#069 Hand of Fire by Ed Greenwood (Shandrill's Saga 3)
Read 30/4/20 to 7/5/20
Book 3- and another struggle to get through. So, what's new? Nothing much, as it transpires- Shan and Narm have to get from A to B, B being Silverymoon, that's nice. A is... and now I'm at the end I can't even remember where we started. The intrepid duo are hidden (don't make me laugh) on a trade caravan, making their way to safety.
Oh, and by the way- that's the plot (or the story) in all of its complexity- get from A to B.
Is that right? How can Silverymoon (or anywhere else) be safe for Shan and Narm? The world and his wife are out to lay claim to Spellfire, the bad guys will go to the ends of Toril to lay claim to the power.
The caravan is therefore packed with a variety of bad guys- Zhent, Red Wizards, Dragon Cultists, thieves from Scornubel, and a variety of others.
How will Silverymoon prove to be any safer for the forlorn pair?
Then there's all the bad guys queuing up, how do they 'acquire' Spellfire? I get that they can try to capture Shan, but what comes next... do they somehow syphon the hellish power from her? How?
It doesn't help that the bad guys (some of them) seem to be a lot less subtle about their attempts- are they going to wrest Spellfire from Shan's cold dead hands?
So, I've been complaining about Elaine Cunningham's lack of gritty action, well... me and my big mouth. This novel, once the caravan gets off is a rolling maul from start to finish, conniving bad guys (the best bit in the novel) squabble and then find new ways to 'off' each other. The caravan (how big is this thing?) seems to get attacked and decimated about every seven pages by some new threat rising to the top of the pack. Who keeps signing up for this thing... is every wagon in the caravan a bad guy just biding their time?
That's also part of the problem, with no great plot thread to unravel (A to B) then the bad folk have to carry a lot of the weight (and threat/suspense/tension) and they're good- all of them, but not great. mainly because they're on the backfoot from the get-go, all of them are trying to kill each other. Shan my be surrounded by enemies but so is every bad guy on her trail.
The best villains- the Waldorf and Statler mages, you work it out.
As usual the Harpers (or whoever) have let Shan and Narm go, and then- as usual, sent someone chasing after to watch over the pair, in this instance Sharantyr, Knight of Myth Drannor. We follow her difficult journey, all the way to the caravan and the final fight in which, soon after, Sharantyr's mortally wounded and teleported (or similar) to safety by the (deus ex machina?) bigguns. What was the point of her coming? If the Harpers et al wanted to protect Shan then go mob handed, or else... just teleport the pair to wherever they need to be.
I'm sorry, just a little bitter.
I just don't really get it- now I'm at the end. The journey is the novel- okay, but the journey is for nothing- there are easier ways to get from A to B (again, teleport) this then just seems to be a rinse and repeat retelling of the two previous books. Nothing new comes to light, does it- did I miss something?
Lots of innocent folk (I presume) get caught in the crossfire, lives and livelihoods are destroyed- spent, wasted; and for what. In essence, again, this is just a trip from A to B, why doesn't someone higher up (on the good guy's side) figure this out earlier in the piece. The Harper's are very brave, but they seem to lack management nous- a bit indulgent letting their secret weapon (maybe) just wander through the realms (not that well hidden). They've tried this before, it didn't work then- why just do it again?
I kept expecting Elminster (and three or four of his high-powered associates) to zoom in and take the fight to the bad guys, or else whisk Shan and Narm away, and save the day. I get that this is it... the novel, the story, but it lacks a lot- the same thing happens time and time again, different bad guys- sure, but that's the only concession. The addition of the Netherese Mage/Wraith just seems like... well, more of the same, and an attempt to find a new (and more frightening) enemy. Even if it appears that this last threat has no connection at all to anything in this novel (or those preceding it) and so is at best just another 'stock' villain sent by casting to do his thing, and fail.
Sheesh.
Oh, but the one redeeming quality of the book- the story ends here. Please Tymora, let it be the case.
Read.