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Forgotten Realms: Lost Empires #4
The Nether Scroll (Lost Empires Series, A Forgotten Realms
Ansoain has been murdered, and her son Galimer taken hostage. Druhallen, a young magic user, must avenge the murder of his teacher and rescue her son from a dubious fate. But not everyone is telling Druhallen the truth. Druhallen and his companions must brave the ruins of Dekanter to find a missing artifact . . . the Nether Scroll. Without the Nether Scroll Galimer may die. With it Druhallen may go mad.
Paperback
First published September 15, 2000
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About the author
Lynn Abbey
145 books191 followersLynn Abbey began publishing in 1979 with the novel Daughter of the Bright Moon and the short story "The Face of Chaos," part of a Thieves World shared world anthology. She received early encouragement from Gordon R. Dickson.
In the 1980s she married Robert Asprin and became his co-editor on the Thieves World books. She also contributed to other shared world series during the 1980s, including Heroes in Hell and Merovingen Nights.
Abbey and Asprin divorced in 1993 and Abbey moved to Oklahoma City. She continued to write novels during this period, including original works as well as tie-ins to Role Playing Games for TSR. In 2002, she returned to Thieves World with the novel Sanctuary and also began editing new anthologies, beginning with Turning Points.
In the 1980s she married Robert Asprin and became his co-editor on the Thieves World books. She also contributed to other shared world series during the 1980s, including Heroes in Hell and Merovingen Nights.
Abbey and Asprin divorced in 1993 and Abbey moved to Oklahoma City. She continued to write novels during this period, including original works as well as tie-ins to Role Playing Games for TSR. In 2002, she returned to Thieves World with the novel Sanctuary and also began editing new anthologies, beginning with Turning Points.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 26, 2022
Just Another Dungeon Crawl
25 July 2022
I really do find these books rather dry and boring. It’s not because the stories are bad, or that the characters aren’t interesting, it is just that there really doesn’t seem to be all that much life in them. In fact it feels as if they are simply churned out to meet a specific market that simply gobbles these books up without much thought. Actually, there is probably a good reason why my English Teacher would refer to these books as airport trash. Actually, I would even go as far as suggesting that these aren’t even they type of books that you would read if you simply want a rest.
Like, it wasn’t as if the characters weren’t interesting or anything like that, it is just that despite an attempt to give them some backstory, they just don’t seem to have any life. The main characters in the book, two apprentice wizards, would have come across much better if they were, well, bumbling in the way that such characters would be in say, well, a Terry Pratchett book. Okay, Terry Pratchett’s books really do come across very cartoonish, but the thing is that despite some interesting aspects, they still tasted like cardboard. Actually, come to think of it, I’d probably suggest something more along the lines of Riggs and Murtagh (from the Lethal Weapon series).
It isn’t as if the author wasn’t trying though. Like, for quite a while goblins were simply considered cannon-fodder for low level characters, however the author does her best to try to paint them as being more like a grey area, and also that they are real people with real needs. It is obvious that they breed like anything, and because of this they are going to have an enormous drain on the resources of a region, even a rather remote region like the one here. There is discussion as how they regularly come into town looking for food, and if they are given food, then the whole tribe of them will descend upon the town. It isn’t that they are violent either, that they just simply overwhelm the place.
It actually takes about half the book for the adventure to actually start, and sometimes that is actually a good thing, though in this story it really isn’t. We are given a backstory to the characters, and how their mother was killed in a raid by the Red Wizards, and how both of the main characters somehow survived (well, one of them ran and hid, so there is that). Yet while there are references to the Red Wizards throughout the story, they don’t actually play a major role. It sort of makes me wonder what the point of that first section was, unless it was to outline how one of the characters landed up with an artifact. Still, that could have been covered in a much shorter space, but I guess there was a page count to consider. Another thing, the artifact didn’t even play a major, or even minor, role in the story (or at least not that I noticed, but then again I did find it difficult to remain focused).
Honestly, I really found it a struggle to get into the book, it felt poorly written, including a number of grammatical errors that were present (which is more the editor’s fault than the author’s). There was quite a bit of potential here, but I felt that the author was quite hamstrung by the requirements of the publisher, and I suspect that when you happen to be writing a book set in one of the Dungeons and Dragons worlds, then there are time limits, among other things. I still remember when I was a kid that a release schedule would be put out on a yearly basis so you know what was actually appearing. In the end I fell that this book should probably be put back and something else considered instead.
25 July 2022
I really do find these books rather dry and boring. It’s not because the stories are bad, or that the characters aren’t interesting, it is just that there really doesn’t seem to be all that much life in them. In fact it feels as if they are simply churned out to meet a specific market that simply gobbles these books up without much thought. Actually, there is probably a good reason why my English Teacher would refer to these books as airport trash. Actually, I would even go as far as suggesting that these aren’t even they type of books that you would read if you simply want a rest.
Like, it wasn’t as if the characters weren’t interesting or anything like that, it is just that despite an attempt to give them some backstory, they just don’t seem to have any life. The main characters in the book, two apprentice wizards, would have come across much better if they were, well, bumbling in the way that such characters would be in say, well, a Terry Pratchett book. Okay, Terry Pratchett’s books really do come across very cartoonish, but the thing is that despite some interesting aspects, they still tasted like cardboard. Actually, come to think of it, I’d probably suggest something more along the lines of Riggs and Murtagh (from the Lethal Weapon series).
It isn’t as if the author wasn’t trying though. Like, for quite a while goblins were simply considered cannon-fodder for low level characters, however the author does her best to try to paint them as being more like a grey area, and also that they are real people with real needs. It is obvious that they breed like anything, and because of this they are going to have an enormous drain on the resources of a region, even a rather remote region like the one here. There is discussion as how they regularly come into town looking for food, and if they are given food, then the whole tribe of them will descend upon the town. It isn’t that they are violent either, that they just simply overwhelm the place.
It actually takes about half the book for the adventure to actually start, and sometimes that is actually a good thing, though in this story it really isn’t. We are given a backstory to the characters, and how their mother was killed in a raid by the Red Wizards, and how both of the main characters somehow survived (well, one of them ran and hid, so there is that). Yet while there are references to the Red Wizards throughout the story, they don’t actually play a major role. It sort of makes me wonder what the point of that first section was, unless it was to outline how one of the characters landed up with an artifact. Still, that could have been covered in a much shorter space, but I guess there was a page count to consider. Another thing, the artifact didn’t even play a major, or even minor, role in the story (or at least not that I noticed, but then again I did find it difficult to remain focused).
Honestly, I really found it a struggle to get into the book, it felt poorly written, including a number of grammatical errors that were present (which is more the editor’s fault than the author’s). There was quite a bit of potential here, but I felt that the author was quite hamstrung by the requirements of the publisher, and I suspect that when you happen to be writing a book set in one of the Dungeons and Dragons worlds, then there are time limits, among other things. I still remember when I was a kid that a release schedule would be put out on a yearly basis so you know what was actually appearing. In the end I fell that this book should probably be put back and something else considered instead.
August 9, 2012
The Nether Scroll held promise, I admit. I've been interested in the Forgotten Realms for over a decade and greatly enjoy books focusing on Toril's past and the lost empires of Faerun.
This story, entailing an adventuring group's efforts to uncover a mystery behind a mentor's death and an artifact of lost Netheril fell short, however.
I feel like the plot plodded along and didn't answer some of the main hooks that were put into place early on, and what was answered really didn't appeal to the asethetic of the reader-in this case, me.
The author obviously had a good grasp of the basics of the Realms, to be sure. But the story itself was lackluster, the pacing so-so and the action sub-par. I actually put the novel down for several weeks after I intially began reading it, and only picked it back up after determining to give the author a chance to show me the story was worth continuing.
Sadly, in this case, I was mistaken. The story was 'okay',but I wouldn't honestly recommend going out of your way to acquire it.
This story, entailing an adventuring group's efforts to uncover a mystery behind a mentor's death and an artifact of lost Netheril fell short, however.
I feel like the plot plodded along and didn't answer some of the main hooks that were put into place early on, and what was answered really didn't appeal to the asethetic of the reader-in this case, me.
The author obviously had a good grasp of the basics of the Realms, to be sure. But the story itself was lackluster, the pacing so-so and the action sub-par. I actually put the novel down for several weeks after I intially began reading it, and only picked it back up after determining to give the author a chance to show me the story was worth continuing.
Sadly, in this case, I was mistaken. The story was 'okay',but I wouldn't honestly recommend going out of your way to acquire it.
July 19, 2020
A Forgotten Realms book that seems to focus more on character than plot, sort of a rare thing. Because of this the book is extremely slow to start, I wasn't hooked until after 100 pages, I even put it down for two months.
Nice, surprise at the end. Good lore to use in my own games too.
Nice, surprise at the end. Good lore to use in my own games too.
January 29, 2009
Soooo....
I read that the author, Lynn Abbey, feels that character development is the most important aspect of a book. I would usually agree that it is a huge factor, but it seems lame to sacrifice a good plot when there is only so many pages.
Anywho, this is the story of a strange sorta family in the Grey Peak Mountains. It starts with two 'brothers', a hansome yet untalented wizard's son named Galimer and the adopted aprentice who is much more gifted in the arcane arts but sore on the eyes named Druhallen. Now, these two are chaperoned by the drunken and lustful wizardess mother of Galimer, who inbetween bouts of ale induced sexual rompts is training the two in the ways of magic.
Then she is killed by a group of raiding Red Wizards who leave behind a freezing cold metal disc. Dru and Galimer take it apon themselves to train as hard as they can and avenge their mother.
We cut to years later and now Galimer has a sword-weilding shorthaired wife named Rozt'a. Here's were some of that character develovpment is a bit overblown. We're told that Roz only had eyes for Dru, but he didn't get it. So eventually, Galimer stepped in and she has been wholly faithful to him ever since. But through the whole book there is this weird tension between the three of them; and while I sposs this makes for more interesting characters, there is never any closure or real reason for it within the plot of the story.
Next there is another adoptee by the name Tiep. He belongs to Roz and Galimer, but they didn't aquire him until he was a young teenager. He is the token theif and trouble maker.
Another interesting aspect of this story is that this group is sorta portrayed a loosers. 15 years passes between the first and second chapters and the brothers are caravan gaurds with worries about having enough money to stay at the inn until they get another contract. As I said, its interesting, but not exactly good or inspiring.
So...Dru is asked by some big Zhentarim guy to go look for an artifact in the Grey Peaks. But Dru says no 'cause he thinks that once you start working for the Zhents you can never get away from them.
On his way back to the inn in Parnast, he rescues a young goblin who is being tortured by Zhent agents in a back ally. We're told that lots of goblins have been coming to this small farming town to beg for food 'cause something strange is happening in the mountains.
He gets to his room and a knock on the door reveals a really well dressed goblin who says that he wants to reward Dru for his kindness and has aranged a meeting with his mistress, Lady Mantis of the Weathercote woods. The goblins name is Sheemzher.
Eventually they agree to meet her and follow the goblin, who is not only well dressed, but seems rather intelligent for his race. There is a magical path through the woods lit by expensive peices of amber on the trees. Tiep, being the theiving troublmaker that he is, kills a pretty bug that gaurds a piece of amber and steals it from its nook in the tree. Sheemzher sees it, but Tiep calls him a rude name and tells him to fuck off. Here begins the 300 page problem with Tiep and Sheemzher (and kinda the whole goblin race).
An aside: the coolest thing about this book is the concept of a goblin who is more than what people give his race credit for. Sheemzher is by far the coolest character, and he is with the party through the whole book. If you like that concept, check out a short, but truly better story by RA Salvatore called "Dark Mirror".
So the meeting between Lady Mantis, a truly powerful druidlike sorceress of Weathercote, goes bad cause Sheemzher tells her that Tiep killed a bug. She then steals Galimer and puts him in a magical comma inside a waterfall. Lady Mantis tells them that if they want their friend back they have to go get the very artifact that the Zhents are looking for and bring it back to her (she can't leave the woods), Sheemzher is to be their guide. She wants the Nether Scroll (Bu bu bu baaaahhhh).
She stocks their horses and sends them on their way.
Tiep feels all bad and stuff, Roz is all pissed and stuff, and Dru is this like moody guy who doesn't like Tiep cause he's always causeing problems, feels uncomfortable around Roz cause he didn't get it that she wanted his body back in the day, and doesn't trust the goblin. On top of that, he's super worried that the Zhents are gonna cut them off and kill them (this is mentioned over and over again through out the course of the book, then it never happens and you feel ripped off even though it was shameless foreshadowing).
Okay, so here's another cool part. The author, Abbey, describes the Grey Peak Mountains as trecherous rocky peaks and weird bowl-like valley bogs. Now the cool part is that the bogs are actually lakes that have floating islands that shift around and stuff. I thought that was creative and a cool catch for an adventure.
The characters are attacked by weird mutated humanoids (called demons by Sheemzher) along the way.
Tiep takes Sheemzher away from the camp and beats him up one night while everyone is sleeping, then they are attacked by a shambling crap monster (Abbey's words, not mine) who is then eaten by a tenticled monster in the lake. I hate it when the foes are too tough and have to be defeated by a random miraculous tenticle...but I digress...
We find out that Sheemzher was married to the cheiftan of the Decanter goblin's daughter and they had a bunch of kids, but they are all dead now...hmmm, the plot thickens.
When they get to the Decanter mines, there are a tribe of dirty goblins that are all whoopin and hollerin and the characters give them a horse to eat as a gift. This horse feast is turned into a drunken (or mushroom eating) festival where the cheiftan will decide if the goblins will help the party or not.
I sorta forget the chain of events, but I think that while all this is happening the party goes into the caves and looks around. They fight some more mutants, but these ones are taller and tougher and have swords. I think they are sposs to kinda look like bug faced, long armed, humans. They come to a big chamber with a brine pool in it. This gives Dru the idea that they are up against a Mind Flayer cause he knows about elder brains living in brine pools...but mind flayers live in colonies....hmmmm
They find another chamber with a machine in it (its got a name, the machine, but I can't remember what it is) and the Nether scroll is attached to it. When Sheemzher climbs up to get it, he is blasted across he room and Roz and Tiep are seperated from Dru in a cavein or something.
Eventually we see Tiep (I forgot to mention that he has some natual talent to thwart magics, this also pissed of Dru) and Roz in the brine chamber when a mind flayer comes in with a new bug face and has a little ceremony with a bunch of other bug faces, bathing the new bug face in the brine.
They escape, barely cause Roz is pulled by the flayer's will, and meet up with Sheem and Dru outside the cave.
Tiep explains what he saw and Dru puts it all together. The mind Flayer is actually an undead Alhoon (a mind flayer lich) who is using the Nether scroll to power his machine which he uses to combine goblins and Lady Mantis bugs (like the pretty one that Tiep killed) to make his weird servents. The goblins call him the beastlord and they kinda worship him and fear him at the same time. Sbeemzher is crushed and stuff cause he realizes that his wife and kids were turned into mutants and that the Mantis Lady really only cares about her bugs and not him or his goblins....bummer
They get the goblins to come back into the caves with them and Dru makes some magical gauntlets that can hold the scroll with out blasting them.
They all get caught by the Alhoon and he actually has his tentacles up Dru's nose when Sheem saves the day somehow and they all escape with the scroll.
They take it back to Lady Mantis and she gives them back Galimer. Sheemzher decieds to stay with the Mantis in the end and the rest of them move out of the area.
Wow....
So, after the climax we find out that Tiep is working for the Zhents (Manshoon to be presise, who he pickpoceted and got caught), but he regrets it and tells his makshift parents, who are all pissed and stuff but nothing comes of it.
Also, the freezing disc that Dru carries around through the whole story, this supossed netherese artifact that he recovered from the Thayan wizards, the reason the Zhents contacted him in the first place, the subtle driving force of the book, is totally blown tot the wayside....
I was pretty excited to read this story, and I was kinda let down yet again. I knew that there was a whole new race of goblins that are sposs to only be in Forgotten Realms called Decanter Goblins, and I knew that they were created by a Alhoon in the Decanter caves. I thought I was gonna be privy to reading about the creation of those cool goblins....but this book didn't even get into that. I mean I suposs I can figure it out with the info that is given here, but it wasn't what I was looking for. Whatever...I can make up my own story now I guess...
I read that the author, Lynn Abbey, feels that character development is the most important aspect of a book. I would usually agree that it is a huge factor, but it seems lame to sacrifice a good plot when there is only so many pages.
Anywho, this is the story of a strange sorta family in the Grey Peak Mountains. It starts with two 'brothers', a hansome yet untalented wizard's son named Galimer and the adopted aprentice who is much more gifted in the arcane arts but sore on the eyes named Druhallen. Now, these two are chaperoned by the drunken and lustful wizardess mother of Galimer, who inbetween bouts of ale induced sexual rompts is training the two in the ways of magic.
Then she is killed by a group of raiding Red Wizards who leave behind a freezing cold metal disc. Dru and Galimer take it apon themselves to train as hard as they can and avenge their mother.
We cut to years later and now Galimer has a sword-weilding shorthaired wife named Rozt'a. Here's were some of that character develovpment is a bit overblown. We're told that Roz only had eyes for Dru, but he didn't get it. So eventually, Galimer stepped in and she has been wholly faithful to him ever since. But through the whole book there is this weird tension between the three of them; and while I sposs this makes for more interesting characters, there is never any closure or real reason for it within the plot of the story.
Next there is another adoptee by the name Tiep. He belongs to Roz and Galimer, but they didn't aquire him until he was a young teenager. He is the token theif and trouble maker.
Another interesting aspect of this story is that this group is sorta portrayed a loosers. 15 years passes between the first and second chapters and the brothers are caravan gaurds with worries about having enough money to stay at the inn until they get another contract. As I said, its interesting, but not exactly good or inspiring.
So...Dru is asked by some big Zhentarim guy to go look for an artifact in the Grey Peaks. But Dru says no 'cause he thinks that once you start working for the Zhents you can never get away from them.
On his way back to the inn in Parnast, he rescues a young goblin who is being tortured by Zhent agents in a back ally. We're told that lots of goblins have been coming to this small farming town to beg for food 'cause something strange is happening in the mountains.
He gets to his room and a knock on the door reveals a really well dressed goblin who says that he wants to reward Dru for his kindness and has aranged a meeting with his mistress, Lady Mantis of the Weathercote woods. The goblins name is Sheemzher.
Eventually they agree to meet her and follow the goblin, who is not only well dressed, but seems rather intelligent for his race. There is a magical path through the woods lit by expensive peices of amber on the trees. Tiep, being the theiving troublmaker that he is, kills a pretty bug that gaurds a piece of amber and steals it from its nook in the tree. Sheemzher sees it, but Tiep calls him a rude name and tells him to fuck off. Here begins the 300 page problem with Tiep and Sheemzher (and kinda the whole goblin race).
An aside: the coolest thing about this book is the concept of a goblin who is more than what people give his race credit for. Sheemzher is by far the coolest character, and he is with the party through the whole book. If you like that concept, check out a short, but truly better story by RA Salvatore called "Dark Mirror".
So the meeting between Lady Mantis, a truly powerful druidlike sorceress of Weathercote, goes bad cause Sheemzher tells her that Tiep killed a bug. She then steals Galimer and puts him in a magical comma inside a waterfall. Lady Mantis tells them that if they want their friend back they have to go get the very artifact that the Zhents are looking for and bring it back to her (she can't leave the woods), Sheemzher is to be their guide. She wants the Nether Scroll (Bu bu bu baaaahhhh).
She stocks their horses and sends them on their way.
Tiep feels all bad and stuff, Roz is all pissed and stuff, and Dru is this like moody guy who doesn't like Tiep cause he's always causeing problems, feels uncomfortable around Roz cause he didn't get it that she wanted his body back in the day, and doesn't trust the goblin. On top of that, he's super worried that the Zhents are gonna cut them off and kill them (this is mentioned over and over again through out the course of the book, then it never happens and you feel ripped off even though it was shameless foreshadowing).
Okay, so here's another cool part. The author, Abbey, describes the Grey Peak Mountains as trecherous rocky peaks and weird bowl-like valley bogs. Now the cool part is that the bogs are actually lakes that have floating islands that shift around and stuff. I thought that was creative and a cool catch for an adventure.
The characters are attacked by weird mutated humanoids (called demons by Sheemzher) along the way.
Tiep takes Sheemzher away from the camp and beats him up one night while everyone is sleeping, then they are attacked by a shambling crap monster (Abbey's words, not mine) who is then eaten by a tenticled monster in the lake. I hate it when the foes are too tough and have to be defeated by a random miraculous tenticle...but I digress...
We find out that Sheemzher was married to the cheiftan of the Decanter goblin's daughter and they had a bunch of kids, but they are all dead now...hmmm, the plot thickens.
When they get to the Decanter mines, there are a tribe of dirty goblins that are all whoopin and hollerin and the characters give them a horse to eat as a gift. This horse feast is turned into a drunken (or mushroom eating) festival where the cheiftan will decide if the goblins will help the party or not.
I sorta forget the chain of events, but I think that while all this is happening the party goes into the caves and looks around. They fight some more mutants, but these ones are taller and tougher and have swords. I think they are sposs to kinda look like bug faced, long armed, humans. They come to a big chamber with a brine pool in it. This gives Dru the idea that they are up against a Mind Flayer cause he knows about elder brains living in brine pools...but mind flayers live in colonies....hmmmm
They find another chamber with a machine in it (its got a name, the machine, but I can't remember what it is) and the Nether scroll is attached to it. When Sheemzher climbs up to get it, he is blasted across he room and Roz and Tiep are seperated from Dru in a cavein or something.
Eventually we see Tiep (I forgot to mention that he has some natual talent to thwart magics, this also pissed of Dru) and Roz in the brine chamber when a mind flayer comes in with a new bug face and has a little ceremony with a bunch of other bug faces, bathing the new bug face in the brine.
They escape, barely cause Roz is pulled by the flayer's will, and meet up with Sheem and Dru outside the cave.
Tiep explains what he saw and Dru puts it all together. The mind Flayer is actually an undead Alhoon (a mind flayer lich) who is using the Nether scroll to power his machine which he uses to combine goblins and Lady Mantis bugs (like the pretty one that Tiep killed) to make his weird servents. The goblins call him the beastlord and they kinda worship him and fear him at the same time. Sbeemzher is crushed and stuff cause he realizes that his wife and kids were turned into mutants and that the Mantis Lady really only cares about her bugs and not him or his goblins....bummer
They get the goblins to come back into the caves with them and Dru makes some magical gauntlets that can hold the scroll with out blasting them.
They all get caught by the Alhoon and he actually has his tentacles up Dru's nose when Sheem saves the day somehow and they all escape with the scroll.
They take it back to Lady Mantis and she gives them back Galimer. Sheemzher decieds to stay with the Mantis in the end and the rest of them move out of the area.
Wow....
So, after the climax we find out that Tiep is working for the Zhents (Manshoon to be presise, who he pickpoceted and got caught), but he regrets it and tells his makshift parents, who are all pissed and stuff but nothing comes of it.
Also, the freezing disc that Dru carries around through the whole story, this supossed netherese artifact that he recovered from the Thayan wizards, the reason the Zhents contacted him in the first place, the subtle driving force of the book, is totally blown tot the wayside....
I was pretty excited to read this story, and I was kinda let down yet again. I knew that there was a whole new race of goblins that are sposs to only be in Forgotten Realms called Decanter Goblins, and I knew that they were created by a Alhoon in the Decanter caves. I thought I was gonna be privy to reading about the creation of those cool goblins....but this book didn't even get into that. I mean I suposs I can figure it out with the info that is given here, but it wasn't what I was looking for. Whatever...I can make up my own story now I guess...
Read
December 31, 2018 A fitting end to the sequence of 52 this year. One of my favorite authors from the old days wrote this diamond in the rough. Engaging characters following a simple storyline weaves into the complexities of the old Netheril. I loved the little surprise ending in the final lines of the book as well as the motivations of the characters, even the goblin who steals a lot of the thunder during their quest. I don’t think we are even given the identity of the caretaker of the wood, although we know she is a Mystra scion, so I guess that is irrelevant as to her race/where she once fit it in this world. No real negatives to this story that I took issue with, which is why it made for easy reading. Enjoy!!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 31, 2014
For the record, I think I'd actually toss this 2.5 stars, as I realize I'd wedge it between the first and third books in this quantegy in terms of quality.
Wrapping up the Lost Empires series, The Nether Scroll is probably the second-best in this particular saga of completely unrelated adventures. I know Lynn Abbey from Thieves' World and other books, and I'd say that I prefer her non-Forgotten Realms writing, though she's not poor.
Abbey's strongest point, without a doubt, is attention to detail in the world. The smallest sensation, smells, sounds, and tastes are described well, and I recall this from her other works. I am particularly pleased with the way she narrates Druhallen (really the main character of the book), how he thinks about magic, and his usage of material components (something not enough authors pay attention to).
That said, I felt that a couple of the chapters here wandered on a little bit without adding much to the story, and occasionally it seemed as if some of the main characters would have abrupt, temporary changes in attitudes for sake of plot, doing things that were quite out of character.
While the ending of the book was pretty nifty, it took a long time to reach. The first thirty pages (the introduction of the characters and drama with the Black Network) and the last thirty pages (discussion and usage of the nether scroll, details about mind flayers, and tying up loose ends, plot-wise) were pretty easily my favorite parts, and the only sections where I felt really hooked into the story. Still, it's a middle-of-the-road pulp fiction novel in the Forgotten Realms setting, and touches on a few subjects that aren't dealt with elsewhere. A worthwhile read.
Wrapping up the Lost Empires series, The Nether Scroll is probably the second-best in this particular saga of completely unrelated adventures. I know Lynn Abbey from Thieves' World and other books, and I'd say that I prefer her non-Forgotten Realms writing, though she's not poor.
Abbey's strongest point, without a doubt, is attention to detail in the world. The smallest sensation, smells, sounds, and tastes are described well, and I recall this from her other works. I am particularly pleased with the way she narrates Druhallen (really the main character of the book), how he thinks about magic, and his usage of material components (something not enough authors pay attention to).
That said, I felt that a couple of the chapters here wandered on a little bit without adding much to the story, and occasionally it seemed as if some of the main characters would have abrupt, temporary changes in attitudes for sake of plot, doing things that were quite out of character.
While the ending of the book was pretty nifty, it took a long time to reach. The first thirty pages (the introduction of the characters and drama with the Black Network) and the last thirty pages (discussion and usage of the nether scroll, details about mind flayers, and tying up loose ends, plot-wise) were pretty easily my favorite parts, and the only sections where I felt really hooked into the story. Still, it's a middle-of-the-road pulp fiction novel in the Forgotten Realms setting, and touches on a few subjects that aren't dealt with elsewhere. A worthwhile read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 13, 2016
Spoilers ahead:
I would have to say that this wasn't the best Forgotten Realms book I've ever read, but I suppose it was pretty neat that the McGuffin was one of the Nether Scrolls. Not that the author did any research about what the Nether Scrolls were or anything. When the main character finally got a hold of it, it turned him from a wizard into a sorcerer. Um, great, I guess? DnD lore has it that once, a single gnome read a single nether scroll (one out of 50) and it gave the entire gnome race a propensity for illusion magic! It would have been nice if he had actually learned something new though. I think if I was writing a one off novel about the Nether Scrolls, I would have made it a bit more far reaching than finding just one, especially if they were that weak. I guess it would have been pretty boring if he had found a whole bunch of them and then had to spend a week reading each one though. Kudos for writing about low level characters, I guess!
I would say it was way better written than "The Shadow Mage", a similarly themed book: There's totally a shadow mage out there, and they have to deal with him. This book had some nifty intrigue thrown in, and some ancient powers, who are at once super powerful yet not nearly as powerful as, say, Elminster. The very existence of Elminster in Faerun must make stories hard to write... You would think a famously super powerful and easy to find mage would make people go to him for help first. And books with him in it have featured him saying stuff like "Bah, they're only after the Nether Scrolls? I thought they were after something dangerous!" (Although I guess he was nerfed for the entirety of 4th edition.)
Anyway, it was an enjoyable read, even with all that factored in.
I would have to say that this wasn't the best Forgotten Realms book I've ever read, but I suppose it was pretty neat that the McGuffin was one of the Nether Scrolls. Not that the author did any research about what the Nether Scrolls were or anything. When the main character finally got a hold of it, it turned him from a wizard into a sorcerer. Um, great, I guess? DnD lore has it that once, a single gnome read a single nether scroll (one out of 50) and it gave the entire gnome race a propensity for illusion magic! It would have been nice if he had actually learned something new though. I think if I was writing a one off novel about the Nether Scrolls, I would have made it a bit more far reaching than finding just one, especially if they were that weak. I guess it would have been pretty boring if he had found a whole bunch of them and then had to spend a week reading each one though. Kudos for writing about low level characters, I guess!
I would say it was way better written than "The Shadow Mage", a similarly themed book: There's totally a shadow mage out there, and they have to deal with him. This book had some nifty intrigue thrown in, and some ancient powers, who are at once super powerful yet not nearly as powerful as, say, Elminster. The very existence of Elminster in Faerun must make stories hard to write... You would think a famously super powerful and easy to find mage would make people go to him for help first. And books with him in it have featured him saying stuff like "Bah, they're only after the Nether Scrolls? I thought they were after something dangerous!" (Although I guess he was nerfed for the entirety of 4th edition.)
Anyway, it was an enjoyable read, even with all that factored in.
November 26, 2015
They saved the best to the last of the series. great characters, decent plot, though not really standing out. Some familiar aspects of Forgotten Realms and some new ones. It's a bit of a shame this story doesn't continue, in some sense it feels more like a first book of a series.
November 18, 2017
"A good friend is worth more than any god."
"Sometimes we do what we do and spend the rest of our lives regretting it."
"He'd die for them, if circumstances demanded but after three endless days cooped up with a sulky youth and a married couple his thoughts had begun to tilt toward murder."
"Sometimes we do what we do and spend the rest of our lives regretting it."
"He'd die for them, if circumstances demanded but after three endless days cooped up with a sulky youth and a married couple his thoughts had begun to tilt toward murder."
Want to read
January 15, 2011Sold to Lewis White on eBay on 7-Jun-11:
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