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Alaundo
Head Moderator
United Kingdom
5695 Posts |
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KnightErrantJR
Great Reader
USA
5402 Posts |
 Posted - 19 Jun 2006 : 03:08:44
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Another section down! So, the Zhents have Hillsfar as a tributary city now? As well has having them cede their rights to Yulash and the coastline? Between that and the new temple of Bane there (and whoever Fzoul puts in charge of it), Hillsfar is pretty much a puppet to Zhentil Keep now. From a "lets not make the bad guys look like idiots" standpoint, I love this. They may have had their rear ends handed to them in Shadowdale, but they still ended up making a significant gain in the long run. I do wonder if Malthiir with turn up in the story yet, or if he is just a great big wandering question mark (between him and Semmemon, the Zhentarim can star their own "most wanted" list).
So Malkizid's devils are working with daemons and demons because he commands the devils and Sarya controls the demons. I know the devils in Myth Drannor were being controlled by the mythal in the last book, but were the devils that were in Myth Drannor some of Malkizid's servants, or did they just "use up" the Myth Drannor devils and then Malkizid started to supplement Sarya's troops with his own personal servants, especially now that he has more access to the Waymeet and is able to just roll them out, so to speak. Either way, not a big deal, and the point is that Malkizid is the lynch pin for the whole fiendish army to be held together.
I'm still curious to see if the Standing Stone is still around, or if Sarya's minions managed to get past its wards.
I was waiting for the guardians in the Vale of Lost Voices to show up. I guess they were biding their time since there was an army of elves, an army of humans, and an army of fiends roaming around. It should be interesting to see what happens when they are called on. I wonder if the treants and dryads that were the transformed elves of old will show up in the fight, or if there are many of them still left around?
Did anyone else picture the whole "knock down the constructs" tactic as being reminicent of the AT-ATs in Empire?
So Malkizid's domain is in the Barrens of Doom and Despair. I thought at first that Fflar was on his way to a showdown with Malkizid, but now it looks like Araevin is. Perhaps the two of them will end up taking on the Branded King together, but then again Araevin has other things to attend to once he gets all of the Gatekeeper's Crystal assembled.
I liked the imagery of the iron bands and glowing runes all over the transformed Waymeet. Very glooming and forboding. |
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gss_000
Acolyte
USA
17 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jun 2006 : 08:17:16
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quote:
Originally posted by KnightErrantJR
From a "lets not make the bad guys look like idiots" standpoint, I love this.
I did as well. It made so much sense, especially after the thumping they had i the last book. The way they've acted in other books I've wondered how they could be considered any kind of threat. Not any more. Why mess with devils, demons, and rampaging elves when you can take out your one real rival in the Moonsea area?
quote:
I liked the imagery of the iron bands and glowing runes all over the transformed Waymeet. Very glooming and forboding.
Me, too. I had this image of some kind of steam punk creation here (I know that's not really appropriate), even with billowing smoke, taking over the more natural crystal. I think this gave us a good idea of Malkizid's malevolence without a scene of killing innocent villagers or the like. Although I guess the scene with Sarya at the end of chapter 8 did that just as well. |
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Lord Rad
Great Reader
United Kingdom
2080 Posts |
Posted - 23 Jun 2006 : 17:50:17
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Wow I was suprised at Ilsevele's discussion with Fflar and her openly admitting her feelings for him and how they had waned towards Araevin 
Liked the feel of the scene with Selkirk and how he was slowly bent to Ilsevel's way of thinking. Sembian's sure are hard to crack 
Just to to the scene where it all kicks off with Araevin  |
Lord Rad
"What? No, I wasn't reading your module. I was just looking at the pictures"
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Lord Rad
Great Reader
United Kingdom
2080 Posts |
Posted - 26 Jun 2006 : 18:51:36
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quote:
Originally posted by KnightErrantJR
I'm still curious to see if the Standing Stone is still around, or if Sarya's minions managed to get past its wards.
Me too. I was praying nothing happened to the "monument" when I read of it earlier, but then the scene moved on after Sarya instructed her minions to destroy it! I can only imagine it is now a pile of rubble 
quote:
Originally posted by KnightErrantJR
So Malkizid's domain is in the Barrens of Doom and Despair. I thought at first that Fflar was on his way to a showdown with Malkizid, but now it looks like Araevin is. Perhaps the two of them will end up taking on the Branded King together, but then again Araevin has other things to attend to once he gets all of the Gatekeeper's Crystal assembled.
Yeah that was pretty cool when I read that part. Especially with me reading the Planar Lore article in the Candlekeep Compendium recently which covered this level of the Abyss |
Lord Rad
"What? No, I wasn't reading your module. I was just looking at the pictures"
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Lord Rad
Great Reader
United Kingdom
2080 Posts |
Posted - 26 Jun 2006 : 18:58:48
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One thing I really love about this book, is how it's just so thickly coated in the Realms feel. The discussions in this part of the book between the elves and Sembians is just wonderful! This issue is spread over many seperate discussions too and shows how long and deep this problem has been going on.
The Zhentil Keep and Hillsfar conflict is really heating up now and I LOVED the scene where the Hillsfarian comes to negotiate with Fzoul! Fantastic Made me chuckle when Fzoul kept reeling off numerous conditions that had to be met by Hillsfar.
Again, this is another age-old conflict and it's nice to read about it coming to a head in a novel. |
Lord Rad
"What? No, I wasn't reading your module. I was just looking at the pictures"
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Lord Rad
Great Reader
United Kingdom
2080 Posts |
Posted - 26 Jun 2006 : 19:01:42
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So back to Araevin.... what were those flying creatures which attacked them? nasty!
Pretty risky when he attempted to teleport in the underdark... I imagined everyone stuck hanging half out of walls of rock Just shows his desperation I guess.
Quite a shock too when then returned to the Waymeet and found how it had changed since the demons and devils had arrived. Felt sorry for the Gatekeeper too.
The description of the Barrens of Doom and Despair was great. All the chaos of the vrocks, mezzoloths and other demons around the place. Scary! |
Lord Rad
"What? No, I wasn't reading your module. I was just looking at the pictures"
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Lord Rad
Great Reader
United Kingdom
2080 Posts |
Posted - 26 Jun 2006 : 19:02:54
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More thoughts....I'm gonna keep waffling about this section
I felt that real epic spine-tingling feeling when the horns were blown by the human and elven armies on their charge towards Sarya's army too. Great battle, loved every moment.
What a book! |
Lord Rad
"What? No, I wasn't reading your module. I was just looking at the pictures"
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Braveheart
Learned Scribe
Austria
159 Posts |
Posted - 29 Jun 2006 : 09:46:30
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quote:
Originally posted by Lord Rad
Me too. I was praying nothing happened to the "monument" when I read of it earlier, but then the scene moved on after Sarya instructed her minions to destroy it! I can only imagine it is now a pile of rubble
My guess is, that the Standing Stone will be remade at the end of the trilogy by a (hopefully, I haven't finished the book yet) new Cormanthyr and it's allies (perhaps also including the Zhents in form of a treaty?)  |
Jarlaxle: "Do keep ever present in your thoughts, my friend, that an illusion can kill you if you believe in it."
Entreri: "And the real thing can kill you whether you believe in it or not." |
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Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Great Reader
USA
7106 Posts |
Posted - 09 Jul 2006 : 03:52:07
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Some quick comments:
While I've pretty much enjoyed the parts of the novel featuring the Zhentilar (even though they don't get that much screentime) I have to say that so far, this subplot seems to have little relevance to the rest of the story. Yes, I know Zhentil Keep is building on what Sarya has done, but it seems to me as if "The Conquest of Hillsfar" plot should have just been kept a seperate story. Why is it in this novel? Because this novel is "Realms-shaking" or something?
Again, the Maddening Dark location has very much intrigued me. I found the Pale Sybil to be an intriguing character, and the scenes where she interacts with Araevin are wonderful...because of her, not Araevin (he's just a cypher to drive the plot along). Honestly, I was kind of hoping he take the option to go to bed with her...a scene like that (even if he somehow got out of having sex with her) would have added more spice and probably humor to the straight-forward, whiz-bang action scene that we get instead. Araevin & Co. chooses to burn their bridge with Sybil altogether and steal the get the crystal themselves, which felt rather anticlimatic, although I do have to give Rich Baker credit here for the amazing arcane battle between the Sybil and Araevin. It actually felt like something of consequence was happening (pretty rare in any action scene in any book, IMO). On a side note, I must say that Jorin has "dispensable red-shirt" written on him, to me at least, mainly because he is the one in Araevin's merry band who is given the least screentime. Though that's not to say that Donnor or Nesterin get a lion's share of attention either. Again, I have to wonder if it was necessary to bring along so many characters--what's the point in having them at all if they barely say anything? This is a novel, not a D&D campaign log.
As for the scenes with Fflar and Islevele. I can't say I was particularly moved by any of their "love dialogue" *shrug*. However, I do want to give the author credit for actually having the characters change doing the story, and not having a "designated romantic pair" stay static throughout the story. That's very unusual, and even though I'd be lying if I said I thought the characters were well-written, I have to applaud Rich for actually doing something different. |
"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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Final Gate: Chapters 10 - 14
