The Sundering Begins - "The Companions" by R.A. Salvatore (spoilers)

[the Jester]

...also, in order to really understand what's happening you need to know what happend in prior books IMO.

This, combined with the "barely intersects with the rest of the Sundering series" criticism (if true), combine to form almost the definition of terrible for the first book in a series.

 

[MerricB]

This, combined with the "barely intersects with the rest of the Sundering series" criticism (if true), combine to form almost the definition of terrible for the first book in a series.

Despite not having read Drizzt books for 20 years, I didn't have problems with understanding the novel - it isn't bad as a starting point for later Drizzt novels. But as the first book of "The Sundering", it seems inappropriate. I could be wrong - there may be more connections coming up in the later novels - but it doesn't look like there will be.

Cheers!

 

[Blackwarder]

This, combined with the "barely intersects with the rest of the Sundering series" criticism (if true), combine to form almost the definition of terrible for the first book in a series.

Not really, I haven't read any Salvatore book since the first one in the trilogy with that Obould Orc and I managed to understand what happened with no problem, OTOH I have a friend who read everything and he is very excited every time he stumble upon a reference to earlier work.

What I was referring to was the reason to why Mieliki (probably spelled it wrong) give the companions the choice of resurection, if you read the all book ou get an answer by the end of it, but, if you are a fan and read the prior books you got a feeling of everything klicking together (as my friend described it).

Warder

 

[JeffB]

Must be hard to drink your your pinky that high in the air.

Dude's written over 50 novels. 5-0. He's made his living in the hardest profession out there. Any chucklehead can go out and get a job in IT and write a novel on their weekends. Doing it day-in, day out for thirty years, and working on videogames, and working on comics? Respect.

Hardest Profession out there?

Writing make believe stories about dragons and elves and fairies is The Hardest Profession Out There?

OK.

 

[Blackwarder]

I know several authors personaly, making a living out of it, instead of writing while having a day job, is hard. Most authors don't earn enough to live by just writing, is yes it's one of the hardest jobs around if you measure success by making a living out of it.

Warder

 

[Alzrius]

I know several authors personaly, making a living out of it, instead of writing while having a day job, is hard. Most authors don't earn enough to live by just writing, is yes it's one of the hardest jobs around if you measure success by making a living out of it.

I personally disagree. Yes, supporting yourself solely via creating "art" (which I consider fiction novels to be) is difficult to do. But if you measure "success" by making a living out of it, I think that people who do physically laborious and/or menial work (that demands little intellectual input) for terrible pay have the hardest jobs around.

There is a difference between breaking into a small (full-time) market, and a hard job.

 

[delericho]

It really isn't that awful. The way Catti-brie was killed (and where she went in her afterlife) set up the potential of the resurrection.

The way Catti-brie was killed was itself pretty awful (indeed, I stopped reading after "The Ghost King"), but at least the character got a proper send off, and a suitable end to her story. Bringing her back just negates that story, robbing it of what little significance it actually had.

(Which, actually, is a real problem with 'resurrection' stories in a lot of media. There are precious few examples of it being done well - Spock and Buffy being pretty much the only examples that come to mind. The problem is that if death loses its sting, suddenly a lot of the drama disappears, because even the most severe consequences can be undone.)

But the other issue I have is that Salvatore's biggest problem, and one that was ever-more apparent as the series went on, was that he was utterly unwilling to kill of any of his characters. Those stories just went on, and on, and on. Probably the best thing to come out of the 4e-Realms time jump was that it pretty much forced him to kill clear the decks and move Drizzt onwards. That was a good thing. Hitting a reset button, as this is clearly intending to do, is not really a good thing.

 

[delericho]

Must be hard to drink your your pinky that high in the air.

Eh. I've read everything from "War and Peace", "Les Miserables" and "Tale of Two Cities", through to the Drizzt novels, the Pathfinder Tales, and "The Da Vinci Code". There are good novels, bad novels, and even bad novels that are nonetheless entertaining, and have experienced all three, I like to think I'm qualified to know the difference.

Salvatore's novels usually fall squarely into that last category. Which is fine - entertainment is no bad thing.

But the problem with being in the "bad but nevertheless entertaining" category is that it's a fine line to walk - you have to remain entertaining, or else you're just bad. As I've noted elsewhere in this thread, for me Salvatore crossed that line with "The Ghost King". YMMV. But this novel certainly doesn't sound like a return to form.

Dude's written over 50 novels. 5-0. He's made his living in the hardest profession out there.

Salvatore could no more do my job than I could do his. "Hard" is a relative term.

 

[Umbran]

Ladies and gents,

Could we keep the discussion on-topic, please? What actually constitutes a "hard" job is not really part of critique of the novel. Thanks, all.

 

[MerricB]

Hitting a reset button, as this is clearly intending to do, is not really a good thing.

The true test will come with whatever books he writes afterwards. This one worked fine (for what it was), but I couldn't really tell where he'd take the characters next.

I'm wondering if the eventual reprint will see the book rebranded into a different series.

Cheers!