| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Lord Karsus |
Posted - 17 Jun 2011 : 16:41:22
Realms of the Underdark
Edited by Robert King
Like the other Realms of X anthology books, Realms of the Underdark is a collection of various short stories having to do with the Underdark. It’s an older book, and I noticed it had a different format than the newer Realms of X anthology books. It starts off with a prologue and epilogue that deal with the publishing of one of the short stories in the book, and presumably, Realms of the Underdark. I found these sections funny, mostly because of the thinly veiled references to real people, such as Ed Greenwood, or Jeff Grubb, but a little unnecessary. Same thing with the horrid 2e-style illustrations. I will say, if the illustrations continued on into the 3e era Realms of X books, with better quality and color, I would have liked that. Also, the book contained fewer stories, but the ones that were included were enlarged. Personally, I like the format of “more stories at shorter length” more.
The first short story, “Fires of Narbondel”, by Mark Anthony, dealt with Zaknefein, Drizzt’s father. Overall, I found the story stale, and I really can’t put my finger on it as to why. Something about it just seemed flat. It might be, simply, Drizzt exhaustion, and me not finding the characters/locations as compelling and interesting as I used to. It also might be the fact that it was Mark Anthony writing the story, and not R.A. Salvatore. Nothing against Mr. Anthony’s writing, since it’s not fundamentally flawed in any way, but that might explain the subtle “imbalance” that I felt reading the story.
The second short story, “A Slow Day in Skullport”, by Ed Greenwood, I didn’t enjoy too much. There was too much going on. Towards the end of the story, which only was about 75 pages, we have Mirt, Durnan, Asper, a Lamia, a Behir, Halaster, and Nythyx all being involved in the endgame sequence in some way, shape, or form. I could have done without the appearance of Elminster, Laeral and Halaster- though, the scenes of them polymorphed into mundane and silly things, like stalactites, bats, and walls were humorous. I think their presence embodies the “superhero” misconception that the setting has. In reality, there wasn’t any need for Elminster or Laeral to even appear in the story, since they didn’t serve much of a function in resolving the main problem. Halaster, too, to a degree. Their appearances were unnecessary, and I would have rather had Halaster written out of an active role in the plot, as opposed to just observing, or something similar. I did like the ‘Personae Dramatis’ section at the end, since there were a lot of character involved in so few pages. I wish all Forgotten Realms novels followed that format, including one.
The third story, “Rite of Blood”, by Elaine Cunningham, was the first story in the book I actually liked and enjoyed. Asides for obvious things, the biggest difference between Liriel Baenre (who I like) and Drizzt Do’Urden (who I don’t, particularly), is their ‘Drow cunning’, and Liriel displayed plenty of it here, with the story’s twist ending. One throw-away line that I enjoyed dealt with Liriel explaining to her father that one “Captain Jarlaxle” aided and abetted her learning roguish skills, such as knife throwing. While “Captain Jarlaxle” might not be THE Jarlaxle, her uncle, I’d like to think that it was, and that he was partially responsible for honing Liriel’s roguish side.
The forth story, “Sea of Ghosts”, by Roger Moore, was my favorite story in the compilation anthology. One of the main characters, Geppo, was a Derro. Derro are a race I find interesting, that barely get coverage anywhere in the D&D world, always being overshadowed by other Underdark races. The way Geppo was written made him feel like a real individual- I think it was his way of speaking. Overall, he reminded me a lot like Gollum, a pitiable creature that you feel bad for, and in doing so, form an emotional connection. The ending was actually genuinely sad- again, that’s the emotional connection from feeling pity for the creature. I liked how it highlighted that something so much as a simple gesture that you, personally, think nothing of, can mean the world for someone else. It was nice to see Geppo, who had such a crappy life, die genuinely happy.
The fifth story, “Volo Does Menzo”, by Brian Thomsen, I did not initially like, but I grew into it as I got further into the story. The story didn’t feature anyone particular of note, other than Volo- who, himself, is an author, and, famous as he is, isn’t really a somebody, if that makes sense. The story did a good job of highlighting the lives of non-heroic, mundane people, such as Volo, or Percy, a cook. I didn’t like the ending of the story, though. It was way too abrupt. It seemed to me like Mr. Thomsen wrote himself into a corner, with Volo and Percy being delivered to Menzoberranzan as slaves, and needed an out, so wrote “They teleported, escaping, and lived happily ever after”. Outside of that, though, I didn’t have any problems with the story.
Overall, out of a possible Five Beholders, I give Realms of the Dragons Three Beholders. |
| 13 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Lord Karsus |
Posted - 05 Jul 2011 : 06:11:39
-One of the things I like most about the 'Realms of X' anthologies is that a lot of the 'lesser' WotC authors get their works highlighted, in addition to the 'big names'. Personally, I wish, like Realms of the Dragons every 'Realms of X' anthology book had a sequel, to feature further authors who were willing to write a short story on the topic, that didn't get featured in the first. Probably not cost effective, on WotC's part, I guess. |
| Dennis |
Posted - 04 Jul 2011 : 16:26:24
Jean Rabe should have written more FR short stories. Her sole contribution is really one of the best. (The novel, unfortunately, is not.) But I guess she's happy writing for DL. |
| The Hooded One |
Posted - 04 Jul 2011 : 16:05:42
Sigh. You shouldn't be surprised, Dennis.
Reread my post above.
"(compiled, except for the Bob exception I just noted, ONLY from "Realms of" anthologies that were being taken out of print at the time)."
The Dragons "Realms of" anthologies weren't being taken out of print then. In fact, no anthologies that contained Paul stories were disappearing, so no Paul stories were "up for inclusion" in the first 'Best of' book.
love,
THO |
| Dennis |
Posted - 04 Jul 2011 : 10:02:23
I was surprised none of PSK's short stories got included in that one, considering... |
| The Hooded One |
Posted - 30 Jun 2011 : 19:05:20
LK, the very first Best of the Realms volume did have Ed's MageFair tale in it, and it was "sort of" a "Best of" anthology.
I say "sort of" because stories were chosen by online fan voting, EXCEPT that an internal decision had already been made to use a new, not-before-published Bob Salvatore story, AND to use only one story per author, regardless of voting results.
So it's the closest to a true "Best of" anthology (compiled, except for the Bob exception I just noted, ONLY from "Realms of" anthologies that were being taken out of print at the time) that exists.
love,
THO |
| Lord Karsus |
Posted - 30 Jun 2011 : 18:19:19
-Regarding short stories, I think there probably were better choices to use for the Best of the Realms book. The Magefair story, for example- was that in any of those Best of the Realms books? I only have the Elaine Cunningham one... |
| Dennis |
Posted - 29 Jun 2011 : 23:31:18
As I looked at my shelves, I remembered I actually read A Slow Day in Skullport in The Best of the Realms, Book II, not in this anthology (though I have both). |
| Lord Karsus |
Posted - 20 Jun 2011 : 07:16:21
-Picturesque is a great way to describe it.  |
| Dennis |
Posted - 20 Jun 2011 : 05:47:02
Ed's descriptions of all the settings in his stories are nearly always picturesque. That's one of the things I like about his writing. But sometimes, the plot just goes haywire, as in this story's case. |
| Lord Karsus |
Posted - 20 Jun 2011 : 05:23:24
-I do think the way Ed opened the aforementioned short story, in the first three pages or so, with such vivid detail- bordering on sourcebook-detailing-someplace-specific descriptive detail- was excellent. |
| The Hooded One |
Posted - 17 Jun 2011 : 22:19:48
And I see A SLOW DAY IN SKULLPORT as the quintessential "Ed editorially ordered to include this, and that, and this other thing" story (which is the only reason Elminster and Halaster appear). It's somewhat akin to one of the Spin A Yarn tales; Ed had to take a disparate list of elements that "HAD to be in the story" and try to make a tale out of them, in too short a wordcount. I agree it's far too crowded a story (for that matter, so does Ed).
love,
THO |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 17 Jun 2011 : 20:58:51
For me the most notable thing about "A Slow Day in Skullport" was that it is the only place Asper is named as a Lord of Waterdeep. |
| Dennis |
Posted - 17 Jun 2011 : 20:29:02
I only read A Slow Day in Skullport. It was (barely) okay, but some scenes were either boring or inconsequential that they didn't help further the plot at all. I usually think of it as A Boring Day in Skullport. |
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