Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
I'm reading the Forgotten Realms Novels- #202 The Howling Delve by Jaleigh Johnson (Dungeons 2)
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Goonalan" data-source="post: 8234865" data-attributes="member: 16069"><p><strong>#119 Realms of the Deep Ed. Philip Athans (Threat Sea 3)</strong></p><p><strong>Read 29/3/21 to 31/3/21</strong></p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]134959[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>And so some more of the same, we get to see a bunch more underwater (and mostly) sahuagin based action and adventure, this is stuff that's going on during the Threat from the Sea series, and as discerned by a slew of other authors, all with a short story to tell. The trials and tribulations of a variety of other folk that are caught up in the action, and its mostly good- for the simple reason that there's plenty here to steal-read, I dig triton now, and mermen, and few of the other races creatures that swim in the briny deeps.</p><p></p><p>So, here we go with the stories-</p><p></p><p><strong>Hard Choices by Lynn Abbey-</strong> it's a tough call, and as I am writing this I'#ve not yet made it to the end of this book, but... this is a little cracker. Shemsen is a Malenti, a sahuagin born resembling an aquatic elf, the ultimate spy for his kind. Although Shemsen seems to have gone 'native' he likes some of his companions. But it gets better- Umberlee reaches out to Shemsen and... well, it's just a short story so nothing much, but there's plenty to admire here.</p><p></p><p><strong>Fire is Fire by Elaine Cunningham-</strong> Meat is meat! is how the sahuagin put, just before they consume the corpse of the fallen- kin and foe alike. Fire is fire then is the riposte, this story takes us to Waterdeep where we get to meet Sydon, one of Khelben Arunsun's apprentices, first-hand witness to the bloody attack on the city from the threat from the sea. It's nice to see the action from a different point of view.</p><p></p><p><strong>Messenger to Seros by Peter Archer-</strong>Thraxos the merman is sent to Seros to warn his kind there that the sahuagin are on their way, although... then we get to a magical portal, a precocious six year old girl with nerves of steel- and dead parents, and a wand of Monster Summoning V- or similar, and... It makes me sad, and it doesn't really have an end- I mean, I get it, the great sacrifice but Thraxos gets pushed off center stage about 50% of the way through this one. Not for me.</p><p></p><p><strong>The Place Where Guards Snore at their Posts by Ed Greenwood-</strong> I mean, it's okay, and it feels like the place but the more I read Ed Greenwood stuff the more I notice that it has very many common themes- the foremost, often, being the young buck's love for the princess/unattainable woman. The young buck always has a different way of doing things, as in contrary to whatever assembled authority figures are here for the show... It's obvious how it ends, so I won't bore you with it. The other odd thing is Greenwood's magic seems much more malleable, as always, the wizard's apprentice able to work out how to twiddle his fingers just so in order to cook oysters/bullywugs in their barrels. Silly, as usual.</p><p></p><p><strong>Lost Cause by Richard Lee Byers-</strong> a paladin/knight is sent to Port Llast to help the militiamen, and in particular our guy- the steadfast Sgt. to defend the town from the predations of the crabmen and a giant nasty jellyfish- thralls of the sahuagin. It's a nice little story, the paladin/knight learns his lesson, there's some good action, and... happily (within parameters) ever after.</p><p></p><p><strong>Forged in Fire by Clayton Emery-</strong> Heart of the Lion, semi-retired pirate captain- he's content these days to direct his men- rather getting too close to the action, and his crew take down a cog. Then the real enemy turns up- a Giant Octopus and the sahuagin priestess that controls it. Humanity has to swiftly learn to get on, and to get on with killing the fiends. Nice enough.</p><p></p><p><strong>One Who Swims with Sekolah by Mel Odom-</strong> The story that this book is really here/for/about, Iakhovas, and his priestess Laaqueel get into action, taking down the Sharksbane Wall and picking up yet another magical gew-gaw to add to the 'One Who Swims with Sekolah's' collection. Nice fight with a vodyanoi, but otherwise... it's a dragged out 40-pages that probably should have been one of the other Threat from the Sea books.</p><p></p><p><strong>The Crystal Reef by Troy Denning-</strong> is semi beautiful and terrible at the same time, a short treatise about all that is wrong with war/conflict, particularly the exported variety in which far off kings/rulers/generals draw lines on maps and then try to enforce the same. A sad tale this one, slightly in convention with the rest of the stories here, and all the better for it.</p><p></p><p><strong>The Patrol by Larry Hobbs- </strong>Riordan (heart of gold, probably) needs to learn a few things, and to be accepted, by his fellow recruits in the Cimbar watch, it also doesn't help that he's living in the shadow of his venerated father. So, a soldiers tale in which the value of a number of things are scrutinised over the course of the adventure, and they all lived happily(-ish) ever-after. Nice, but no prize.</p><p></p><p><strong>Star of Tethyr by Thomas M. Red-</strong> Merrick- much like in the last one (what is it with neophyte's learning to do the right thing- and well, it's definitely a theme here). Anyway, Merrick is learning his place aboard ship, encounters with sahuagin and dragon turtles in the wake of all the bad stuff going down in the threat from the sea. More of the same- but this time we're in Thordentor Island. Nice action.</p><p></p><p><strong>Persana's Blade by Steven E. Schend-</strong> a cracking little short story, although it seems to drift at the end. Another chance to see yet more undersea races facing up to the terror that is the threat from the sea.</p><p></p><p><strong>And the Dark Tide Rises by Keith Francis Strohm-</strong> And a strong finish, the writing in this one is a step up, and the tale suitably dark and foreboding. The love interest is a little odd, but... you can forgive it. Morgan's story serves as ideal motivation, a PC backstory- that's how I started, on my quest to change the world. </p><p></p><p>Read- and much better than many of the other collections for the simple reason that all of the stories, no matter how tenuous the link, show some part of the unfolding terror that is the threat from the sea. In many of the other collections- realms of valor, magic, underdark etc. then the stories are simply joined by some totemic theme. With this bunch the ongoing situation is palpable, and for perhaps the first time it makes all of the stories seem much more coherent- part of the same milieu, whereas in other collections... well, some of them seemed to be just the Christmas book anthology/collection = payday.</p><p></p><p>Stay safe and well.</p><p></p><p>Cheers goonalan</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Goonalan, post: 8234865, member: 16069"] [B]#119 Realms of the Deep Ed. Philip Athans (Threat Sea 3) Read 29/3/21 to 31/3/21[/B] [ATTACH type="full" width="188px"]134959[/ATTACH] And so some more of the same, we get to see a bunch more underwater (and mostly) sahuagin based action and adventure, this is stuff that's going on during the Threat from the Sea series, and as discerned by a slew of other authors, all with a short story to tell. The trials and tribulations of a variety of other folk that are caught up in the action, and its mostly good- for the simple reason that there's plenty here to steal-read, I dig triton now, and mermen, and few of the other races creatures that swim in the briny deeps. So, here we go with the stories- [B]Hard Choices by Lynn Abbey-[/B] it's a tough call, and as I am writing this I'#ve not yet made it to the end of this book, but... this is a little cracker. Shemsen is a Malenti, a sahuagin born resembling an aquatic elf, the ultimate spy for his kind. Although Shemsen seems to have gone 'native' he likes some of his companions. But it gets better- Umberlee reaches out to Shemsen and... well, it's just a short story so nothing much, but there's plenty to admire here. [B]Fire is Fire by Elaine Cunningham-[/B] Meat is meat! is how the sahuagin put, just before they consume the corpse of the fallen- kin and foe alike. Fire is fire then is the riposte, this story takes us to Waterdeep where we get to meet Sydon, one of Khelben Arunsun's apprentices, first-hand witness to the bloody attack on the city from the threat from the sea. It's nice to see the action from a different point of view. [B]Messenger to Seros by Peter Archer-[/B]Thraxos the merman is sent to Seros to warn his kind there that the sahuagin are on their way, although... then we get to a magical portal, a precocious six year old girl with nerves of steel- and dead parents, and a wand of Monster Summoning V- or similar, and... It makes me sad, and it doesn't really have an end- I mean, I get it, the great sacrifice but Thraxos gets pushed off center stage about 50% of the way through this one. Not for me. [B]The Place Where Guards Snore at their Posts by Ed Greenwood-[/B] I mean, it's okay, and it feels like the place but the more I read Ed Greenwood stuff the more I notice that it has very many common themes- the foremost, often, being the young buck's love for the princess/unattainable woman. The young buck always has a different way of doing things, as in contrary to whatever assembled authority figures are here for the show... It's obvious how it ends, so I won't bore you with it. The other odd thing is Greenwood's magic seems much more malleable, as always, the wizard's apprentice able to work out how to twiddle his fingers just so in order to cook oysters/bullywugs in their barrels. Silly, as usual. [B]Lost Cause by Richard Lee Byers-[/B] a paladin/knight is sent to Port Llast to help the militiamen, and in particular our guy- the steadfast Sgt. to defend the town from the predations of the crabmen and a giant nasty jellyfish- thralls of the sahuagin. It's a nice little story, the paladin/knight learns his lesson, there's some good action, and... happily (within parameters) ever after. [B]Forged in Fire by Clayton Emery-[/B] Heart of the Lion, semi-retired pirate captain- he's content these days to direct his men- rather getting too close to the action, and his crew take down a cog. Then the real enemy turns up- a Giant Octopus and the sahuagin priestess that controls it. Humanity has to swiftly learn to get on, and to get on with killing the fiends. Nice enough. [B]One Who Swims with Sekolah by Mel Odom-[/B] The story that this book is really here/for/about, Iakhovas, and his priestess Laaqueel get into action, taking down the Sharksbane Wall and picking up yet another magical gew-gaw to add to the 'One Who Swims with Sekolah's' collection. Nice fight with a vodyanoi, but otherwise... it's a dragged out 40-pages that probably should have been one of the other Threat from the Sea books. [B]The Crystal Reef by Troy Denning-[/B] is semi beautiful and terrible at the same time, a short treatise about all that is wrong with war/conflict, particularly the exported variety in which far off kings/rulers/generals draw lines on maps and then try to enforce the same. A sad tale this one, slightly in convention with the rest of the stories here, and all the better for it. [B]The Patrol by Larry Hobbs- [/B]Riordan (heart of gold, probably) needs to learn a few things, and to be accepted, by his fellow recruits in the Cimbar watch, it also doesn't help that he's living in the shadow of his venerated father. So, a soldiers tale in which the value of a number of things are scrutinised over the course of the adventure, and they all lived happily(-ish) ever-after. Nice, but no prize. [B]Star of Tethyr by Thomas M. Red-[/B] Merrick- much like in the last one (what is it with neophyte's learning to do the right thing- and well, it's definitely a theme here). Anyway, Merrick is learning his place aboard ship, encounters with sahuagin and dragon turtles in the wake of all the bad stuff going down in the threat from the sea. More of the same- but this time we're in Thordentor Island. Nice action. [B]Persana's Blade by Steven E. Schend-[/B] a cracking little short story, although it seems to drift at the end. Another chance to see yet more undersea races facing up to the terror that is the threat from the sea. [B]And the Dark Tide Rises by Keith Francis Strohm-[/B] And a strong finish, the writing in this one is a step up, and the tale suitably dark and foreboding. The love interest is a little odd, but... you can forgive it. Morgan's story serves as ideal motivation, a PC backstory- that's how I started, on my quest to change the world. Read- and much better than many of the other collections for the simple reason that all of the stories, no matter how tenuous the link, show some part of the unfolding terror that is the threat from the sea. In many of the other collections- realms of valor, magic, underdark etc. then the stories are simply joined by some totemic theme. With this bunch the ongoing situation is palpable, and for perhaps the first time it makes all of the stories seem much more coherent- part of the same milieu, whereas in other collections... well, some of them seemed to be just the Christmas book anthology/collection = payday. Stay safe and well. Cheers goonalan [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
I'm reading the Forgotten Realms Novels- #202 The Howling Delve by Jaleigh Johnson (Dungeons 2)
Top