Make no mistake, sandstorm is a book about SAND. There is a discussion of volcanoes "hot" environs in general but they are little more than footnotes. Those seeking cultures and what not from Al-Qadim, or who are looking for Fading Sun (or whatever the old TSR official Psionics campaign was) classes, materials, and what not will be sorely disappointed. They could of EASILY bundled it up in this tome but they didn't. The book does cover many types of arid wasteland, describes the geography and of each and how you would determine what is what. They introduce a few new races for campaigns taking place in deserts (though not for Al Qadim or Fading sun as was said). I almost never use or allow races from splatbooks but I did like one of them. The class variants were purely to make the characters more survivable in a desert as were the prestige classes. This book really isn't for players. Where this book really shines is in it's adventures (three are included). Finally I have adventure ideas in deserts FOR ANY LEVEL CHARACTER!

I bought this book because I like to throw my PCs into differing environments to keep them guessing. While it does have a lot of rules for various arid environments and warm wastelands, the book just didn't make me feel hot. The same goes for Frostburn. The book didn't make me feel cold. The only environment book that ever succeeded in making me feel like "I was there" was Dreadmire, by Spellbinder Games. Wizards needs to take a hint from that book -- it made me feel like I was in a swamp. Sandstorm offers various rules for wastelands, but it does not offer us anything of real value. We don't need many more feats and skills, if any. We need substance, and this is a wasteland of redundancy and fluff. If you still have the old Wilderness Survival Guide and Dungeoneers Survival Guide, don't bother with Sandstorm -- most of the rules in those old books are still applicable today.