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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="Alzrius" data-source="post: 8070848" data-attributes="member: 8461"><p>And we're finally back to Realms books that I've read! Though once again, it's been quite a while here, so forgive me any glossing over I may do.</p><p></p><p>The trouble with commenting on this book is that it's very hard to keep it to <em>this</em> book; this particular trilogy peaks early, with the second book in the series being the most memorable by far. Compared to it, this one seems like one long lead-in, and the third comes across as something of an extended epilogue. That's not entirely fair, of course, but that's the consequence of having the most epic of epic shenanigans happen in book two while books one and three try to be more up-close and personal with the stakes (comparatively speaking).</p><p></p><p>What came across most strongly in this book were the personalities. The array of enemies they faced simply didn't feel like they formed an overarching plot, but rather a set of backdrops for the characters to play off of each other. To put it another way, the plot of the book was rather weak, and it relied on the characters themselves to keep the story together. In this, it did a fairly decent job, though not enough to entirely compensate for the story's shortcomings. It's almost like they were rolling on random encounter tables the entire time, with the banter and interactions being the part that everyone remembers later. I particularly liked Candlemas' overall progression (though I may be thinking across the entire trilogy here) as he starts to realize just how callous his society is, whereas Sysquemalyn leans hard the other way. Sunbright and Greenwillow didn't have quite the same level of growth (or perhaps not the same artful depiction of it).</p><p></p><p>One thing worth noting about this series is that it was very clearly written in conjunction with <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17546/Netheril-Empire-of-Magic-2e?affiliate_id=820" target="_blank">Arcane Age: Netheril: Empire of Magic</a> (warning: affiliate link), a product whose title has always irritated me for using two colons; is that grammatically acceptable? Ahem. The list of personalities in that boxed set includes almost all of the major characters we see in this series, and their descriptions are very accurate to not only how they act, but recap the events of this trilogy. It's one of the more blatant product tie-ins for the Realms, even if the accompanying adventure <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17562/How-the-Mighty-Are-Fallen-2e?affiliate_id=820" target="_blank">How the Mighty Are Fallen</a> (warning: affiliate link) has nothing to do with the books (despite having yet another lich-lord in it).</p><p></p><p>I will say that I found the phaerimm to be adequate in their depiction as a quasi-society of genius uber-magic monsters, but given that I'd read all about them - including and especially their impressive game-stats - long before I read this trilogy, I was kind of primed to think well of them in that regard anyway.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Alzrius, post: 8070848, member: 8461"] And we're finally back to Realms books that I've read! Though once again, it's been quite a while here, so forgive me any glossing over I may do. The trouble with commenting on this book is that it's very hard to keep it to [i]this[/i] book; this particular trilogy peaks early, with the second book in the series being the most memorable by far. Compared to it, this one seems like one long lead-in, and the third comes across as something of an extended epilogue. That's not entirely fair, of course, but that's the consequence of having the most epic of epic shenanigans happen in book two while books one and three try to be more up-close and personal with the stakes (comparatively speaking). What came across most strongly in this book were the personalities. The array of enemies they faced simply didn't feel like they formed an overarching plot, but rather a set of backdrops for the characters to play off of each other. To put it another way, the plot of the book was rather weak, and it relied on the characters themselves to keep the story together. In this, it did a fairly decent job, though not enough to entirely compensate for the story's shortcomings. It's almost like they were rolling on random encounter tables the entire time, with the banter and interactions being the part that everyone remembers later. I particularly liked Candlemas' overall progression (though I may be thinking across the entire trilogy here) as he starts to realize just how callous his society is, whereas Sysquemalyn leans hard the other way. Sunbright and Greenwillow didn't have quite the same level of growth (or perhaps not the same artful depiction of it). One thing worth noting about this series is that it was very clearly written in conjunction with [url=https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17546/Netheril-Empire-of-Magic-2e?affiliate_id=820]Arcane Age: Netheril: Empire of Magic[/url] (warning: affiliate link), a product whose title has always irritated me for using two colons; is that grammatically acceptable? Ahem. The list of personalities in that boxed set includes almost all of the major characters we see in this series, and their descriptions are very accurate to not only how they act, but recap the events of this trilogy. It's one of the more blatant product tie-ins for the Realms, even if the accompanying adventure [url=https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17562/How-the-Mighty-Are-Fallen-2e?affiliate_id=820]How the Mighty Are Fallen[/url] (warning: affiliate link) has nothing to do with the books (despite having yet another lich-lord in it). I will say that I found the phaerimm to be adequate in their depiction as a quasi-society of genius uber-magic monsters, but given that I'd read all about them - including and especially their impressive game-stats - long before I read this trilogy, I was kind of primed to think well of them in that regard anyway. [/QUOTE]
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