Book Review: Quag Keep

Book Review: 'Quag Keep' by Andre Norton

4 / 5 Stars

'Quag Keep' first was published in hardcover in 1978. This DAW Books paperback edition ( No. 353, 192 pp.) was issued in September, 1979, with cover art by Jack Gaughan.

In his 2022 history of TSR and the Dungeons and Dragons franchise, Ben Riggs notes that by the late 1970s D & D was no longer an obscure 'war game', but a rising (and lucrative) pop culture phenomenon. So it wasn't that unusual that Andre Norton and DAW Books would arrange to publish a novel derived from the D & D world. Indeed, in her acknowledgements, Norton thanks 'E. Gary Gygax', creator of the '....war game, DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS'. Interestingly, Norton also thanks DAW editor Donald Wollheim, who apparently was an avid collector of 'military miniatures'.

'Quag Keep' (the 'quag' in the title is a reference to 'quagmire') is framed as an intersection between 'our' world, where young people are playing D & D, and the world of D & D itself, particularly the Greyhawk setting. In the opening chapter Norton introduces us to some D & D players, one of whom, Martin, is entranced by a miniature warrior figurine of unusual fidelity. When Martin grasps the figurine, the action immediately shifts the narrative to a tavern in Greyhawk, where we are introduced to Milo Jagan, the warrior upon whom the figurine is based. In due course Milo, along with six other greyhawk Denizens, is summoned to a meeting with a mysterious wizard known as Hystaspes.

Hystaspes informs our party that they are under a powerful geas, the resolution of which will require a long journey, through dangerous territories, to the inhospitable Sea of Dust. There they must confront the agency that has erected a strange barrier against any type of sorcerous oversight. What lies behind the barrier, and what danger does it present to the world of Greyhawk ? It will take all of the skills, courage, and resourcefulness of Milo and his fellow party members to overcome the challenges in their path, and complete their rendevouz with the mystery awaiting them in the wastes of the Sea of Dust............

'Quag Keep' is a solid fantasy novel and deserving of a Four Star Rating. While the premise of an interaction between D & D Youth and the game world they vicariously inhabit is a bit contrived, for the most part, the book reads as a straightforward D & D adventure (indeed, I would argue that leaving out the references to 'our' world would have strengthened the novel). 

While Norton takes her time in getting the plot underway (nothing of note happens until page 68), once the party ventures a sufficient distance from Greyhawk the action sequences, which are well-written, come with sufficient frequency to avoid the dilatory quality that marks so many of Norton's non-franchise novels. Norton clearly understands that with 'Quag Keep', she is writing a novel based on a 'war game', and combat is to be an integral component of the narrative.

The concluding chapter is the weakest in the book. It fuses 'our' world with that of Greyhawk, but in an inconclusive fashion, indicating that Norton, Gygax, and DAW intended to compose additional, licensed novels featuring this roster of characters. Perhaps because of Norton's increasing ill-health, no additions to the Quag Keep storyline appeared until 2006 when a sequel, 'Return to Quag Keep', representing a collaboration between Norton (posthumously) with Jean Rabe, was issued.

(For another review of 'Quag Keep', readers are directed to this 2020 piece at Tor.com)