Yes in the Internet era this is close to not making the review at all. But once again, it is better to have it on the site than none at all.

getting a review copy is great, but I don’t like releasing a review a week after wide release…

Yes, this must be a bummer. But hey, better late than never.

might 🙂 Thanks for your feedback and notes to share with other readers.

very cool. thanks for sharing.

thanks for the repost. we used to get the books early, so it was easier to get a review out on launch day.

I had written a short review of the book myself in the topic of the Previews Collection, it was actually a first impression review and it remains the same today, as I haven’t found the time to thoroughly go through the book. Anyhow, here it is:

“Arrived at my local gaming store yesterday and of course I rushed to pick it up, braving awful traffic and a car with a faulty clutch.

First, the complaint. I wish it was bigger. I wanted more monsters. At least for that price tag.

But beyond that, it is all gold. The “conversations” between Volo and Elminster are great and give so much flavor. The monsters that are covered are more or less typical D&D monsters (beholders, gnolls, goblinoids, orcs to name a few) and there is such a wealth of information about each, that as a DM I’ll feel sorry for my poor critters getting slain by the PCs. Even lairs are given complete with (awesome Mike Shley) maps. The best for me are the personality trait tables that are given, in order to better your RP of BBEG monsters, like the beholder.

The new PC options are cool, although we had seen Aasimar and Kenku in the DMG and Goliaths in the PotA Player’s Companion PDF. For some of these new PC races that are not otherwise covered in the book we also get a “Quirks” table that gives more depth in RP. The interesting thing about them is that we see a PC Race getting a bonus in three ability scores (Triton) and we have a return of the decrease in ability scores as in 3.x (Orcs, Goblins and Kobolds if I’m not mistaken).

The updated “bestiary” looks good, although I just flipped it through. There are lots of fey, more types of the monsters covered in the first section of the book (more beholders, more orcs etc) and some random monsters (like the Flail Snail).

Finally, there is an Appendix with lots of NPC types of various levels (i.e. the Archer, the Necromancer etc).

So, I like it a lot. There are so many ideas in there. And I’ve come to really enjoy these hybrid books they issue now. Once again, they made we want more.”

I did something with this that I haven’t done with a sourcebook since Shadowrun 1st Ed – I sat down and read it cover to cover.

I think I commented when this book was announced to the effect that I would rather have seen a Monster Manual 2, as I’m happy with the amount of lore monsters got in MM1 and more than content to flesh them out if I want more details.

I’ve had a chance to look at this now and while my personal opinion is still that more monsters would have been preferable to the expanded lore sections, I can definitely agree with everything about Shawn’s review.

My personal opinion aside this IS actually an excellent book:

– Even if there are less monster statblocks than I personally might have wished, there are a still a fair chunk of new or variant monsters and for the most part they are all exciting, I can’t wait to add some to my game.

– I was also particularly pleased with the section on new playable races. I practically giggled with glee as I read this section, because it was like they’d written it for MY campaign – which heavily features Kenku, Lizardfolk, Orcs, AND Tabaxi, all four of which are in Volo’s Guide. The Tabaxi were the big surprise for me, as they are definitely a more obscure Realms race.

– Even if I feel that I didn’t particularly need the lore sections, I’m sure I will still pull some tidbits of lore from them and have no doubt they will be a convenient way to enrich my game with a little less effort on my part.

All in all, this really is an excellent product, but the value for money will definitely differ from individual. Shawn’s lists are pretty much on point – although as I’ve mentioned, I actually fall into the last group of people who “might want to avoid it”, and I still found enough there to keep me satisfied.