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Silverblade The Enchanter
Seeker
United Kingdom
61 Posts |
 Posted - 17 Aug 2010 : 23:14:41
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Some times, fun is just fun, and it' snot wise to peer too deeply into it for meaning ;)
The Drizzt sries has chanegd over the years last ones were quite dark and influenced by real world stuff.
Look at Wulfgar's torture, that's REALLY dark: repeatedly seduced, bred and his own children devoured before his eyes. Yeech! *shudders*
I only find the way mr Salvtore focuses on swordplay, not magic, a bit annoying, as I have a REAL big peeve about the "dumbing down" of soceity: smart characters are nealry always bad ones; folk of faithth fantasy or RL are always portrayed as having hidden agendas, deviants, zealots etc.
Hey the majority of psycho leaders in RL have been "fighter types", you know ;)
then again you could argue that casters in prior editions of D&D were grossly over powered at high level and could usurp any scene in a book, hm
but yet again...they were often written up very VERY badly at least in tactics. I think the only "smart" wizard in Salvatore's books that I can think off hand, smart enough to scare you rather than being predicatable castign a few weak sacue or poorly thought out spells, was probably the "battle mage" who came after Entreri, and maybe Robillard
though I did adore Arklem Greeth's "staff of MEGA boobytrapness" haha!! ;) |
www.silverblades-suitcase.com
Spelljammer & Dark Sun art, and much more! |
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Lady Fellshot
Senior Scribe
USA
379 Posts |
Posted - 17 Aug 2010 : 23:38:06
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| Wizard bad guys are not exempt from reading the evil overlord's handbook. Most of the villains in RAS's books must have slept through that part of the training... then they get recycled in the novels. It gets dull.:/ |
Rants and reviews that interest no one may be found here. |
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Hooch9
Acolyte
USA
20 Posts |
Posted - 19 Aug 2010 : 07:05:17
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| Even though I kind of like the Dark Elf Trilogy, I think my next Salvatore book will be The Cleric Quintet. I like Drizzt and all, but I want to read other books from Salvatore. It gets a little boring to read nothing but the same character. Just a break in between the series for me. Oh, that and the Harpers books. |
Sheriff: Oh one other thing Earlie. Your boy needs to be in school.
Earlie Cuyler: School? Ain't dat da damn place where they got all dem uhh lets see, whatcha call um uhh? Fold outs covered in scriblins wrote up all over.
Earlie Cuyler: uhh? Books?
Earlie Cuyler: uh-uh, uh-uh, No they square like a magazine.
Sheriff: Books Earlie.
Earlie Cuyler: Noo not not that, but something like that, I wanna say boooooo...
"Don't you start with me. I have hobbies. I collect autographs. I don't Judge you for all those books you read!"
-Both of those quotes are from Squidbillies. |
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Slaygrim
Learned Scribe
111 Posts |
Posted - 23 Aug 2010 : 16:25:16
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quote:
Originally posted by Silverblade The Enchanter
I only find the way mr Salvtore focuses on swordplay, not magic, a bit annoying, as I have a REAL big peeve about the "dumbing down" of soceity: smart characters are nealry always bad ones; folk of faithth fantasy or RL are always portrayed as having hidden agendas, deviants, zealots etc.
RAS's swordplay descriptions are masterful. His wizardly battles consist of "fireball, fireball, FIREBALL!" Very unimaginative.
I think Joe Abercrombie summed up how I have come to feel about the fantasy genre lately:
Q: What was the spark that generated the idea which drove you to write THE BLADE ITSELF and THE FIRST LAW series in the first place?
Joe: No one thing, really. It’s a reaction to some of the things I didn’t like in a lot of the epic fantasy I read as a kid – cardboard characters, clearly defined heroes and villains with no shades of grey between, a fixation with worldbuilding over storytelling. Not that there isn’t some great fantasy out there. I just thought there was room for some more . . .
Q: The narrative of THE BLADE ITSELF is extremely humorous in tone, somewhat of a throwback to David Eddings' heydays. Was this something you consciously set out to do, perhaps to differenciate yourself from all those dark and gritty fantasy epics?
Joe: I certainly think that fantasy often falls into two types – immensely serious or slapstick. Real life is neither one, and I didn’t want my books to be either. I didn’t make a big effort to make it amusing – I’m not sure that you can. I just tried to amuse myself as much as possible. Some people have found it funny, others not so much. But I feel strongly that something can be humorous and still be dark, often at the same time. After all (said the author with the highest pomposity) you cannot have shadow without light . . .
Q: With Scott Lynch and yourself, Gollancz unleashed two authors who seemingly aim to write "fun" novels. With the emergence of writers like you guys and others such as Naomi Novik, do you believe that the fantasy genre needed this refreshing outlook that was so important during the 80s?
Joe: As I’ve said, I think that epic fantasy can sometimes take itself way too seriously. For me a book should first of all be entertaining, carry the reader along. But fun doesn’t have to mean childish, or disposable. If you can make some serious points along the way, that’s all to the good.
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Watch my gorgeous wife sing at:
www.youtube.com/Airicx |
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Slaygrim
Learned Scribe
111 Posts |
Posted - 23 Aug 2010 : 16:44:03
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More:
Q. One thing that is hard to miss about your characters is that many of them, while protagonists in your novel, could very well be antagonists in another’s novel. Did you intentionally set out to create such wonderfully dark, twisted, but ultimately likable characters? Or was it just the result of your own… erm, deficiencies as a human being?
JOE: One thing that I’d often found disappointing in the fantasy that I’d read as a kid was the very black and white nature of the morality in the stories. Heroes were smooth of limb, sharp of eye, and irrevocably committed to righteousness and self-sacrifice. Villains were evil for the sake of it, and usually featured some kind of physical disfigurement/speech impediment/horns, pointy tail or flames for eyes that marked their villainy out for all to see.
I’ve always found the morally complex, conflicted characters a great deal more interesting than the straight-up heroes. You can keep Aragorn and Gandalf. I’d rather have a pint with Boromir and Saruman any day. Though, thinking about it, Saruman’s probably more of a single malt sort of guy.
I wanted my characters to reflect my experience of the real world, in which everyone is capable of being heroic or disgusting, depending on the circumstances and your point of view. No-one really thinks they’re the villain, right? We all have our reasons, our explanations, our excuses. So as my three central characters I went for three men who, as you say, could easily be the villains of a classic fantasy tale – a crippled torturer, a sneering, whining, spineless nobleman, and a barbarian psychopath – and tried to really get inside their heads, understand what their motivations might be, give them some kind of humanity. Above all I wanted characters that were capable of really surprising the reader – with glimpses of compassion, of humour, of stupidity, of violence. I suppose they’re both the heroes and the villains of this particular story.
And my deficiencies as a human being? How dare you imply that I have any?
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Watch my gorgeous wife sing at:
www.youtube.com/Airicx |
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Ananta
Acolyte
Finland
22 Posts |
Posted - 06 Oct 2010 : 01:46:56
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quote:
Originally posted by Slaygrim
I find myself rolling my eyes at how often each character says something to another character and ends with "good dwarf." "good elf". "It wasn't me that brought them here good elf". It's SO TRIVIAL and I am actually annoyed at myself for being annoyed but it bothers me... Gah! Why am I being like this?
Haha, that's true. Often, with several books, not just with Salvatores, it bothers me how the group of friends refer to each other. It's as if they were in a business meeting: "Why hello there Mr. Do'Urden. How do you do?" "Oh I do just fine, dear old friend Bruenor". In my personal experience, friends tend to have nicknames for each other... 'cause aren't nicknames kinda like a sign of friendship? You don't call your best friend by name if her name if Catti-Brie x_x She's "cat" or something like that.
And you don't add their name after every thing you say. Scene: Bruenor and Drizzt deer hunting:
"We need to track this deer, Bruenor Battlehammer, king of Mithral Hall."
"Indeed we do, Drizzt Do'Urden."
"How do you suppose we go about that, Bruenor Battlehammer, king of Mithral Hall."
"Oh I think we should follow in its footsteps, Dark Elf, good friend, Drizzt Do'Urden"
YOU JUST DONT DO THAT, GAWD ;__;
And there are only so many cliché near death experiences one can have before it gets old.
And despite this, I've read all of RAS's books many times. And I can see myself reading them many times more. I loved The Cleric Quintet, read it few days ago, again. Waiting for Silent Blade to be available again at the local library, so I can read that, and with it rest of the series that are pending in my bookshelf, again.
I also read Ed Greenwood's Elminster-saga. I found the books a bit too "hastily" written. A lot of things were confusing and required some serious googling before I had any idea what was going on. One of these things was the dates. When something happens "in the year of Much Ale " and then skips to "Year of The Chosen", I really had no idea what years they were. And the fact that I read the books in Finnish didn't make identifying the years any easier, because I had to translate them myself back into English, just to find out what they were. And mind you, that's not as easy as one would think when you have to figure out what the "Paljon Oluen Vuosi" that directly translaters to "A lot of beer year", (later I found out it was actually "Year of Much Ale").
Anyhow, I've read quite a lot of the books, and I like Elaine Cunningham's and R.A. Salvatore's books the most, as cliché as they sometimes seem to be. xD |
Edited by - Ananta on 06 Oct 2010 01:50:30 |
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Alystra Illianniis
Great Reader
USA
3750 Posts |
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Ayrik
Great Reader
Canada
7989 Posts |
Posted - 31 Dec 2010 : 08:51:55
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Gauntlgrym
(location) = awesome
(book) = pretty good overall
(characters, excluding Drizzt) = not bad
(Drizzt) = okay but boring (he's manned up a lot and is no longer a tormented little emo, but he is still superheroically ginsu-invincible and dominates all the fighting ... entirely expected, yet still boring)
FWIW, I'm not a Drizzt-hater: I actually used to like him quite a lot. But after so many books and so many years I'm just completely bored of him, and his whole renegade-exile drow wanderer concept, and drow/lolth/spiders/underdark in general. This must be a taste of the interminably unchanging longevity which turns elves into such jaded and aloof cynics (the world keeps changing, Drizzt Do'esnot). |
[/Ayrik] |
Edited by - Ayrik on 31 Dec 2010 08:54:50 |
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swifty
Senior Scribe
United Kingdom
517 Posts |
Posted - 31 Dec 2010 : 19:54:45
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drizzt is the john cena of toril. |
go back to sleep america.everything is under control.heres american gladiators.watch this.shuttup. BILL HICKS. |
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Lady Fellshot
Senior Scribe
USA
379 Posts |
Posted - 03 Jan 2011 : 21:06:59
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I'm still thinking of Drizzt as a lost cause, but where my gripes with him were along the more abstract "he bores me to tears and progresses at a galacial pace" sort of thing, I found that it shifted to a more structure centered "Who wants to read about passive characters who aren't moving the plot of the book at all? Not me!"
I can recommend the last third or so of the book. The rest I want to take a red pen to. |
Rants and reviews that interest no one may be found here. |
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Elfinblade
Senior Scribe
Norway
377 Posts |
Posted - 03 Jan 2011 : 21:34:58
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| I actually enjoyed Gauntlgrym. It might be because it's centered around Bruenor, and is basically a Bruenor book, not a Drizzt book. Drizzt was awesome to read about when i was 15. 15 years later, it's not really that fetching anymore. He has his moments though, and i am intrigued about the sequels. A fresh start indeed. Time will tell. |
Edited by - Elfinblade on 03 Jan 2011 21:35:49 |
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The Red Walker
Great Reader
USA
3567 Posts |
Posted - 03 Jan 2011 : 21:38:14
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quote:
Originally posted by Lady Fellshot
I'm still thinking of Drizzt as a lost cause, but where my gripes with him were along the more abstract "he bores me to tears and progresses at a galacial pace" sort of thing, I found that it shifted to a more structure centered "Who wants to read about passive characters who aren't moving the plot of the book at all? Not me!"
I can recommend the last third or so of the book. The rest I want to take a red pen to.
Makes me feel ok about the fact that it is still languishing in my wish list and remains unpurchased, and in fact I have not thougt about this novel in ages ......something not too long ago would have seemed impossible. |
A little nonsense now and then, relished by the wisest men - Willy Wonka
"We need men who can dream of things that never were." -
John F. Kennedy, speech in Dublin, Ireland, June 28, 1963
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Lady Fellshot
Senior Scribe
USA
379 Posts |
Posted - 03 Jan 2011 : 23:11:11
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quote:
Originally posted by Elfinblade
I actually enjoyed Gauntlgrym. It might be because it's centered around Bruenor, and is basically a Bruenor book, not a Drizzt book.
Yup, that would be the last third of the book I was talking about. Jarlaxle and Bruenor for the win! 
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Rants and reviews that interest no one may be found here. |
Edited by - Lady Fellshot on 03 Jan 2011 23:15:22 |
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BEAST
Master of Realmslore
USA
1714 Posts |
Posted - 05 Jan 2011 : 23:32:39
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Drizzt has changed a bit, in a way that I think makes perfect sense, given what he went through in the last mini-series.
There are only 2 Drizzt Diaries in this one, for those who bemoan his bemoaning!
But I've never really tired of the character. Some of the stories/conflicts have seemed tiresome, but not the character. |
"'You don't know my history,' he said dryly."
--Drizzt Do'Urden (The Pirate King, Part 1: Chapter 2)
<"Comprehensive Chronology of R.A. Salvatore Forgotten Realms Works"> |
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strafer
Acolyte
15 Posts |
Posted - 17 Jan 2011 : 02:14:24
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| I started off reading RAS too but I can never go back to reading his works after reading the Cale Trilogy. He just didn't have a sense of urgency with his characters because they've just overcome the impossible way to me times to be somewhat realistic. |
Edited by - strafer on 17 Jan 2011 02:15:20 |
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The Red Walker
Great Reader
USA
3567 Posts |
Posted - 17 Jan 2011 : 02:31:32
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quote:
Originally posted by Lady Fellshot
quote:
Originally posted by Elfinblade
I actually enjoyed Gauntlgrym. It might be because it's centered around Bruenor, and is basically a Bruenor book, not a Drizzt book.
Yup, that would be the last third of the book I was talking about. Jarlaxle and Bruenor for the win!
Possible Gauntylgrym Spoiler.
I have been told that Drizzt now has a flying unicorn figurine comparable to Gwen? Is that fact or fiction? |
A little nonsense now and then, relished by the wisest men - Willy Wonka
"We need men who can dream of things that never were." -
John F. Kennedy, speech in Dublin, Ireland, June 28, 1963
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Lady Fellshot
Senior Scribe
USA
379 Posts |
Posted - 17 Jan 2011 : 05:58:25
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| I don't recall any flying, but the rest is fact. It's a little silver unicorn pendant. |
Rants and reviews that interest no one may be found here. |
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The Red Walker
Great Reader
USA
3567 Posts |
Posted - 17 Jan 2011 : 12:12:36
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quote:
Originally posted by Lady Fellshot
I don't recall any flying, but the rest is fact. It's a little silver unicorn pendant.
So its a magical steed he can ride and kick some ass with while Gwens away?
And good news were down to two diary entry's....were almost where we need to be! |
A little nonsense now and then, relished by the wisest men - Willy Wonka
"We need men who can dream of things that never were." -
John F. Kennedy, speech in Dublin, Ireland, June 28, 1963
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Alas, I grown out of Salvatore books...
