As a quibble, not all of the FR novels are this length—some are longer, and some much longer (City of Splendors, Cormyr, and Evermeet are all in the 500-page ballpark, for instance), but the majority are 312 or very close to it.#182 Bladesinger by Keith Francis Strohm (Fighters 4)
Read 15/2/23 to 20/2/23
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It starts really well, it's intense- slow burn, and the adventuring group we are travelling, through Rashemen- always a great place to visit, are all top notch. The brooding, you read that right, halfling fighter on his war hound; the sage but slightly comic Rashemen ranger- "wodka!", and a pair of half-elf main players. Marissa, the outsider druid, and the love interest for Taen, an emotionally crippled Bladesinger.
So far and so suitably anti-hero bleak, with lashings of self doubt from our hero, he really is a mess.
And here's why- while we travel to the scene of the action with our guys the intervening chapters tell the story of Taen's darkest deed.
SPOILER- although when we get to the end Taen's fall from grace is both daft and silly, but y'know- passable.
There's lot to like here, the language is evocative and continues to make Rashemen and its strange ways a bang tidy place to visit (for a DM looking for a base of operations- are their any published adventures set here, or any other books?) And it really does go slow at the beginning, it takes a good 70-80 pages for our guys just to get from A to B. B being the actual start of the heroic quest, all before this is mood/scene/character setting, and with a nice bit of action against some Ice Trolls.
But then... well, gears get shifted and the teleport's in and the next thing you know our guys are in the thick of it, so... that too works, and again the writing is good- the action palpable, and it's great to see an adventuring party doing what they do best, and they're high-ish level folk.
The issue, maybe, that pops up early on is our Bladesinger is the loose canon- the song drifts from him in at all the wrong moments, and the next thing you know... he's making death saves.
Which I sort of liked- because it fits in with his broken self.
There are some villains of course but part of the problem here is that they don't get enough air time, the first time we get to meet the turncoat hag she's playing her part (very well) and terrorizing her minions. However, pretty much every time we see her (and her equally unfathomable- but cool half-orc priestess) after this she's either unleashing her next terror on our heroes, it's like close-captioning the plot, or else (as likely) bemoaning her lot when the previous incarnation of her terror has failed to hit the spot.
Our heroes seem to take it all in their stride.
The threat starts to look like middling- although SPOILERS nice twist in the end when the druid gets captured and eventually killed.
Also, even the Hag starts to doubt herself, at some point it very much starts looking like the Half-Orc Priestess is in line to play bad guy in a sequel, but it doesn't work out that way.
Then there's the goblin, which I like and hate at the same time, let me explain- our guys capture a random goblin, charm the fellow, and hey-presto (even with the druid gone- captured) this pre-Splug Splug is happy to show our guys the backdoor into the Hag's lair.
I guess it was an option, otherwise we'd have to sit through a lot more hack 'n' slash to get our guys to their ultimate destination, but as a device... it's a thin thread they hang from.
Then, and this is still foxing me two days later.
Then... you are never going to believe this.
Are you sat down?
Good.
The book ends.
Oh, yeah- hag and half-orc defeated, close run thing, bit of an epilogue for Taen (the Bladesinger) and we are finished.
On page 281.
Hang on, 281?
All of these books (and I've read 182 of them now) are 312 pages long.
The finale, and from a bit of a way before it, seems- peremptory.
Can you guess why?
Did someone chop 30 or so pages out just to make room for an excerpt from Ed Greenwood's latest blockbuster (as in my copy) or did the author just run short.
It left me baffled, because 312 pages (give or take) has been the rule for oh so long here.
Read.
Stay safe and well you lovely people.
Cheers goonalan.
Now, four books off, then back again.
And I suspect you’re right about the ending of this one, and how it got that way. Very disappointing.