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Originally posted by Seravin

Pool of Radiance is one of those novels that isn't particularly well written (and very "young adult") but somehow is fun to read anyway. I can never separate the novel from the joy I had as a young kid playing Pool of Radiance on the C128/C64 (that theme music!) and the class Clyde Caldwell cover art; all of which means I get the feels when reading it and have heavy nostalgia glasses on. But objectively, the book has some faults.

I think you're right to point out how the book does break up into a series of mini-quests very nicely, the self contained trips to Sokal Keep or Denlor's Tower or the Cardona Textile house or wherever are as well done as any D&D book (and straight from the Ruins of Adventure module for the most part).

Glad you guys liked it so much. While there are 2 sequels, the plot from these books is not continued on sadly regarding Phlan and the pool and the villains from this book - I actually like the next books anyway because the new characters introduced are very fun to read about (3 of them in particular). But we won't hear from the 3 villains again in the series which is a bit of a wasted opportunity.

I disagree with you that the names in Pool of Radiance are confusing however - Ren, Tarl and Shal are short and distinctive enough and you sound quite idiotic complaining that you can't keep the names Tarl and Shal separate in your heads. The heroes introduced later in the series have distinct names though.

I never put much thought into Shal's ring of wish change from petite to muscular as being a metaphor for women's body image issues or the change women go through in puberty - I think the audience of this book was firmly 12-16 year old boys and maybe just plays on the "women are vain and weak"- but Shal magically becomes muscular like little boys dream of being and learns that this is a better thing than being small and thin - something boys will appreciate. That said, there were a lot of tough women in the book (Ren's love interest and her 2 brute friends at the bar, the half-orc female assassin who sounds kind of amazing to develop her own novel as she overcomes prejudice but is badass, Ren's former love interest Tempest who was built like Shal on roids, and of course Shal herself by the end of the novel is the strongest). In the next books there are females who are great in a feminine way so take heart!

Tarl to me was the best character, he seems to have doubts and flaws that Ren and Shal (at least after her initial few chapters) do not have - Tarl grows and arcs a bit more and truly fails in the beginning. I don't think Shal or Ren really fail. This makes Tarl more interesting. And he gets the girl!

Keep them coming guys!

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Originally posted by Seravin

Just listened to a few of the pods including the Avatar trilogy recap and James Lowder (who seems very nice especially given how you guys rightfully tore the series a new one over the editing/plots). It really was a disaster of a series, written by committee and with the plot and end out come shoe horned in by the edition change. I believe as editor, he should have spent more time talking to Ed about how Ed's characters and gods are motivated and should act. The residents of Shadowdale, in particular, from Storm to Mourngrym to the townsfolk all behaved like a lynch mob over innocent people who tried to save them?

Am I the only one who read Waterdeep (in the original trilogy days) and wondered why the hell Midnight went back for Sneakabout and didn't go back for Kelemvor? Didn't even mention how she had the power to go back and save his soul the same way? Eventually Kelemvor becomes the god of the dead about half a decade in the series later, but that ending when I read it as a teenager made me lol at how terribly it was written and ended.

Glad you guys keep references Azure Bonds as the gold standard for the Realms books (at the early onsent before Elfshadow which was almost as good in my books). Pity about the long hiatus but I am enjoying your pod!

Other minor comments - isn't it funny how we all have head pronounciations of the Realms worlds and when I hear people say some words "wrong" to me on your pod cast it drives me crazy even though your pronounciation is probably just as good as mine. The other is, I take for granted how much Realms knowledge I have and when you guys are podcasting and get the names confused of other lands or rulers/etc; I have to remember how long some of us at the Keep have been reading and studying the sourcebooks (decades) so someone new to the early novels and brought in after 4th edition wouldn't necessarily know so much about the OGB era.

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