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i_read_whatSo now we're at the big invasion. It happened fast this time. No annoying tangents like four pages of Drizzt getting his panther. We've got cities on fucking fire now.
So this chapter's beginning backtracks a little, telling us how Caer-Konig and Caer-Dineval started burning. Basically it was Caer-Konig fishermen who were the first to see "the coming doom". We're told that Kessell's army sweeps like an angry swarm of bees, which is an oddly evocative comparison. We immediately get the sense of the distance and the sheer number. It would be pretty terrifying.
Unfortunately, the fishermen aren't able to get back in time before the goblin army tears into the city, they get to see the flames and hear the dying screams of their kin. We're told the women, children and old men have no thoughts of resistance. Instead they run for their lives and get cut down.
This is emotional and evocative, but I'm a little annoyed nonetheless. We get so few examples of women in this series, and yet we don't even get to hear that even a few women tried to put up any kind of fight? I'm not saying they had to succeed, but a few should be going down fighting.
Anyway, giants and ogres rush to the docks, squashing the humans there or forcing them into the icy waters. The giants have huge sacks and boulders that they use to smash the ships as they come on. Then most of the army moves on to Caer-Dineval. Fortunately, they saw the smoke and heard the screams, so they were already, wisely, fleeing to Bryn Shander. Their fishermen fleet is even farther out though, since they'd taken vacant space left by the Easthaven people who had actually listened to our heroes. We're told that one of the Caer-Konig fishermen decides to make a "gallant decision". Konig is lost, but Dineval still has clear decks, so he's heading south.
I like this a lot. Mr. Salvatore is really good at conveying the sheer terror of this army. It makes me resent anew all the unnecessary attention on Kessell being stupid. THIS is what is tense and scary.
In Bryn Shander, Regis, Cassius, Agorwal, and Glensather are on the wall watching this with horror. They see the army start to gain on the fleeing people of Caer-Dinavel. Agorwal wants to go out and help them, but Cassius vetoes him, painfully aware of his greater responsibilities, basically every man is needed to defend the city and it'd be futile to go out there now.
This is a good disagreement actually. The earlier clashes with Kemp were frustrating because they were innately pointless. Kemp was basically being obstinate just for the sake of it. But here, both Agorwal and Cassius have good points. It's one of those tough calls that doesn't have a clear right answer, but both of them are trying to save as many lives as possible.
Then more refugees come down the second pass, from Termalaine. They saw what happened across the way and smartly decided to run for it while they could. Though, Termalaine is Agorwal's city, so shouldn't they have already been prepared? Anyway, there's about a thousand of them, and they're heading straight for the northern gates: where the goblins would catch them. That's too much for Cassius, who tells Agorwal to go.
Agorwal's men intercept the goblins long enough for the refugees to make it to the wall. (Glensather wants to help, but Cassius holds firm this time. He does relent enough to tell Glensather to take some troops to help the exhausted refugees at the last climb.)
When the refugees are safe, Agorwal gives his friends a last salute and charges. We're told that Regis and Cassius watch "the black tide roll over ever one of the brave men of Termalaine."
Aw. Exit, stage left, Agorwal. But that was a pretty good way to go.
We're told that the only force to engage with Kessell's army and survive that day are the dwarves. They've been preparing for the invasion for a while. Actually, they kind of lucked out. Since Kessell's control of the army is based in mind control, they are limited by his perspective/goals. He didn't take the dwarves into account, so the army isn't pointed at them yet. "Bruenor's boys" aren't about to be overlooked though, before they bury themselves in the mines, they intended to take out a few goblins and kneecap some giants.
We're told that orcs and goblins hate dwarves more than anything else, and so when they see the dwarves, Kessell's plan disappears from their minds. A "substantial force" breaks off to chase. Bruenor has plotted a pretty good ambush, goading the force into charging the vale, where Catti-brie ("heavily armed but positioned in the back of the inner tunnels") pulls a lever and causes an avalanche. NICE.
Bruenor has another ploy, which involves personally taking out a few ogres with himself as a projectile, causing everyone to fall off a cliff. BRUENOR has a rope, which he uses to swing to safety. They do not. Kasplat. Some goblins try to climb down the rope after, but find the rope oddly slick. Below, Bruenor produces a lighted torch, which ignites the oil on the rope. More ksplat. NICE.
We get a few more dwarf ambushes, with a massive avalanche bad enough that people in Bryn Shander felt it. We're told they're worried the dwarves were destroyed, but Regis knew better. Poor Regis realizes that he missed his shot to rejoin the dwarves. He's stick with Bryn Shander.
Now to others: other fleets race back to their home ports as soon as they realize what's happened. They find their families in the city, safe for now. Except the fishermen of Termalaine who find an empty town. (We know what happened there obviously.)
In a nice moment, the people of Targos invite the Termalaine fishermen to dock there instead, and they accept. We're told that the disputes between the two cities feel really petty right now.
Back with the goblins, they're advancing on Bryn Shander, careful to dominate the open ground between Bryn Shander and Targos to prevent them from joining forces. It occurs to me that this is really organized. Far organized to be Kessell, IMO. It must be Errtu or Creshinibon. Or maybe based on what Heafstaag knew. The barbarians were nowhere near this effective and they had an informant!
We're told that the goblins, finding Termalaine empty, don't bother setting it on fire. The army stretches out in the distance, and Regis wonders why they don't get the invasion over with. But Cassius and Glensather understand what's happening: it's a siege. The chapter closes out with Regis envying Agorwal.
So yeah, I like this one a lot. It's really well done. I think Mr. Salvatore really excels at this kind of large scale action sequence: it's easy to follow and the dread/fear/desperation is palpable. Cassius continues to surprise, in a positive way. At the beginning of the story, I was sure he was going to be a villain. And not a very subtle one. But he's making a good showing here: balancing his responsibility for his people against his compassion for others. I'm glad the refugees made it inside.
Bruenor's bit didn't involve much in the way of introspection and emotion, but it was fun. And it was interesting to finally see Bruenor in action as a strategist/leader. It's impressive!
I still wish we'd have SOME mention of a few women at least trying to fight. Even if it's just trying to take someone out with a kitchen utensil. We do have Catti-brie involved in the ambushing, but that's not really enough, IMO.
I feel like the villain segments here are amazing. Which is why, as I said, I resent all that repetitive time spent with Kessell before, that did nothing but showcase what a tool he is. I think at least half of them could have been cut, and we could have had more things like this to show how formidable a threat is awaiting our heroes.
Instead, we got an idiot with a lot of sex slaves blathering at a chunk of rock. Mesmerizing.
So this chapter's beginning backtracks a little, telling us how Caer-Konig and Caer-Dineval started burning. Basically it was Caer-Konig fishermen who were the first to see "the coming doom". We're told that Kessell's army sweeps like an angry swarm of bees, which is an oddly evocative comparison. We immediately get the sense of the distance and the sheer number. It would be pretty terrifying.
Unfortunately, the fishermen aren't able to get back in time before the goblin army tears into the city, they get to see the flames and hear the dying screams of their kin. We're told the women, children and old men have no thoughts of resistance. Instead they run for their lives and get cut down.
This is emotional and evocative, but I'm a little annoyed nonetheless. We get so few examples of women in this series, and yet we don't even get to hear that even a few women tried to put up any kind of fight? I'm not saying they had to succeed, but a few should be going down fighting.
Anyway, giants and ogres rush to the docks, squashing the humans there or forcing them into the icy waters. The giants have huge sacks and boulders that they use to smash the ships as they come on. Then most of the army moves on to Caer-Dineval. Fortunately, they saw the smoke and heard the screams, so they were already, wisely, fleeing to Bryn Shander. Their fishermen fleet is even farther out though, since they'd taken vacant space left by the Easthaven people who had actually listened to our heroes. We're told that one of the Caer-Konig fishermen decides to make a "gallant decision". Konig is lost, but Dineval still has clear decks, so he's heading south.
I like this a lot. Mr. Salvatore is really good at conveying the sheer terror of this army. It makes me resent anew all the unnecessary attention on Kessell being stupid. THIS is what is tense and scary.
In Bryn Shander, Regis, Cassius, Agorwal, and Glensather are on the wall watching this with horror. They see the army start to gain on the fleeing people of Caer-Dinavel. Agorwal wants to go out and help them, but Cassius vetoes him, painfully aware of his greater responsibilities, basically every man is needed to defend the city and it'd be futile to go out there now.
This is a good disagreement actually. The earlier clashes with Kemp were frustrating because they were innately pointless. Kemp was basically being obstinate just for the sake of it. But here, both Agorwal and Cassius have good points. It's one of those tough calls that doesn't have a clear right answer, but both of them are trying to save as many lives as possible.
Then more refugees come down the second pass, from Termalaine. They saw what happened across the way and smartly decided to run for it while they could. Though, Termalaine is Agorwal's city, so shouldn't they have already been prepared? Anyway, there's about a thousand of them, and they're heading straight for the northern gates: where the goblins would catch them. That's too much for Cassius, who tells Agorwal to go.
Agorwal's men intercept the goblins long enough for the refugees to make it to the wall. (Glensather wants to help, but Cassius holds firm this time. He does relent enough to tell Glensather to take some troops to help the exhausted refugees at the last climb.)
When the refugees are safe, Agorwal gives his friends a last salute and charges. We're told that Regis and Cassius watch "the black tide roll over ever one of the brave men of Termalaine."
Aw. Exit, stage left, Agorwal. But that was a pretty good way to go.
We're told that the only force to engage with Kessell's army and survive that day are the dwarves. They've been preparing for the invasion for a while. Actually, they kind of lucked out. Since Kessell's control of the army is based in mind control, they are limited by his perspective/goals. He didn't take the dwarves into account, so the army isn't pointed at them yet. "Bruenor's boys" aren't about to be overlooked though, before they bury themselves in the mines, they intended to take out a few goblins and kneecap some giants.
We're told that orcs and goblins hate dwarves more than anything else, and so when they see the dwarves, Kessell's plan disappears from their minds. A "substantial force" breaks off to chase. Bruenor has plotted a pretty good ambush, goading the force into charging the vale, where Catti-brie ("heavily armed but positioned in the back of the inner tunnels") pulls a lever and causes an avalanche. NICE.
Bruenor has another ploy, which involves personally taking out a few ogres with himself as a projectile, causing everyone to fall off a cliff. BRUENOR has a rope, which he uses to swing to safety. They do not. Kasplat. Some goblins try to climb down the rope after, but find the rope oddly slick. Below, Bruenor produces a lighted torch, which ignites the oil on the rope. More ksplat. NICE.
We get a few more dwarf ambushes, with a massive avalanche bad enough that people in Bryn Shander felt it. We're told they're worried the dwarves were destroyed, but Regis knew better. Poor Regis realizes that he missed his shot to rejoin the dwarves. He's stick with Bryn Shander.
Now to others: other fleets race back to their home ports as soon as they realize what's happened. They find their families in the city, safe for now. Except the fishermen of Termalaine who find an empty town. (We know what happened there obviously.)
In a nice moment, the people of Targos invite the Termalaine fishermen to dock there instead, and they accept. We're told that the disputes between the two cities feel really petty right now.
Back with the goblins, they're advancing on Bryn Shander, careful to dominate the open ground between Bryn Shander and Targos to prevent them from joining forces. It occurs to me that this is really organized. Far organized to be Kessell, IMO. It must be Errtu or Creshinibon. Or maybe based on what Heafstaag knew. The barbarians were nowhere near this effective and they had an informant!
We're told that the goblins, finding Termalaine empty, don't bother setting it on fire. The army stretches out in the distance, and Regis wonders why they don't get the invasion over with. But Cassius and Glensather understand what's happening: it's a siege. The chapter closes out with Regis envying Agorwal.
So yeah, I like this one a lot. It's really well done. I think Mr. Salvatore really excels at this kind of large scale action sequence: it's easy to follow and the dread/fear/desperation is palpable. Cassius continues to surprise, in a positive way. At the beginning of the story, I was sure he was going to be a villain. And not a very subtle one. But he's making a good showing here: balancing his responsibility for his people against his compassion for others. I'm glad the refugees made it inside.
Bruenor's bit didn't involve much in the way of introspection and emotion, but it was fun. And it was interesting to finally see Bruenor in action as a strategist/leader. It's impressive!
I still wish we'd have SOME mention of a few women at least trying to fight. Even if it's just trying to take someone out with a kitchen utensil. We do have Catti-brie involved in the ambushing, but that's not really enough, IMO.
I feel like the villain segments here are amazing. Which is why, as I said, I resent all that repetitive time spent with Kessell before, that did nothing but showcase what a tool he is. I think at least half of them could have been cut, and we could have had more things like this to show how formidable a threat is awaiting our heroes.
Instead, we got an idiot with a lot of sex slaves blathering at a chunk of rock. Mesmerizing.