Although listed as the fourth book in the Greyhawk Adventures series, it’s more helpful to think of this as the second book in the Rose Estes’ Mika series, as the first two volumes were a part of Gygax’s Gord the Rogue series which are at this point in 1987 being published concurrently through Gygax’s New Infinities Productions, rather than TSR which he had left completely by this point.

I enjoyed this entry more than the previous book in the series, Master Wolf, as characters get to develop more here than in that book. There’s an interesting relationship between Mika, the Wolf-Shaman Barbarian and his wolf, as well as the princess that has been transformed into a wolf in the previous book. Side characters also become more prominent here and, as a whole, this feels more character driven than the more plot driven Master Wolf.

The book starts with Mika getting cursed by the demon Maelfesh, who sends Mika on a mission that leads to him getting progressively physically transformed into a demon when he deviates from that mission. This tension helps the story along, and will pay off in the next entry in the series: The Demon Hand. As in the previous book, however, readers looking for particular Greyhawk fanservice might be disappointed, as the story focuses very little on the big names of the plane or any of the main cities, sticking to Mika and his adventure with a narrow focus. Still, it’s a perfectly enjoyable novel in its own right.