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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: 7895637" data-attributes="member: 16069"><p><strong>#044 Cloak of Shadows by Ed Greenwood (Shadow of the Avatar 2) </strong></p><p><strong>Read 12/1/20 to 16/1/20</strong></p><p></p><p>[ATTACH]117534[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Book 2- and more of the same, it's crazy good and yet crazy not quite so good in places- the rest of it is just crazy. It's all over the place(s) at times, and yet... it's a day or so after I finished this one and I still can't really decide how much I liked it. It's hard to grasp, at times... what happened?</p><p></p><p>So, the deal is- more of the same, the Time of Troubles- gods on Toril and magic is wild. Although it needs to be said that the Avatar series did a different thing with the broken magic set-back, in this series it is hardly broken at all, in the first Avatar series you cast Detect Magic and inadvertently open a portal to the Netherparts (you get my drift). It's also the same four(-ish) heroes- Sharn, the two Harper Ranger guys (cheeky chappies both of 'em) and Elminster (being faked, mostly, in this one by Selune- she's wearing the millennial mage, sorta). So, more of that again- and some more solo Elminster (in flying head form, but also in other shapes and sizes), in fact there's a lot of Elminster in this one for a book that doesn't have the name Elminster on the cover. But that's okay.</p><p></p><p>Sex is in still, as is a bit of lewdness, accompanied by the itchy red rash of innuendo- like in the last novel- that kind of thing is significant, I think, it's like Greenwood is ignoring the house style/rules (only slightly) and getting away with it. It's my Realms... maybe. But I've not read enough of the other books yet to truly tell- there's even a behind closed doors sex scene in this one... with Khelben Blackstaff & Laeral Silverstaff (fret not, they're married- and to each other). It seems the ladies can't resist an Archmage...</p><p></p><p>So, to the plot (such as it is)- at heart of it are the Malaugrym, the bad guys, terrifyingly fierce shape-changers, and flame hot mages to boot (the best of them). They live in the Shadow Castle, on the Shadow Plane, possibly on Shadow Street (but not the sunny side) etc. They all hate Elminster, and the Chosen, and humans in general, and the Forgotten Realms, oh... and each other. The Malaugrym have a few issues to work through, it seems. The big prize for them, during the Time of Troubles, is to kill El (and any other Chosen) and then... take over the WORLD (or similar).</p><p></p><p>The Malaugrym are great, not particularly because of their terrifying magics and powers, but because they're (mostly) all arrogant moustache twirling villains as depicted in early black-and-white movies (even the females), and also Illithid-like crazy and Drow-like cruel.</p><p></p><p>The Malaugrym attack our heroes (repeatedly) in the Realms, eventually kill the false Elminster, and then the good guys (now with a ghostly Selune) take the fight to the Shadow Castle.</p><p></p><p>The section in which our heroes camp out with Amdramnar is just glorious, the fact that he takes them in and the heroes get to party in the Malaugrym's backyard is also tres chic.</p><p></p><p>And yet...</p><p></p><p>And yet...</p><p></p><p>I keep getting this itch in my brain, a nagging doubt- there's so much going on here, we skip about and go visit with dozens of different folk, there are sections when the story gambols on and (very nicely) the tension builds, but then we're off again- and the quality control isn't always turned to max, or else the new thing we investigate, while interesting, kinda just deflects or defuses the tense bit that is still going on elsewhere.</p><p></p><p>It's frustrating, it's all about Elminster (women love him, guys look up to him, and gods turn up to remind him how great he is), and yet there's this other story with these cool heroes, and equally cool villains (who we repeatedly get to party with in their creepy lair). And, of course, El turns up (every now and then) to save the heroes, while he's also elsewhere saving the rest of the world.</p><p></p><p>You might be thinking by now that I don't like Elminster- but that's not it, I like Elminster plenty but like high level play in D&D (any edition, pretty much) if there's a 20th Level Wizard in the party then pretty much the rest of the guys are just there to carry the bags.</p><p></p><p>This one, perhaps this series (I've not finished it yet), is a funny-shaped piece of the jigsaw.</p><p></p><p>Read.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Goonalan, post: 7895637, member: 16069"] [B]#044 Cloak of Shadows by Ed Greenwood (Shadow of the Avatar 2) Read 12/1/20 to 16/1/20[/B] [ATTACH]117534[/ATTACH] Book 2- and more of the same, it's crazy good and yet crazy not quite so good in places- the rest of it is just crazy. It's all over the place(s) at times, and yet... it's a day or so after I finished this one and I still can't really decide how much I liked it. It's hard to grasp, at times... what happened? So, the deal is- more of the same, the Time of Troubles- gods on Toril and magic is wild. Although it needs to be said that the Avatar series did a different thing with the broken magic set-back, in this series it is hardly broken at all, in the first Avatar series you cast Detect Magic and inadvertently open a portal to the Netherparts (you get my drift). It's also the same four(-ish) heroes- Sharn, the two Harper Ranger guys (cheeky chappies both of 'em) and Elminster (being faked, mostly, in this one by Selune- she's wearing the millennial mage, sorta). So, more of that again- and some more solo Elminster (in flying head form, but also in other shapes and sizes), in fact there's a lot of Elminster in this one for a book that doesn't have the name Elminster on the cover. But that's okay. Sex is in still, as is a bit of lewdness, accompanied by the itchy red rash of innuendo- like in the last novel- that kind of thing is significant, I think, it's like Greenwood is ignoring the house style/rules (only slightly) and getting away with it. It's my Realms... maybe. But I've not read enough of the other books yet to truly tell- there's even a behind closed doors sex scene in this one... with Khelben Blackstaff & Laeral Silverstaff (fret not, they're married- and to each other). It seems the ladies can't resist an Archmage... So, to the plot (such as it is)- at heart of it are the Malaugrym, the bad guys, terrifyingly fierce shape-changers, and flame hot mages to boot (the best of them). They live in the Shadow Castle, on the Shadow Plane, possibly on Shadow Street (but not the sunny side) etc. They all hate Elminster, and the Chosen, and humans in general, and the Forgotten Realms, oh... and each other. The Malaugrym have a few issues to work through, it seems. The big prize for them, during the Time of Troubles, is to kill El (and any other Chosen) and then... take over the WORLD (or similar). The Malaugrym are great, not particularly because of their terrifying magics and powers, but because they're (mostly) all arrogant moustache twirling villains as depicted in early black-and-white movies (even the females), and also Illithid-like crazy and Drow-like cruel. The Malaugrym attack our heroes (repeatedly) in the Realms, eventually kill the false Elminster, and then the good guys (now with a ghostly Selune) take the fight to the Shadow Castle. The section in which our heroes camp out with Amdramnar is just glorious, the fact that he takes them in and the heroes get to party in the Malaugrym's backyard is also tres chic. And yet... And yet... I keep getting this itch in my brain, a nagging doubt- there's so much going on here, we skip about and go visit with dozens of different folk, there are sections when the story gambols on and (very nicely) the tension builds, but then we're off again- and the quality control isn't always turned to max, or else the new thing we investigate, while interesting, kinda just deflects or defuses the tense bit that is still going on elsewhere. It's frustrating, it's all about Elminster (women love him, guys look up to him, and gods turn up to remind him how great he is), and yet there's this other story with these cool heroes, and equally cool villains (who we repeatedly get to party with in their creepy lair). And, of course, El turns up (every now and then) to save the heroes, while he's also elsewhere saving the rest of the world. You might be thinking by now that I don't like Elminster- but that's not it, I like Elminster plenty but like high level play in D&D (any edition, pretty much) if there's a 20th Level Wizard in the party then pretty much the rest of the guys are just there to carry the bags. This one, perhaps this series (I've not finished it yet), is a funny-shaped piece of the jigsaw. Read. [/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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