FR and Shadow in General
OK. Sorry. I was experiencing technical difficulties earlier. To the topic at hand.
FR and the Shades:
Well... Lots to say. Shadow is a big thing in FR. It started with some lame Harper books (IIRC), like Crypt of the Shadowking and Curse of the Shadowmage. This guy in the books (I forget his name. Something starting with a "C") has mastered some strange "Shadow Magic," which basically allows him to manipulate shadow in any way he choses, to basically create any outcome desired. Really bad books. Then, we have the Shadow Stone, which is even worse, and touches on the Plane of Shadow, which was a first (IIRC). Then we have the malaugrym, which have a history that is so contradictory I could puke. At first, by Greenwood's standards (standards I tend to hold true to, regardless of recently published material that claims that malaugrym are these wierd-looking spheres with three tentacles and a single eye) the malaugrym are formerly decended from a single human named Malaug who entered the Plane of Shadow and started a race (or something like that). Now, we're supposed to believe these brand-spankin' new rules that say the malaugrym are these alien creatures and whatnot. No need for the contradiction. THEN, we have the less recent FR material explaining that Shar RECENTLY created the shadow weave, and has hidden it from Mystra. NOW, we're supposed to accept the fact that there were shadow adepts way back during the times of Netheril, a fact which basically contradicts years of FR lore. I don't like the Shades. I don't like Denning's characters. Something as world-shattering as the Shades' return should have been handled by Greenwood. I mean, after the Avatar Trilogy and Beyond the High Road, do we have to sit through a book containing a group of adventurers consisting of a lame elf fighting for his "shadow self," a stone giant (or is he a fog giant? As if that would be better.) who can sculpt pretty (pretty USELESS!) statues, and a re-occuring gimp/chosen of Cyric with a name I can't even remember (Malik yn Nasser? Lame, lame name. And did Denning have to slip in his name in Death of the Dragon? Why must he tag his signature characters like that? Lame). The only decent moment in the existing Archwizards books was the time when Khelben blasted scores of beholders and bugbears with a chain lightning. By the way... Beholders and bugbears? What a rediculous paring of monsters!! And ONLY bugbears and beholders? What, are we supposed to believe that those are the only two monsters available near Evereska? Am I the only one who sees the idiocy of this? Let Denning write about ogres and Ruha and leave the meat of FR to the master. End of rant. I'm watching you, Denning. Try to do FR good in the future, please.
