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kalinaraSo last time, Cadderly totally killed that dude. The curse seems to be resolving. Let's see what's left in the aftermath...
( I bet it's messy! )
( I bet it's messy! )
Jan. 17th, 2025
kalinaraCanticle - Verdict
Jan. 17th, 2025 09:31 pmkalinaraSo I've now finished my first non-Drizzt R.A. Salvatore Forgotten Realms novel.
And you know, it was pretty good.
I think Salvatore has definitely got the hang of writing a D&D book that doesn't feel like the retelling of a campaign. And I think that's a good thing. The elements that make up a fun D&D tabletop experience are not the same as the elements that make up a good novel. And a good novel will be plenty of advertisement for the game system without needing to entirely replicate it.
So yeah, I really liked this. For all that this is the first part of a quintet, the story's pretty well-contained. It involves one main location, one main threat, and some hints of a bigger picture.
As I mentioned, the one weakness is that I don't think the book does enough of a good job in establishing Aballister or Castle Trinity as a real threat. I know they'll be important going forward, but here, they were basically just ineffectual background noise to Barjin's show. And we're not going to see him again.
It's a bit of a shame, because I feel like the seeds were there. Aballister, at the start of the book, was a surprisingly compelling villain protagonist. In fact, I was far more interested in his power struggle against Barjin than I was in Cadderly playing a fantasy version of Zack Morris from Saved by the Bell at the Library.
But once Barjin deployed the curse, Aballister was basically a non-entity.
The curse was fun and nicely horrific.
I enjoyed all the characters a lot. We had a nice set up where no one felt particularly useless or redundant. Even Danica, once she was able to snap out of the curse, made a pretty good showing for herself. And the romantic relationship here, while low-key, is much better than anything we've seen in the Drizzt books so far.
I especially like Cadderly as a lead. He was reasonably entertaining as a sitcom protagonist at the start of the novel, but made a very good coming of age hero once the action starts. I liked that he was allowed to show weakness and uncertainty, and not necessarily be the most competent person in the room in every scene.
My issue with Drizzt was never his concept. It was his obnoxious personality (which, well, there's not much that can be done about THAT without making him a new character entirely) and the way the narrative never really let him be anything other than the wisest, most experienced, cleverest voice in the room. Cadderly doesn't have to be as impressive, which makes him immediately more compelling and likable to me.
So yeah, I enjoyed it. I don't really have any real complaints even. I'm looking forward to continuing with the series...after a break.
And you know, it was pretty good.
I think Salvatore has definitely got the hang of writing a D&D book that doesn't feel like the retelling of a campaign. And I think that's a good thing. The elements that make up a fun D&D tabletop experience are not the same as the elements that make up a good novel. And a good novel will be plenty of advertisement for the game system without needing to entirely replicate it.
So yeah, I really liked this. For all that this is the first part of a quintet, the story's pretty well-contained. It involves one main location, one main threat, and some hints of a bigger picture.
As I mentioned, the one weakness is that I don't think the book does enough of a good job in establishing Aballister or Castle Trinity as a real threat. I know they'll be important going forward, but here, they were basically just ineffectual background noise to Barjin's show. And we're not going to see him again.
It's a bit of a shame, because I feel like the seeds were there. Aballister, at the start of the book, was a surprisingly compelling villain protagonist. In fact, I was far more interested in his power struggle against Barjin than I was in Cadderly playing a fantasy version of Zack Morris from Saved by the Bell at the Library.
But once Barjin deployed the curse, Aballister was basically a non-entity.
The curse was fun and nicely horrific.
I enjoyed all the characters a lot. We had a nice set up where no one felt particularly useless or redundant. Even Danica, once she was able to snap out of the curse, made a pretty good showing for herself. And the romantic relationship here, while low-key, is much better than anything we've seen in the Drizzt books so far.
I especially like Cadderly as a lead. He was reasonably entertaining as a sitcom protagonist at the start of the novel, but made a very good coming of age hero once the action starts. I liked that he was allowed to show weakness and uncertainty, and not necessarily be the most competent person in the room in every scene.
My issue with Drizzt was never his concept. It was his obnoxious personality (which, well, there's not much that can be done about THAT without making him a new character entirely) and the way the narrative never really let him be anything other than the wisest, most experienced, cleverest voice in the room. Cadderly doesn't have to be as impressive, which makes him immediately more compelling and likable to me.
So yeah, I enjoyed it. I don't really have any real complaints even. I'm looking forward to continuing with the series...after a break.