Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 lord_karsus Apr 20, 2009 15:34:10	Darkvision By Bruce Cordell Book II, The Wizards -This book polarizes people. Some people I know, I’ve heard that they like this book. Some people I know, I’ve heard that they don’t like this book. I’ve heard one person say they liked the characters very much, and another who said they disliked the characters a great deal. I’ve heard people applaud the plotline, and others condemn it. In the end, the book polarized me, too, because I liked certain aspects of it a great deal, and others, I disliked a great deal. -The first thing, right off the bat: Ususi on the cover. I’m assuming its Ususi on the cover, anyway. No one else fits the bill. An effort needs to be made- not that it really matters anymore- to stick to one description of the character. The Ususi on the cover hardly matches the Ususi on the cover of Lady of Poison, the first novel to feature her. And then, depending on which image you want to pick as “most accurate”, her depiction still varies a great deal from how she is described in both novels, and how Deep Imaskari are described in Lost Empires of Faerûn. -With that out of the way, the characters were the strongest part of this novel. Most of the protagonists were pretty interesting. Ususi, like she was in Lady of Poison was fairly interesting. Iahn, asides for me liking the spelling of the name, was also a strong character. He made something I never really gave two thoughts about- Deep Imaskari Vengeance Takers- interesting. Kiril Duskmourn, at the time I read this novel, I did not like her. My reasoning was this: There is little information about Star Elves available, so I want a Star Elf character who is typical of the subrace, so a little more illumination is shed on what they are like, not a character who is atypical, and as such, doesn’t really shed much illumination on what Star Elves, as a whole, are like. Even though I didn’t like that aspect of her, her history and such with Angul was tantalizing (and I am happy was explained in Stardeep) enough that, when her character was featured, I didn’t feel the urge to skim, rather than read. Thormud the Geomancer was an interesting character. I typically don’t like Dwarves that adhere to that “pseudoScottish” mold. Since Thormud didn’t, I was okay with him. “Desert Druids/Geomancers” are a concept that I think is interesting, anyway, so…He was “sick” for so much of the book, though, that he was hardly very much of a major player. Prince Monolith, also, was a character I mostly enjoyed, though he was never too much of a major player. -The novel introduced us to al Qahera, the home of mysterious “Desert Elves”. I didn’t like that part. Because the city and those Elves were newly introduced, seeing them felt very out of place. Elves are not something I’ve ever associated with Eastern Faerûn (with the exception of Star Elves, in the Yuirwood), and especially the Raurin Desert. -I disliked Warian Datharathi a great deal. I didn’t like his uncle, Zel, either, nor the entire “pit stop” to Vaelan, to be honest. I think that the entire Plangents plot was bad. I mean, let’s start from the top: Plangents come from “The Body Shop”. Strike one. Plangents are pretty cyborgish. Strike Two. The entire concept is pretty hokey. Strike three. -Pandorym, as an antagonist, was interesting. I never read Elder Evils, so I don’t know what information is in there, but as it was described in the book, Pandorym is an interesting entity. Created and/or “bottled” by the Imaskari to be a weapon. The Imaskari are pretty cool like that. Shaddon, Pandorym’s main servitor, I didn’t think was all that great. He had all the makings of a cheesy villain. -The book’s worst part is it’s ending. Qari, Ususi’s “sister”, was really Ususi from another temporal reality that was created when Pandorym meddled with the Time-Space Continuum, to prevent Ususi from being born, because, Pandorym, knowing the future, knew that only Ususi would be able to defeat it. It is not explained how/why both Ususi and Qari exist simultaneously, however. Bruce Cordell has mentioned that he thinks that the Forgotten Realms have room for “everything”, but I’m sorry Bruce. This part was just poorly conceived, asides for something being completely alien to the Forgotten Realms. Any chance for what I think would have been a fairly good book to have a fairly good review was ruined here. In fact, the book is lucky that it has those things mentioned above, otherwise its review would be more dismal than it already is. -Overall, out of a possible Five Beholders, I give this novel Two Beholders and a Chicken.
#2 rinonalyrna_fathomlin Apr 20, 2009 18:18:12	-The first thing, right off the bat: Ususi on the cover. I’m assuming its Ususi on the cover, anyway. No one else fits the bill. An effort needs to be made- not that it really matters anymore- to stick to one description of the character. The Ususi on the cover hardly matches the Ususi on the cover of Lady of Poison, the first novel to feature her. And then, depending on which image you want to pick as “most accurate”, her depiction still varies a great deal from how she is described in both novels, and how Deep Imaskari are described in Lost Empires of Faerûn. What bothered me more than Ususi on the cover was Ususi in the book--her personality just didn't match her earlier depiction in Lady of Poison. The "old" Ususi was a bit more prickly and, IMO, more interesting. In addition to that, I didn't think this novel really told us much about Ususi at all, even though she was supposedly the novel's protagonist. I think that the entire Plangents plot was bad. I mean, let’s start from the top: Plangents come from “The Body Shop”. Strike one. Plangents are pretty cyborgish. Strike Two. The entire concept is pretty hokey. Strike three. Yeah, it was hokey--The Body Shop is a bath and beauty products store in real life.:P
#3 krownhunter07 Apr 20, 2009 18:31:21	THIS BOOK IS FIVE HOLDERS AND THREE CHICKS FOR ME!!!!!!!!!!
#4 lord_karsus Apr 20, 2009 19:56:31	What bothered me more than Ususi on the cover was Ususi in the book--her personality just didn't match her earlier depiction in Lady of Poison. The "old" Ususi was a bit more prickly and, IMO, more interesting. -Even in Lady of Poison, her personality is not always set, and fluctuates a lot. At certain points, she is "cold and methodical", like someone who doesn't fully understand/belong to the culture of the area (Greater-Great Dale area), and other times, she's flirting with Merreck.
#5 sfdragon Apr 21, 2009 3:17:43	this book was three beholders and two chickens for me
#6 fabius_maximus Apr 21, 2009 6:45:34	Eh, liking Lady of Poison with it's crappy writing over Darkvision is something I'll never understand.
#7 suin_bahhar_02 Apr 21, 2009 11:00:01	I liked the book aswell. Except the mindboggeling ending.
#8 lord_karsus Apr 21, 2009 12:26:32	Eh, liking Lady of Poison with it's crappy writing over Darkvision is something I'll never understand. -Because, unlike Darkvision, Lady of Poison didn't have a "mind-boggling ending." Like I said in my opening paragraph, the ending greatly lowered the book's score. I would have given it at least one whole Beholder more, if it had a more...coherent ending.
#9 markustay63 Apr 21, 2009 17:49:16	In other words, while the writing itself is getting better, Mr'. Cordell's 'tastes' are getting worse. ;) I don't know Ususi from LoP, but she seemed pretty 'prickly' to me in Darkvision. I liked the novel (although not incredibly so), and I would have to say a lot of that might have to due with where it was set and what cultures were involved. I had more here, but it was a bit over-the-top, even for me, so suffce it to say that it is the setting that drives novel-sales, NOT the authors.
#10 rinonalyrna_fathomlin Apr 21, 2009 19:26:39	I don't know Ususi from LoP, but she seemed pretty 'prickly' to me in Darkvision. I've read both books, and in Darkvision she seems milder by comparison--and of course, it doesn't help that the novel doesn't develop her character very much.
#11 quale1 Apr 22, 2009 3:43:16	the plangents and al qahera ruined it for me, out of all races that could be in the desert he picks elves I liked lord Monolith, Kyril was fun, much better than those weak star elves in the Last Mythal Pandorym was a good idea and the Purple Palace, unfortunately that led to the New Imaskar
#12 keveras Apr 22, 2009 5:04:51	The only real issue I have is that the relationship between the Imaskari, the LeShay, and the other two demons, who were briefly mentioned once, wasn't further developed. Of course, this no major complaint (but I'm quite particular about cool things such as new demonic guys and uber-elves ;)), and since the Moonshaes article we know the exact connection between the Imaskari and the leShay, but still it would had been cool to read more about them.
#13 Dark_Wizard_02 Apr 22, 2009 21:00:46	The book dragged at various parts. Much of that I felt had to do with Ususi. There just didn't seem to be much that differentiated her as a wizard of the Imaskari tradition, or a character of any interest really. She seemed like a plot device, existing simply because they needed the central character to be a wizard to fit it into the series. The other characters of the novel interested me far more, though most of them weren't great characters either. The Vengence Taker was "cool." I liked Bruce Cordell's take on that class (I felt the actual PrC was much too bland). The problem was the character only had his dark and moody Vengence Taker powers going for him. He was just a name and a class. As interesting as his abilities and duties were, he just stuck around and helped out. There wasn't any real development or conflict. He had the bit about his views changing, but it never seemed to amount to any significant consequences or interactions. The merchant scion with the crystal arm had good character conflict. Between the tragedy that befell his family, the horrors they bought about, his own condition, and being the normal guy in an extraordinary situation he had the most investment in the plot. The character felt a bit flat unfortunately, but he gave the book a much needed human factor. The elf Kiril Duskmourn had the most well developed personality and history of the bunch. You could tell the author liked writing her, so I wasn't surprised she starred in her own novel, Stardeep. In a way, the novel was as much about Kiril as it was about Ususi or anything Imaskari related. Ususi and the Imaskari crowd might have gotten the main plot, but we ended up reading about Kiril. Her employer the dwarf geomancer had potential. I found his specialty and general personality interesting. They were different, not something that I've seen explored in the Realms. The geomancer, if developed a bit more, would have been much more interesting characters than most of the others. The same goes for Monolith, great potential, but reduced to underdeveloped background muscle. Speaking of missed potential, the bit with Ususi's sister was poorly developed. It was a good original idea, could have played up the interactions, let us get to know her. In the end, I didn't really care what happened to Ususi or her sister or the Imaskari.
#14 Therise Apr 22, 2009 21:22:48	...Yeah, it was hokey--The Body Shop is a bath and beauty products store in real life.:P Sounds awfully similar to the "Body Shoppe" in X-men comics, run by Spiral of the Mojoverse, where cyborgs were created from alien cybernetics. Certainly not original.
#15 vulpes Apr 22, 2009 21:41:27	The whole plangent thing was just bad, I thought, and I still have no idea what that twin thing was about, and I just remember feeling that Ususi wasn't as cool as she'd been in Lady of Poisons, but overall I liked the book.
#16 lord_karsus Apr 22, 2009 22:07:40	Yeah, it was hokey--The Body Shop is a bath and beauty products store in real life.:P -Yeah, that's right. We've shopped there, haven't we? Sounds awfully similar to the "Body Shoppe" in X-men comics, run by Spiral of the Mojoverse, where cyborgs were created from alien cybernetics. Certainly not original. -Mojo > Pandorym.
#17 rinonalyrna_fathomlin Apr 23, 2009 8:23:15	-Yeah, that's right. We've shopped there, haven't we? Either that or Bath and Body Works.:P I didn't realize there was a "Body Shop" in a comic book. I agree--not very original, and the name doesn't exactly evoke the Realms.
#18 Therise Apr 23, 2009 11:22:23	I didn't realize there was a "Body Shop" in a comic book. I agree--not very original, and the name doesn't exactly evoke the Realms. I think the first X-men plotline with Spiral and the Body Shoppe was in the early 1990s? I particularly remember it because two other interesting plots were woven around the same time: Mojo created the X-babies, and Spiral used the Body Shoppe to cyborg-ify Lady Deathstrike. I can't remember if those all happened at the same time, but they really stick out in my mind as being related. With the Body Shoppe, Spiral also gave Psylocke her cyborg eyes (though later), and transformed a number of other minor characters into cyborgs. But the alien technology of the Mojoverse was interesting, as it wasn't "Terminator" style but rather a type of fluidic/highly intricate/perhaps partly magical technology.
#19 rauric Apr 23, 2009 13:53:04	Late 80's. Barry Windsor Smith did the art. The kid from the Power Pack helped save wolvie by keeping him away from LadyD and her thugs just in enough for Wolvie to heal and murder them all (not really because nobody dies in comics ever).
#20 markustay63 Apr 23, 2009 14:27:08	Mojo first appeared in the Longshot mini-series (which I own three copies of :D ). When that series ended, Longshot had returned to the 'Mojoverse', but fans wanted more of him, so hence was born his clone, Gambit (not really a clone - just a look-alike for fanbois and fangrlz). They dropped Longshot's 'Luck Power' (gave it to Shamrock), and gave him the ability to 'charge' objects and throw them with precision (making him a cross between jubilee and Bullseye). ----- Mark, who never bothered to grow-up