The Appendix N Review Series is a series of blog posts intended to introduce readers to the fantasy works that inspired the first edition of the Dungeons and Dragons tabletop roleplaying game. What makes Appendix N special is how it represents the fantasy genre as it existed in the 1960s and 1970s — most readers say it is very different from fantasy written today.
I have decided to review these because too often, social justice activists tend to denounce older fantasy works as either irrelevant museum pieces or dangerous hate speech. My aim is to review the books in a way that encourages readers to read them for themselves; to this end, I will not spoil anything in the reviews. Also, whenever the Appendix mentions a series, I will only review the first work in that series so as not to ruin it.
Entries:
Introduction
Three Hearts and Three Lions by Poul Anderson
The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson
The High Crusade by Poul Anderson
The Face in the Frost by John Bellairs
The Planetary Adventures of Eric John Stark by Leigh Brackett
Martians, Go Home by Fredric Brown
At the Earth’s Core by Edgar Rice Burroughs
A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
