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drekadair
Acolyte
USA
1 Posts |
 Posted - 09 Mar 2007 : 23:03:16
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quote:
Originally posted by Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
--It seems like the genders of the two pegasi mounts have switched. I could have sworn Sunrise was male and Sunset was female in the Hunter's Blades trilogy, but now Sunrise is female (?). It's a little thing, really, but still...reminds me of Cattie-brie once been described as "green-eyed".
Eye color is not the only this RAS has done this with. Guenwhyvar's gender has has changed from 'it' to 'he' to 'she'.
I haven't read "Comrades at Odds" yet, but I'm definitely looking forwards to it. I really enjoyed Tos'un in the Hunter's Blades
drekadair |
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J D Dunsany
Learned Scribe
United Kingdom
180 Posts |
Posted - 11 Oct 2007 : 18:57:01
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Still working my way through 'Realms of the Elves'. Have read the comments in the two pages above and must confess I'm approaching the story from the position of virtual neophyte as far as RAS is concerned. (I've read 'The Halfling's Gem' and am about a third of the way through 'Streams of Silver' and... that's it...  - I know, I know, I should be beaten or something...) Sooo... not read much of Drizzt, certainly haven't read 'The Hunter's Blades' trilogy. Am I even qualified to write about this?
Well, from my limited perspective, I actually quite enjoyed this - largely because it played a little with philosophical issues of good and evil, albeit in a less than clearcut way. Drizzt muses that there might be 'good' orcs in the way that he is a 'good' drow, but Tos'un is accepted by Sinnafain and her elves, because of Drizzt's example and the 'evidence' of his 'goodness' is that he talks a good game (with the help of Khazid'ea) and kills a lot of orcs (with the help of Khazid'ea), some of whom - I don't know - might eventually have turned out to be good? But then, I think the philsophy isn't meant to be clearcut. This is a story in which the world views of both the drow protagonists are changing, Drizzt's more slowly, but Tos'un's much more dramatically. I actually really liked his non-lethal attack on Sinnafain - there's a rather tragic, melancholy hint of desperation in it; a desire to be understood communicated through decidedly imperfect means.
I've read a lot of the comments about elvish attitudes to resurrection (except, of course, it isn't quite that, is it?) and what have you and I'm afraid that's not something I can get particularly exercised about. It works in the context of this story and the scene in which Ellifain returns is, I feel, judged just right. As to the story being Drizzt-centric, again, I'm not in a position to comment.
I will take issue somewhat, though, with Rinonalyrna's assertion that Salvatore's style features "repetitive and often melodramatic prose that closes many scenes". I'm usually pretty good at spotting this sort of thing, but I didn't notice anything too bad. (Mind you, I've always had a soft spot for a bit of melodrama.) He does make some odd vocabulary choices sometimes, which makes his writing seem a bit overwrought... ("Then, to Khazid'ea's supreme outrage, Tos'un Armgo ran away." Supreme? My, that's a lot of outrage...) But, on the whole, I thought this was a very readable and fairly subtle piece. Now, if I'd had the experience of reading all the other Drizzt books out there, then maybe I wouldn't be so positive. As it stands, though, despite the fact that it so obviously leads into another novel (or trilogy - or whatever. Don't tell me. I want it to be a suprise.  ), I found this rather absorbing in its own right. Definitely one of the stronger stories in the collection.
Regards!
JDD |
"How content that young woman looks, don't you think? How content, and yet how flammable." - Lemony Snicket, The Unauthorized Autobiography |
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Realms of the Elves: "Comrades at Odds"
