Volo's First Review Says "Worth every gold piece"

The first review of Volo's Guide to Monsters has appeared! The Arcana Times was able to purchase the book yesterday, and reports that "All in all this is a great publication from WOTC and worth every gold piece. The writing and art are superb, but the biggest selling point is the shear amount of information and how it is presented. I think it is definitely worth shelling out 50 bucks for." It doesn't include a lot of new information not already out there in the many previews at this stage, but it mentions new Quirks and Obsessions and a couple of challenge ratings (0 for the cranium rat and 22 for the mind flayer lich); plus, apparently, a good appendix listing monsters by type, challenge and environment. Thanks to Atsur for the scoop.

See the full review here. Check out all the various previews here. Review the book yourself here.

 

[EthanSental]

Swung by my FLGS and picked up the special cover edition, looks great and look forward to digging through it.

 

[Queer Venger]

Picked my limited special cover yesterday, my FLGS had a pre-order list, all the special covers are now sold out! Picked up a regular cover to use at my game table. You can see that a lot of love and care went into this book. Now Im going to go read ;-)

 

[Limond]

I've skimmed it over a few times. Haven't finished reading it in it's entirety though. However I don't think it's worth the $50 dollar asking price. The new races are neat. With the exception of Goliath (already in online form, nothing changed) and Orc and Kobold (seriously, stat penalties are never fun) There are around ~130 new monsters and some added lore. It's steep. I would have felt more comfortable paying $30. I did get the limited edition cover. It's interesting but doesn't make a whole lot of sense unless they are releasing matching limited edition covers for the PHB/DMG/MM.

 

[gyor]

I've skimmed it over a few times. Haven't finished reading it in it's entirety though. However I don't think it's worth the $50 dollar asking price. The new races are neat. With the exception of Goliath (already in online form, nothing changed) and Orc and Kobold (seriously, stat penalties are never fun) There are around ~130 new monsters and some added lore. It's steep. I would have felt more comfortable paying $30. I did get the limited edition cover. It's interesting but doesn't make a whole lot of sense unless they are releasing matching limited edition covers for the PHB/DMG/MM.

Bought mine for $36 Canadian with tax online at Chapters.ca. saved 49%.

 

[obeytheFist]

I picked up my copy the day it came out, and I must say that I'm astonished at the quality of material in here. 13 playable races, tons of stat blocks, and lots and lots of lore. I liked the SCAG, and I think I'm in love with this book. Definitely worth every gold piece.

 

[Dire Bare]

I've skimmed it over a few times. Haven't finished reading it in it's entirety though. However I don't think it's worth the $50 dollar asking price. The new races are neat. With the exception of Goliath (already in online form, nothing changed) and Orc and Kobold (seriously, stat penalties are never fun) There are around ~130 new monsters and some added lore. It's steep. I would have felt more comfortable paying $30. I did get the limited edition cover. It's interesting but doesn't make a whole lot of sense unless they are releasing matching limited edition covers for the PHB/DMG/MM.

It sounds like it's too late for you, but if you are in the states, it's available on Amazon for around $30, but you'd have to wait for the full release date, Nov 15.

I couldn't wait that long, and got mine at a 10% discount at my FLGS. Haven't finished devouring it yet, but IMO, worth full price easy. Didn't get the limited cover though, they were all sold out be the time I walked in early evening Saturday.

A limited edition version of Volo's Guide makes perfect sense, it doesn't need a matching set of the three core books. That said, it would be neat if they DID release a matching set of the three core books!