Scan barcode
dark_reader's review
3.0
[a:Douglas Niles|23895|Douglas Niles|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1303252441p2/23895.jpg] is a decent author, at least by the standards of fantasy RPG licensed tie-in novels. His prose appears to have improved over time, also, comparing his first (and the first) books in the Forgotten Realms line of books to his current ones (I am talking 1992-current here; I am reading the Forgotten Realms novels in publication order so this is the time point I can use as reference). His characters are likeable, even the one-dimensional ones, except when they are not meant to be. His key weakness appears to be plot structure. He re-uses certain plots which were not all that narratively effective in the first place. One of these is: evil god summons powerful creature or avatar, seemingly unstoppable, heroes journey to eventually meet it, battle valiantly and desperately, and a last-minute miraculous victory is achieved. We saw this in both the original Moonshae trilogy and the Maztica trilogy, Douglas Niles's previous Forgotten Realms works.
We see this pattern again here, in the form of the Elf-Eater. Honestly, the unstoppable juggernaut with no discernible weakness, eating everyone in its path, got old fast. Even the death of a 'good guy' character during this struggle lacked emotional resilience, despite that is was written as highly impactful for the surviving protagonists. This character was inserted here solely and transparently for this reason, otherwise adding nothing to the story. Fortunately, the Elf-Eater storyline only encompassed the first half of the novel; only after its completion did my interest rise up. Maybe the problem is that is was designed primarily as a tool to get the characters to the position they needed to be in, in order to get on to the primary mission of the book, and not as an end in itself.
Fortunatly, the second half of the book, encompassing the mission to rescue King Tristan under the freaking sea (no spoiler, this is on the book jacket), was much more enjoyable. It was still pulpy, over-the-top, predictable adventure, but it was done well. The setting was much more enjoyable, for one thing. The earlier descriptions of the fantastical, magical Elf palaces were unimpressive, in my opinion, somehow failing to invoke any sense of wonder in me as the reader (the characters were certainly impressed); perhaps they were simply architecturally too alien and improbable. The under-sea kingdom, on the other hand, evoked much more interest and a sense of amazement. Clearly, what was lacking up to this point was a healthy dose of swashbuckling.
tldr: first half boring and inconsequential; second half fun and the point of the book.
We see this pattern again here, in the form of the Elf-Eater. Honestly, the unstoppable juggernaut with no discernible weakness, eating everyone in its path, got old fast. Even the death of a 'good guy' character during this struggle lacked emotional resilience, despite that is was written as highly impactful for the surviving protagonists. This character was inserted here solely and transparently for this reason, otherwise adding nothing to the story. Fortunately, the Elf-Eater storyline only encompassed the first half of the novel; only after its completion did my interest rise up. Maybe the problem is that is was designed primarily as a tool to get the characters to the position they needed to be in, in order to get on to the primary mission of the book, and not as an end in itself.
Fortunatly, the second half of the book, encompassing the mission to rescue King Tristan under the freaking sea (no spoiler, this is on the book jacket), was much more enjoyable. It was still pulpy, over-the-top, predictable adventure, but it was done well. The setting was much more enjoyable, for one thing. The earlier descriptions of the fantastical, magical Elf palaces were unimpressive, in my opinion, somehow failing to invoke any sense of wonder in me as the reader (the characters were certainly impressed); perhaps they were simply architecturally too alien and improbable. The under-sea kingdom, on the other hand, evoked much more interest and a sense of amazement. Clearly, what was lacking up to this point was a healthy dose of swashbuckling.
tldr: first half boring and inconsequential; second half fun and the point of the book.
mw2k's review
3.0
Not as good as the first one. A little more far-fetched, and the novel suffers from a distinct lack of character development. Queen Robyn rights some more wrongs that are happening to her island king, and while entertaining to a point, nothing really gets expanded on. This seems to be a recurring pattern with Douglas Niles' novels.
More...