tonylew1688
First Post
Thank you for detail.
D&D General I'm reading the Forgotten Realms Novels- #202 The Howling Delve by Jaleigh Johnson (Dungeons 2)
- Thread starter Goonalan
- Start date
Alzrius
The EN World kitten
This is one of the few series that I bought in hardback form, mostly because I wanted to read it badly enough that I couldn't wait for the softcovers to come out. The fact that it released in hardcover at all is something of a giveaway as to how much WotC thought this series was a winner; most of their books don't get hardcover releases in the first place.
The fact that each book was written by a different author struck me as odd, if for no other reason than it was so unusual (I may also have gotten Double Diamond Triangle flashbacks, which surely made me nervous, though apparently not enough to put me off of the series). Did they do it because six books in a timely manner was too much to ask of any one author? Was it just a marketing gimmick, i.e. "if you have a favorite Realms author, they're here"? I feel like there was a deliberate purpose in mind, but I'm not entirely sure what it was.
As for the book itself, I agree that this one was done well. There are surprisingly few novels (at least insofar as I know) where the main characters are bad guys (though "anti-heroes," a nebulous term which I've come to interpret at "does the right thing using methods that most people wouldn't approve of," are a bit more popular), particularly when it comes to D&D. Ravenloft had some of the best (e.g. Lord Soth and Azalin), but these guys are well-presented in that manner too, even if Menzoberranzen's culture provides a ready-made background with regard to softening their actions by way of saying that they're products of their society. Also, it was nice to have the higher-end magic be so forthright; a lot of D&D novels seem to have a hard time with that.
Although, on that subject, I remain irritated that we never got game statistics for the stonefire bombs. The main characters from these novels all got their stats eventually presented in Dragon magazine (issues 302, 312, and 322), but the stonefire bombs never did. They're not hard to homebrew, but little things like that irk me, simply because they're such obvious oversights that you'd think someone somewhere would have done something about them.
I have some more thoughts on the overall progression of the series and its characters, but I'll bring those up as we get to the later novels.
The fact that each book was written by a different author struck me as odd, if for no other reason than it was so unusual (I may also have gotten Double Diamond Triangle flashbacks, which surely made me nervous, though apparently not enough to put me off of the series). Did they do it because six books in a timely manner was too much to ask of any one author? Was it just a marketing gimmick, i.e. "if you have a favorite Realms author, they're here"? I feel like there was a deliberate purpose in mind, but I'm not entirely sure what it was.
As for the book itself, I agree that this one was done well. There are surprisingly few novels (at least insofar as I know) where the main characters are bad guys (though "anti-heroes," a nebulous term which I've come to interpret at "does the right thing using methods that most people wouldn't approve of," are a bit more popular), particularly when it comes to D&D. Ravenloft had some of the best (e.g. Lord Soth and Azalin), but these guys are well-presented in that manner too, even if Menzoberranzen's culture provides a ready-made background with regard to softening their actions by way of saying that they're products of their society. Also, it was nice to have the higher-end magic be so forthright; a lot of D&D novels seem to have a hard time with that.
Although, on that subject, I remain irritated that we never got game statistics for the stonefire bombs. The main characters from these novels all got their stats eventually presented in Dragon magazine (issues 302, 312, and 322), but the stonefire bombs never did. They're not hard to homebrew, but little things like that irk me, simply because they're such obvious oversights that you'd think someone somewhere would have done something about them.
I have some more thoughts on the overall progression of the series and its characters, but I'll bring those up as we get to the later novels.
TheSword
Legend
I might be completely making this up but I thought stonefire bombs got stats in the Underdark book for 3e forgotten realms. I have the book at home so will check then.
Dire Bare
Legend
If I remember correctly (it's been a while), I don't think Salvatore really had much to do with this series. He might have been in on the initial conceptual meetings. His name is on the cover mostly because these books are about drow, and his name sells books.
This is a long series, six books, and even has another follow-up trilogy. I really enjoyed the entire series, moreso than the Drizzt novels. Although, there's some weird stuff at the end of book six regarding elven races and skin color . . . . I think it tries to fix the evil elf with dark skin trope, but actually makes it worse. It only comes up in book six, and isn't discussed anywhere else, to my knowledge. I'll let you get to it yourself, I'm curious how you'll react to it.
#145 Insurrection by Thomas M Reid (War Spider Queen 2)
Read 17/11/21 to 20/11/21
And still everything is better with drow, hence it only taking three days to read this one.
Also, as I've said before, I'm reading a 'normal' novel between each FR offering- so Umberto Eco's Baudolino (a great book) got demolished in just three days between this one and the last from the War of the Spider Queen series. I needed to get back to it.
So, Ched Nasad- what a place, and keep in mind that I had no idea about the locale- other than the name, that's all the information I had before picking up this one.
There's a bit of- Wow! going on at the start, but that's just me grinning to myself and wondering what it would be like to DM my guys around this terrifying/crazy place- spider's webs turned to stone for thoroughfares, the great houses- and all of the other buildings built on the webs/walls etc. It's a shame that we don't get to spend longer in some of these places, Ched Nasad is a place I want to know, although... at the end.
Is it entirely destroyed, or does some version of the ruins get propped back up again? What's left there?
Then there's the Guardian Spiders, as enemies go- I like them, and the fact that with Lolth gone the Matron Mothers have no control over the massive terrors. In fact the entire situation/operation runs like a high level (hefty- a thick book) scenario, particularly the end game when our gang of kick ass drow (et al) have to make it out of Ched before the big whoops. It's a nice climax, a lot of running around and fight after fight- so many, and I love this stuff, that even I started wishing (a little) for the end. But the finale in the Dangling Tower is just superb.
There's stuff here that I like less than the last one, but... not much, the away team are just glorious, particularly with the Alu Demon- Aliisza, and Jeggred has shaped up- I wouldn't say that the Draegloth is a team player but, he comes good in this one. As does Quenthel.
Perhaps its Pharaun then that disappoints (but only a very little) in comparison with his previous incarnation. He's the central character, the MVP, and yet even he is short of quips, and needs to get rescued every now and then in this one. I'm not sure why I was a little less impressed with his performance here, early on in the novel he was his usual chipper self- bedding Aliisza and smirking and smarming his way through every encounter. Then... it all just got as lot less smart, a lot more fighty and a lot busier. Pharaun didn't get as much chance/space to shine, or else to sound too cool for skool while doing so.
Don't get me wrong, there's nothing bad here, it's just that if the last one was a 9.5/10 then this one was only a 9/10. That's the limit of my complaint.
Great book, everything is better with drow, duergar, demons, draegloth and damned big spiders.
Read.
Stay safe and well you lovely people.
Cheers goonalan.
Read 17/11/21 to 20/11/21
And still everything is better with drow, hence it only taking three days to read this one.
Also, as I've said before, I'm reading a 'normal' novel between each FR offering- so Umberto Eco's Baudolino (a great book) got demolished in just three days between this one and the last from the War of the Spider Queen series. I needed to get back to it.
So, Ched Nasad- what a place, and keep in mind that I had no idea about the locale- other than the name, that's all the information I had before picking up this one.
There's a bit of- Wow! going on at the start, but that's just me grinning to myself and wondering what it would be like to DM my guys around this terrifying/crazy place- spider's webs turned to stone for thoroughfares, the great houses- and all of the other buildings built on the webs/walls etc. It's a shame that we don't get to spend longer in some of these places, Ched Nasad is a place I want to know, although... at the end.
Is it entirely destroyed, or does some version of the ruins get propped back up again? What's left there?
Then there's the Guardian Spiders, as enemies go- I like them, and the fact that with Lolth gone the Matron Mothers have no control over the massive terrors. In fact the entire situation/operation runs like a high level (hefty- a thick book) scenario, particularly the end game when our gang of kick ass drow (et al) have to make it out of Ched before the big whoops. It's a nice climax, a lot of running around and fight after fight- so many, and I love this stuff, that even I started wishing (a little) for the end. But the finale in the Dangling Tower is just superb.
There's stuff here that I like less than the last one, but... not much, the away team are just glorious, particularly with the Alu Demon- Aliisza, and Jeggred has shaped up- I wouldn't say that the Draegloth is a team player but, he comes good in this one. As does Quenthel.
Perhaps its Pharaun then that disappoints (but only a very little) in comparison with his previous incarnation. He's the central character, the MVP, and yet even he is short of quips, and needs to get rescued every now and then in this one. I'm not sure why I was a little less impressed with his performance here, early on in the novel he was his usual chipper self- bedding Aliisza and smirking and smarming his way through every encounter. Then... it all just got as lot less smart, a lot more fighty and a lot busier. Pharaun didn't get as much chance/space to shine, or else to sound too cool for skool while doing so.
Don't get me wrong, there's nothing bad here, it's just that if the last one was a 9.5/10 then this one was only a 9/10. That's the limit of my complaint.
Great book, everything is better with drow, duergar, demons, draegloth and damned big spiders.
Read.
Stay safe and well you lovely people.
Cheers goonalan.
Alzrius
The EN World kitten
I'm trying to remember if this is the first time we've ever actually been to Ched Nasad proper. It's been name-dropped fairly often insofar as drow cities go; I think that Salvatore came up with the place, saying that it was Menzoberranzan's closest neighbor, but I can't recall anything more than superficial descriptions in places like Drizzt Do'Urden's Guide to the Underdark. Even Maerimydra got decent coverage in City of the Spider Queen (which, incidentally, takes place during these same novels; the adventure is basically what happens in Maerimydra during Lolth's Silence).
Of course, it's all fairly pointless anyway, since the city is never fully restored. It doesn't completely cease to exist; both Underdark and Menzoberranzan: City of Intrigue confirm that much, but it's never rebuilt, instead hobbling along as a shadow of its former self, which is kind of appropriate considering who runs the place after that.
The appearance of Aliisza the alu-demon (though my 2E upbringing always comes through here, since I keep wanting to call her an "alu-fiend") was something that caught me by surprise when I first read this book. While I didn't own a copy of Hellgate Keep at the time, I had flipped through it, and knew she was an NPC from there. I'm not sure what prompted Thomas M. Reid to include her here (he wasn't the author of the module in question) beyond an idea that she was a power-player in the general region and so should be involved.
As it stands, I mostly regard Aliisza's character as an impressive one, but more for her game stats than her presentation. The 2E lore was oddly consistent about the fact that alu-fiendsdemons could only gain wizard levels if they had an 18 Intelligence (the highest they could conceivably have under the game rules), and even then were limited to 12th level...which is exactly how Aliisza is portrayed (even if, as far as I know, she never had stats outside of 2E). It's nice when the lore is self-consistent, rather than needlessly contradicting itself.
With regard to Jeggred, I got the feeling that he was there as a walking advertisement for Monster Compendium: Monsters of Faerûn, since that's where draegloths first appeared (and this book came out less than two years later). Of course, your average draegloth doesn't have anywhere near the power to compete with high-level characters like this series' protagonists, so it was little surprise when Dragon #302 said that Jeggred was a barbarian 9/fighter 4 with several unique magic items. With that level of power, and his Chaotic Evil alignment, you'd think that Jeggred wouldn't be quite so loyal to his mother Triel Baenre, and yet the thought of anyone disobeying her tends to make him very upset. Presumably calling him a mama's boy makes him immediately activate his barbarian rage.
Far more interesting were the Jaezred Chaulssin (though the name was, like so many other instances of drow nomenclature, seemingly designed to confound people trying to type it out on the Internet). Cabals of that sort are campaign fodder, and this was no exception. We wouldn't get more solid information on them until Dragons of Faerûn put out its "City of Wyrmshadows" web enhancement, which presented a thorough look at the organization, with the dizzying mechanical complexity that I so loved about 3.5E.
Lots of good times here, in other words. Also, the plot was of the novel was fun too.
Please note my use of affiliate links in this post.
Of course, it's all fairly pointless anyway, since the city is never fully restored. It doesn't completely cease to exist; both Underdark and Menzoberranzan: City of Intrigue confirm that much, but it's never rebuilt, instead hobbling along as a shadow of its former self, which is kind of appropriate considering who runs the place after that.
The appearance of Aliisza the alu-demon (though my 2E upbringing always comes through here, since I keep wanting to call her an "alu-fiend") was something that caught me by surprise when I first read this book. While I didn't own a copy of Hellgate Keep at the time, I had flipped through it, and knew she was an NPC from there. I'm not sure what prompted Thomas M. Reid to include her here (he wasn't the author of the module in question) beyond an idea that she was a power-player in the general region and so should be involved.
As it stands, I mostly regard Aliisza's character as an impressive one, but more for her game stats than her presentation. The 2E lore was oddly consistent about the fact that alu-
With regard to Jeggred, I got the feeling that he was there as a walking advertisement for Monster Compendium: Monsters of Faerûn, since that's where draegloths first appeared (and this book came out less than two years later). Of course, your average draegloth doesn't have anywhere near the power to compete with high-level characters like this series' protagonists, so it was little surprise when Dragon #302 said that Jeggred was a barbarian 9/fighter 4 with several unique magic items. With that level of power, and his Chaotic Evil alignment, you'd think that Jeggred wouldn't be quite so loyal to his mother Triel Baenre, and yet the thought of anyone disobeying her tends to make him very upset. Presumably calling him a mama's boy makes him immediately activate his barbarian rage.
Far more interesting were the Jaezred Chaulssin (though the name was, like so many other instances of drow nomenclature, seemingly designed to confound people trying to type it out on the Internet). Cabals of that sort are campaign fodder, and this was no exception. We wouldn't get more solid information on them until Dragons of Faerûn put out its "City of Wyrmshadows" web enhancement, which presented a thorough look at the organization, with the dizzying mechanical complexity that I so loved about 3.5E.
Lots of good times here, in other words. Also, the plot was of the novel was fun too.
Please note my use of affiliate links in this post.
Last edited:
I'm trying to remember if this is the first time we've ever actually been to Ched Nasad proper. It's been name-dropped fairly often insofar as drow cities go; I think that Salvatore came up with the place, saying that it was Menzoberranzan's closest neighbor, but I can't recall anything more than superficial descriptions in places like Drizzt Do'Urden's Guide to the Underdark. Even Maerimydra got decent coverage in City of the Spider Queen (which, incidentally, takes place during these same novels; the adventure is basically what happens in Maerimydra during Lolth's Silence).
Of course, it's all fairly pointless anyway, since the city is never fully restored. It doesn't completely cease to exist; both Underdark and Menzoberranzan: City of Intrigue confirm that much, but it's never rebuilt, instead hobbling along as a shadow of its former self, which is kind of appropriate considering who runs the place after that.
The appearance of Aliisza the alu-demon (though my 2E upbringing always comes through here, since I keep wanting to call her an "alu-fiend") was something that caught me by surprise when I first read this book. While I didn't own a copy of Hellgate Keep at the time, I had flipped through it, and knew she was an NPC from there. I'm not sure what prompted Thomas M. Reid to include her here (he wasn't the author of the module in question) beyond an idea that she was a power-player in the general region and so should be involved.
As it stands, I mostly regard Aliisza's character as an impressive one, but more for her game stats than her presentation. The 2E lore was oddly consistent about the fact that alu-fiendsdemons could only gain wizard levels if they had an 18 Intelligence (the highest they could conceivably have under the game rules), and even then were limited to 12th level...which is exactly how Aliisza is portrayed (even if, as far as I know, she never had stats outside of 2E). It's nice when the lore is self-consistent, rather than needlessly contradicting itself.
With regard to Jeggred, I got the feeling that he was there as a walking advertisement for Monster Compendium: Monsters of Faerûn , since that's where draegloths first appeared (and this book came out less than two years later). Of course, your average draegloth doesn't have anywhere near the power to compete with high-level characters like this series' protagonists, so it was little surprise when Dragon #302 said that Jeggred was a barbarian 9/fighter 4 with several unique magic items. With that level of power, and his Chaotic Evil alignment, you'd think that Jeggred wouldn't be quite so loyal to his mother Triel Baenre, and yet the thought of anyone disobeying her tends to make him very upset. Presumably calling him a mama's boy makes him immediately activate his barbarian rage.
Far more interesting were the Jaezred Chaulssin (though the name was, like so many other instances of drow nomenclature, seemingly designed to confound people trying to type it out on the Internet). Cabals of that sort are campaign fodder, and this was no exception. We wouldn't get more solid information on them until Dragons of Faerûn put out its "City of Wyrmshadows" web enhancement, which presented a thorough look at the organization, with the dizzying mechanical complexity that I so loved about 3.5E.
Lots of good times here, in other words. Also, the plot was of the novel was fun too.
Please note my use of affiliate links in this post.
Thanks for that, greatly appreciated.
Cheers goonalan.
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