Dungeons & Dragons: Forgotten Realms: The Year of Rogue Dragons #3: The Ruin

‘Till everything burns, while everyone screams. Burning their lies, burning my dreams. All of this hate, and all of this pain. I’ll burn it all down as my anger reigns. ‘Till everything burns. Let’s burn down The Ruin, by Richard Lee Byers.

Synopsis:

The climactic conclusion of The Year of Rogue Dragons! Madness takes hold, Sammaster draws closer to victory, and forgotten secrets are revealed at last. Dorn and the rogue dragons will have to find the source of a millennia-old curse, then find some way to destroy it, before the Rage overcomes the world.

Source: Goodreads

SPOILERS BELOW

And so, it’s finally here: the last installment of The Year of Rogue Dragons trilogy, in which our heroes finally confront the evil lich Sammaster face-to-face and put an end to his evil schemes once and for all. And there was much rejoicing.

I can’t help but feel that this book suffers a bit for coming after The Rite, which was definitely the strongest entry in the trilogy. After seeing that book juggle multiple simultaneous storylines with the party split up and having to deal with some mystery and intrigue rather than their usual brute force “kill dragon, look for next dragon” approach, I had my expectations raised for the final installment; only to see it go back to what the series was comfortable with – a largely linear tale where the heroes go fight Sammaster’s random flunky Iraclea, then go fight Sammaster’s random flunky Zethrindor, then come face-to-face with Sammaster only for him to gate in a zillion extra-planar dragons which are countered by all the Metallic Dragons in Faerun teleporting in and the fight just turns into a massive clusterfuck where dragons are ripping each other apart mid-air, people on the ground are trying to dodge out of the way of the falling corpses, and the battle outside turns out be entirely meaningless anyways because Pavel figures out that Sammaster corrupted the Dragon Rage Mythal by adding his phylactery to it. Pavel sacrifices himself to destroy the phylactery and shut down the mythal, and that’s that. He kind of single-handedly permanently ended the Rage, and destroyed Sammaster in the process (who was up until then handling himself quite fine against all the heroes and dragons assaulting his body directly).

Well, to give the book some credit, it did do some things right. Brimstone, for instance, the evil vampiric smoke drake who joined the heroes in their quest to put an end to Sammaster. On so very many occasions, I have seen interesting set-ups like this instantly torpedoed by the evil party member immediately doing Dark Kantian, turning on his own allies for no reason, and getting summarily killed off. I was thus very impressed that Brimstone managed to survive the entire trilogy, due to never turning against the protagonists. He’s evil, not stupid – they’re his allies; and however he may personally feel about them being a bunch of little Lawful Goody two-shoes, helping them succeed at their quest helps him succeed in his revenge, so it’d just be pointlessly stupid and self-sabotaging to betray them just because they happen to have differing alignments. Thumbs up, Brimstone: you were probably the best-written evil character in this trilogy. Also, Pavel sacrificing his life to destroy Sammaster’s phylactery was a pretty powerful note to end his character on: a good example of a death scene done right having an impact on the reader. As compared to plenty of previous scenes where, for instance, the heroes would do something incredibly badass and beat a dragon, but then morosely say that they were still losing the overall war of attrition because of all the Sossrim who died in the effort. Those poor, nameless Sossrim, who we know nothing about, and seem to exist only to be piled up as stacks of corpses for the people with names to point at and go “Victory… but at what cost!?” No matter how many thousands of nameless characters you kill, it will never amount to the impact of killing a single well-developed character that the audience has actually had a chance to get attached to.

The Ruin is a decent book, with a few particular bright spots in the form of Brimstone and Pavel, but ultimately doesn’t measure up to The Rite.

Final Rating: 3/5

Dungeons & Dragons: Forgotten Realms: The Year of Rogue Dragons #2: The Rite

Turn the key, walk through the gate. The great ascent to reach a higher state. A rite of passage. The final stage, a sacred home. Unlock the door and lay the cornerstone. A rite of passage. Let’s research The Rite, by Richard Lee Byers.

Synopsis:

In the sequel to The Rage, the dragons of Faerun continue their rampage across the land, prompted by the soulless lich Sammaster and hunted by the dragonslayer Dorn and his companions, who race against time to prevent a cataclysm.

Source: Goodreads [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/274475.The_Rite]

SPOILERS BELOW

The second book in The Year of Rogue Dragons sees our group of protagonists splitting up in order to simultaneously take on three tasks: first, to investigate a besieged monastery for info previously plundered from it by the lich Sammaster; second, to root out a traitor amongst the wizards researching a cure for the Rage; and third, rescuing King Dragonsbane from a curse so he can defend his country from an invading goblinoid army.

Now, when reviewing the second book of trilogies, I often comment on middle-book syndrome: the first book contains the set up, the third book contains the pay off, and the middle book just wastes time spinning its wheels. However, I am glad to say that The Rite does not fall into this category. None of the three central plotlines felt at all like filler. A major reason for that, I believe, is that all of the conflicts traced back to the actions of the main villain. It wasn’t just any random curse that struck down King Dragonsbane or any random goblin army taking advantage of the situation to invade; Sammaster intentionally incited matters by disguising himself as the Witch-King, and the heroes putting a stop to it is active progress towards them foiling him. The stuff in the first book about the Zhents, now that was filler: some random baddies unconnected to the main villain acting as a temporary roadblock for out protagonists to overcome on their way to deal with the stuff that actually mattered.

Another point in the book’s favor: it’s quite good. Generally, when I talk about “filler”, I’m referring to low-quality writing which pads out a book’s length without actually contributing anything of interest. If material, even digressions not directly related to the main plot, becomes strong enough, it ceases to be regarded as filler and instead becomes the exciting action and compelling character drama which adds meat onto the bones of the central plot arc. Here, we get not only plenty of great fight scenes, but also a side portion of intrigue as our protagonists try to identify which wizard is secretly sabotaging his fellows.

The Rite is a sequel which surpasses its predecessor.

Final Rating: 4/5

Dungeons & Dragons: Forgotten Realms: The Year of Rogue Dragons #1: The Rage

I’ll let it show that I’m not always hiding. Come all the way down and watch me burn. I won’t let it show that I’m not always flying. So on the way down I’ll watch you burn. Let’s ignite The Rage, by Richard Lee Byers.

Synopsis:

Devoting his entire life to destroying every dragon he encounters in revenge for the killing of his entire family, renegade half-golem dragon hunter Dorn is forced into an uneasy alliance when a feral madness threatens to overcome every dragon in Faerun

Source: Goodreads

SPOILERS BELOW

Time to look at another Dungeons & Dragons trilogy. Our main protagonist this time is Dorn Graybrook. Mutilated by a dragon as a child, he was rebuilt as a half-golem, one of the more obscure D&D templates, and dedicated his life to hunting and destroying dragons. Of course, many dragons have the power to shapeshift into human form; so when he and his band of hunters are hired by a mysterious woman who has romantic tension with him but carefully keeps personal details about herself a secret… yeah, you can see where this is going – the classic hunter falls in love with one of the kind he is hunting romance cliche, complete with the big dramatic reveal that Kara is actually the song dragon Karasendrieth. Dorn gets mad that she pretended to love him to only seduce him into agreeing to help her; Kara protests that she wasn’t pretending, she really does love him; Dorn allows that she might be some kind of dragon pervert who has no interest in her fellow lizards but gets hot and bothered by human amputees… and that’s why the Monster Manual has a “Half-Dragon” template. No, wait… I’m getting off topic.

The real problem is that an ancient evil lich named Sammaster plans to rule the world with an army of undead dragons. He has found a way to permanently activate an ancient elven mythal that periodically sends all of dragonkind into uncontrollable rages, and is now peddling transformation into a dracolich as the only alternative to going insane and dying like beasts. Naturally, it falls to Dorn and his band of mercenaries to save the day.

Not that they do, at least not yet; this is, after all, but the first book of a trilogy. In other words, this one is mainly focused on the heroes learning about the problem, vowing to put a stop to Sammaster’s evil, getting into a bunch of fights with various dragons – some evil servants of Sammaster, some just in a mad battle frenzy due to the mounting Rage – and finally, for the big cliffhanger, learning the source of the Rage.

Overall, it’s a competently-told story. We get a mixture of plot scenes to advance the story, character development scenes to get us invested in the cast (well, some of them – Dorn and Kara are obviously the leads, Will and Pavel have this bickering comedy duo routine going, and then Raryn is… just kind of there in the background), and fight scenes to deliver action and keep the tension high.

The Rage gets the Year of Rogue Dragons trilogy off to a decent start.

Final Rating: 3/5

Dungeon & Dragons: Forgotten Realms: Starlight and Shadows #3: Windwalker

Alright, alright; so the first drow song I tried to use ended up being totally nonsensical; and the second one turned out not to be so much a song as a ritual incantation for summoning goat-headed demons. But I’ve finally found a good drow song, I swear. Here’s “A Candle Lights the Darkness”, courtesy of Ill’haress An’jhali Tei’Kaliath: As a candle darkness, as a sapling grows into a tree; the greatest things can have humble beginnings. Untold hopes straining to be set free. Weary travelers, cease your travels; for no longer will you have to roam. Brick by brick, out of ruins; hand in hand, we will make this our home. No one said that this would be simple, no one said this would come without strife. Everyone knows that the struggle is worth it, everyone knows that together we’ll build a new life. ……………Thank you, An’jhali. Let’s take flight with Windwalker, by Elaine Cunningham.

Synopsis:

Liriel has achieved her goal: her drow powers are hers to command wherever she might go. Her companion, Fyodor of Rashemen, has mastered his out-of-control berserker rages. The future seems bright for the companions as they set out to return the Windwalker amulet to the Witches of Rashemen, for Fyodor has reason to believe that Liriel will be welcomed in his homeland.

But Liriel’s enemies follow her still. Chief among them is a drow goddess whom Liriel, whether she knows it or not, continues to serve…

Source: Goodreads

SPOILERS BELOW

Okay, so here we are: the final book in this trilogy. In the first book, Rashemi berserker Fyodor and drow wizard/cleric Liriel teamed up to quest for a magical artifact called the Windwalker, which would allow Fyodor to control his rages and Liriel to keep her Underdark magic on the surface. In the second book, they used the Windwalker to carve a magical rune on Yggdrasil’s Child, thereby accomplishing those two goals. And now, in the grand epic conclusion to the saga, they face the greatest challenge of all: walking home from their adventure.

…Huh. Is that really it? I can’t help but feel that their story arc actually kind of reached its resolution at the climax of the last book, and that this is a really long, really awkward foot-dragging denouement. I mean, stuff is happening, but it doesn’t really center much on our ostensible protagonists so much as tidying up the loose ends left by the subplots of minor characters. Like, hey, remember that illithid from the last book? It was never actually killed on-screen, so let’s have it show up in one scene of this book just to immediately die, tidying up that dangling thread. And hey, didn’t one of the Harpers show up in the first book? Well, can’t miss an opportunity for them to completely steal the spotlight; this book is now about the exploits of Sharrlara Vindrith (aka Vendrith, aka Vendreth); special snowflake star elf thief who is friends with Danilo Thann and apprentice to Lord Blackstaff and Lady Silverhand. Follow her on such thrilling adventures as getting captured by the drow and seeming to die only to be rescued by her mentor at the last minute, and getting captured by mercenaries and seeming to die only to be rescued by a ghost horse at the last minute.

But hey, there is some actual strong character development which leads to the appropriate completion of a personal arc in this book – it just doesn’t belong to the protagonists. No, instead this book provides fitting closure for my favorite character of the trilogy, the antagonist Shakti. Having started as a non-traditional drow – nearsighted, slightly pudgy, more concerned with organizing than climbing the ranks of power – she goes through her lowest moment having been cast into the Abyss by Lolth, but perseveres and returns triumphant to her home with a newly fit form, as well as tokens of Lolth’s favor that secure this former minor rothe-breeder a position near the top of drow society. She has also undergone personal growth, realizing that the drow obsession with revenge is their biggest weakness, and at the climax overcomes her personal animosity towards Liriel to do the mature and sensible thing and let her grudge go rather than insisting on a pointless fight that she would just end up losing anyways due to protagonist plot armor. Good for her! …But I don’t think we’re actually supposed to be rooting for her. Shouldn’t it be our protagonists finding closure?

So, Windwalker was not without its merits. With regards to the protagonists, though, it feels like an unnecessary addendum to a story that was resolved in the previous book, which itself felt like it was stretching the premise of the first book. Thus, on the whole, I rank it as only decent overall, leaving Daughter of the Drow as the strongest book in the trilogy.

Final Rating: 3/5

Dungeon & Dragons: Forgotten Realms: Starlight and Shadows #2: Tangled Webs

Okay, so last time’s opening didn’t go so great; but I’m not going to give up. A book about drow deserves lyrics from a drow song for the opening; and while Kyo’nne turned out not be as good as she claimed, she’s not the only drow musician out there. So, here’s the latest drow hit to rock the underworld, courtesy of Fame’nidea Vel’Vlozress: Nah nah nah nah-hah! Scratch off the scab, bleed out the poison! Goat heads! ……………Damn it, Fame. Let’s tie knots in Tangled Webs, by Elaine Cunningham.

Synopsis:

Exiled from her home, the beautiful dark elf Liriel Baenre wanders the surface world with her companion Fyodor. But even far from the dark haunts of Menzoberranzan, she is not safe from the vengeance of her archenemy. Even as she and her friend sail the dangerous seas of the Sword Coast, a drow priestess plots a terrible fate for them.
And in the depths of the earth, the spider queen Lolth weaves her own webs of terror and treachery.
This rerelease showcases a new look for the Starlight & Shadows series, complete with all new cover art and design. The recover of this title precedes a brand-new concluding title to the series, “Windwalker.”

Source: Goodreads

SPOILERS BELOW

The forces of evil are on the move. An aboleth and an illithid have formed an unholy alliance in order to gain control of a magical portal that will allow them to transport an army. They’ve recruited a navy which is preparing for invasion by seeding kelpies through the coastal waters, and the sahuagin have used malenti to infiltrate the local sea elves. Only one obstacle yet remains in their way: a wicked banshee who refuses to permit any but the undead to make use of the portal. As these monstrous villains approach a final epic confrontation, we are forced to ask: what exactly does any of this have to do with our protagonists?

Well, Fyodor and Liriel are on this island because it coincidentally happens to be the location of the magical tree that they need to inscribe a rune upon for Liriel to keep her Underdark magic on the surface and for Fyodor to control his berserker rages. But that’s all it is: coincidence. And I have to say, the lack of any strong connection between our heroes and the book’s main conflict is kind of a big weakness for me, one that prevents this book from living up to Daughter of the Drow. Oh, Shakti returns to continue pursuing her vendetta against Liriel; but her involvement feels just as out of place as our protagonists’ – these characters have been dropped into a story that clearly isn’t about them.

Also, not to nitpick, but… the name of the spider-goddess Lolth is misspelled throughout as “Lloth”. That’s kind of a big mistake, isn’t it, for a book focusing on the drow? I mean, it was spelled correctly in the first book; so what changed? Remember: it’s Lolth as in LOL.

(Actually, I checked online, and apparently “Lloth” is in fact a legitimate alternate spelling used in some official Wizards publications – but using it for only the middle book of a trilogy, while the first and third employ the more common “Lolth” spelling, seems like bad editing).

Tangled Webs is a decent book, but one with flaws that prevent it to living up to its predecessor in the trilogy.

Final Rating: 3/5

Dungeon & Dragons: Forgotten Realms: Starlight and Shadows #1: Daughter of the Drow

I always like to start off these reviews with a lyrical excerpt from an apropos song. Since this book is about the drow, I thought that it’d only be fitting to introduce it with some traditional drow music. So, here is a popular and beloved drow song, courtesy of Kyo’nne Val’Illhar’dro: Come with me, be wild and free, in a land where unicorns make jelly. Duty be damned, let our love not be jammed, for the sun turtles make yogurt cantaloupes. ……………Damn it, Kyo’nne. Let’s descend to the Underdark with Daughter of the Drow, by Elaine Cunningham.

Synopsis:

Beautiful as she is deadly, Liriel Baenre flits through the shadows of Menzoberranzan, city of the dark elves. Amid treachery and murder that are the drow’s daily fare, she feels something calling to her…something beyond this dusky world far removed from the sun. Yet as she ventures toward the surface and the lands of light, enemies pursue her unceasingly.

And one enemy may offer her the only hope of salvation.

Source: Goodreads

SPOILERS BELOW

I read this book after seeing an excerpt from it in the D&D 5E Player’s Handbook, in the section about how humans are seen by other races. The idea of a drow reading stories of humans with fascination seemed like an interesting take on an often one-dimensional race. (Well, this was first published in 1995, so I suppose Drizzt had already spent a good few years shaking up the perception of dark elves by the time this one came out.)

But the book never mentions him, and so neither should we – we are, after all, here to look at this book on its own merits, irrespective of any trends it may have been following. This book is about Liriel, a young drow who dreams of going on a journey to the surface world…

…No, that’s Liriel from the webcomic Drowtales. I’m not talking about that little diva; this Liriel is totally different. Enraptured by the surface in general and human culture in particular, she sets out on a quest of exploration and discovery which results in her fate becoming entwined with that of Fyodor, a Rashemi berserker who is searching for a powerful magical artifact called the Windwalker. That’s “walker”, with an L, by the way; not to be confused with the Wind Waker, from the Legend of Zelda series.

I have a confession to make, though: Liriel isn’t actually my favorite drow character in the book. No, that honor actually goes to her nemesis, Shakti, who despite being an antagonist won me over with her practicality. While the other drow are partying and raiding and conducting elaborate blood sacrifice rituals, Shakti is hard at work as a rothe-breeder – which, she points out, may be an unglamorous occupation, but is actually necessary to keep the rest of the race from starving to death amidst their debauched revels. It’s a reminder that the other drow would be wise to heed, because their society is here portrayed on the far side of the “chaotic stupid” line that Lolth often straddles. In response to a recent lost war, resulting in the deaths of half their population and most of their slaves, they have decided that the appropriate response is to kill more of their slaves, to increase the backstabbing and politicking between houses, to ramp up the sacrifice of the remaining breeding population. It’s a strategy so bad that Lolth, goddess of chaos, evil, and treachery, has to personally step in and tell them all to take it down a notch lest they drive their whole race to extinction. For standing apart from the rest of these Dark Kantian morons, Shakti won my love.

…Man, this is turning into an image-heavy review, isn’t it? But anyways, this book is just full of things I love: like the “old friends are soon forgotten” tale which Fyodor tells Liriel during their first meeting, or Liriel’s friendship with the mutant deep dragon Zz’Pzora.

That said, I do have a few quibbles with it as well. For instance, in the chapter introducing her, Shakti is said to be near-sighted; but she’s described as having trouble seeing close-up things like stair steps and written text, which makes her sound far-sighted instead. And then there’s the scene where Liriel’s teacher, Kharza-kzad, transforms himself into a lich. I thought turning into a lich was something undertaken by only the most wicked and vile spellcasters (“the process of becoming a lich is unspeakably evil” – D&D 3E Monster Manual), whereas Kharza had until then actually been portrayed as one of the least evil of the drow. Yes, he did have one notable evil act shortly prior, so he wasn’t exactly on the north end of the alignment chart; but in comparison to the other drow in the book, he isn’t one I would have suspected such a thing from.

But those minor quibbles aside, Daughter of the Drow was a deeply enjoyable book, and one I can strongly recommend.

Final Rating: 5/5

Dungeons & Dragons: Forgotten Realms: Finder’s Stone #3: Song of the Saurials

It was a night like this forty million years ago. I lit a cigarette, picked up a monkey skull to go. The sun was spitting fire, the sky was blue as ice. I felt a little tired, so I watched Miami Vice, and walked the dinosaur, I walked the dinosaur. Let’s sing the Song of the Saurials, by Kate Novak and Jeff Grubb.

Synopsis:

High fantasy adventure takes a turn with mystery in the final title in the Finder’s Stone Trilogy by Jeff Grubb and Kate Novak.

When the Harpers judged the Nameless Bard responsible for the death of his apprentices, they sentenced him to exile and obscurity. Now the Harpers are reconsidering their decision, but with the arrival of the monster Grypht, Nameless’s new trial dissolves in a string of disappearances and murder. It is up to the bard’s friends, Alias the swordswoman, Akabar the mage, Dragonbait the paladin, and Ruskettle the thief, to prove one enemy is behind all the chaos—the ancient evil god, Moander the Darkbringer. Unless Alias and her companions can find Nameless and convince him to sacrifice some of his precious power, Moander will return to claim the Realms.

Source: Goodreads

SPOILERS BELOW

Moander the Darkbringer, an evil god who was involved in the creation of Alias, is once again threatening the Realms. That means it’s time to get the old band back together to face him once more. Alias, the swordswoman a magic tattoo and impractical armor! Akabar, the greengrocer and part-time mage! Dragonbait, the mute lizard paladin! Olive, the halfling totally-a-bard-not-a-thief! Not Giogioni, though – nobody cares about him. Anyways, these brave heroes will foil Moander’s latest evil plan and destroy the evil god once and for all – eventually. They spend the first half of the book pretty much running in circles due to misunderstandings and stubbornness; it has a page count to meet, after all.

Okay, snark aside, this book was actually decent. I didn’t have any major problems with it the way I did with the second one. That said, I don’t really think it rises up to the level of the first one. The first in the series had all these mysteries regarding Alias, her companions, and her enemies, which we slowly discovered over the course of the story. In this book, we already know from the start what’s going on – Moander is returning – but the heroes waste a lot of time arguing with each other because some of them refuse to believe it. So, while it does have lots of good individual moments, the overall plot doesn’t flow as well.

In any case, this brings the Finder’s Stone trilogy to a conclusion. It was a series that had a strong start, but faltered in the middle, and only partially recovered for the ending.

Final Rating: 3/5

Dungeons & Dragons: Forgotten Realms: Finder’s Stone #2: The Wyvern’s Spur

Tell me are you really free? Tell me am I really free? Is the world frozen right in its tracks? Let me show you how to keep your crown. Let’s fight gold with The Wyvern’s Spur, by Kate Novak and Jeff Grubb.

Synopsis:

More than a hunk of junk, the Wyvern’s Spur has moldered in a crypt for fifteen generations until now. The Wyvernspur family’s powerful heirloom has been stolen, and grand wizard and patriarch Drone Wyvernspur is the first to fall to the ancient item’s curse. The family fool, Giogi, is left to find it, but even recovering the spur cannot guarantee his clan’s safety. Fortunately, the famous halfling bard Olive Ruskettle and a mysterious and talented mage named Cat are determined to help. But when betrayal and enchantment threaten Giogi’s progress, he must invoke the spur’s awesome might… or become its next victim!

Source: Goodreads

SPOILERS BELOW

We now return to the Realms for the sequel to Alias’s first adventure. However, as it happens, Alias herself does not appear in this volume. Instead, the focus is placed on two other characters which were introduced in that book: halfling bard/thief Olive Ruskettle, and foppish nobleman Giogioni Wyvernspur. Now, Olive makes sense as a POV character, since she was an important companion to Alias and got her own character arc; but Giogioni? He was a very minor character; not one of Alias’s allies, but a minor comic relief role. So, at first glance, he seems an odd choice for main protagonist status. Still, Azure Bonds was really well written and quickly got me invested in its characters. Can The Wyvern’s Spur do the same with Giogioni?

Okay, look, I have to get this out of the way right off the bat. Early on in the book, Jade refers to Giogioni as JoJo. And, as the timing happened to work out, I was watching Vento Aureo at the same time I was reading this book. So, past that point, I couldn’t stop mentally picturing Giogioni as Giorno Giovanna, despite the two characters being otherwise nothing alike. Such is the cross every JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure watcher must bear: forever seeing imaginary JoJo references in unrelated media.

But seeing as how Jade’s come up, let’s talk about her. One of the dangling plot threads introduced in the previous book was the existence of a number of other magical simulacrums similar to Alias. I was naturally expecting that they would play a role in the sequels, so I was very interested when the book introduced one of them, Jade More. I was excited to see how she would be developed… except she wasn’t. She was immediately killed off. Totally worth the wait, right? Well, that really got things off on the wrong foot for me, and set a sour tone for the rest of the book.

In the end, I was never really able to get into The Wyvern’s Spur. I can’t care about a story unless I care about the characters, and I never really got interested in all the various members of the Wyvernspur clan the way I did Alias’s band. It didn’t help that Olive spent the first half of the book polymorphed into a donkey – while amusing at moments, it meant that the entire weight of the narrative had to be carried by Giogioni, and he just wasn’t up to the task.

Here’s hoping the third book in the trilogy is able to deliver a tale more on par with the first.

Final Rating: 2/5

Dungeons & Dragons: Forgotten Realms: Finder’s Stone #1: Azure Bonds

Drifting, dreaming, in an Azure mood; stardust gleaming through my solitude: here in my seclusion, you’re a blue illusion, while I’m in this Azure interlude. Let’s tie up Azure Bonds, by Kate Novak and Jeff Grubb.

Synopsis:

Her name is Alias, and she is in big trouble.

She is a sell-sword, a warrior-for-hire, and an adventuress. She awoke with a series of twisting, magical blue sigils inscribed on her arms and no memory of where she got them.

Determined to learn the nature of the mysterious tattoo, Alias joins forces with an unlikely group of companions: the halfling bard, Ruskettle, the southern mage, Akabar, and the oddly silent lizard-man, Dragonbait. With their help, she discovers that the symbols hold the key to her very existence.

But those responsible for the sigils aren’t keen on Alias’s continued good health. And if the five evil masters find her first, she may discover all too soon their hideous secret.

Source: Goodreads

SPOILERS BELOW

Recently, I’ve been reading a thread on the RPG Net forums which is focused on re-reading and reviewing old issues of Dragon magazine. Naturally, Dragon featured reviews of lots of sci-fi and fantasy books coming out at the time; and also naturally, many of the books so reviewed become topics of discussion in the thread. And some of them sound so interesting that I naturally feel compelled to take a look at them. This is how I ended up reading Quag Keep, for instance.

My interest in today’s offering came about due to these comments:

“Alias and that Saurial paladin. Now there’s a novel for you. A textbook example of the impractical cheesecake cover too. Hee. You can’t spend 15 minutes lacing up sideless leather trousers (I speak from experience here) in the dangerous wilderness when wandering monsters strike at night.”

– (un)reason

“Amusingly the costume shows up in the books. Alias wears full plate until she gets the heavily over enchanted cheesecake costume off her mother.”

– Littleredfox

I’m not sure why, but for some reason the image of a fantasy adventurer wearing a ridiculous cheesecake outfit which she actually inherited from her mother struck some kind of nostalgic sentiment in me, like it reminded me of something I deeply loved. Can’t imagine what, though.

As it happens, the acquisition of the outfit doesn’t occur until the very end of the book, and under very different circumstances from Gracia Ul Naga Saillune’s. The important thing, though, is that the hint of nostalgia stirred by the poster’s description, dubiously accurate as it may have been, made me pick up this book; and I’m glad I did, because I ended up enjoying it quite a lot.

The plot concerns the swordswoman Alias, who awakens from a drunken stupor to discover she has a new magic tattoo on her arm and no recollection of the past month’s events. It’s surprising that doesn’t happen to adventurers more often, honestly, what with how many parties meet in taverns. In any case, Alias soon finds herself being targeted by mysterious villains, and sets out on a quest to find out why. Along the way, she joins up with a number of companions: the talented but inexperienced wizard Akabar Bel Akash, who Alias derisively considers a mere greengrocer; the mute lizardman Dragonbait, a mighty saurial paladin who Alias mistakes for some sort of jester (in her defense, not many paladins choose to put skill points in Perform (Juggling)); and the greedy halfling bard Olive Ruskettle, who is definitely a bard and not a thief, whatever gave you that idea, she’s just holding onto those thief’s tools for a friend, honest, and race-class restrictions are bullshit anyways.

Incidentally, this is the first D&D book I’ve read to feature Elminster as a character. I was a bit worried about that, since for years and years I’ve been hearing people bitch about how he’s the biggest Mary Sue in the setting; but honestly, I thought his appearance in the novel was fine. Maybe because he only showed up in a minor cameo role, instead of the plot being all about him being the most awesomest mage in the world and banging lots of hot women?

In any case, I thought the book’s plot was very strong. While the overall focus was on Alias and her quest, each of her companions got their own moments in the spotlight, giving them all enough character development to make them interesting – even Ruskettle, who I initially worried was going to be a kender-type “comic relief” character. Fortunately, that did not turn out to be the case. The book did spice up its action scenes and interpersonal drama with some humor now and then, but it didn’t rely solely on the halfling for that – my favorite humorous scene was actually between Akabar and Elminster’s secretary Lhaeo.

Azure Bonds was a delight to read, and I eagerly anticipate the remaining two books of the Finder’s Stone trilogy.

Final Rating: 4/5

Dragons: Worlds Afire

Black dragon, fly high regain, your past. Lost in the fire, the fire of hate. Black dragon, fly high, spit your red flame. They’re lost in the fire of damned, the fire of hate. Let’s pillage the hoard of Dragons: Worlds Afire, published by Wizards of the Coast.

Synopsis:

Ancient beasts imbued with magic, and prone to madness. Masters of a world where they are kings among men. Legendary creatures few have ever seen, and lived to tell the tale. Eldritch constructs bent to that service of godlike wizards. From four worlds of magic and mystery, one monster rises above all others to threaten death, offer hope, spread fear, or hoard treasure. No matter what the world, only a dragon can set it, and the imaginations of millions, on fire. Four of the most exciting worlds in the history of fantasy come together for the first time in one volume, drawn together at last by the mighty dragons of myth and legend.

Source: Goodreads

SPOILERS BELOW

So, it seems I’ve been reading lots of books about dragons lately: Dragon Age, Dragon Apocalypse, Dragonsbane, The Dragons of Magic… lots of dragons here. Combine that with the fact that my re-read of the Magic: the Gathering novels has had me reading lots of books published by Wizards of the Coast, and Goodreads was inspired to recommend for me this collection of four dragon-related tales written by famous authors in Wizards settings. So, let’s check it out.

The first story is “If Ever They Happened Upon My Lair” by R.A. Salvatore. I know he’s most famous for Drizzt Do’Urden, but I personally haven’t read any of those; the only Salvatore novel I have personal experience with is Star Wars: The New Jedi Order #1: Vector Prime. Which I liked, for the record. The story is set in Faerun; and while I haven’t read Drizzt, I am familiar with the setting through several other Forgotten Realms novels. Some of them even contained really interesting and memorable dragons, like Brimstone the vampire smoke drake or Zz’Pzora the mutant deep dragon. So, I was hoping for something on that level.

Unfortunately, this tale of a black dragon Urshula did not deliver on that regard. Not only was Urshula pretty generic, lacking any of the distinctive personality of the more memorable dragons of Faerun, but the story itself felt lacking in focus. The first part of it was spent developing the characters of a bunch of dwarves, who were then all immediately slaughtered by Urshula and never mentioned again. Then the story introduced a big group of dragon hunters, who also got developed before then also being meaninglessly slaughtered. Maybe if some of that time had been spent developing Urshula, he wouldn’t have been so flat and boring? But Urshula isn’t even the main focus of this story; it’s about the machinations of a lich who is recruiting dragons to transform into dracoliches. Except then the lich’s kingdom is defeated offscreen by a paladin, which is a pretty major thing to leave offscreen if the story is supposed to be about the lich; so I guess in the end the story isn’t about anything at all. So, this story didn’t live up to the hype.

The second story is “Here Be Dragons” by Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman. I was pretty excited to see their names in this collection, since I am a big fan of their four-book Darksword Trilogy (heh, trilogy creep). Thus, I had high expectations for this one, even after seeing that it’s set in the world of Dragonlance, a series I’ve never read and am not too familiar with. But then, my eyes settled on the subtitle, which bore three dreadful words that chilled me to my very core:

(A Kender Tale).

NOOOOOOO!!!!

I many not be familiar with Dragonlance, but I am all too familiar with Kender. You only ever really need to encounter them once; they kind of make an impression. For those of you not familiar with Kender, here’s a succinct summary (courtesy of 1d4chan) of why the mention of them should strike terror into your soul:

Are you now imagining an entire race of Jar Jar Binkses? Welcome to my hell.

Ugh… should I even bother summarizing the story? A kender acts like a annoying little shit, endangers a town by awakening a dragon, but ends up getting off scott-free because the universe constantly conspires to make things forever turn out in the favor of those goddamned annoying kender. Blech. Mark this one down as my least favorite story from the collection.

The third story is “Principles of Fire” by Keith Baker. I’ve never read anything by him before; nor am I overly familiar with Eberron, the world where this story takes place. I think there was something about magic-powered trains and the pope is a little girl? At any rate, the plot concerns a pair of detectives investigating the murder of a dragon. Now, that is actually quite an intriguing premise; but unfortunately, the story can’t live up to it. For one thing, it’s simply much too obvious who the culprit is. From the start, the fact that it’s a short story means there isn’t room to introduce too many characters, so the number of suspects is rather limited. There’s one guy who is an over-the-top obnoxious asshole and keeps trying to obstruct the investigation – obviously the red-herring suspect who we’re supposed to focus on and then be surprised when he turns out to be innocent – and then there’s his quiet, unobtrusive assistant, who the protagonist catches the smell of dragon blood from. Now, if the story played up the smell of dragon blood thing and had the protagonist call him on it, I’d think he was also too obvious to actually be the culprit – but instead the protagonist thinks it must just be her imagination and lets it drop in order to pursue a different lead. Well, gee, I wonder who it’s going to turn out to be? A case worthy of Sherlock Holmes, this isn’t.

The fourth and final story is “Unnatural Predator” by Scott McGough. It is set in the multiverse of Magic: the Gathering, and references to the Phyrexian Invasion mean it takes place on Dominaria. And I have to say, I thought this one was really promising. It had by far the most diverse and interesting cast of characters of the stories in this collection, and I really enjoyed seeing them play off each other. It was funny and tense and clever… and then the ending had to go and ruin it all. It went with this lazy, trite, cliched horror stinger ending, where it turns out the monster is still alive regardless of how little narrative sense that makes. And in this case, I really think it makes no sense. Like, a big deal is made in the story about how the dragon engine is malfunctioning and breaking down – this is how Cayce sees through its glamour and discerns its true nature, this is why it suddenly altered its behavior a month ago, this is why it repeats the same scripted conversation like a broken record. So how exactly does that square with it being able to completely regenerate itself from ash? I enjoyed this story the most out of the four in the collection, but it was still a disappointment in the end.

Also… Continuity Alert! Because it’s by now become an ingrained habit I can’t break.

The precious metals in the dragon’s lair are said to include watersilver and argentum. Watersilver is a magic-negating metal which was first introduced in the Ice Age cycle. At the time, I erronously stated that it was never mentioned again, due to magic negation being a bit too convenient of a power to toss around willy-nilly in a setting based on magic being commonplace. Turns out I was wrong: it is mentioned again, here, in this story. Nobody comments on its ability to negate magic, however; a shame, since it seems like a magic-negating substance might be really useful against a magically regenerating dragon. As for argentum, Argentum is the original name Karn gave to the plane of Mirrodin, but I’ve never seen it used to describe a specific precious metal on Dominaria before. I mean, “argentum” is Latin for “white metal”, and that’s probably the sense in which it was being used here; but please, try and keep your made-up fantasy names straight. Like, you can go ahead and introduce a magical fantasy metal called “quicksilver”; but then if you also have alchemists referring to ordinary non-magical mercury by the colloquial name “quicksilver” – well, it’s going to get confusing.

In the end, Dragons made big promises that it couldn’t deliver on. It had big-name authors writing in the worlds of big-name properties, but they produced small, disappointing tales. I can’t really recommend this collection.

Final Rating: 2/5