Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 HobbitFan Dec 07, 2008 21:01:21	I've been reading through the Cloakmaster books. In general I really liked the series, a great deal more than I ever expected. The last book is pretty darn horrible though. Teldin Moore. I liked the character and how they tried to change him and his growing powers over time. I didn't like how they used and reused the plot line of "Teldin trusts someone and gets betrayed..." For the most part, the different writers kept Teldin relatively consistant in characterization, remarkably so when you consider the differing writing styles of the authors. Gomja. I really like the Giff, even though the idea of humanoid hippo men is kinda silly. His return was kinda too convenient, although they do address this in the book. Lame that he disappears, reappaears, only to disappear again. Hecate Kir- I liked the "almost" half-elf but it was extremely strange to make him a major character in one book only to have him disappear from the series thereafter. The Elves-a refreshing change of pace for them to be the villains in several of the books, although Elain Cunningham is trying to hard in her book to work in too much elf stuff. Gaye-really like the Kender girl but she was completely ruined by the last book. All of a sudden she's a high level Psionicist? WTF? Aelfred-cool acharacter. Death of him and his lady friend kinda lame. This actually would have been ok except for the deus ex machina of the snail sage saving Teldin's bacon after Aelfred's death. estriss "Thought -Taker" cool character. A firndly Illithid was a great idea for a very unique supporting character. Another recipient of the needless written off to come back in later book phenomenon though. The two books by Nigel Findley are really good, as are the David Cook, elain Cuningham and Roger Moore volumes. The less said about the Russ Howard book the better. Do any of the old school fans know what happened with the last book? Was this editorial's fault. Mr. Howard can write pretty good technically, but the story is developed very badly and contradicts a great deal of speljammer lore and the other books even.
#2 lord_karsus Dec 08, 2008 11:10:05	-I have the entire series, except for the last one. I was never able to find it without it being in a package with the others, which I already have. I guess that was a blessing in disguise, then, I take it?
#3 crazy_monkey Dec 08, 2008 12:38:48	It's been more than a decade since I read those books, but I remember enjoying them, even the last one, though it was a bit busy and rushed feeling, as I recall. The deviation from the game book canon is hardly unique to Spelljammer. ;)
#4 richd Dec 09, 2008 13:31:46	Do any of the old school fans know what happened with the last book? Was this editorial's fault. Mr. Howard can write pretty good technically, but the story is developed very badly and contradicts a great deal of speljammer lore and the other books even. Does it? I remember reading the last book and recognizing practically every character and scenario in it from the Legend of the Spelljammer boxed set.
#5 HobbitFan Dec 09, 2008 19:37:02	good question. I'll have to look through that PDF and see. I was speaking more in general terms and regards to the other novels especially
#6 lord_karsus Dec 09, 2008 19:38:55	-What exactly "bad" happens? I've given up looking for the last novel, so go ahead and spoil me.
#7 HobbitFan Dec 09, 2008 22:49:00	Lord K, I might be able to mail the novel to ya if you wna to read it.
#8 lord_karsus Dec 09, 2008 23:15:42	-Nah, no reason for that. I don't want to read it that badly. I mainly began reading for the Forgotten Realms references in Book II and IV. I just want to know how things end, now. I need closure!
#9 HobbitFan Dec 09, 2008 23:40:08	Teldin makes it to the Spelljammer itself, finally. He helps organize the humans, dwarves, halflings and the reluctant (mostlt neutral ) elves in an alliance against the beholders and minotaurs. Meanwhile a liche that was once a pilot of the Spelljammer while still alive is scheming behind the scenes. While a lot of his scenes were cliched, I thought the idea of a bad guy being a former pilot of the spelljammer was a neat idea actually. He obviously wants to kill Teldin and take back his former position as pilot. Enter a couple women from Teldin's past.....Gaye the Kender who shows up as an astral projection out of the blue basically to fight the minions of the liche and save Teldin's bacon several times. Don't ask my how or why she is an uber powerful psionicist all of a sudden. It just happens...the giant slug sage taught her is the only explanation. The other flash from the past is the elf girl from Book1. That's right Cwelanas is back. Since its a Teldin story he has to get betrayed but this time its not her fault since she turns out to have been brainwashed by the neogi. Teldin and the elf renew their relationship. Basically, there are a lot of fights on the Spelljammers surface as the sides square off. Most of the bad guys are killed but not before one of the elves betrays Teldin and stabs him. He's dead...sorta, but merges with the ship using magic. The surviving characters (Cwelanas mainly) get abaord a "smalljammer" made by the Spelljammer and escape the ship before all the appraching fleets tear into the large ship. A rescue fleet of friendly elves (led by the Greyhawk elf from previous books) and gnomes (led by everyone's favorite Giff Gomja) picks her up. Meanwhile, Teldin and the Spelljammer have gone off to die but not really. They are reborn in a new spelljammer and the crystal sphere that was broken way back when is reformed. Hope that made some sense
#10 lord_karsus Dec 10, 2008 0:06:13	-Yes, it did. And, now I know! Thank you.
#11 redking Jan 07, 2009 15:12:23	-I have the entire series, except for the last one. I was never able to find it without it being in a package with the others, which I already have. I guess that was a blessing in disguise, then, I take it? It is bad in a way that you can hardly imagine. OK, try to. Imagine the author of the last book did not even bother reading the other books (or seems not to have read them), and writes a book that completely contradicts everything that came before. The book is so unbelievably bad that it is difficult to believe that it was published. What on earth was TSR thinking?!
#12 elondir Jan 07, 2009 16:02:25	I'd like to add that Show the very ending seems to imply that the fixed Broken Sphere is changed to be big enough to hold a universe similar in scope to the real world universe. It's basically a crystal sphere for people who don't like the idea of crystal spheres and the phlogiston. Teldin and the ship set out to create new worlds and suns in this sphere.