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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: 9068430" data-attributes="member: 16069"><p><strong>#194 Shadowbred by Paul S Kemp (Twilight War 1) </strong></p><p><strong>Read 10/7/23 to 14/7/23</strong></p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]290162[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>It's a good book, as in an easy read and interesting in part, there are issues- there are always issues (with me) but... it does what it says on the tin, it just works- it sets up perfectly what comes next, I hope.</p><p></p><p>So, Erevis Cale is back, a shadow of his former self (see what I did there, he's a shade now, remember), and the former bad man turned butler/major domo has become... a very bad man, again. But a hero too, a sort of anti-hero, which is no bad thing. He always seems to look out for the working classes, the poor folk, and so apart from his very creepy love/lust for juvenile girls (specifically Tazi) then, I like Erevis Cale. Anti-hero, check; working class hero, check; bad man, check- that'll do for me.</p><p></p><p>That said- it's slow, oh so slow at the start, with the secret-keeping Shar clergy doing their damnedest to out-creepy each other, Erevis figuring out that he's not cut out for the happy quiet life, and... Sembia's nobles scheming to rip the nation apart. There's nearly 150 pages of this stuff, nothing much happens except for the putting of the pieces on the board, and the set-up for the rest of the trilogy (I presume).</p><p></p><p>Here's my issue with it- there's no pretending, the bad guys you (the reader) already know are the bad guys- even before you get to meet them in their day jobs. The other bad folk, who have yet to declare their hand, well- they may as well wear t-shirts (or an FR equivalent) stating that they are bad people. Everything is either revealed in the first 150 or so pages, or else is made so plain as to be obvious. This isn't ideal, and yet I can't believe that the author didn't figure this out ahead of time, so either there's a twist, or else it is just as simple as that. Sembia wil descend into civil war, Prince Riven and the other shadowfolk will start out playing nice and then turn nasty, the clergy of Shar will continue to backstab and connive (and in doing so undermine each other). Oh, and we'll get to meet Magadon the mind mage again, and possibly his old man- Mephistophelese, which I can't imagine will end well.</p><p></p><p>This one, well- 150 pages of set, another 100 pages of Erevis' return to Selgaunt and his previous 'master', and then... well, it finally gets really good. The Source/kraken is back, Riven is back, Mask is back, Jak is gone (at last, he may yet be back), and a bunch of chop-socky red shirts have been added to the mix. The last fifty or so sides are full bore rolling thunder, death and destruction aplenty. The rest, good work- very easy to read and understand, but it's all just set up for what follows. It took me three days to read the first 150 pages, and then another two for the remaining 200 pages.</p><p></p><p>Read.</p><p></p><p>Stay safe and well you lovely people.</p><p></p><p>Cheers Paul</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Goonalan, post: 9068430, member: 16069"] [B]#194 Shadowbred by Paul S Kemp (Twilight War 1) Read 10/7/23 to 14/7/23[/B] [ATTACH type="full" width="184px"]290162[/ATTACH] It's a good book, as in an easy read and interesting in part, there are issues- there are always issues (with me) but... it does what it says on the tin, it just works- it sets up perfectly what comes next, I hope. So, Erevis Cale is back, a shadow of his former self (see what I did there, he's a shade now, remember), and the former bad man turned butler/major domo has become... a very bad man, again. But a hero too, a sort of anti-hero, which is no bad thing. He always seems to look out for the working classes, the poor folk, and so apart from his very creepy love/lust for juvenile girls (specifically Tazi) then, I like Erevis Cale. Anti-hero, check; working class hero, check; bad man, check- that'll do for me. That said- it's slow, oh so slow at the start, with the secret-keeping Shar clergy doing their damnedest to out-creepy each other, Erevis figuring out that he's not cut out for the happy quiet life, and... Sembia's nobles scheming to rip the nation apart. There's nearly 150 pages of this stuff, nothing much happens except for the putting of the pieces on the board, and the set-up for the rest of the trilogy (I presume). Here's my issue with it- there's no pretending, the bad guys you (the reader) already know are the bad guys- even before you get to meet them in their day jobs. The other bad folk, who have yet to declare their hand, well- they may as well wear t-shirts (or an FR equivalent) stating that they are bad people. Everything is either revealed in the first 150 or so pages, or else is made so plain as to be obvious. This isn't ideal, and yet I can't believe that the author didn't figure this out ahead of time, so either there's a twist, or else it is just as simple as that. Sembia wil descend into civil war, Prince Riven and the other shadowfolk will start out playing nice and then turn nasty, the clergy of Shar will continue to backstab and connive (and in doing so undermine each other). Oh, and we'll get to meet Magadon the mind mage again, and possibly his old man- Mephistophelese, which I can't imagine will end well. This one, well- 150 pages of set, another 100 pages of Erevis' return to Selgaunt and his previous 'master', and then... well, it finally gets really good. The Source/kraken is back, Riven is back, Mask is back, Jak is gone (at last, he may yet be back), and a bunch of chop-socky red shirts have been added to the mix. The last fifty or so sides are full bore rolling thunder, death and destruction aplenty. The rest, good work- very easy to read and understand, but it's all just set up for what follows. It took me three days to read the first 150 pages, and then another two for the remaining 200 pages. Read. Stay safe and well you lovely people. Cheers Paul [/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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