Customer Reviews

The Black Bouquet: The Rogues

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've read this and the Alabaster Staff, and both have been great.

The main character is interesting, and he also takes a bit of a personal journey as the story unfolds.

This is a fast paced read, with interesting characters and well done villains. The city of Oeble is described well, providing a stark contrast to other FR cities, like Waterdeep and Shadowdale.

Besides some editing mishaps, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I look forward to the next installment in the Rogues series.

This is the second stand alone novel in the Rogue series set in the Forgotten Realms. Richard Byers holds up his end of the bargin writing a fast paced enjoyable book.

There is nothing too complex about this book. Yet, there are a series of minor twists set within that make you start to think that the story may be more than what you first thought.

The characters are well described as is the setting where the story takes place.

I think the most enjoyable thing about this Rogue series thus far is that the main characters are flawed and as such the reader can relate more to them than the all powerful character that seems to be in most book lately.

A very good read.

I'm not a great Richard lee Byers. I've found some of his other books difficult to read. But this one flowed better. And I enjoyed reading it.

The villans are excellent characters as is Miri. The lead character Aeron and the book in general, seemed to lack a little something.

And i'd like to see more stories about the villians or Miri. But not Aeron. Which possibly explains why I don't think the book is worth five stars.

If your a forgotten realms fan. You should enjoy this book. Although don't let the rouges title, lead you into thinking the books about thieves . There was little stealing , just alot of sneaking, fighting and double dealing.

Holy cow! There are a ton of unexpected twists and turns in the fast and easy read. Even if you find fault with the characters the pace is fast enough to keep this enjoyable.

I did find a few small editing issues (He instead of The and the like) but nothing that distracted from this adventurous caper.

This book was given to me and I finished it on a around the world plane flight. I have since found the other in the series and will read them.

I read "the Alabaster Staff" before reading "the Black Boughet" (both being from the Forgotten Realms series, "the Rogues," and I must say I am very dissappointed. "the Rogues" had so much potential being as they were focusing on one of the more popular (and in my opinion, more interesting) character classes in the fantasy genre and roleplaying. This book was a let down from top to bottom, with only a few shining moments.

First of all, the main object of every single characters obsession was silly. It was an old book with formulas to make perfume that were "magical" in nature and people wanted to buy this perfume. Therefore the owner of the book would be making perfume and making lots of money - I mean lots of money. It is hard to get attached to the deeds and the desires of the characters when they are after something so silly.

Also, I had a hard time liking the characters. I really didn't care about any of them and had no real reason to hope for their success or their demise. There is one main character and two supporting characters, and then there are a lot of side characters that play what seemed like big roles. It got confusing just because there were so many small characters that kept rising up and showing their power for a chapter or two. Then they would dissappear and resurface later. The book is just frustrating and doesn't give any good reason to like it. The fight scenes and battles aren't really that great either. They don't grab ahold of you in any way.

However, there are a few shining moments, like I mentioned. First of all, like I said with "the Alabaster Staff," it is nice and fun to get a different perspective of different locations around the Realm. The city of Oeble is facinating and I would like to return there on a different adventure. The culture is similar to that of Calimport, mainly known from Enterei the assasin from Salvatore books. The other good thing is that the book is moderately intriging because there are a lot of twists and backstabbings. It is hard to tell who is in what party and what their true intentions are.

In my opinion, this book could be enjoyed by some and not by others - it is truely up to the reader to decide. The previously mentioned items are the only reasons why I gave this book two stars instead of one. It might be worth checking out but don't expect too much.

I am not spoiling anything when I admit there is thievery afoot in this book; when a book is part of a series known as 'The Rogues', you would expect something to be stolen. I liked the choreography of the initial theft that serves as the impetus to the action of this book. The action is reasonably well-paced, especially as the major characters switch sides in order to possess, and restore, the Black Bouquet to its rightful owner. The major D&D character types of rogue, ranger, monastic (instead of monk), sorceror and wizard are portrayed very well, with useful insights for subsequent role-playing. This is a good fantasy novel.

A fan of Byers in general, when I found myself without anything special to read on the Kindle I decided to give this earlier work of his a try. I noticed that Byers tends to enjoy writing liches into his stories - granted they are interesting characters - but it was refreshing not to have one in this particular story.

Byers does an excellent job of "humanizing" the characters within the story and threads a good deal of suspense throughout. One thing that occurred to me is that, for the most part, there isn't too much magic used in the book; most of the action is carried through physical combat. Thus, it dawned on me how well this novel would do as an action movie. How I would love to see that come to pass!

Due to the lack of magic and prevalence of human characters I think most people would agree this isn't a typical fantasy novel. I have to imagine that is one goal Byers had in the back of his mind when writing the book. Likewise, when you find out what the Black Bouquet actually is, then I think you certainly would have to agree! Very inventive!

great book, good read If you enjoy the forgotten realms setting even a little they you will enjoy this book.

This book features a rogue (surprised?) from Oeble, Border Kingdoms, botching a "job", and getting three of his friends killed in the process. He pulls out from his original "contract" and tries to get as much gold for the item he obtained in the process. Of course, the item is not what it seems, so there is an agent of an evil cult involved, and blah blah blah...

First the things I liked. Byers does a good job of describing the lawless hell-hole that is Oeble, and the mentality of people that live there. The plot is OK, I guess, but it is a bit too predictable for my money. The reading flows nicely and there is no confusion whatsoever. The battle scenes are good, not Salvatore good, but still good. The beginning is fast and you get into action and plot in the first page of the book. The ending is OK, even leaving a back-door for a possible sequel (if anybody wants one). O yeah, and the names are probably the best bunch of character names I have ever seen in a fantasy book. I know it is probably unimportant, but I had to mention it.

Now, the characters. I have never seen more generic characters in my life. They (main and supporting alike) don't have a single characteristic that would make them stand out, and stick in memory more than ten minutes after you finish reading the book. They have no past and no future. At least they have cool names. Apart from the ranger, that is. The book is also a bit too battle-heavy in my opinion, but the battles are good, so that is no major complaint.

If the characters had even a bit of personality, this could have been a decent, three or four star book. If you like the Realms as much as I do, you will read it anyway. If you don't, you will be able to live on without reading this one.

I liked this one better than the first. It had better action and good character interplay. Anyone who likes the genre will enjoy it.

If you like books like this one, might I suggest another I've recently come across. The Unsuspecting Mage by Brian S. Pratt. It's another fantasy adventure sure to please. I highly recommend it.