here is the honest review I promised in exchange for the book.

So here is an important disclaimer which is always important to put out there first. I have a casual work contact with Asmodee to demonstrate board games for them in stores and at conventions. Asmodee being the parent company of Aconyte the publisher.

Secondly I am a friend of Robbie’s on Facebook, and whilst we aren’t best buds, we do interact with each other on occasion and I consider him a class person.

I am going to try my best to not let these things cloud my judgement in this review, but I accept that subconsciously it might.

What’s is Descent: Journeys in the Dark
Simply put Descent: Journeys in the Dark is good old fashioned dungeon crawler whose linage goes all the way back to Heroquest.

Based very much on the Doom board game published by Fantasy Flight Games, you can see influences from across the gaming hobby, with bits from Space Hulk and Lord of the Rings being identifiable.

It’s set in the world of Terrinoth, a setting shared with Runewars, Runeage and a few other games and RPGs published by Fantasty Flight Games.

It’s a high fantasy universe and you will recognise many of the tropes and races seen in other similar fantasy style settings. It’s not particularly unique, but it is fairly well developed and interesting.

Descent is the dungeon crawler game in that universe, with one player being the evil overlord of the dungeon and the others taking in the tiles of the hero’s.

For a dungeon crawler, let’s be honest it’s one of the best out there, and the only reason it’s not in my collection is that Lindsay and Megan aren’t as enthusiastic about high fantasy as I am!

The Story
Like Robbie’s previous Descent novel, this is comfortable and familiar feeling whilst at the same time being interesting and exciting, which is a hard trick to pull off.

The great Dunwarr city of Thelgrim has closed its gates to all, something which is unusual and has stranded refugees fleeing the wars overtaking Terrinoth.

A mysterious patron hires three adventurers to travel to great city under the mountain and figure out what is going on. Raythen a thief and a drunkard son of the city is reluctant to go back, and the Runewitch Astarra and her polar opposite the Deep Elf called Shiver can barely stand to be in the same room as each other, but the rewards on offer to each of them, convinces them to put aside their concerns and figure out what the crack!

But there is more to this quest than they first realise, not only do they have to deal with each other but they find themselves dragged into the politics of the city and its various factions, but must also confront a growing threat beneath the city itself.

The Story
This book is very good and is an extremely engaging read, I read this and it felt like being in the middle of a Heroquest game or an RPG adventure.

The character development was something that stood out for me, the protagonists weren’t simple archetypes but were fully fleshed out personalities with plenty of backstory that’s revealed as the plot advances.

The relationship between Shiver and Astarra was a particular joy, this oil and water pair start off having an extremely antagonistic relationship, but this gradually thaws throughout the book and in the end they form a very strong bond that is extremely satisfying to see.

There are some fantasy clichés in the story, but these are less of a crutch and rather feel like they are there to make sure the story is assessable to as wide an audience as possible.

The dialogue is snappy, the banter is genuinely quite funny and absolutely what you would hear at most RPG tables, the world building is excellent and the descriptive writing is first rate, in fact the last part is so good, that in a section with a bit of body horror, I genuinely found myself feeling a bit sick.

I would very strongly recommend this book to any fantasy fan because it hits all the right notes, and is a great standalone book with little dependency on any previous knowledge of the franchise.

4.5 out of 5 stars.

I will start by saying this is a fantastic addition to the Descent novels line by Aconyte. Being based in the world of the Descent games you can expect an epic adventure and setting. Robbie MacNiven definitely understands the world setting but he’s taken it and made it truly come to life!

As usual I will try to avoid many spoilers past maybe a few names. We start out when three separate adventurers, who have little trust or like for each other, are hired to investigate the recent sealing of Thelgrim, the great Dunwarr dwarf city. Our three adventures, all have their own reasons to doubt this task but find something tempting enough to get them to agree. One of our adventurers is a wanted Dunwarr criminal, the other two have no wish to trust each other or work together – but the money is good not to mention other things that interest each party. As the trio head on their way, none of them consider just what could be lurking in store. Terrinoth is in upheaval; new threats are rising, and one of them comes from the dark!

From the start I was hooked, as is nearly always the case with these books. The characterization was brilliant. Anyone who enjoys Descent, Tabletop RPGs or Fantasy would, I believe, instantly be intrigued and hooked. Our Adventurers obviously do come from the games, I was incredibly pleased to find Shiver taking a center stage since he is one of my favourite characters within the games. That said even if you had little knowledge of the characters from playing them MacNiven does a wonderful job at bringing them to life and showcasing their personality and history throughout the narrative. So even a newbie to the game, or someone who is interested in getting started will be able to enjoy it. Or even someone who just likes a good fantasy!

Even though I did know a little about the characters as mentioned above I wasn’t able to really guess what was going to happen or how it would all work out in the end another credit to MacNiven’s storytelling ability. The action is fast-paced and superbly written. It may be obvious I’m an avid reader but I have to admit I got so lost in this that I may have stayed up a bit too late (or early depending how you look on it) on work nights to read ‘just one more chapter’. I also found the story stayed with me long after I had a read it and not just because of Shiver! I find it so refreshing to have quality fantasy novels based on one of my favourite games. A game which certainly helped make three UK lockdowns more bearable via Zoom and Whatsapp sessions with friends! I am definitely looking forward to the future novels in this series and will be adding a physical copy of this one to my others!

As usual I want to thank Aconyte and Netgalley for the e-ARC.

"The Gates of Thelgrim" is a brilliant fantasy adventure that is perfect escapism. It's written in a way that sucks you into the story, the main characters (Raythen, Astarra, and Shiver) are crafted perfectly, and the setting has that "ooh" factor that I really want from fantasy novels. I fully blame Robbie MacNiven for my new found joy in reading books based on games. I wish I had discovered them sooner.

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.