Thomas M. ReidCritiques

Clunky in places but otherwise more fun with the Underdark! absolutely everyone in this series is a bastard and I love it dearly

I read the entire "War of the Spider Queen" series back to back, so it's hard to rate each book separately. Set in the familiar forgotten realms universe, the characters encounter perils that get more dangerous as the series progresses. Filled with the distrust and backstabbing that has come to be expected with drow in this world, there are still occasional moments of tenderness and soul searching, making this a very worthwhile read.

a group of drow go to another city to see if they too are plagued by Lolth's absence. They are and lesser houses are plotting to overthrow greater houses. Dwarven merc's are hired. The slaves revolt. The whole city is pretty much ruined. The group from the first city gets out at the end on their way to meet a priest who will hopefully help them find out why their god is absent. Sucks to be a drow, that is for sure

Slow. Even for a D&D novel, slow.

Why did I rate this book so high? Simple; it follows the game behind it without explaining the rules. Spells, powers, and abilities are appropriate for the characters and their respective classes can easily be identified. He even mentions wizards studying spell books and resting.

The book moves quickly at a plausible pace and action is frequent enough to keep the reader engaged. Subplots are tied in with the general plot and key characters are defined sufficiently. Setting specific material is dealt with sufficiently for the story though a bit more elaboration may gave yielded more drama. I was familiar with the computer game so some aspects of this I was familiar with.

I like the fact that the book shied away from explicit sexual references, profanity, and other objectionable material. Scenes of torture exist but are not extensive or too explicit. I would probably rate it PG if it were a movie.

OMG, the scene in the dungeons of House Melarn...

Good read with a nice pace that will keep you picking it up until you finish it. Better than the 1st book.

I'm prrrretty sure the other reviewers have the wrong book.

The Temple of Elemental Evil is a novelization of the classic Dungeons and Dragons module of the same name. Part of the Greyhawk Classics line of book adaptations of old D&D adventures. I'd picked this up because I really enjoyed the PC version of The Temple of Elemental Evil. I think the idea of turning some of these classic D&D modules into novels is a brilliant one. It's just too bad that Wizards of the Coast so obviously considered this line of books to be second tier.

The novel actually reads pretty well. We start in a forest, following a wizard and his adopted apprentice Shanhaevel, heading to a reunion in the town of Hommlet. Trouble ensues and after a brief battle in the woods, Shanhaevel winds up heading into Hommlet alone.

Before you can say 'the adventure begins' he and a group of strangers have been sent off to investigate activity surrounding the ruins of a temple that had caused some trouble in the past. Really there's not a whole lot more to the story than that. I'm personally not a fan of the hoary old 'defeat the Empire/save the world' cliches that run rampant through so much fantasy. This is a nice, little pocket adventure of some novice adventurers taking on a task that pushes them to their limits. The module was originally an adventure created for low-level characters and the novel reflects that. Don't go in expecting an epic, globe-spanning adventure and you will probably enjoy it.

The characters are nicely written but a bit flat. The structure of the book seems a bit off and the pace is a little too hectic. I got the feeling that these problems had more to do with length restrictions imposed by the publisher than any deficiencies of the writer. Thomas Reid seems like a competent author and at times his writing is very nice. However things are often rushed. Before the companions have been together a full day they are risking their lives for each other and a romance has blossomed.

A major character seems to just arrive out of nowhere and there weren't really any scenes of 'should we trust this guy or what?' Also, the best part of the book was a stand off at an abandoned farm house. It was very well written, but the odds just seemed so unbelievable. And at the end you can see that the author was under pressure to wrap it up in under X number of pages. The details in the last third were kind of haphazard and sloppy.

I think a few more chapters would have solved the problems this book had. The writer showed a number of different times he was up to snuff, but just wasn't able to stuff such a large package into such a small box.

I wouldn't really be able to recommend it to anybody except for those that have nostalgia for the original module or the computer game. However I can say that I do have that nostalgia and enjoyed the book enough that I would have picked up a novel of Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil if Thomas Reid were ever to write it.

The Gossamer Plain by Thomas M. Reid is the first book in the Empryean Odyssey trilogy. The second book in this trilogy is titled The Fractured Sky and is scheduled for release in November, 2008, the third book is titled The Crystal Mountain and is scheduled for release sometime in the middle of 2009. Mr. Reid first burst on the Forgotten Realms scene with the second book in the War of the Spider Queen series titled Insurrection. Mr. Reid then went on to pen the Scions of Arrabar trilogy. Those three books are; The Sapphire Crescent, The Ruby Guardian, and The Emerald Scepter. All of the previously mentioned books are very much worth the read in my opinion.

For fans of the War of the Spider Queen series, many will be happy to know that this book continues the tale of two characters. Both Kaanyr Vhok and Aliiszra are featured in this novel. For many, these are two of the more memorable characters. For fans of the WotSQ series, Lisa Smedman has also just started a new trilogy with the first book titled Sacrifice of the Widow and focuses on Hallisstra Melarn.

The plot of this book is a little hard to read at first, however, upon completing it and digesting all the nuggets that Mr. Reid puts out there, this novel seems like it is a set up for larger grander things. One of the main plots is a scheme of Vhok's, don't worry, I won't say what it is (I don't do spoilers), but the plot seems to be large in scale. Another plot involves a situation Aliiszra finds herself in that I am fairly sure will please many fans of the WotSQ series. The main plot of this book (Vhok's plot line) stretches far and encompasses many different places and scenarios. Such as the city of Sundabar, the plain of fire, and the City of Brass. Most of these places are well described with just enough information to give the reader an idea of what the scene looks like, but not enough that it comes off as telling the reader what to see. It's often a fine line, but Mr. Reid toes that line well in this book.

The characters in this book fall into three categories for me. The first category is interesting and imaginative. There are about three characters that fall into this group Vhok is certainly one, another is Myshik, a half hobgoblin with some dragon blood (interesting mix there), and Zasian a human priest of Bane. The second category of characters is supporitive, but just there. In this group I would put Aliiszra and a few others. Nothing against these characters, but they didn't grab me all that much. Personally, I wasn't a big fan of Aliiszra in the WotSQ series either. The last group of characters are the ones I could have done without, or that needed something more to be interesting. The main one in this group is Tauran, whom is an angel of Tyr. To me he had little personality and the scenes he was in were a drag and a couple times I wanted to skip them. He just had little personality and I found little motivation to read about him.

With that said, overall this book is a solid addition to the Forgotten Realms. It almost seemed as though, due to the plot, Mr. Reid was constrained in some way as his normal writing style (at least what I perceive to be his normal style) didn't seem as evident in this book. I did enjoy the further fleshing out of Vhok, he seems to have great potential to become a powerful force in the Realms. The twist at the end of the book was a nice touch as well, and one I certainly didn't see coming.

Some things I would have liked to see changed. The plot seemed to drag, for me, during the scenes when Vhok and Zasian were traversing the plain of fire on their way to the City of Brass. It almost seemed to me like Mr. Reid needed to add a battle or two for word count purposes. Also, as I mentioned before, the scenes with Tauran just felt forced to me and while at times they advanced the Aliiszra plot line, he is a character I could honestly care less about.

I will continue to read this series because I think there is a good story here. If Wizards of the Coast has shackled Mr. Reid with the storyline and plot arc, they should loosen the reins a little and let him work his magic that he is quite able to work. While this novel is not the best offering from Mr. Reid it has a solid plot and one I am sure many fans will enjoy.

This is not, Reid’s best work. Although good escapism, not a lot really happens, and by the end of the novel, I was wondering when the story would really develop. I can only assume it is in book 2 of The Empyrean Odyssey. If you like Forgotten Realms or want to continue the story of Aliisza and Kaanyr Vhok then you might enjoy this book. However, if you are new to the Realms, this is not a good book to begin with. It is written more for Forgotten Realms fans with a working knowledge of the shared world, and who read Insurrection.

Full review at my blog.