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i_read_whatSo the unexpected downside of doing my reviews chapter by chapter is that I am almost done with Dragonquest (one chapter left!) and still pretty damn early in Crystal Shard. As it turns out when chapters are smaller, there are generally more of them. Who knew?
Fortunately I wasn't married to the idea of parallel reviews. I just didn't want to get bogged down with monotony.
So okay, I generally haven't been sharing the chapter titles and I regret that now, because this chapter is "On the Wings of Doom" which is genuinely an awesome title. You go, Mr. Salvatore.
So this chapter starts with the villains, but I'll forgive that because a) Akar Kessell isn't present and I am not forced to almost misspell Cryshal Tirith for the 80th time, and b) the plot is ACTUALLY MOVING.
Anyway, we're told that Akar's advanced scout has made it to the Ten Towns. Somehow, despite being made up of giants who are crossing a tundra, they manage to be unnoticed. Mr. Salvatore tells us they came in under the cover of a violent squall line, "ironically" following the same path that Drizzt and Wulfgar took two weeks before.
The scout is made up of verbeeg and we're told that: "Though tall and thin - the smallest of the giants - they were still a formidable force."
I don't really understand what is being said here. Why is the "still" in this sentence? Does anyone thing giants (even small ones) aren't formidable? Anyway, they're led by a frost giant and they're traveling to a secret lair that orc scouts discovered earlier.
I guess I can buy orcs being unnoticed more than giants.
As mentioned in a previous chapter, the leader is named Biggrin, and he is "a cunning and immensely strong giant whose upper lip had been torn away by the ripping maw of a huge wolf, leaving the grotesque caricature of a smile forever stamped upon its face." Credit where it's due, that's a pretty effective, evocative description.
So the giants spend about two weeks in the cave, receiving supply troops and instructions (to stay hidden and wait). Finally an orc messenger comes in. The verbeeg torment him for a while, until Biggrin puts a stop to it. Biggrin also decides to manage his troops' boredom by sending them out scouting three at a time. The orc messenger tries to interrupt but they cut him off and threaten him again.
These guys are almost as stupid as Akar Kessell, but I have at least a little more confidence in their ability to be a threat. That said, I really regret that the barbarian tribes were dealt with so thoroughly because they were much more interesting.
So over the next week, the giants have their scouting missions and morale improves. But we get a nice little minor cliffhanger when we're told some dwarves, going farther north than usual, are about to encounter them.
Of course now the scene shifts to Drizzt and Wulfgar, conveniently on the other side of the mountain. We're told that Wulfgar has been thinking a lot:
"The barbarian had come to ask many disturbing questions of himself about his people and their way of life since he had learned respect for Drizzt. The Drow was an enigma to him, a confusing combination of fighting brilliance and absolute control. Drizzt seemed able to weigh every move he ever made in the scales of high adventure and indisputable morals."
I wish we'd gotten a little bit more of the discussions that led up to this, honestly. It seems very abrupt. Wulfgar has held onto his convictions through five years of servitude, only to get shaken out of them by three weeks with a drow? And the praise of Drizzt's morals is a little over the top given that we've seen all of one conversation between the two. Maybe instead of the umpteenth chapter about Akar Kessell we could have gotten a little more time with our heroes?
Anyway, Wulfgar decides to ask Drizzt why he's here. Drizzt doesn't give the usual smartass answer to that question and instead explains ("vividly, as terrible memories are often vivid" - an oddly personal turn of phrase that sits a little oddly in the rest of the narrative) that when he first encountered the surface world, he had been a member of a large raiding party that descended on an elven village and slaughtered them down to a child.
Wulfgar is realizing that the raid that Drizzt describes could have been one committed by his own people. A feeling that continues when Drizzt elaborates how his people kill without mercy. Unlike the barbarians, the drow also kill without passion, but Wulfgar admits to himself that the results of the raid were much the same.
Okay, see, here we go. This is a great scene. Actually, this is an amazing scene. And if the bit about Wulfgar asking questions to himself about his people came AFTER a scene like this, it wouldn't be so laughably abrupt. Drizzt and Wulfgar are both people raised by warlike, brutal cultures, who have it in them to be good people. Drizzt has already been through this and has rejected his origins. Wulfgar is going through it now. It's compelling.
Wulfgar points out that humans will always shun Drizzt, and Drizzt agrees, but points out that he has friends and is content. He has his self-respect and lives without guilt and shame.
We get more of Wulfgar praising Drizzt's morality, but I won't mock it because this time it feels like it's earned.
--
Sadly though, we rejoin the verbeeg. And I mean, to be fair, it's not that bad. Things are happening, and while a little cartoonish, none of them are as aggravating as Akar or Creshinibon. They find the dwarf camp, and assume that they're spies. However, they've been ordered to watch only, not "squash". But when it becomes clear that the dwarves have realized that they're being watched, the verbeeg choose to attack.
The quick fight scene is pretty easy to follow. The dwarves put up a decent fight, but one takes a rock to the head and dies. The other is held prone under one of the giant's boots as they argue about what to do with him.
The chapter finishes up with a glimpse at Akar Kessell waiting patiently thinking about his eventual easy victory, with "no way of knowing that the first blows of the war had already been struck"
So actually, I really liked this chapter: both the villain and hero segments. Unlike most of the villain segments in this book so far, which seemed to contain endless, repetitious talking, we have actual suspense and movement.
But really, I wish the entire chapter was Drizzt and Wulfgar. I think I mentioned last time, but Drizzt is at his least obnoxious here, when he's teaching Wulfgar. Maybe it's just because Wulfgar is legitimately his student. Drizzt doesn't seem as droning or ponderous when he's explaining his life and philosophy outloud to someone else. But honestly, Wulfgar's really the one who carries the scene, because it's Wulfgar who is visibly learning and rethinking and re-evaluating. He's not quite to where Drizzt is, but we can see him take those steps.
It looks like next chapter will have more Drizzt and Wulfgar which makes me happy.
Fortunately I wasn't married to the idea of parallel reviews. I just didn't want to get bogged down with monotony.
So okay, I generally haven't been sharing the chapter titles and I regret that now, because this chapter is "On the Wings of Doom" which is genuinely an awesome title. You go, Mr. Salvatore.
So this chapter starts with the villains, but I'll forgive that because a) Akar Kessell isn't present and I am not forced to almost misspell Cryshal Tirith for the 80th time, and b) the plot is ACTUALLY MOVING.
Anyway, we're told that Akar's advanced scout has made it to the Ten Towns. Somehow, despite being made up of giants who are crossing a tundra, they manage to be unnoticed. Mr. Salvatore tells us they came in under the cover of a violent squall line, "ironically" following the same path that Drizzt and Wulfgar took two weeks before.
The scout is made up of verbeeg and we're told that: "Though tall and thin - the smallest of the giants - they were still a formidable force."
I don't really understand what is being said here. Why is the "still" in this sentence? Does anyone thing giants (even small ones) aren't formidable? Anyway, they're led by a frost giant and they're traveling to a secret lair that orc scouts discovered earlier.
I guess I can buy orcs being unnoticed more than giants.
As mentioned in a previous chapter, the leader is named Biggrin, and he is "a cunning and immensely strong giant whose upper lip had been torn away by the ripping maw of a huge wolf, leaving the grotesque caricature of a smile forever stamped upon its face." Credit where it's due, that's a pretty effective, evocative description.
So the giants spend about two weeks in the cave, receiving supply troops and instructions (to stay hidden and wait). Finally an orc messenger comes in. The verbeeg torment him for a while, until Biggrin puts a stop to it. Biggrin also decides to manage his troops' boredom by sending them out scouting three at a time. The orc messenger tries to interrupt but they cut him off and threaten him again.
These guys are almost as stupid as Akar Kessell, but I have at least a little more confidence in their ability to be a threat. That said, I really regret that the barbarian tribes were dealt with so thoroughly because they were much more interesting.
So over the next week, the giants have their scouting missions and morale improves. But we get a nice little minor cliffhanger when we're told some dwarves, going farther north than usual, are about to encounter them.
Of course now the scene shifts to Drizzt and Wulfgar, conveniently on the other side of the mountain. We're told that Wulfgar has been thinking a lot:
"The barbarian had come to ask many disturbing questions of himself about his people and their way of life since he had learned respect for Drizzt. The Drow was an enigma to him, a confusing combination of fighting brilliance and absolute control. Drizzt seemed able to weigh every move he ever made in the scales of high adventure and indisputable morals."
I wish we'd gotten a little bit more of the discussions that led up to this, honestly. It seems very abrupt. Wulfgar has held onto his convictions through five years of servitude, only to get shaken out of them by three weeks with a drow? And the praise of Drizzt's morals is a little over the top given that we've seen all of one conversation between the two. Maybe instead of the umpteenth chapter about Akar Kessell we could have gotten a little more time with our heroes?
Anyway, Wulfgar decides to ask Drizzt why he's here. Drizzt doesn't give the usual smartass answer to that question and instead explains ("vividly, as terrible memories are often vivid" - an oddly personal turn of phrase that sits a little oddly in the rest of the narrative) that when he first encountered the surface world, he had been a member of a large raiding party that descended on an elven village and slaughtered them down to a child.
Wulfgar is realizing that the raid that Drizzt describes could have been one committed by his own people. A feeling that continues when Drizzt elaborates how his people kill without mercy. Unlike the barbarians, the drow also kill without passion, but Wulfgar admits to himself that the results of the raid were much the same.
Okay, see, here we go. This is a great scene. Actually, this is an amazing scene. And if the bit about Wulfgar asking questions to himself about his people came AFTER a scene like this, it wouldn't be so laughably abrupt. Drizzt and Wulfgar are both people raised by warlike, brutal cultures, who have it in them to be good people. Drizzt has already been through this and has rejected his origins. Wulfgar is going through it now. It's compelling.
Wulfgar points out that humans will always shun Drizzt, and Drizzt agrees, but points out that he has friends and is content. He has his self-respect and lives without guilt and shame.
We get more of Wulfgar praising Drizzt's morality, but I won't mock it because this time it feels like it's earned.
--
Sadly though, we rejoin the verbeeg. And I mean, to be fair, it's not that bad. Things are happening, and while a little cartoonish, none of them are as aggravating as Akar or Creshinibon. They find the dwarf camp, and assume that they're spies. However, they've been ordered to watch only, not "squash". But when it becomes clear that the dwarves have realized that they're being watched, the verbeeg choose to attack.
The quick fight scene is pretty easy to follow. The dwarves put up a decent fight, but one takes a rock to the head and dies. The other is held prone under one of the giant's boots as they argue about what to do with him.
The chapter finishes up with a glimpse at Akar Kessell waiting patiently thinking about his eventual easy victory, with "no way of knowing that the first blows of the war had already been struck"
So actually, I really liked this chapter: both the villain and hero segments. Unlike most of the villain segments in this book so far, which seemed to contain endless, repetitious talking, we have actual suspense and movement.
But really, I wish the entire chapter was Drizzt and Wulfgar. I think I mentioned last time, but Drizzt is at his least obnoxious here, when he's teaching Wulfgar. Maybe it's just because Wulfgar is legitimately his student. Drizzt doesn't seem as droning or ponderous when he's explaining his life and philosophy outloud to someone else. But honestly, Wulfgar's really the one who carries the scene, because it's Wulfgar who is visibly learning and rethinking and re-evaluating. He's not quite to where Drizzt is, but we can see him take those steps.
It looks like next chapter will have more Drizzt and Wulfgar which makes me happy.