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2.74 AVERAGE
2.74 AVERAGE
Honestly there were some scenes that I thought were pure wish-fulfillment when it came to behaviors from the halfling character and she ended up being topless or fully naked a lot for seemingly gratuitous reasons.
The story itself felt trite and cliche, none of the characters really stood out and the two protagonists certainly didn't click with me, though I let myself be more open to the halfling Terra just because it's rare to find them as protagonists these days, and like I said above if not for certain liberties and frankly creepy moments would have enjoyed her much more.
I found the attempts at witty repartee to be well below par for EG; he doesn't always write great dialogue but this was certainly far from his best.
The story itself felt trite and cliche, none of the characters really stood out and the two protagonists certainly didn't click with me, though I let myself be more open to the halfling Terra just because it's rare to find them as protagonists these days, and like I said above if not for certain liberties and frankly creepy moments would have enjoyed her much more.
I found the attempts at witty repartee to be well below par for EG; he doesn't always write great dialogue but this was certainly far from his best.
I read a Forgotten Realms book by Ed Greenwood in high school, and it took almost 20 years before I was willing to give Forgotten Realms a second chance.
I picked this up for a buck, and I liked one other Pathfinder Tales book well enough, so I figured I'd give Ed Greenwood a second chance. His success will continue to be a mystery to me.
Reading this, I can't imagine that it would even be fun to play a game he's DMing. Basic, boring, repetitive . . . I guess he must be good at game design, but he's no writer.
I picked this up for a buck, and I liked one other Pathfinder Tales book well enough, so I figured I'd give Ed Greenwood a second chance. His success will continue to be a mystery to me.
Reading this, I can't imagine that it would even be fun to play a game he's DMing. Basic, boring, repetitive . . . I guess he must be good at game design, but he's no writer.
I have read things written by Ed Greenwood before, but these things were never a novel. I read his forgotten realms campaign book for D&D and I also read his adventure locations in the kingmaker AP for pathfinder.
So this is my first fiction book of him, and I don't really like it. It has some good parts, like the witty dialogue. But I had the constant feeling that Ed Greenwood had only plot for a 100 page book, but was forced to write a bigger book. So he filled the rest of the book with lots (and I mean lots) of encounters with city guards, army men etc..
Somewhere in the middle of the book, I even had to force myself to read through what was again a similar scene as the whole book up to then had been.
So this is my first fiction book of him, and I don't really like it. It has some good parts, like the witty dialogue. But I had the constant feeling that Ed Greenwood had only plot for a 100 page book, but was forced to write a bigger book. So he filled the rest of the book with lots (and I mean lots) of encounters with city guards, army men etc..
Somewhere in the middle of the book, I even had to force myself to read through what was again a similar scene as the whole book up to then had been.
This book needed an editor, the story rambles, the relationship building is questionable, the twists at the end silly.
The great problem with this book I that it gets all over the place and doesn't quite give you a complete knowledge of what's happening. The narration in third person makes it feel like you're running after the characters which are very hard to empathize. The thing that saves this book is the ending which is wrapped quite nicely
It was a boring book. It has good dynamic between the characters (If certain reviews made me look at the romance angle with hindsight trepidation), the dialogues was interesting for the most part and the setting seemed somewhat alive and very medieval even with the magical setting.
But the chase was just endless. And very forced, as in "how do they keep finding you?" "Why do they care so much about you?" How many city guards and mercenaries can a settlement of less than 1,000 and 20,000 can truly have?" It looked as if it was made by a railroading DM with a very spiteful vendetta to the player characters.
But what broke it for me was: why Tantaerra and the Masked go to the tomb? No seriously, why? She just heard that their "patron" wanted them dead, that they didn't have any magical curse to forced them and yet they act as if they didn't have any choice in what they keep repeating was a suicidal mission. During the second half I couldn't keep myself from screaming: Run, Run. Why do you keep going to this adventure? You know the guy is going to kill you if you succed? Flee the country, go to the seas, anything. You have nothing to keep you in this forsaken land. Why are you acting as if you don't have a choice? Why do you keep going? What is wrong with you?
So, I didn't enjoy quite so much as I expected. For any person starting the setting and around 12 to 14 years old (ah, how I remember when I started reading fantasy) it would be a nice lecture, if only to school them in several fantasy tropes and some good dialogue. For those who had experience in fantasy novels, it honestly not worth your time.
But the chase was just endless. And very forced, as in "how do they keep finding you?" "Why do they care so much about you?" How many city guards and mercenaries can a settlement of less than 1,000 and 20,000 can truly have?" It looked as if it was made by a railroading DM with a very spiteful vendetta to the player characters.
But what broke it for me was: why Tantaerra and the Masked go to the tomb? No seriously, why? She just heard that their "patron" wanted them dead, that they didn't have any magical curse to forced them and yet they act as if they didn't have any choice in what they keep repeating was a suicidal mission. During the second half I couldn't keep myself from screaming: Run, Run. Why do you keep going to this adventure? You know the guy is going to kill you if you succed? Flee the country, go to the seas, anything. You have nothing to keep you in this forsaken land. Why are you acting as if you don't have a choice? Why do you keep going? What is wrong with you?
So, I didn't enjoy quite so much as I expected. For any person starting the setting and around 12 to 14 years old (ah, how I remember when I started reading fantasy) it would be a nice lecture, if only to school them in several fantasy tropes and some good dialogue. For those who had experience in fantasy novels, it honestly not worth your time.