By Jeff Grubb and Kate Novak
Book I, The Lost Gods
-A lot of people complain that they don’t like the divine in books, and that there is too much of it. I can guarantee that if more people read this book- for whatever reason, it seems to be more of a “cult classic” than a widespread, mainstream novel, among Forgotten Realms fans- they wouldn’t be saying that. This book encapsulates almost everything I like about the Forgotten Realms, and D&D- Planescape, Spelljammer, Kara-Tur, Zakhara, Ilsensine, Saurials…
-First, I’ll deal with the plot. Bane is dead, and a Banelich with delusions of grandeur believes itself to be Bane, and with the use of the Hand of Bane, a Banite relic, it’ll be able to reclaim its divinity. Joel, the Rebel Bard, his companions, and Finder Wyvernspur find themselves “forced” to help the Banelich, and it’s servant, Walinda of Bane. This is the second “Bane is back” type novels, the first being Stormlight, which was released not too much time before Finder’s Bane. Finder’s Bane is much better than that travesty, on that front. The ultimate conclusion, once the Hand of Bane was retrieved was a little weak (and, in retrospect, with Bane randomly returning, it made little difference, anyway), not in what happened- Bane not returning- but rather, the ultimate fate of the antagonists.
-The characters were pretty good. Joel the Rebel Bard, he had no real crazy personality, and was fairly generic, as those things go (He seemed to be a low level Bard/Cleric), but I liked him nonetheless. It might have been because he seemed real. He had plenty of doubts about plenty of things. He wasn’t superman, and couldn’t wield a blade masterfully, nor could he cast apocalyptic spells. But, there was something about him that made him likable. Holly, the Paladin of Lathander, she was fairly straightforward, as Paladins usually are, but she was likable. Being of Zakharan descent didn’t hurt, either. Jas, I didn’t like too much. While the Human with magical feathers isn’t explained too much in this novel (see Tymora’s Luck, if you want a deeper, more complete explanation), I generally found her character boring. She was acerbic, to a degree, conceited, to a degree, and generally annoying. This, however, is a good thing, in a way. She’s not a “groundling”. Having that type of attitude, especially concerning groundlings, is something that she should have had. Walinda of Bane was a character that I liked a lot. She was probably my favorite character in the book. She’s a good characture of how religious fundamentalists think. And, I am not shy on criticizing religious fundamentalists whenever I can; I don’t like those types of people. Walinda allowed herself to be physically, mentally, and emotionally abused (and, in turn, did that to others, at points) for the glory of “Bane” (the Banelich).
-I didn’t like the depiction of Finder Wyvernspur, but for personal reasons. I am of the opinion that even a minor demideity is leaps and bounds “ahead” of mortals, like a Giant is heads taller than a Human, and a Human is heads taller than a Halfling, and so on, like that. Finder seemed much too Human for my tastes. And, yes, he did become a Human, to a degree, and yes, he was a Human for most of his life, but like I said, upon apotheosis, no matter how minor it was, he should have separated more from his mortal upbringing.
-One thing that I thought was interesting were the scenes in the Lost Vale, with the Saurials, and seeing how the Church of Finder Wyvernspur needed to be built literally from the ground up. Joel and Copperbloom were Finder Wyvernspur’s only actual Clerics, and he had very few other worshipers, outside of a handful of Bards, and the Saurials. It was also interesting seeing Finder discuss how deities that are generally good, and who are generally labeled as good guys, were depicted not in a bad light, but rather, as enemies- Milil and Oghma, for Finder “stealing” their worshipers, and Chauntea and Lathander, for “stealing” their involvement in revitalization and renewal. I thought it was nice to see, as a reminder that just because a deity is good, or lawful, or evil, that doesn’t mean that they are going to be friends or allies with other deities who share their alignment.
-All in all, this demonstrates that "bigger is better" is not necessarily a winning mantra. In the end, nothing changed, and the status quo remained the status quo. Overall, out of a possible Five Beholders, I give this novel Five Beholders.
I don't agree that Stormlight was a travesty, although I'm sure you figured that.:P
I don't agree that Stormlight was a travesty, although I'm sure you figured that.:P
-I'll get to that one when I get to it.
I would love to see Jeff revisit Finder. Perhaps get him from being a god and make him mortal again (but perhaps immortal). I would love to see the current adventures of the old manipulating Finder or something to that effect. I would like to see if Finder's "creations" aged at all since they were constructs. I would not mind seeing Grubb do a new story about Giogi's family line in the new era. I liked his writing and I liked his feel for Cormyr.