Customer Reviews

Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (Forgotten Realms: Computer Tie-In Novels)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

If you've played the game, you're going to hate this book with a vengeance, and not just because Minsc suddenly has red hair (which is mentioned a few times, as it's apparently very important to the story). If you haven't played the game, it's really an uninspired, flawed sword-and-sorcery novel that's about as rewarding as watching an uninspired, flawed sword-and-sorcery movie. It helps pass time, that's about it.

Some people have chosen to interpret the book as a parody! It almost works, if you squint your eyes... Clearly the author wasn't taking the topic seriously, which adds to the suggestion. But really, it's not fair to the game, which was the product of a team of hard-working people whose creative talents clearly dwarfed whatever meager talent the author had to tap in to write this sorry excuse for a cut-and-paste pagefiller. If he didn't hate himself afterwards he was probably concentrating too much on the sound of money hitting his bank account.

If you think this book is an accurate indication of what the game is like, either qualitywise or storywise, think again. This is insipid commercial plagiarism. Contrary to what you might expect, the game is a *lot* better, so if you have a computer you're much better off buying the game instead and being a part of the story yourself. You won't finish the game as quickly as the book --- that, however, is a Good Thing.

And if you think computer RPGs lack storytelling quality, try playing "Planescape: Torment". If that doesn't do it for you, you should stick to reading books. Good books, that is, not `novelizations' (ick, the word itself sounds vile). Sheesh, after reading this (as far as I could bear it) I got the idea that *I* could write something better. And since I've never written a book in my life, that can't be a good sign.

If a generic fantasy 'dime-novel' is your concept of good reading material, then Philip Athans' writing will not disappoint you. Otherwise, you'd be best advised to leave this one alone. The main protagonist's characterization is weak and may leave you wondering if you are supposed to care about his fate. The remaining characters are brushed over with such cursory dialogue and minimal depth to the extent that they might be regarded as garden gnomes as opposed to companions on an epic quest. The strongest material in his writing is not dialogue or plot, but the in-depth descriptions of the protagonist's fights with many a blow-by-blow commentary. Otherwise, there isn't much to separate this book from the paper that you throw into the recycle bin. Fans of the Baldur's Gate series are advised to keep away from this book! It's easily apparent that the writer did not play the game or read over the in-game dialogue. The characters are faithless renderings of the originals and poorly written so as to cause much pain while reading. Fortunately, I was able to read this book before making the mistake of purchasing it. You have been warned!

This book definitely ain't for fans of the game. In fact I can say it's cr@p really if one compared it to the game. My complains? It's way too dumbed down, first of all, they condensed the whole epic of Baldurs Gate II and shrank it into a book the size of an Enid Blyton storybook. Lots of the amusing quirks and plots I loved from the game never made it into the book, Minsc especially, the author wrote about him but just dumped him halfway through the story. It's either the author's a lazy !^(&^ bum or he didn't have time to write it all. I'm going for the former. Not to mention, I don't think the author even played Baldurs Gate II or even knows the story of Baldurs Gate II, it's so different from that of the games. Trust me, your money is better spent elsewhere because if you do buy it, you'll just end up bitter and cursing the author like me.

I was pretty sure it couldn't be good when I bought it; what could you except? But I just had to see what was in it, the game being so great and all. When I actually read it... at first, I was sort of captivated, though I didn't particularly like the author's choices. Then I started feeling disappointed, which quickly changed to disgust that almost managed to keep deepening throughout the whole book, particularly as the end was written so ridiculously badly, even worse than the rest of the book and that's pretty damn' bad, I can tell you.
Different bad areas of the book included:
The plot: It looked like the author had been given a list of the main events in the game, each described in at most one short sentence, and he'd interpreted it as badly as possible.
The quality of writing: Simply bad. The only real descriptions were ones of sex or violence, otherwise it was just "they went there an' did that".
The characters: This is what really makes the book so disgustingly stupid. The protagonist, Abdel Adrian (may his wormlike soul be used as a bait for Hadesian fish forever), is stupider than an old boot, violent, selfish and weak-willed. He's also a hero, it says so in the book. It appears that he'd killed Khalid and Jaheira had fallen in love with him (anyone who's played either BG or knows anything about human relationships knows that's not exactly likely). And now this "Jaheira" was captured; what is the first thing our hero does? Goes to save her? No, that's the second thing, the first is to betray her with another woman. And then Adrian (may his name be used as a swearword by people with good taste everywhere) has to be dragged along the plot forcefully, because his attitude is "Why would I wanna save the world and myself? I'll just go home." Apparently, Athans' BG 1 was a growth story where he became a... better person, and it shows in that now he occasionally decides *not* to kill someone after all, or pauses to think a few hypocritic thoughts.
The other characters are simply paper-thin and ridiculous. All the women are either sex objects or then weirdos who like Adrian even though he's usually only ever harmed them. About the most important function of Jaheira is to comfort him when he feels guilty about betraying her (he didn't mean to do it, and resisted the temptation for a whole two seconds). The illogicality of the other characters' behaviour shows in that Adrian becomes a bloody Hero in spite of what a disgusting idiot he really is ("O yea, let's praise him for this selfless act we had to force him to perform."). The dialogue is what you might expect from a combination of such writing skills and such characters.
Overall, when reading this, I felt rather cheated, but even more insulted. First, I play, with a heroic character (well, on another occasion villaneous, but at least I didn't pretend to be a hero then), this great (nay, fantastic, no awesome, no, beyond description) game, enjoying its good plot, rich dialogue and characters and tactical and somewhat challenging battles. Then I read this book, supposedly based on the game, starring a violent, moronic infidel and a group of illogical, impersonal side characters, with a ridiculous plot, stupid dialogue and some gory and boringly elongated violence scenes.
...

I am the Polish translator of this book, so I think I have the right to express my opinion about it. From my point of view there is nothing to complain, because the novel is easy to read, easy to translate, the words and phrases are easy, not taken out of the blue... but that's only one side of the coin. Maybe it's easy to read, but doesn't force reader's mind too become strongly involved. The plot is very simple, sometimes even lacking, on every step it is visible that this is the novelisation of the computer game and such books are not the artworks of literature. I recommend this novel only to the most devoted fanatics of the game and for those who read everything with the "Forgotten Realms" logo. People who would like to start familiarizing themselves with the Realms with this book (or it's first part) are rather advised to read R.A. Salvatore.

I read the whole book in Barnes and Nobles, because i had a bad feeling about what this book would be. And let me tell you, I'm glad I didn't buy it. Philip Athens is by far the worst author ever. He must not have played the games at all. The games Baldurs Gate and Baldurs Gate 2 are the best games I have ever played in my life. So I think, as long as the author follows the main storyline of the 2nd game and picks a character that will suffice for the storyline then he really shouldnt have too much of a hard time for writing the story. But the impossible happens. hmm.....where should i start. Usually in a game like this the main character would be best suited as the good guy. But in this case the main character is a piece of trash. Abdel Adrian is his name and he is the Stupid, impulsive brute that doesnt think before doing anything that we have all come to hate. 1st thing that doesnt make sense is that he loves Jahierra, one of the main npcs in the games, yet he sleeps with a vampire, yes a vampire just because she is good looking and she seduces him; are you kidding me??? He is a son of the god of murder, theres no way a vampire can do anything to him. Overall his morality is very low for the title that he gets called in the book, "Hero" which he is called all the time. If he is worthy of the title "Hero" then what will they call Drizzt Do' Urden of the forgotten realms. Philip Athans also did a good job destroying the other great NPCs that we all liked in the games. Minsc for example has red hair, is analytical, cant do anything without asking boo if he should do it, and the biggest of all doenst fight. Instead of aiding the main character like in the game, he works as a waiter in the copper coronet. Are you kidding me??? Minsc in the games is the fearless, crazy, justified barbarian that we have all come love. Then there's other characters that were cool in the game that got destroyed. Solaufein is evil in the book which makes no sense, he was cool in the games and was kinda like Drizzt. You'll laugh at this one too; The author made Imoen a lesbian with a drow in the underdark. I believe Phaerre is here name. (There's a bathtub scene with those 2 which doesnt make any sense) For those that dont know, Imoen is the Main characters half sister. That never even got close to occuring in the game. Then comes the fighting scenes. Oh god were they bad. I'm saying that because I read RA Salvatore's Drizzt Do'Urden books and those books are very good at describing the fighting scenes, it's like your actually there when your reading it. This book doesnt even make any sense with the fighting scenes, this is the type of book where you can clearly tell that the author is rooting for the main character in the fighting scenes because there is no challenge present when he fights against anyone, except maybe Irenicus. Overall I would give this book a negative -10. I know thats an abyssmal rating but i cant believe this book. Philip Athans, you destroyed a book that could have been an overall decent book if you just followed the storyline of the game. What a pity......

Philip Athans constantly used this phrase, turning me off to the book in the first two chapters. It never gets better, and is a complete waste of money and time.

I was pretty sure it couldn't be good when I bought it; what could you except? But I just had to see what was in it, the game being so great and all. When I actually read it... at first, I was sort of captivated, though I didn't particularly like the author's choices. Then I started feeling disappointed, which quickly changed to disgust that almost managed to keep deepening throughout the whole book, particularly as the end was written so ridiculously badly.
Different bad areas of the book included:
The plot: It looked like the author had been given a list of the main events in the game, each described in at most one short sentence, and he'd interpreted it as badly as possible.
The quality of writing: Simply bad. The only real descriptions were ones of sex or violence, otherwise it was just "they went there an' did that".
The characters: This is what really makes the book so disgustingly stupid. The protagonist, Abdel Adrian (may his wormlike soul be used as a bait for Hadesian fish forever), is stupider than an old boot, violent, selfish and weak-willed. He's also a hero, it says so in the book. It appears that he'd killed Khalid and Jaheira had fallen in love with him (anyone who's played either BG knows that's not exactly likely). And now this "Jaheira" was captured; what is the first thing our hero does? Goes to save her? No, that's the second thing, the first is to betray her with another woman. And then Adrian (may his name be used as a swearword by people with good taste everywhere) has to be dragged along the plot forcefully, because his attitude is "Why would I wanna save the world and myself? I'll just go home." Apparently, Athans' BG 1 was a growth story where he became a... better person, and it shows in that now he occasionally decides *not* to kill someone after all, or pauses to think a few hypocratic thoughts.
The other characters are simply paper-thin and ridiculous. All the women are either sex objects or then weirdos who like Adrian even though he's usually only ever harmed them. About the most important function of Jaheira is to comfort him when he feels guilty about betraying her (he didn't mean to do it, and resisted the temptation for a whole two seconds). The illogicality of the other characters' behaviour shows in that Adrian becomes a bloody Hero in spite of what a disgusting idiot he really is. The dialogue is what you might expect from a combination of such writing skills and such characters.
Overall, when reading this, I felt rather cheated, but even more insulted. First, I play, with a heroic character (well, on another occasion villaneous, but at least I didn't pretend to be a hero then), this great game, enjoying its good plot, rich dialogue and characters and tactical and somewhat challenging battles. Then I read this book, supposedly based on the game, starring a violent, moronic infidel and a group of illogical, impersonal side characters, with a ridiculous plot, stupid dialogue and some gory and boringly elongated violence scenes.[....]

I have played the computer game so I was very troubled about the author messing around with the main characters. He killed Jaheira and she is in the next computer game- Shadows of Amn. Over all it waas very poorly written. I have never given a bad review but this needed to be said.

Wow, this book is really really badly written. Anyone who is a fan of the Baldur's Gate games (as I am) should stay away from this book because it is terrible. It bears almost no resemblance to the game or any of the characters in any way. The standard of writing is extremely low.