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Shadowlord
Master of Realmslore
USA
1298 Posts |
 Posted - 09 Mar 2004 : 00:56:02
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I just recently finished reading "Venom's Taste", first in a series taking place in Hlondath. May I say that Mrs. Smedman completely covered the darker and dirtier (and plague-ridden  ) areas of Chondath. Very well done! One thing bothers me....
Sibyl was not introduced 'til almost the end, and I think that she should have been featured more.... Really captures the evil yaun-ti avatar type template....
All in all, Nice Work!
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The Chosen of Vhaeraun
"Nature is governed by certain immutable rules. By virtue of claw and fang, the lion will always triumph over the goat.Given time, the pounding of the sea will wear away the stone. And when dark elves mingle with the lighter races, the offspring invariably take after the dark parent. It is all much the same. That which is greater shall prevail. Our numbers increase steadily, both through birth and conquest. The dark elves are the dominant race, so ordained by the gods." Ka'Narlist of the Ilythiiri. |
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Chris_flamehand
Acolyte
USA
10 Posts |
Posted - 10 Mar 2004 : 02:31:00
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| Not to mention the fact that we finally have a realms novel detailing psionics |
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SiriusBlack
Great Reader
USA
5517 Posts |
Posted - 13 Mar 2004 : 16:28:56
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I finished this a couple of days ago. Overall, a good job. I'm really curious to see if the Vilhon Reach is going to be detailed in a game product since it has two novel series featuring that area.
Zelia was a very interesting character in the book. I get the felling our protagonist will end up needing her aid sometime in the future as he continues forward. |
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CurseLord
Acolyte
35 Posts |
Posted - 23 Mar 2004 : 22:59:28
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I just finished this today and thought that the book was an excellent read, even though the dreaming scenes weirded me out, and I am intrested to see what they have for the next novel.
I liked that the book has a lot of focus on psionics. I wonder if this novel will tie in anyway to the Serpent Kingdoms game product due out this summer. |
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SiriusBlack
Great Reader
USA
5517 Posts |
Posted - 24 Mar 2004 : 05:45:01
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quote:
Originally posted by CurseLord
I liked that the book has a lot of focus on psionics. I wonder if this novel will tie in anyway to the Serpent Kingdoms game product due out this summer.
Look at Ed Greenwood's thread in this forum. I believe he answers that question. |
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Lord Rad
Great Reader
United Kingdom
2080 Posts |
Posted - 26 Mar 2004 : 10:35:30
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Cant say I was very impressed! 
The opening few chapters were really well done and very promising. However, it got quite bland after that.
The dream sequences were quite weird, id agree.
The most disappointing of all was the lack of Yuan-Ti. The novel had a distinct human feel to it and yuan-ti exposure was very sparce. I was expecting much more. House Exterminos was hardly featured, and only heard of in second-hand news between characters.
I also felt that a lot of the dialogue was very game-style. The kind of standard "ping-pong" questions and answers often experienced within a game of D&D.
There were some very nice scenes though and parts of the novel where a lot of flavor came out (again, this was more in the first part of the book).
I expect much more will evolve in the second novel in the trilogy. As for this one, id give it 5/10.
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Lord Rad
"What? No, I wasn't reading your module. I was just looking at the pictures"
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Dargoth
Great Reader
Australia
4607 Posts |
Posted - 26 Mar 2004 : 12:14:07
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quote:
Originally posted by SiriusBlack
I finished this a couple of days ago. Overall, a good job. I'm really curious to see if the Vilhon Reach is going to be detailed in a game product since it has two novel series featuring that area.
Zelia was a very interesting character in the book. I get the felling our protagonist will end up needing her aid sometime in the future as he continues forward.
MAybe
For the arguement
The unamed Regional Supplement coming out later this year was written (in part) by Thomas Reid who has a series of novels set in Chondath
Against
Serpent Kingdoms will feature Hlondath and its unlikely that WOTC would do to books one after the other that border with each other |
“I am the King of Rome, and above grammar”
Emperor Sigismund
"Its good to be the King!"
Mel Brooks |
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Magic Matt
Seeker
USA
70 Posts |
Posted - 28 Mar 2004 : 02:03:33
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This is a very good story that takes place in the Yuan-ti controlled city of Hloondeth, deep in the Vilhon Reach. The story centers around a psionic/rouge Arvin, a human who accidentally gets caught up in plots beyond his understanding. This is a edgy (for Forgotten Realms) mystery, while the violence is less than many of this genre, the strange dream sequences me be more ‘mature’ than what readers have come to expect from Forgotten Realms books.
[The back cover is extremely misleading, the person who is listed as the main character ‘Dediana’, never appears in the book! While this is not a reflection on the author or the book itself, it was very  of the publishers.]
OVERALL SCORE: (A-/B+)
READABILITY: (A-), PLOT: (A-), CHARATERS: (A), DIALOGUE: (B-), SETTING: (A), ACTION/COMBAT: (B-), MONSTERS/ANTAGONISTS: (A+), ROMANCE: (???), SEX: (moderate), AGE LEVEL: (PG13)
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"You had a choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor, and you will have war."
-Winston Churchill- (to Neville Chamberlain)
The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.
-William Shakespeare, "As You Like It", Act 5 scene 1
He who will not reason is a bigot. He who cannot is a fool. and he who dares not is a slave.
-Sir William Drummond- |
Edited by - Magic Matt on 28 Mar 2004 02:11:23 |
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R0GUE
Seeker
USA
54 Posts |
Posted - 08 Jun 2004 : 05:02:58
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[quote]Originally posted by Magic Matt
[The back cover is extremely misleading, the person who is listed as the main character ‘Dediana’, never appears in the book! While this is not a reflection on the author or the book itself, it was very of the publishers.]
She appears in the book, twice, as a charcter who is spoken about. But I'm like you - i was PI@@ED OFF about this. After reading the back cover and then getting halfway through the book without encountering her, I kept wondering "Ok, when is Zelia going to reveal she is really Dediana." She never did, and apparently isn't. That was a very stupid move by the back cover writer to list Dediana at all. Sibyll is another character wh ohardly shows up at all and also gets back cover mention. Why for god's sake didn't the back cover have a blurb about Arvin and Zelia instead!!  
Well anyhow, I liked the book alot - the scenes where Arvin dreams about being Zelia were awesome! Thats kind of gender-bending is really progressive and radical and is just the kind of thing the Realms needs more often. It got a little boring in spots, but overall I enjoyed it immensely. |
You have had your pocket pilfered by the R0GUE.  |
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Crust
Learned Scribe
USA
273 Posts |
Posted - 11 Jun 2004 : 02:52:45
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I started Venom's Taste... It didn't take.
quote:
I also felt that a lot of the dialogue was very game-style. The kind of standard "ping-pong" questions and answers often experienced within a game of D&D.
There were some very nice scenes though and parts of the novel where a lot of flavor came out (again, this was more in the first part of the book).
I expect much more will evolve in the second novel in the trilogy. As for this one, id give it 5/10.
As far as I got, I agree, especially concerning the dialogue and overall narration. After reading over 100 of these things, I'm starting to notice a template in the FR library. A few authors stray from that template, but overall the flow of most FR novels is very similar from book to book. It's tiring. |
"That's right, hurl back views that force ye to think by name-calling - 'tis the grand old tradition, let it not down! Anything to keep from having to think, or - Mystra forfend - change thy own views!"
Narnra glowered at her father. "Just how am I to learn how to think? By being taught by you?"
"Some folk in the Realms would give their lives for the chance to learn at my feet," Elminster said mildly. "Several already have."
~from Elminster's Daughter, Ed Greenwood |
Edited by - Crust on 11 Jun 2004 03:01:16 |
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Monsoon28
Acolyte
Canada
16 Posts |
Posted - 15 Jun 2004 : 00:01:50
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Agreed the openning few chapters we great, really pulled me into the story, got halfway through the book, when I accidently left it at the theatre after watching Troy....grrrr So bought another copy and finished it. I felt satisfied, their were a couple of slow moments for me, but the writing of Hlondeth and the use of Psionics was in my opinion really well done, and our hero was fleshed out quite nicely, must admit i'm very interested to see how this trilogy does pan-out. |
'The only thing I know is that I know nothing' -Socrates |
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Monsoon28
Acolyte
Canada
16 Posts |
Posted - 15 Jun 2004 : 00:04:45
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P.S. Sorry forgot to add yes I too felt annoyed by the way the backcover, miss-represented the novel. |
'The only thing I know is that I know nothing' -Socrates |
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Panador
Acolyte
Austria
28 Posts |
Posted - 28 Aug 2004 : 17:55:27
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btw. a little question:
This thing that was mentioned in this forged letter at the end, about the circumstance that the elixier greatly enhances psionic talents, is that true? At first I thought the only intention of this letter was to draw Zelia's attention away from Arvin, but it is mentioned a few times that Arvin learned the psionic abilities a lot faster than he should have, though. Was this thing a lie or was it true? |
*Still thinking about a signature...* |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 08 Jan 2005 : 01:04:06
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Okay, so I'm behind on some of my Realms novels... I picked up this book recently (since the last post in this thread) and finished it this eve (just in time to reread The Rage and then read The Rite!).
It was a moderately enjoyable book. I liked the psionics, though there was too much emphasis on the secondary displays. A couple other bits also sounded a bit game-ish, too. And I'll agree that the dream bits were kinda weird...
Still, I liked the book, overall. The plot was pretty good, and I could get into the main character.
I'll definitely pick up the rest of this trilogy as it comes out. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen!  |
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Valondil the Ranger
Learned Scribe
USA
109 Posts |
Posted - 09 Jan 2005 : 22:07:20
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quote:
Originally posted by Shadowlord
I just recently finished reading "Venom's Taste", first in a series taking place in Hlondath. May I say that Mrs. Smedman completely covered the darker and dirtier (and plague-ridden ) areas of Chondath. Very well done!
I completely agree about that "darker and dirtier" and that's one of the main reasons why I was thoroughly disappointed with "Lady of Poison" by Bruce R. Cordell. If Smedman wrote it, it would've done a whole lot more towards the goddess. |
--Your humble ranger,
Valondil
Check out my webpage at http://iankappos.blogspot.com/ |
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darkcrow
Learned Scribe
USA
269 Posts |
Posted - 30 Jan 2006 : 20:00:22
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| I wanted to be apart in all the book club discussions so I've put alot of the newer books in front of the older books on my reading list. I just finished Venom's Taste and I must say that I'm really impressed. I was a little worried because I started reading the older books a year and a half ago and really enjoyed them. Now the only authors that still write for Forgotten Realms since the begginning are Salvatore, Greenwood and Cunningham. Well anyway I started reading the newer stuff and it's not what I have expected. Venom's Taste blow me away. Very well written. I love the fact that Lisa shows us that a non-magic user rouge can make magical Items too. It's good stuff and I can't wait to introduce it in my gaming group. I didn't know to much about the Yuan-ti and now I got a clear picture. It's to bad Arvin couldn't save his buddy but it sure was a great twist at the end. I wonder if Arvin and Zelia will meet in Viper's Kiss? |
May Tymora smile upon ye |
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George Krashos
Master of Realmslore
Australia
6666 Posts |
Posted - 14 Apr 2006 : 04:32:29
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As they say in the classics, better late than never. I really enjoyed this book. I found it true to the Realms, true to the locale, introduced some great stuff re psionics and was well-written and a page-turner to boot. Great stuff. Now I'm off to buy Book II.
-- George Krashos
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"Because only we, contrary to the barbarians, never count the enemy in battle." -- Aeschylus |
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KnightErrantJR
Great Reader
USA
5402 Posts |
Posted - 13 Jun 2007 : 23:04:17
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I was rather happy with this. I thought it was interesting to see another series of novels set around the Vilhon Reach, and the focus on yuan-ti and psionics let the books tred some new territory for Realms books. I liked Arvin, though I think he must be well liked by Tymora, because his solution for nearly every problem was to get himself entangled with yet another group of people likely to kill him if he screwed up.
I liked the plot of the book, the pacing, and the characters, but I have to say for some reason the first few chapters took a while to get into. Further, I'm not sure that I was thrilled with exactly how rare psionics seem to be among the yuan-ti. I know they are rare among humans, Zelia is presented as a rarity among her own kind. I would have thought that, since yuan-ti have always been "psionic" monsters, that at least among them the Invisible Art would be a bit more prevelant.
While I understand that he is under the influence of the mind seed at the time, I was a little surprised that Arvin seemed to recover from killing an innocent person so quickly. I do think that he is being presented as a character that is slowly developing a concience, rather than a born hero.
I did like the subtle Shou Lung references.
While I can understand that Arvin may not have liked his time there, I did think that the Ilmateri treatment of the orphans seemed a bit extreme for a faith that prides itself on taking care of the downtrodden. Some of Arvin's comments can be seen as his personal opinions, but there seemed to be a bit of stated fact that the Ilmatari were running a sweat shop in the orphanage, which seems a bit out of character (though I know not all Ilmatari orphanages are created equal).
Interesting character and a plot that I definately wanted to keep following, despite any of my above comments . . . |
Edited by - KnightErrantJR on 14 Jun 2007 22:01:32 |
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Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Great Reader
USA
7106 Posts |
Posted - 15 Jun 2007 : 23:21:28
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Ah, you finally got to this novel. I enjoyed this series.
quote:
Originally posted by KnightErrantJR
While I understand that he is under the influence of the mind seed at the time, I was a little surprised that Arvin seemed to recover from killing an innocent person so quickly. I do think that he is being presented as a character that is slowly developing a concience, rather than a born hero.
Yes, that was my impression as well. He definitely starts off as the type of person who mainly looks out for himself. But of course, considering the place where he lives (nobody lifts a finger for you unless you pay for it), it's pretty understandable. I also found it rather refreshing.
quote:
While I can understand that Arvin may not have liked his time there, I did think that the Ilmateri treatment of the orphans seemed a bit extreme for a faith that prides itself on taking care of the downtrodden.
No kidding! I've actually commented on this in these forums before. I thought the idea of inflicting a child with a bad smell and allowing him to be made fun of by the other kids is tantamount to child abuse. |
"Instead of asking why we sleep, it might make sense to ask why we wake. Perchance we live to dream. From that perspective, the sea of troubles we navigate in the workaday world might be the price we pay for admission to another night in the world of dreams."
--Richard Greene (letter to Time) |
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The Red Walker
Great Reader
USA
3567 Posts |
Posted - 17 Jun 2008 : 18:59:12
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Well since the 4e changes have me scrambling to fill in the holes in my collection whilst I await the dust to settle....I believe I have found a gem!
I will admit that I have never been a fan of the Yaun-ti and I avoided this novel like the...plague
Even better, I was lucky enough to get the whole trilogy at my local book resaler for 6 bucks.....what a bargin!!
I love Lisa Smedman. She brings a sensuality that the realms sorely lacks. It is often implied and some writers do pull it off, but Lisa has her own deliscious twist on it. Her characters are fun and interesting and I cannot wait to read the next book!
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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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Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Great Reader
USA
7106 Posts |
Posted - 18 Jun 2008 : 02:14:09
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quote:
Originally posted by The Red Walker
I love Lisa Smedman. She brings a sensuality that the realms sorely lacks. It is often implied and some writers do pull it off, but Lisa has her own deliscious twist on it. Her characters are fun and interesting and I cannot wait to read the next book!
Indeed, my thoughts echo your own. |
"Instead of asking why we sleep, it might make sense to ask why we wake. Perchance we live to dream. From that perspective, the sea of troubles we navigate in the workaday world might be the price we pay for admission to another night in the world of dreams."
--Richard Greene (letter to Time) |
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The Red Walker
Great Reader
USA
3567 Posts |
Posted - 21 Jun 2008 : 02:35:21
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quote:
Originally posted by Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
quote:
Originally posted by The Red Walker
I love Lisa Smedman. She brings a sensuality that the realms sorely lacks. It is often implied and some writers do pull it off, but Lisa has her own deliscious twist on it. Her characters are fun and interesting and I cannot wait to read the next book!
Indeed, my thoughts echo your own.
Seems to happen frequently! I will take it as proof that I am gaining wisdom everyday |
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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Askanipsion
Acolyte
28 Posts |
Posted - 22 Jun 2008 : 19:20:40
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This series was one of my favorites in the Realms. FINALLY Psionics get their due. To me the Yaun-ti have always been great villains that don't get used very often.
I would love to see a 4E continuation of this series to catch us up with the changes after the Spellplague in that area. |
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"Venom's Taste" by Lisa Smedman (SPOILERS!)
