Compared to other fantasy franchises, there’s been a surprising lack of Dungeons & Dragons tie-in fiction recently. Back in the ’90s, you couldn’t move for books about The Forgotten Realms, but these days, it’s calmed down somewhat, with the ongoing Drizzt and Dragonlance series being all that remains of what was once a mighty storm.
The Fallbacks: Bound For Ruin is a whole new D&D-inspired fantasy storyline and quite possibly a return to epic fantasy for the franchise. Author Jaleigh Johnson may be familiar to D&D fans, as they also wrote The Road To Neverwinter, the official prequel to the D&D movie Honor Amongst Thieves, which was well-received
The Fallbacks: Bound For Ruin follows the ambitions of Tessalynder, a rogue who wishes to strike it rich (and famous) through adventure. They gather an almost traditional D&D party (at least by modern standards). We have a wizard who lacks confidence and self-belief, a cleric questioning the concept of faith in a world where gods are provably real, a secretive bard and a trash-eating pet monster. This party feels a little cartoonish, but it also feels like the sort of thing you’d see in a regular game of D&D.
And that’s the core appeal of The Fallbacks: Bound For Ruin. D&D fiction is at its best when it acknowledges the source material, and if that means the rogue occasionally loudly declares that they’re looking for traps, then all the better.
It’s a much lighter, more modern tone than the older Forgotten Realms books, which is really good. Fantasy has moved on from trying to emulate JRR Tolkien, and thankfully, The Fallbacks: Bound For Ruin has avoided being a grim-dark clone of George R.R. Martin or Joe Abercrombie. This is tightly written table-top-inspired fun, and so atmospheric that you can almost hear the dice roll in the background.
