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I'm reading the Forgotten Realms Novels- #202 The Howling Delve by Jaleigh Johnson (Dungeons 2)
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<blockquote data-quote="Goonalan" data-source="post: 8648032" data-attributes="member: 16069"><p><strong>#162 Vanity's Brood by Lisa Smedman (Serpents 3) </strong></p><p><strong>Read 18/5/22 to 26/5/22</strong></p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]249489[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>And I don't want to keep on saying, I struggled with this one... but, well, I did- again.</p><p></p><p>This series has not been my thing, but again- caveat alert, not because the books are badly written, or else there's something (anything) specifically wrong with them.</p><p></p><p>I struggled to get my head around Arvin, as he said in book one (and two, and three) he's not that friendly of fellows. He's not repugnant, or rude- he's a nice guy, he just doesn't seem to fit in, a lot- sometimes he seems to be just doing things for himself, other times he seems to be utterly selfless- and he's going above and beyond to prove it. But he just doesn't seem to settle on a thing, in book one and two there are far more interesting folk, again- to me. The big secret SPOILER is, of course, Arvin has Yuan-ti blood in him, he's (LE) Spock in this story, perhaps I should have spotted that earlier.</p><p></p><p>But Spock isn't Kirk, and that's part of the problem, Kirk is easy to like- Spock/Arvin is interesting, but I wouldn't want to watch an entire film about him. That's my issue with Arvin.</p><p></p><p>So, that aside- there's lots more cool stuff, and great places to go an visit in this one- mostly bits of Chult, although we don't get to see, hear and smell too much. Which leads me to my next issue with this series.</p><p></p><p>Psionics are interesting, the secondary characteristics and their tells, the way in which lots of things are going on as two psionic combatants battle it out in their respective minds, and the space in-between- make way for the ectoplasm, Martha! And yet while this mind-o vs mind-o epic battle is going on, well... there's some action (a little bit) but not much.</p><p></p><p>As soon as I finished this one (well, the very next day) I dived into the first book in The Year of Rogue Dragons series, The Rage, by Richard Lee Byers- and I'm loving it. The action is fantastic (so far), and there are at least three very likeable characters that are constantly competing for my smile. Why am I telling you this? </p><p></p><p>Because the psionic thing is great, but it's not a lot of action- I get that it's plenty of threat, but it's mostly threat that is told to us. Arvin, explaining what is going on in his brain, and then explaining what he's trying to do to his enemies senses- and again, that's great for me in DM world, to get a handle on how to use psionics in-game. But, it's not a lot of anything in the way of epic threat/action and all of the spectacle nonsense beloved of other authors. It's not even overly dramatic, because it's all over so quickly, the finale (part two) Arvin vs Zelia is kinda done in maybe two or three pages. It doesn't have time to be tense, or gripping, or... it just comes across as an explanation of events (mostly unseen).</p><p></p><p>So, great writing- I'm learning all the time, but not a story (or central character) for me.</p><p></p><p>Stay safe and well you lovely people.</p><p></p><p>Cheers goonalan</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Goonalan, post: 8648032, member: 16069"] [B]#162 Vanity's Brood by Lisa Smedman (Serpents 3) Read 18/5/22 to 26/5/22[/B] [ATTACH type="full" width="186px"]249489[/ATTACH] And I don't want to keep on saying, I struggled with this one... but, well, I did- again. This series has not been my thing, but again- caveat alert, not because the books are badly written, or else there's something (anything) specifically wrong with them. I struggled to get my head around Arvin, as he said in book one (and two, and three) he's not that friendly of fellows. He's not repugnant, or rude- he's a nice guy, he just doesn't seem to fit in, a lot- sometimes he seems to be just doing things for himself, other times he seems to be utterly selfless- and he's going above and beyond to prove it. But he just doesn't seem to settle on a thing, in book one and two there are far more interesting folk, again- to me. The big secret SPOILER is, of course, Arvin has Yuan-ti blood in him, he's (LE) Spock in this story, perhaps I should have spotted that earlier. But Spock isn't Kirk, and that's part of the problem, Kirk is easy to like- Spock/Arvin is interesting, but I wouldn't want to watch an entire film about him. That's my issue with Arvin. So, that aside- there's lots more cool stuff, and great places to go an visit in this one- mostly bits of Chult, although we don't get to see, hear and smell too much. Which leads me to my next issue with this series. Psionics are interesting, the secondary characteristics and their tells, the way in which lots of things are going on as two psionic combatants battle it out in their respective minds, and the space in-between- make way for the ectoplasm, Martha! And yet while this mind-o vs mind-o epic battle is going on, well... there's some action (a little bit) but not much. As soon as I finished this one (well, the very next day) I dived into the first book in The Year of Rogue Dragons series, The Rage, by Richard Lee Byers- and I'm loving it. The action is fantastic (so far), and there are at least three very likeable characters that are constantly competing for my smile. Why am I telling you this? Because the psionic thing is great, but it's not a lot of action- I get that it's plenty of threat, but it's mostly threat that is told to us. Arvin, explaining what is going on in his brain, and then explaining what he's trying to do to his enemies senses- and again, that's great for me in DM world, to get a handle on how to use psionics in-game. But, it's not a lot of anything in the way of epic threat/action and all of the spectacle nonsense beloved of other authors. It's not even overly dramatic, because it's all over so quickly, the finale (part two) Arvin vs Zelia is kinda done in maybe two or three pages. It doesn't have time to be tense, or gripping, or... it just comes across as an explanation of events (mostly unseen). So, great writing- I'm learning all the time, but not a story (or central character) for me. Stay safe and well you lovely people. Cheers goonalan [/QUOTE]
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