“TSR has finally gotten around to employing several new authors to write Realms material. Do these newcomers bring a fresh set of voices to familiar material, or are they just new line cooks churning out the same old dishes?”
“The basic outline of the plot has promise — important person with dark secret, kidnapped daughter, mysterious forces behind it all — but the implementation is sloppy.”
“Drow names have been getting increasingly ridiculous over the course of these novels. ‘Zeerith Q’Xolarrin’? Seriously? Buddy, you can’t just mash your face around on the keyboard and call it a name.”
“The Chaos Curse kicks off by delving into the most exciting type of conflict known to literature: academic politics!”
“Imagine a chase scene in a movie: cars careening around corners, explosions going off, gunfights between moving vehicles, that sort of thing. It’s exciting and fun, right? Then imagine that the chase scene goes on for nine solid hours.”
“Has there ever been a Dungeons & Dragons class as maligned as the poor bard? Next to a guy who chops monsters up with a sword as big as he is, or a mage who can drop fiery comets on her foes’ heads, a friendly fellow whose special power is singing songs has always felt pretty weaksauce.”
“If this is the Harpers’ general level of competence, it’s hard to imagine why the Zhentarim don’t run the world yet.”
“Stealing a scene is lazy writing, which is occasionally forgivable. Assuming that your readers are too uneducated to notice is condescending, which is not.”
“Hold everything. We have to talk about this cover.”
“I’d love to see more Forgotten Realms authors run with this depiction of godhood, which gives the gods a delightfully alien feel. Alas, I suspect that everyone else is going to keep writing them as powerful, slightly dim humans and I’ll continue to be annoyed.”
