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Lord Karsus
Great Reader
USA
3741 Posts |
 Posted - 28 Jun 2011 : 17:51:11
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The Black Bouquet
By Richard Lee Byers
Book II, The Rogues
Like the other books in the series, The Black Bouquet places an emphasis on the Rogue, and some of the going-ons in Faerûn concerning Rogues.
The Black Bouquet is set in the city-state of Oeble, a nation within the Border Kingdoms. There’s nothing wrong with that, in and of itself, but I think that this is a flaw with the book. Mind you, again, there’s nothing wrong with Oeble- it is described in good detail, and definitely succeeds in making the place seem like a lawless cesspool you really don’t want to live in. The fact that Oeble is a Border Kingdom, one of the places on Faerûn’s map that is relatively blank and detail-light, makes the setting feel generic. We know, since the novel is canon, that Oeble is a city-state in the Border Kingdoms, and exists on Faerûn, but it feels generic enough that it could be written into any other fantasy setting. Not enough ‘cross-pollenization’ exists within the book, I think, to really make Oeble seem Faerûnian.
I didn’t really feel that any of the characters stood out, except Sefris, one of the two antagonists of the novel. Aeron, one of the two main characters, was a generic thief without anything that really set him apart from any number of the many thief characters who have appeared in Forgotten Realms novels, sourcebooks, and games over the years. There was nothing specifically wrong with his character, but there was nothing that made him stand out as anything special, either. Miri, the second of the two main characters, I liked her better. She is a Ranger who was very much out of her element, in the cesspool that is Oeble, so that aspect of the character was interesting. A country bumpkin, so to speak, in the big city. In a way, that hamstrung the character. For the most part, her abilities consisted of tracking and archery. I am sure that if there were scenes that took place in the wilderness, she’d seem like a more dynamic character. Her full array of abilities, and her ‘relative worth’ weren’t explored in full, so I think I discounted her a bit as a result. Kesk, one of two antagonists, was a decent character. He was a Tanaruuk, and it’s not often that you see Tanaruuk in novels- let alone relatively smart ones. I enjoyed that fact. Although he seemingly was a Barbarian, or maybe a Fighter, he wasn’t stupid. Not enough was done to make him seem like more than a generic brute, though. Don’t get me wrong, he was more cerebral than just “Kesk smash puny Humans!”, but as a highly successful and powerful organized criminal, he and his lackeys seemed too bumbling. His Tanaruuk was underutilized, as well, I think. He used his natural Tanaruuk abilities exactly once, that I can remember. All in all, he could have just as easily been an Orc, or Half-Orc, a Hobgoblin, and nothing in the story would have been particularly changed. Sefris, the last antagonist, was easily the best character in the novel. Sharrans in sourcebooks, for whatever reason, most people find annoying (the overabundance of shadows and such), but more often than not, in novels, they’re interesting. For much of the first half of the book, she seemed too much the type of character that annoys me- ready for anything, always having an ace up their sleeve. For the second half of the novel, she was a lot more tolerable, though her death, when viewed through that above lens, seemed a bit abrupt.
The plot of the book was boring for the first half or so. Until Sephris and Miri teamed up to find Aeron, I found the book something of a snooze fest. It did feel realistic, though. Aeron, after stealing the lockbox at the beginning, was unable to find a magician to dispel the wards on it, and call it a day. Living in a city filled with relative scumbags, I enjoyed the fact that he was betrayed multiple times, by people he considered friends. I really enjoyed the fact that, at the end of the day, all the Black Bouquet was was a perfumery- a completely mundane, ordinary perfumery. The lesson that ‘not all that is valuable is magical’ is a nice lesson to see in a high fantasy world, like the Forgotten Realms is. Once Sefris was killed, three-quarters through the book, everything seemed to fall into place much too quickly/easily/predictably, without enough hitches. Not that there’s necessarily anything wrong with that, but…And, I am overjoyed that Aeron and Miri did not fall in love in a corny romance, like too many other fantasy books do.
Overall, out of a possible Five Beholders, I give The Black Bouquet Two Beholders and a Chicken.
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(A Tri-Partite Arcanist Who Has Forgotten More Than Most Will Ever Know)
Elves of Faerûn
Vol I- The Elves of Faerûn
Vol. III- Spells of the Elves
Vol. VI- Mechanical Compendium |
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Dennis
Great Reader
9933 Posts |
Posted - 29 Jun 2011 : 23:37:56
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So it's somewhat like Guy de Maupassant's The Necklace, with a dash of magic? |
Every beginning has an end. |
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skychrome
Senior Scribe
713 Posts |
Posted - 30 Jun 2011 : 04:17:19
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To pick up your rating system, I'd give this book 4 out of 5 beholders, I really loved it.
Totally agree with you about the little connections to the realms. The Border Kingdoms were left undetailed on purpose in the realms. Thus placing the novel there, may make it feel more generic.
In my case I loved it precisely for that. I think it is great that you can have a place like Oeble in the realms and you did not even know about it. This mix of detailed realms and undetailed realms is extremely attractive to me. |
"You make an intriguing offer, one that is very tempting. It would seem that I have little alternative than to answer thusly: DISINTEGRATE!" Vaarsuvius, Order of the Stick 625 |
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Lord Karsus
Great Reader
USA
3741 Posts |
Posted - 30 Jun 2011 : 18:09:13
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quote:
Originally posted by Dennis
So it's somewhat like Guy de Maupassant's The Necklace, with a dash of magic?
-Never read it, so I can't say.
quote:
Originally posted by skychrome
Totally agree with you about the little connections to the realms. The Border Kingdoms were left undetailed on purpose in the realms. Thus placing the novel there, may make it feel more generic.
In my case I loved it precisely for that. I think it is great that you can have a place like Oeble in the realms and you did not even know about it. This mix of detailed realms and undetailed realms is extremely attractive to me.
-I have no problem with the Border Kingdoms being undetailed on the map. It's supposed to be a region with a bunch of little city-states that are regularly shifting, anyway. The author didn't do a convincing job of making Oeble feel like it was on Faerûn, I thought. Canonically, we know it is indeed there, since novels are canon. There were mentions of a few other Border Kingdoms city-states, but there wasn't enough to connect it to the rest of Faerûn as a whole. Throw-away lines identifying, say, wine as being of Cormyrian vintage, or X character as a criminal on the lam from Calimshan, things like that would've done wonders. |
(A Tri-Partite Arcanist Who Has Forgotten More Than Most Will Ever Know)
Elves of Faerûn
Vol I- The Elves of Faerûn
Vol. III- Spells of the Elves
Vol. VI- Mechanical Compendium |
Edited by - Lord Karsus on 30 Jun 2011 18:13:17 |
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Dennis
Great Reader
9933 Posts |
Posted - 04 Jul 2011 : 10:18:58
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quote:
Originally posted by Lord Karsus
quote:
Originally posted by Dennis
So it's somewhat like Guy de Maupassant's The Necklace, with a dash of magic?
-Never read it, so I can't say.
de Maupassant was famous for the unexpected twist in his stories. Here's a compilation of his works. |
Every beginning has an end. |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 04 Jul 2011 : 16:14:34
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Oeble was fully mapped and extensively detailed by Ed before BB was written, and some of that lore was published by Wizards before the novel appeared. (How do I know this? Well, I own a building-by-building map of Oeble, a photocopy of the original drawn by Ed, though it's missing the maze of overhead catwalks and flying bridges, intentionally omitted by him to give our PCs something to explore and discover for ourselves.) I agree with Lord Karsus that Oeble could have been made to feel more "a part of the Realms." As LK says, throwaway lines here and there would have done the job.
love,
THO |
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Richard Lee Byers
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
1814 Posts |
Posted - 04 Jul 2011 : 18:48:56
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Before I started Black Bouquet, Ed was kind enough to send me his notes on Oeble, and I tried hard to write in accordance with them
I don't say that to argue with Lord Karsus or anyone else who found himself underwhelmed by the results. Obviously, every reader is entitled to his own taste and his opinion of any particular story. I just want everyone to know that whenever I write a Realms story, I do make a sincere effort to make it exactly that and not just a generic sword-and-sorvery tale. |
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Farrel
Learned Scribe
United Kingdom
239 Posts |
Posted - 04 Jul 2011 : 19:24:27
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quote:
Originally posted by Lord Karsus
Overall, out of a possible Five Beholders, I give The Black Bouquet Two Beholders and a Chicken.
This did make me chuckle, not the Beholders, but the Chicken.
Is a Chicken half of a Beholder? |
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Lord Karsus
Great Reader
USA
3741 Posts |
Posted - 05 Jul 2011 : 05:54:51
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quote:
Originally posted by Dennis
de Maupassant was famous for the unexpected twist in his stories. Here's a compilation of his works.
-Thanks for the link.
quote:
Originally posted by Richard Lee Byers
Before I started Black Bouquet, Ed was kind enough to send me his notes on Oeble, and I tried hard to write in accordance with them
I don't say that to argue with Lord Karsus or anyone else who found himself underwhelmed by the results. Obviously, every reader is entitled to his own taste and his opinion of any particular story. I just want everyone to know that whenever I write a Realms story, I do make a sincere effort to make it exactly that and not just a generic sword-and-sorvery tale.
-It's not a slight on you, and didn't mean it that way. Nobody is particularly "at fault", and really, it's an unavoidable situation, I think, since TSR/WotC specifically left the Border Kingdoms untouched, more or less. And, I completely understand why TSR/WotC generally leaves the area alone- a small region that is prone to ever-shifting alliances, kingdoms rapidly rising and falling: the map and political dynamics of the area can change on a dime so quickly that writing a lot about some of the players, and investing all that time and effort over something that might be completely different in a year or two (in-game), I wouldn't say it a waste, but I'm sure you get my meaning. If we, the readers/consumers have very little to go with because very little actually exists, that's a situation that there is no remedy to, in terms of what I'm talking about about feeling 'Realmsian'- and then, of course, what feels 'Realmsian' and what doesn't is highly subjective. The only thing, maybe, might of been detailing things like culture and social conventions of the region's natives, and a semi-detailed history of it, maybe- things that transcend actual events, and are a part of the region, the essence of the region.
quote:
Originally posted by Farrel
quote:
Originally posted by Lord Karsus
Overall, out of a possible Five Beholders, I give The Black Bouquet Two Beholders and a Chicken.
This did make me chuckle, not the Beholders, but the Chicken.
Is a Chicken half of a Beholder?
-I used to post primarily on the WotC message boards. I no longer do so for a variety of reasons. They had a large selection of emoticons there, and I chose their 'Beholder' emoticon to represent 'Stars'. They didn't have anything else particularly fitting for 'Half-Stars' except a 'Mindflayer' emoticon, or a 'Chicken' emoticon. Mindflayers are definitley not less than Beholders, so chickens it was. |
(A Tri-Partite Arcanist Who Has Forgotten More Than Most Will Ever Know)
Elves of Faerûn
Vol I- The Elves of Faerûn
Vol. III- Spells of the Elves
Vol. VI- Mechanical Compendium |
Edited by - Lord Karsus on 05 Jul 2011 06:06:30 |
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Dennis
Great Reader
9933 Posts |
Posted - 05 Jul 2011 : 06:12:37
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He was often dubbed as the master of irony. He influenced several literary icons like Chekhov, James, Joyce, Babel and Hemingway. “The Necklace” and “A Piece of String” are two of his most anthologized works. Here in the Philippines, you would hardly see a textbook on literature that doesn't include “The Necklace.” |
Every beginning has an end. |
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LK's Novel Reviews: The Black Bouquet
