Very good book. Brings a lot of the RPG elements in the campaign setting book to life. Also ties together a lot of the culture of that book for a nice cohesive continuity. Author has a great writing style too.
Too bad the next book won't be out until the end of the year.
Hey, I like Daine! Sure, he's constantly getting kicked in the teeth, but I just consider it part of his character.
And losing his sword seems to be a running gag, that also ties into his vemenent rejection of his heritage. Keep in mind that the sword that is pawned off in the beginning is his grandfathers sword, who was also his sword instructor.
He also has the most loose ends to be tied up of any other character.
We don't yet know the details of his previous work with Alilia (Although not hard to guess), but more important is his mentioning that
He failed the Test of Syberis, which doesn't disallow the possibility of later manifesting a dragonmark under extreme stress. (Take a look at all the Sentinel Marks, and you might see where this is headed...)
I think, that Lei's character hinges on her aristocratic background. She's like the Princess who is suddenly introduced to the real world, and mad as heck about it. On a side note, I love all the tricks she pulls off with her artificer skills during the story. Very creative.
Pierce is great and I can't wait to find out more about him.
Jode I'm a little ambivalent about, but introducing him was a bold move. He's basically a non-combatant, a smart little guy without the expected rogue/theif skill-set to fall back on.
Hellcow suggested that Jode is a Rogue1/BardX/HealerX
It'll be interesting to see how his story, eh...ends up.
Looking at what Keith said in another thread, it seems that the prologue and epilogue of the short story are set after the first novel, but the story itself occurs before the novel. Or something like that.
Well, it should be noted that the City of Towers takes place in 996 YK, around the time of the Treaty of Thronehold. The campaign, and therefore the modules, take place in 998.
... dammit, the next one's not out until Christmas? Argh!
For a first novel, I'm pretty impressed. Overall, it holds together well and I'm enjoying the characters. A few bits of the story seem cliche, but overall the hints of what's to come lead me to believe that things will be a bit more unique in the following novels.
Yeah. I'd have been a bit harsher on it if it came from an established author, but knowing it was a first effort, I was really suprised. If his first book is this good, wait until ol' Hellcow has a couple more under his belt...
Yeah. That part I like. That's the epitome of pulp. The main character gets no where until he/she finally rises above their sordid past and current constant beat down and says:
"I'm mad as Hell, and I ain't gonna take it no more..."
Or something similar. I just got to the part
where Daine makes this transformation
, so all is good with the world now. He just seemed to 'take it' a lot longer... of course most pulp books are much shorter than this one, which could be part of the problem.
Mad Mac said:
I think, that Lei's character hinges on her aristocratic background. She's like the Princess who is suddenly introduced to the real world, and mad as heck about it. On a side note, I love all the tricks she pulls off with her artificer skills during the story. Very creative.
I don't know. Maybe early in the war she was like this. I think the big thing for her was that she was expecting to leave that 'real world' and go back to being a princess. And the rug got jerked out from under her. Hers is the emotional struggle that seems the most visceral and real. Hellcow did a good job of explaining (through her character) how much the Houses mean to their members.
The thing that didn't ring true was her actual relationship to the guy she was coming to marry. We had no emotional attachment to that short-lived character or even hints from her as to whether this was an arranged marriage, a childhood love separated from her by war, or whatever. I'm almost done with the book, but I don't see that getting tied up. Just seemed like one of those paste-on Adventure Hooks... "You're escorting your friend Lei to Sharn where she is to be married when the crazy tongue monster attacks! Roll initiative..."
And I agree about the artificer stuff. That's very cool. Now I just have to find an Eberron group. I'd love to play an artificer...
Mad Mac said:
Pierce is great and I can't wait to find out more about him.
He's my favorite, so far. Still can't get into Jode. I liked that he was the charismatic hero and not the token halfling thief. I liked that he had some mystery to his background and the dragonmark, but I just couldn't get into the whole package... anyway. Personal problem.
Overall, it's a great first book. I don't have any major problems with the story. Just nitpicky junk.
Yeah, that's what I liked about Daine too. So...pulpy.
I'd agree with you about Lei as well. It's just that, reading it, she seemed off to me, like something didn't quite add up. Reading that link I posted (which describes her background extensively) I better understand what she was supposed to be. Lei grew up surrounded with warforged, and relates to them better than she does humans. Which is why she is very direct, rather than...nuanced, I suppose.
By the end of the book, Jode is far, far more pulpy. So to speak.
I really like what happened to the characters over the duration of the novel. I can't wait to learn more about them, and I have a feeling Pierce will be the focus of the next book.
