The Power of Ten: Book Three: The Human Race – R.E. Druin

Triumphal March

The author had fun with this book - abusing all the tropes. Go north, and you’ll reach Hyperborea, go south and you’re in Lovecraft territory, dive underwater and you’ll find all manner of sea monsters, dig far enough down and you’ll reach Pellucidar…

The author also continues abusing all the exploits. Start with a system that looks a lot like D&D - and pull in every supplement, spin-off, or revision needed to provide the loopholes the story needs.

This last weakens the book somewhat. There is no real plot tension when the protagonist can pull an infinite number of rabbits from an infinite number of hats. If the protagonist needs to find what is hidden, a high-enough-level divination spell will come to hand. If the protagonist then needs to hide from an antagonist with a high-level divination spell, a higher-level concealment spell will be available to trump it. So every challenge melts and the story becomes a triumphal march.