| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Firestorm |
Posted - 29 Aug 2007 : 03:04:08
Just bought the book and finished it in one sitting. HOLY CRAP. Did I ever enjoy this book. I love your work Mr.Kemp
Begin spoilers.
"Welcome to Cania". What can I say. I was a little overwhelmed with the fact that Magadon tricked Cale into teleporting to the nine hells, and more so with the fact that Mephistopheles engineered the whole thing.
Just having an archdevil powerful enough to take out several Elminsters at once in the novel struck me as odd because I know there is no way Cale and company could ever defeat him. In any case. Promising Mask's divine essence to Mephisto despite already having promised it to mask? Hehehehe.
Well, I won;t go over the whole book, ill just mention characters.
Rivalen Tanthul was excellent. I mean excellent. Im a little surprised he finds Tamlin to have "Potential", and has taken a fondness to him, but living in his fathers shadow would cast some empathy to the situation. Speaking of his father. Speculation on whether Telamont Tanthul knows Rivalen killed his wife? This could get real ugly. Rivalen is powerful as heck but I wouldn't place a bet against his father.
His role in the battle with the dragon was SUPER.
Tamlin. Sigh. He always annoys me, but I was hoping for some sort of Redemption. The truth is, under Rivalen's guidance, casting his morality aside, he might actually amount to a powerful character. Since it seems he is about to become a shade and swear loyalty to Shar, this could get interesting. Totally caught me off guard. I figured Rivalen would just use him for a pawn, but it seems he wants to take him under his wing.
Cale/Riven/Magadon. Magadon turning slowly evil....God I hope we can save him. I loved having Jak Fleet die(Mostly because I felt he held Cale back), but Magadon is much more interesting...Cale and Riven didn;t have much character development, but they were their usualy great selves. Magadon's development into evil is working so well with the story.
Kesson Rel. Nice twists. I figured Kesson for a Shar follower(Since he betrayed mask), but the way it was handled, the history, Kesson's power simply through his simulacrum image, and the Dragon furlinastis, combined with Kesson actually being the half god Elyril follows like a puppy(Volumvrax). Im still comparing her little mastiff to maybe being the chaos hound in disguise lol, but I guess not.
I still wonder how people can worship a goddess whose ultimate goal is to kill everything, including her own worshipers.
In either case, I can't wait to see what the unleashed Shadowstorm will do.
Abelar. Nice character development. Looks like he is on the way to being a chosen of Lathander. Then BOOM, his need for revenge taints him. Loved every minute of the buildup.
I was a little confused with the monks from wayrock. They seemed to have shade powers in this book, but I could have sworn they used "different methods" last book.
Watching a floating city in action in that battle was totally unexpected to me.
Mod Edit: Found this scroll floating in the ether...
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| 7 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Richard Lee Byers |
Posted - 31 Aug 2007 : 19:01:40
Actually, The Haunted Land won't conclude until '09. (Book 2 comes out in '08.) |
| Reefy |
Posted - 31 Aug 2007 : 18:42:58
quote:
Originally posted by Ranak
I am disappointed that we have to wait until May 2008 to find out. Odd, all of these Realms changing events, Shadow Storm, Lady Penitent and Haunted Lands all conclude late next spring, or early next summer. I wonder why.
The 4E FRCS is scheduled for release next August, so I imagine they want to have all of these events wrapped up before then. |
| PaulSKemp |
Posted - 30 Aug 2007 : 14:41:58
quote:
Originally posted by Alaundo
Aye, No sooner had I put the threads up than my connection went pear-shaped and I was unable to contact ye for inform ye it was up and ready  No matter, I see that we're underway already 
Thanks for doing so, Alaundo. Much appreciated. |
| Alaundo |
Posted - 30 Aug 2007 : 14:20:10
quote:
Originally posted by PaulSKemp
Shemmy and Firestorm,
Thanks to both of you. I'm going to take it over to the Book Club forum, since Alaundo graciously started a thread there (unexpected but nice!).
I will say that I remember reading your prediction in the Shadowbred book club re Vol and Kesson, Shemmy. I was hoping no on would jump on it and start connecting the dots. It was supposed to be a kind of big reveal in Shadowstorm, though I tried to downplay it a bit in the way Mags presents it to Cale and Riven. 
Anyway, hope to see you both in the Book Club.
Well met
Aye, No sooner had I put the threads up than my connection went pear-shaped and I was unable to contact ye for inform ye it was up and ready No matter, I see that we're underway already |
| PaulSKemp |
Posted - 30 Aug 2007 : 13:47:29
Shemmy, Ranek, and Firestorm,
Thanks to all three of you. I'm going to take it over to the Book Club forum, since Alaundo graciously started a thread there (unexpected but nice!).
I will say that I remember reading your prediction in the Shadowbred book club re Vol and Kesson, Shemmy. I was hoping no one would jump on it and start connecting the dots. It was supposed to be a kind of big reveal in Shadowstorm, though I tried to downplay it a bit in the way Mags presents it to Cale and Riven.
Anyway, hope to see you all in the Book Club. |
| Shemmy |
Posted - 30 Aug 2007 : 05:42:43
*grin*
Seems my prediction of Volumvax being Kesson Rel was correct.
But beyond that, this was a really well written book Paul. You've topped my expectations on two points in particular:
1) Mephistopheles. That's how an archfiend is written up and portrayed, as a force of nature more than anything else. Very very nice, and I'm wondering just which deity he's going to end up screwing over more before this is done. Considering my past objections to the portrayal of Inthracis in WotSQ, your handling of the Lord of the 8th more than makes me forget about that. :)
2) "You're mad and none of this is real." That's a disturbingly awesome line, and watching Elyril's descent into complete madness has really been a wild ride. Determining just what was madness or drug induced delirium, and what was real... that's a fun little game you've been playing with us. Very cool. |
| Ranak |
Posted - 29 Aug 2007 : 08:30:59
I just finished this book as well, and it certainly did take my breath away in some instances. At first you feel as if too much is going on, but the book really hits its stride after about 60 pages when we see more of Cale and company.
There are many questions unanswered, for example, exactly what is the Shadow storm other than a weapon of mass destruction. People drop like flies in Ordulin, we are also left to wonder what happens to it. Is there any resistance or just a dead husk of a city?
Sembia will never be the same. This is turning out to be another huge year for Realms novels. Major changes must be coming to the shadow weave, the drow and Thay.
I am disappointed that we have to wait until May 2008 to find out. Odd, all of these Realms changing events, Shadow Storm, Lady Penitent and Haunted Lands all conclude late next spring, or early next summer. I wonder why. |
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