Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics give it a powerful effect. He rebuts suggestions that the poem is an epic or exciting narrative, likening it instead to a strong masonry structure built of blocks that fit together. He points out that the poem's theme is a serious one, mortality, and that the poem is in two parts: the first on Beowulf as a young man, defeating Grendel and his mother; the second on Beowulf in old age, going to his death fighting the dragon. The work has been praised by critics including the poet and "Beowulf" translator Seamus Heaney. Michael D. C. Drout called it the
Saga of the Shadow Lord does what it sets out to do perfectly adequately, and if an action-packed blood-and-thunder adventure without too much emphasis on plot and justification is your kind of thing, "Saga of the Shadow Lords" is worth looking at". Saga of the Shadow Lord Saga of the Shadow Lord is a 1986 adventure module for the Basic Rules of the "Dungeons & Dragons" fantasy role-playing game. "Saga of the Shadow Lord" consists of two linked adventures as a mini-campaign: In the first adventure called "Elvenstar", player characters try to steal a magic item from the Shadow Lord to thwart his planned invasion