3 out of 5 rating for D&D 5th Edition Monster Manual
Great art. But not one image that I can remember, not even the cover, with the exception of the Rust Monster. For me, the purpose of a monster manual is first to inspire - to make me to want to create an adventure or an encounter after having gotten embroiled in inventive thought about a given creature or family of creatures. The visual portion of the art tends to trigger me to take a closer look. While it is filled with high quality art, very little of it tells a tale. The art in the 1st edition MM is crude in comparison, but it does a much better job of telling a story, of helping you create an adventure and I am disappointed that I still find myself looking back to the 70's and 80's to get a clearer sense of how the story should be told.I am also disappointed that there is not some sort of terrain guide, encounter chart, or other tools that help you incorporate the 400+ creatures into a campaign.