The Crystal Shard - Book Two - Chapter Ten - Orcs and Goblins and Demons, Oh My

[kalinara]

So last time in the Crystal Shard, I was a little creeped out by the way one of our heroes had a kid as an indentured servant and/or extremely reluctant foster son. I was also annoyed to realize the only main female character in the series hasn't had a line yet.

Annoyingly, that won't change this chapter.



So this chapter is another villain chapter. Because we needed that I suppose. We get a weirdly personal little snippet about an orc named Torga and a goblin named Grock who've been warring for years. Now they're entering Cryshal-Tirith (which annoys me because "Cryshal" looks way too much like "Crystal" and I keep thinking I spelled it wrong), side by side.

It's not bad actually, a nice way to illustrate the mind control power of the shard.

So recruitment's going very well, we're told. For his part, Akar Kessell had been perfectly happy in his tower, being served by goblin slaves and getting supplied with human women for his pleasures. Ugh. Crenshinibon is not happy though, it wants more power.

I feel like we've already had this scene. But anyway, we're told more about the Shard's manipulation of Kessell, which again seems like a rehash of a scene we've had before. One interesting new bit though is how the Shard has been taking over the goblin tribes through Akar Kessell. Apparently the bringing them together for common purpose is harder than just mind controlling them, and the Shard has to be careful to bring them in one at a time to ensure that its control is perfect.

So Kessell considers his army: frost giants, ogres, verbeeg, trolls. Basically a veritable monsters manual. Oh and we're told he's getting a manicure from a harem girl. Not entirely sure what the point is to that. It might be an "effeminacy is a sign of evil" nonsense, or it might not. I'm going to be on the look out for more things like that though.

The next part shifts gears to a wizard's apprentice in the far south is using a summoning circle to try to summon a true demon against his master's advice. We're told that he's so confident that he didn't take any extra time checking his runes and symbols, or to test them on a lesser entity. He summons Errtu, the demon from the prologue.

We're told that normally Errtu would have ignored the weak call, but as it turns out, he still wants that shard. He appears, and lo and behold, there was an error in the magic circle. Oops.

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So now we're back to Kessell, who is aware of the demon's approach. Kessell is pretty sure he'd have the upper hand because apparently the shard can't be wrested from a wielder with force.

He initially starts antagonizing the demon, but Crenshinibon has other plans and convinces Kessell to make an offer instead. Kessell sweetens the pot by reminding Errtu that humans don't live a long time as demons perceive things, and basically promises Errtu the shard when he dies. That seems like a dangerous deal, but Errtu is willing to take it. He is now the general of Kessell's army.

This one is better than most of the villains' chapters we've had. The Shard, at least, is far more formidable. I just wish Mr. Salvatore would stop the endless repetition of certain parts of it. Yes, Kessell is a gross rapist, but would be content with that but the Shard wants more. We get it.

But seeing the Shard manipulate a demon was pretty good. So well done there.