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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: 8162867" data-attributes="member: 16069"><p><strong>#110 The Silent Blade by RA Salvatore (Paths Darkness 1) </strong></p><p><strong>Read 2/1/21</strong></p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]130849[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Well, I picked it up and read the first five to ten pages while waiting for the alarm to go off yesterday morning- to start the day. Then post alarm and the present lockdown version of food shopping it was back home, and back to the book- after jobs.</p><p></p><p>Then more jobs to do, but always back to the book- I finished the novel at approx. 10 PM the same day- what does that tell you/me. It's not unputdownable, but it is in comparison to a lot that has passed this way previously.</p><p></p><p>It's not a work of genius, but it has got great characters that I am sooooo routing for, particularly Artemis Entreri, and every time I meet Jarlaxle I learn to love him a little more, and Bruenor, and Catti, and Regis, and Wulfgar, and... the other one.</p><p></p><p>It's the greatest hits here, or else the characters that have (so far) made the biggest impression upon me, there may be dozens of reasons for this- I read about these guys pretty much at the start of my journey, they're all nicely rounded (although they have of course become archetypes). They're interesting- suitably thoughtful, when the need arises, suitable anti-hero, and... well, you know all about these guys probably so I'll let you finish this sentence.</p><p></p><p>The story just works, the chatter and action is great- it's got a good amount of geography and plenty of room for me to infer what cool places on the Sword Coast are like (a bit). The novel doesn't seem to have try hard to fit in with Faerun, and some of the others do, it simply belongs there. The author knows his onions, forgive me an English expression- he knows what he is writing about, the canon- or else he's happy to write his own canon.</p><p></p><p>It all just works, even the daft(-ish) last minute teleport in to save Regis' life and in the process steel the Crystal Shard away. Even then the author is smart enough to tell the reader all of the mistakes that the bad guys are making with their roleplay. Salvatore is smart enough to know that this is the weakest link, the moment that the good guys get conned- and we need to believe this bit, or else to be able to explain it away to ourselves. So, he points out the errors that on a better day Drizzt and his companions could/would spot, and be much more suspicious of.</p><p></p><p>I liked that bit a lot.</p><p></p><p>Here's what happened, here's what our heroes should have noticed- but in the moment their need was too great, Regis was dying.</p><p></p><p>I liked that this seemed opportunistic, that even the bad guys here are on the blag, making things up as they go along- with good research but all the same, they're winging it.</p><p></p><p>Then there's Wulfgar, who I have disliked in the past for all of his macho naughty word and his failure to integrate with the real world (at times). Here he's forlorn, despicable and desperate, bugger- I'm starting to feel sorry for the big lug. Damn you Bob Salvatore.</p><p></p><p>There's more good stuff however- the Crystal Shard calling the bad guys too it, I'm using this in my campaign- I can't wait to hear my PCs around the VTT trying to figure out why it is a steady number of semi-evil randoms keep attacking them. There's a nice bit of non-pirate ship action, Catti comes alive. Lots of (maybe a dozen) other great NPCs that get walk-ons or just ten lines here that are just great- Druzil, the Imp is back. The drow wizard and psionicist- the pair are great, they'd make a wonderful enemy tag team just on their own, with a maybe a bunch of mooks to do the dirty work for them. I really like Luskan, we're going there.</p><p></p><p>What I'm trying to say, I think, is Salvatore starts way closer to the finishing line, or else the line above which it becomes easy for the reader to know and appreciate that s/he is learning something here- seeing the Realms (and its inhabitants) in all of its technicolour glory. If I just had the books of Salvatore to go on then I'd probably have enough of Faerun to play with for a campaign or two. Enough places that fit into my mind's eye version of the realms, my D&D game version, enough places, and people and stratagems to make a great adventure or thirty.</p><p></p><p>I liked this one a lot.</p><p></p><p>Oh, and the italicized Drizzt words of wisdom seem even better here, who knows why- it's like a great episode of Kung-Fu (or whatever it was called) with David Carradine, wandering the world and learning lessons. A bit of pop-psychology rubbing against some emotional/philosophical explanation for what's going on in the here and now- with Drizzt and his companions. The drow just seems a whole lot more sure of himself, and the world, he's graduated (somehow) and doesn't need to stand in the spotlight all the while.</p><p></p><p>Yeah, it just works.</p><p></p><p>Stay safe and well.</p><p></p><p>Cheers goonalan.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Goonalan, post: 8162867, member: 16069"] [B]#110 The Silent Blade by RA Salvatore (Paths Darkness 1) Read 2/1/21[/B] [ATTACH type="full" width="222px"]130849[/ATTACH] Well, I picked it up and read the first five to ten pages while waiting for the alarm to go off yesterday morning- to start the day. Then post alarm and the present lockdown version of food shopping it was back home, and back to the book- after jobs. Then more jobs to do, but always back to the book- I finished the novel at approx. 10 PM the same day- what does that tell you/me. It's not unputdownable, but it is in comparison to a lot that has passed this way previously. It's not a work of genius, but it has got great characters that I am sooooo routing for, particularly Artemis Entreri, and every time I meet Jarlaxle I learn to love him a little more, and Bruenor, and Catti, and Regis, and Wulfgar, and... the other one. It's the greatest hits here, or else the characters that have (so far) made the biggest impression upon me, there may be dozens of reasons for this- I read about these guys pretty much at the start of my journey, they're all nicely rounded (although they have of course become archetypes). They're interesting- suitably thoughtful, when the need arises, suitable anti-hero, and... well, you know all about these guys probably so I'll let you finish this sentence. The story just works, the chatter and action is great- it's got a good amount of geography and plenty of room for me to infer what cool places on the Sword Coast are like (a bit). The novel doesn't seem to have try hard to fit in with Faerun, and some of the others do, it simply belongs there. The author knows his onions, forgive me an English expression- he knows what he is writing about, the canon- or else he's happy to write his own canon. It all just works, even the daft(-ish) last minute teleport in to save Regis' life and in the process steel the Crystal Shard away. Even then the author is smart enough to tell the reader all of the mistakes that the bad guys are making with their roleplay. Salvatore is smart enough to know that this is the weakest link, the moment that the good guys get conned- and we need to believe this bit, or else to be able to explain it away to ourselves. So, he points out the errors that on a better day Drizzt and his companions could/would spot, and be much more suspicious of. I liked that bit a lot. Here's what happened, here's what our heroes should have noticed- but in the moment their need was too great, Regis was dying. I liked that this seemed opportunistic, that even the bad guys here are on the blag, making things up as they go along- with good research but all the same, they're winging it. Then there's Wulfgar, who I have disliked in the past for all of his macho naughty word and his failure to integrate with the real world (at times). Here he's forlorn, despicable and desperate, bugger- I'm starting to feel sorry for the big lug. Damn you Bob Salvatore. There's more good stuff however- the Crystal Shard calling the bad guys too it, I'm using this in my campaign- I can't wait to hear my PCs around the VTT trying to figure out why it is a steady number of semi-evil randoms keep attacking them. There's a nice bit of non-pirate ship action, Catti comes alive. Lots of (maybe a dozen) other great NPCs that get walk-ons or just ten lines here that are just great- Druzil, the Imp is back. The drow wizard and psionicist- the pair are great, they'd make a wonderful enemy tag team just on their own, with a maybe a bunch of mooks to do the dirty work for them. I really like Luskan, we're going there. What I'm trying to say, I think, is Salvatore starts way closer to the finishing line, or else the line above which it becomes easy for the reader to know and appreciate that s/he is learning something here- seeing the Realms (and its inhabitants) in all of its technicolour glory. If I just had the books of Salvatore to go on then I'd probably have enough of Faerun to play with for a campaign or two. Enough places that fit into my mind's eye version of the realms, my D&D game version, enough places, and people and stratagems to make a great adventure or thirty. I liked this one a lot. Oh, and the italicized Drizzt words of wisdom seem even better here, who knows why- it's like a great episode of Kung-Fu (or whatever it was called) with David Carradine, wandering the world and learning lessons. A bit of pop-psychology rubbing against some emotional/philosophical explanation for what's going on in the here and now- with Drizzt and his companions. The drow just seems a whole lot more sure of himself, and the world, he's graduated (somehow) and doesn't need to stand in the spotlight all the while. Yeah, it just works. Stay safe and well. Cheers goonalan. [/QUOTE]
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