| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Lady Fellshot |
Posted - 19 Jan 2010 : 04:35:21
I actually liked this. The characters were varied. The byplay between Addadearber and Ashelia was kind of cute, particularly at the beginning. I would hope that these characters show up again somewhere... but I'm pretty sure that if they do, they will get killed off. Most of the characters that I like either never show up again or get axed (or run through... or shot... you get the idea). I did find Lathan and Spragan decent comic relief for the most part. Roundabout, in addition to having an unfortunate choice of name, read a bit too cliche "ranger" to me. At least it wasn't irritating until he saw Catti dancing. >_<
I really, really enjoyed the redux of Catti's ghost as an antagonistic kind of character. I had a nice feeling of evil glee from it, since I haven't liked her since The Crystal Shard and it was downright gratifying to see characters who weren't "evil" fleeing from her. I also had a good sigh of relief from the lack of Drizzt. At least Regis is comfy for the duration.
Story-wise, "Iruladoon" wasn't bad, although I did wish that there had been a greater build up of tension throughout the story. I did like how the pocket plane thing was working out.
Mod Edit: Sorry Lady Fellshot. Only I can open Book Club scrolls. Thus, I've moved your discussion scrolls here. |
| 3 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| BEAST |
Posted - 23 Nov 2010 : 08:42:04
(Finally got to read the story today.)
So is "Iruladoon" really the name of the natural forest on the eastern bank of Lac Dinneshere, which the Icewind Dale barbarians were familiar with, and which various people have visited over the years?
Or is it the name of an extraplanar pocket paradise forest (Mielikki's afterlife domain) that only occasionally, temporarily occupies the same space and time as the Lac Dinneshere wood? Do the two forests both somehow exist "in phase with" one another for awhile (to borrow from sci-fi techno-babble)?
Why was there a woodsman's axe already located at the lagoon-side cabin, if the enchanted wood is not supposed to suffer the loss of any trees? Does this indicate that previous tenants of the cabin had been familiar with a different, wholly natural wood--one not so absolutely protected?
Is it possible that Roundabout the ranger already suspected as much? We are told that he had made numerous trips to the forest before this incident. Indeed, since Roundabout knows this forest's lore, but Drizzt is essentially ignorant about it in the novel Gauntlgrym, it would appear that Roundabout could be an even more knowledgeable ranger of Icewind Dale than Drizzt ever was.
Or was it only that Roundabout was particularly interested in this one area of Icewind Dale? If so, why?
Why did Roundabout make these repeated visits to what had, always before, seemed to be a mere collection of scraggly pine trees? What repeatedly drew him out there?
And why did Roundabout pay so high of a fare to Captain Ashelia Larson for the trip there?
Why was Addadearber expecting Roundabout to remain behind on the bank, after the crew departed?
Was Roundabout perhaps suspicious that the Spellplague might trigger the exact sort of temporal anomaly that gave the wood its name? Was he hoping for some sort of bizarre magical incident?
When the party arrives at the shore of the lagoon, everyone can hear a buzz in the air, and feel what seems like a heartbeat in the ground. Ashelia notices that the forest appears significantly thicker and lusher than it had two seasons before. The wizard Addadearber suggests a possible magical connection to the Spellplague.
The ranger Roundabout initially dismisses that anything magical or unusual is going on, and instead explains the richness of the forest as being completely natural. (No one buys it.) But later, when Roundabout explains the name of the wood to Addadearber, the ranger offhandedly admits that he had sensed the magic of the place as soon as they had all arrived there. And he later notes to himself that the wood is indeed thicker than last he was there.
Why the deception--and from a ranger, no less?
When Roundabout sees the witch (apparently Catti-brie's ghost), he is mesmerized, believing that he had just witnessed the living embodiment of nature, itself. He even mouths the name "Mielikki" to himself. WTH is going on, here?!!
Is the goddess actually inhabiting Catti-brie's ghostly presence, perhaps using it as an avatar?
Is the Spellplague temporarily joining the two women, just as it appears to be doing with the Lac Dinneshere wood and the pocket paradise forest?
Or is Roundabout only seeing what he, as a ranger and a devout follower of Mielikki, most wants to see?
Is that what this voyage was really all about: Roundabout's wish to witness Mielikki up close and personal, as a result of the Spellplague's influence on magic in the Realms; akin to Cadderly Bonaduce's spying on the god Deneir in the novel The Ghost King? Could the hope of seeing his goddess in this wondrous place have motivated Roundabout to keep silent about his suspicions that this place was indeed every bit as magical--haunted, even--as the other party members had thought, early on? Could the Spellplague so warp the ethics and compassion of a ranger, like that? |
| The Red Walker |
Posted - 26 Jan 2010 : 19:35:06
Didnt' work for me at all. I could see Regis happy just napping and fishing his "afterlife" away doing nothing....But The Cattie I read about all these years would not be content singing and dancing everynight with nothing better to do. She was a spitfire, a woman of passion and action....now she just dances under the stars singing???It's like now that I have read this , I now see her poor death lead to a worse fate. Who knew that Mielikki could be so cruel? |
| Kyrene |
Posted - 26 Jan 2010 : 19:28:32
Fortunately, and unlike Lady Fellshot, I did not recognise any of the canon characters and didn’t know that the ghostly girl-woman-crone was Catti or the halfling fisherman Regis. That comes from purposely not reading any Drizzt novels, I suppose. This helped the story to work for me, as the newly introduced characters were well written and I felt real fear for them visiting the clichéd ‘Cabin in the Woods’. I’m quite happy they all made it out okay, although am also not optimistic about seeing any of them again. |
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