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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: 8056928" data-attributes="member: 16069"><p><strong>#085 Murder in Halruaa by Richard Meyers (Mysteries 2) </strong></p><p><strong>Read 2/8/20 to 5/8/20</strong></p><p></p><p>[ATTACH]124519[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Book 2- actually book 3 in the Mysteries series but I'm only doing the Realms here, and... Halruaa is a silly place, I've heard of it of course- the magical kingdom with all the great new toys, and it's as daft as it sounds. I'm glad it went from the realms, although now it's back... I think, but in what form.</p><p></p><p>Another murder mystery to unravel, oddly I guessed the villain in the first fifty pages- but my choice of who to j'accuse was not an educated/deductive one, I based it on the age old Columbo technique, the bad guy is the one the protagonist meets first, and stands next to the detective for the longest, i.e. all the way through the piece.</p><p></p><p>There's a lot to dislike here, not that it wasn't an okay read- it only took 4-5 days to get through so there was impetus from somewhere, I think with the detective genre there's part of me that wants to get to the end for the following two reasons- 1) was I right, did I pick the killer, and 2) what cockamamie explanation is going to unfold to get this one done.</p><p></p><p>Well, I picked the killer early doors (go me) and the final explanation and its unfolding are as cockamamie as heck, so result- sorta.</p><p></p><p>To begin- how does Pryce Covington live in a hovel, it's all woe is me when all he is (or comes across as) is a well-spoken, incredibly well-educated, confident and used-to-privilege, prep school/posh kid tosser who has not suffered once in his sugar fed life. Or, at least, so it seemed to me. His friends, and many of the equally privileged others, when we get to meet them/hear about them, are equally unlikeable.</p><p></p><p>Point of fact there are lots of unlikeable (for me) characters in here. There's not one of the over-privileged squits I feel anything but revulsion for, they're a mixture of haughty, condescending, conniving and... well, and again, I'm probably just talking about the posh folk here. They're just not people I want to connect with, nor for that matter do I get the place- Halruaa. While the rest of the realms seems to be made up of a rag bag collection of dark corners inhabited by even darker creatures, Halruaa sits in magnificent self-imposed isolation- we want nothing from you, it screams.</p><p></p><p>It's like someone (a game designer) wanted a bit of Eberron, although now that I've written that I bet I'll find out that Halruaa preceded Eberron by about a decade (maybe). I just didn't like the place.</p><p></p><p>I also didn't like the fact that this book seemed to glory in class motifs, the underclass are either incredibly beautiful (Sheyren) and the Jackalwere (played like a below stairs flunky) but with a heart-of-gold, or incredibly ugly- the mongrelman, Devolawk; but with- you guessed it, a heart of gold. The posh folk are just ghastly, full of conceit and for the most part- bile. Halruaa maybe depicted as a magical paradise but if the novel is anything to go by then its just another dystopia in which the rich and powerful do what they wanna and mostly get away with it.</p><p></p><p>Then there's Darlington Blade, he's nine parts plot bearing/unfolding genius- he instantly knows how and why, although the explanation will come later (much later), he's a master detective and... that would be great, except the one part flashy showman just makes me think he's even more of a toff. Don't get me wrong- he has a heart, and he's the bridge between many groups here- a (so they say) pauper that takes on the mantle/cloak of the greatest wizard, an outsider, a connection between the monstrous and the civilised (wouldn't you know- the civilised turn out to be monstrous, and the monsters turn out to be very civil). So, he's the link.</p><p></p><p>But I hate him, for his easy (public school) charm, his affable nature, and his inherent confidence.</p><p></p><p>Again, the writing is good- I don't want you to think that this is a badly written book, silly- in places, when you sit it against the rest of the canon, but ably done, it's just I'd like to burn the place down (Halruaa) and all the people in it (or something less vicious, maybe just make them/it go away).</p><p></p><p>Read.</p><p></p><p>Oh, and just for info I stated earlier that after the first year of concentrated realms reading I would take things a little easier, and would slow down the pace- reading a real book in-between each FR novel. So, I finished this one yesterday afternoon (5/8/20) and then picked up Michael Palin's North Korea Journal (I got bought it for Christmas) and finished reading that one maybe 90 minutes later (it's very short). Break done- back to the realms.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Goonalan, post: 8056928, member: 16069"] [B]#085 Murder in Halruaa by Richard Meyers (Mysteries 2) Read 2/8/20 to 5/8/20[/B] [ATTACH alt="Forgotten Realms HB Murder in Halruaa (Mysteries 2) NrMINTa.JPG"]124519[/ATTACH] Book 2- actually book 3 in the Mysteries series but I'm only doing the Realms here, and... Halruaa is a silly place, I've heard of it of course- the magical kingdom with all the great new toys, and it's as daft as it sounds. I'm glad it went from the realms, although now it's back... I think, but in what form. Another murder mystery to unravel, oddly I guessed the villain in the first fifty pages- but my choice of who to j'accuse was not an educated/deductive one, I based it on the age old Columbo technique, the bad guy is the one the protagonist meets first, and stands next to the detective for the longest, i.e. all the way through the piece. There's a lot to dislike here, not that it wasn't an okay read- it only took 4-5 days to get through so there was impetus from somewhere, I think with the detective genre there's part of me that wants to get to the end for the following two reasons- 1) was I right, did I pick the killer, and 2) what cockamamie explanation is going to unfold to get this one done. Well, I picked the killer early doors (go me) and the final explanation and its unfolding are as cockamamie as heck, so result- sorta. To begin- how does Pryce Covington live in a hovel, it's all woe is me when all he is (or comes across as) is a well-spoken, incredibly well-educated, confident and used-to-privilege, prep school/posh kid tosser who has not suffered once in his sugar fed life. Or, at least, so it seemed to me. His friends, and many of the equally privileged others, when we get to meet them/hear about them, are equally unlikeable. Point of fact there are lots of unlikeable (for me) characters in here. There's not one of the over-privileged squits I feel anything but revulsion for, they're a mixture of haughty, condescending, conniving and... well, and again, I'm probably just talking about the posh folk here. They're just not people I want to connect with, nor for that matter do I get the place- Halruaa. While the rest of the realms seems to be made up of a rag bag collection of dark corners inhabited by even darker creatures, Halruaa sits in magnificent self-imposed isolation- we want nothing from you, it screams. It's like someone (a game designer) wanted a bit of Eberron, although now that I've written that I bet I'll find out that Halruaa preceded Eberron by about a decade (maybe). I just didn't like the place. I also didn't like the fact that this book seemed to glory in class motifs, the underclass are either incredibly beautiful (Sheyren) and the Jackalwere (played like a below stairs flunky) but with a heart-of-gold, or incredibly ugly- the mongrelman, Devolawk; but with- you guessed it, a heart of gold. The posh folk are just ghastly, full of conceit and for the most part- bile. Halruaa maybe depicted as a magical paradise but if the novel is anything to go by then its just another dystopia in which the rich and powerful do what they wanna and mostly get away with it. Then there's Darlington Blade, he's nine parts plot bearing/unfolding genius- he instantly knows how and why, although the explanation will come later (much later), he's a master detective and... that would be great, except the one part flashy showman just makes me think he's even more of a toff. Don't get me wrong- he has a heart, and he's the bridge between many groups here- a (so they say) pauper that takes on the mantle/cloak of the greatest wizard, an outsider, a connection between the monstrous and the civilised (wouldn't you know- the civilised turn out to be monstrous, and the monsters turn out to be very civil). So, he's the link. But I hate him, for his easy (public school) charm, his affable nature, and his inherent confidence. Again, the writing is good- I don't want you to think that this is a badly written book, silly- in places, when you sit it against the rest of the canon, but ably done, it's just I'd like to burn the place down (Halruaa) and all the people in it (or something less vicious, maybe just make them/it go away). Read. Oh, and just for info I stated earlier that after the first year of concentrated realms reading I would take things a little easier, and would slow down the pace- reading a real book in-between each FR novel. So, I finished this one yesterday afternoon (5/8/20) and then picked up Michael Palin's North Korea Journal (I got bought it for Christmas) and finished reading that one maybe 90 minutes later (it's very short). Break done- back to the realms. [/QUOTE]
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I'm reading the Forgotten Realms Novels- #202 The Howling Delve by Jaleigh Johnson (Dungeons 2)
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