“So many of the outstanding plot threads were resolved at the end of the previous novel that they had to really work to pad this one out — and that’s forcing me, in turn, to pad this review out as best I can.”
Category: Reviews
“I really appreciate this book’s treatment of war. Unlike the War of the Lance from Chronicles, this war has no good side or bad side, nothing noble or worthwhile. At its core, it’s simply a bunch of desperately poor people killing each other over mouthfuls of food.”
“Frankly, the opening is grim as hell. There’s nothing of the Hallmark movie about this redemption story — it’s ugly and honest and deeply, deeply sad.”
“They’re taking the Ring to Mount Doom, but here it’s a person instead of a magic ring and an old chunk of marble instead of a volcano — and for all the sense it makes, they might as well be taking a fish to a Ferris wheel.”
“One big reason why this novel’s plot feels stronger than that of Dragons of Autumn Twilight is that we finally get some decent villains.”
“If there’s one truth about writing that I’ve learned from reviewing an nigh-infinite number of these novels, it’s that good characters can cover up a multitude of sins.”
“It’s a shame that this is how the TSR Forgotten Realms novels ended, because it’s an awful note to go out on.”
“It’s the old entertainment industry principle of ‘shoot the money’: the biggest, most exciting, most interesting part of Netheril’s history is its spectacular self-destruction, and you’d be a fool not to work it into a novel somehow.”
“The body count quickly goes from ‘a couple of mysterious murders’ to ‘heaps of corpses piled in every hallway,’ but Greenwood doesn’t seem to realize that while one death is a tragedy, dozens are just set dressing.”
“The author’s obvious enthusiasm for the subject hasn’t saved him from coming up with a convoluted plot where events don’t seem to flow naturally, packed with contrivances and improbable insights.”