Customer Reviews

City of the Dead: Ed Greenwood Presents Waterdeep

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

 

 

There are certain things I expected from a Rosemary Jones fantasy novel. A resourceful heroine, an affinity for the working class, some misfit characters, a great sense of humor, and thrilling action more akin to The Princess Bride than Conan the Barbarian. But City of the Dead tromps through George Romero's sandbox. How was she going to balance her playful romp style with the threat of an undead apocalypse?

When, about 4 pages in, I burst out laughing at a brief, non-verbal exchange between a protective statuary and ghostly essence of Waterdeep's famed necropolis, I knew I was in good hands. Somewhere between the topiary dragon, the "dark dearlings," and the mounting horror of what is about to be unleashed, I was completely won over. I ended up reading the book straight through, pausing only briefly for brief family activities, and couldn't go to bed until I finished it. That's the kind of book City of the Dead is: a spookhouse thrill-ride that grabs you by the hand and won't let go until you get to the other side. If you're a fan of fantasy fiction and have, know, are, or have ever been a teen girl, this should be on your shelf. If you like a fun story masterfully told, that goes double.

I eagerly anticipate her next book. And until then, I won't be able to "visit" Waterdeep without thinking fondly of the Carver family and the vital service they provide to the city.

City of the Dead by Rosemary Jones has a pretty linear plot line. It is a tale of revenge involving the graveyard that unwittingly puts a family and all of Waterdeep at risk of the walking dead. The main character, Sophraea Carver with the help of an out-of-towner "Better than some, worse than others" wizard Gustin Bone investigates to get to the bottom of the strange occurrences happening in the graveyard. A couple of subplots flavor up the story with the alternate agenda of Gustin's visit to Waterdeep, a merchant man's overreaching hand, an old lord's ambition to keep Waterdeep from changing too much, a family's day to day activities, and of course a love interest.

The pacing of CotD moves along nicely and doesn't get too fast or bogged much down at all. The novel flows quite well, however, there are a couple of bumps in the road that, to me, interrupt it and that was due to the choice of names for some of the characters, names such as Fidelity, Judicious, Vigilant, and the antagonist Rampage Stunk. I found that I had to re-read sections to make sure that those were indeed the character names and not random words put in the sentence.

Ms. Jones was able to take the CotD and bring it to a much greater life than I have seen before. I have read in other realms novels where characters entered the graveyard but the vision that I got was nowhere near as vibrant as it was with reading this one. I also was given enough details to get the author's vision without overbearing details.

I was able to connect well with all the characters. I even wanted to reach into the book and throttle the antagonist and his henchmen. The character development was also done very well, even the old Lord's character developed some at the end. Other readers may find something different from me, but I was just having so much fun reading CotD that I may have missed a few things.

A couple minor criticisms:

1. Like I mentioned before, the names of the characters were a bit silly to me. I will say that at least they were not long jumbles of consonants crammed together, but using everyday words for names made it a bit confusing. I did like Sophraea's father's name and the way that it fit with the family's profession.

2. Though there are some nice battle scenes throughout CotD, I just never really felt that the characters were in any mortal danger. I could easily predict a few times of how they could escape from the predicaments that they were in. I did enjoy some of the escapes though.

Some positives:

1. Aside from the title, this is definitely not a dark fantasy novel. It is very lighthearted and a joy to read. I do like dark fantasy as well, but this was nice as it was a break from the norm. It was just a fun, fun read

2. The characters were fun to read. The humor was not too silly or over the top. Each one seemed to have their own voice and make decisions logically based on the situations and their knowledge.

3. The writing was awesome. I had a hard time putting this one down. I looked forward to every moment I could get to jump back in. Ms. Jones knows how to keep things interesting and always leaves something to look forward to.

4. The vision added to the CotD made the graveyard as welcoming in the daytime as it was foreboding at night. I was very easy to envision the graves and mausoleums as well as a few added bonuses that truly enhance Waterdeep as the City of Splendors.

Overall, I enjoyed myself very much. I enjoyed Crypt of the Moaning Diamond also, but this was even better. If you only like reading dark fantasy or serious fantasy epics, then you may want to skip this one. Now if you re looking to get started into the Forgotten Realms, I can recommend this as a place to test the waters. There is no previous realms lore needed to understand how things are in Waterdeep. There is a small amount about the spell plague, but it is used differently in a way that enhanced the story. I am not a gamer, I have only read FR novels, but to me there was little to do with the 4E rules and this book did not seem much different from previous realms books. For those who are adamant about reading realms books because of the 4E, I would recommend trying this one out. You may be pleasantly surprised.

-Dimndbangr

None of the stock descriptions I'd read about Rosemary Jones' book City of the Dead really did it justice or prepared me for the story within. While some, like what's on the back of the book cover, are technically correct, they just don't impart the lighthearted yet multi-layered feel of the book.

It was a pleasant surprise and and a joy to read. As an instant fan of Rosemary Jones' from her other book the Crypt of the Moaning Diamond, it was not a question of if I would buy City of the Dead, but when. So without reading much about the concept (or really even paying attention that Ed Greenwood was endorsing it), I was on the hook for Rosemary's next book.

The book is not a traditional D&D epic-type fantasy with overpowered heroes and endless trudging over picturesque landscapes to some predictable goal that can be found in some fantasy novels and trilogies. No "flaming swords of fire" here! Not that I don't enjoy some of that sort of story now and again -- I do. But this new book really got me thinking about the different ways that one might approach game-world inspired fiction and Fantasy novels in general. Rosemary really took a risk with this out of the box story concept and it paid off, at least for me. If I had to draw a comparison with another writer or style, I'd choose Charles Dickens. It's been over ten years since I've read anything by Dickens, but that's what Rosemary reminded me of with her new book.

But here I am four paragraphs in and I haven't even told you what the book is about yet. Well, the heroine is, for lack of a better description, a very ordinary young woman. She's powerful in her own way, to be sure, but most of her might comes from her strength of character and determination. "Plucky" is what Ed Greenwood calls her. She's very much a product of her upbringing, and Rosemary again introduces the concepts of class and being born into one's station that she touched on in Moaning Diamond. That said, she has an independent streak and a lack of desire to fall into some traditional role planned out for her.

Do you want a nutshell description of the story? I'm sorry but there really isn't one to give. The fun in reading this story is getting to know all of the characters within. The plotline is secondary. But if you've read this far then you're unlikely to be satisfied with that evasive answer so I'll put it another way. This is the story of a girl from a family of Carvers. Gravestone-carvers, that is, who lives in a city of magic and legend and cannot help but be swept up in adventure despite her best attempts to avoid it. Her name is Sophraea.

And when you get Sophorea you get the whole Carver family in the bargain, an interesting an unique bunch to say the least.

(SPOILER ALERT!) A slightly more fantastic character, suitable for the D&D genre who is introduced as her partner later in the story is Gustin, a wizard. He casts spells and works rituals and while far from being overpowered, he adds a sense of the game that might otherwise be missing. I say this because if not for the setting of Waterdeep, the story of Sophraea might have been told just as effectively in a more generic horror setting. (END SPOILER)

Sophorea and her partner find curiousity getting the better of them, as well as a baddie with a very Dickens-like name (to the reviewer who commented on the funny names, check out a Dickens book!) who just begs to be disliked. I must say that I was not surprised at all with one of the "mystery" twists at the end and saw it coming, but again, getting to know the characters was such fun that this did not impact the story negatively for me.

I strongly recommend Rosemary's book and hope that Wizards of the Coast will ask her to write another full novel soon. Rosemary has let on that she will have a short story published that is tied to City of the Dead (another member of the Carver family will take the lead), so I'll be on the lookout for that!

That's about what the pesky ghosts do and the spunky heroine is having none of it. Raised in a household of numerous older brothers and male cousins who use her for a goal post in their games, she only looks small and cute. She's one tough cookie who knows how to swing an umbrella or a market basket, quite capable of defending herself, but try telling that to the boys, or worse, to the cheerful wizard who pushes his way into the family circle. This is a fun story about a family who maintains the cemetery in Waterdeep, a Forgotten Realms city, and faces all the battles you expect in a WOZ book, plus the added attraction of a truly believable cast of characters. Loved it.

I'm living proof that Rosemary Jones' "City of the Dead" is not just for Dungeons and Dragons Fans, or for young adults. I am neither. The characters were intersting and the plot was set at a steady, readable pace.

This book is an interesting addition to the "Ed Greenwood Presents..." stand alone story collection. I highly recommend it. If you're looking for a story within the Fantasy realm, this is one to check out!

City of the Dead by Rosemary Jones- This is the fourth book released in the Ed Greenwood Presents Waterdeep series of stand-alone novels. The series is set in the Forgotten Realms setting of the pen and paper role-playing game, Dungeons and Dragons. The other novels in this series are Blackstaff Tower by Steven E. Schend, Mistshore by Jaleigh Johnson, Downshadow by Erik Scott de Bie, The God Catcher by Erin M. Evans, and Circle of Skulls by James P. Davis. Since these books are stand-alone, you can read them out-of-order. This is Rosemary Jones' second full-length novel set in the Forgotten Realms, her first was Crypt of the Moaning Diamond (part of The Dungeons). She has written a few short stories for various anthologies as well as co-authoring Encyclopedia of Collectible Children's Books. City of the Dead was released in 2009 and published by Wizards of the Coast.

The Carvers have been taking care of Waterdeep's cemetery, called the City of the Dead, since it was created. The family knows the graveyard inside and out. The families only daughter in a few generations, Sophraea, plans on leaving the family to pursue a career in dressmaking instead of caretakers. All she needs is a noble's signature to be accepted in an esteemed program. Good thing she knows an older nobleman! The problem is, somehow the dead keep rising and she decides to investigate. With the help of a wizard named Gustin, Sophraea tracks down the problem. But is it too late?

Criticisms:
1) Choppy. The main problem with novel is how choppy and cluttered actions and some sections are. The scenes felt like something was missing. Maybe a word, an action, or a sentence. The transitions between some paragraphs were poor and jumpy. For example, there was a scene with Sophraea and Gustin talking with something about these certain graves being opened. They are just talking, not much else is happening. Then suddenly, they appear next to the graves. No transitions, no sense or word of movement, nothing. It felt clunky and sudden. This just didn't happen once. Once would have been okay, but it happens every other chapter. This problem just really threw me out of the story.
2) Danger. This isn't a major problem, but it still is bothersome. No one really felt like they were in any actually harm. Even when you would think that a main character may be in harm's way, something happens and all anyone gets is a bump in the head or a little cut. It was more bothersome than anything.

Praises:
1) Characters. The two main characters, Sophraea and Gustin where wonderful. Sophraea did feel like a competent and different kind of heroine. She isn't all that powerful or amazing, but her mundane nature and innocence really sold me on her. She felt like a real person and not some all-powerful, all-knowing heroine. Gustin is pretty much the same way, except that he seemed a little more like an adventurer. Plus he has a wonderful sense of humor and an interesting outlook on life. With the other minor characters, they all played their parts pretty well. The best minor character, Lord Adarbrent, had more of a lonely old man presence that was unique. His character really showed a lot of depth that I wouldn't have thought he would have given the story. Another character, the antagonist, Rampage Stunk was a pretty good villain, albeit a little stock. The only problems with the characters are the silly names.
2) Premise. It was nice to see a story about the 'regular folk' in a fantasy setting. Just having the story revolve around the cemetery caretakers was interesting. It's the type of thing you would hardly see in a full-length novel, and I have to say that it really worked using 'normal' people. Then having the consequences of what is happening not be world shattering was interesting. Sure having the dead rise may not be a good thing, but it never had this epic feel to it and it really worked out for the best. It just was nice to see a story that wasn't overly serious and had characters that you would normally only see in passing as the main focus.

Side Notes:

1) Names. Oh dear god where these names just silly. Let's look at Rampage Stunk. Really? Rampage? Why not just call him Evil McBaddie? Then you have some of the Carvers family members names. They were just as bad, but I could let them slide because they weren't as silly as Rampage.
2) City of the Dead. I really liked how the cemetery was described. It never felt creepy or foreboding. It felt like a real life cemetery, only more magical.
3) Cover Art. It's interesting. I do like the blue 'ghosts' because they do catch your eye with the back ground being this brown-gray color. The only major issue is the size. I really do not like how small the actual picture is, and that border is why to distracting. I would rather have a full-length picture.

Overall: 4/5
Final Thoughts:
City of the Dead was a pretty good read. When I first picked the book up I thought it would have been a horror story, but I was surprised that it's more of a comedy than anything else. However, the story did have some problems. For one thing, there were parts that didn't fit together well at all. They felt clunky and just a bit sudden. The other problem was that I never felt the characters were ever in mortal danger. Also, some of the characters names got under my skin after a while. However, the story does recover from these problems. The two main characters were great. Sophraea felt like someone you would meet anywhere. Gustin had this funny outlook on life that worked really well. Then you have the premise. Having a story about regular people and not some all-powerful adventurer was great. You got to see another side of Waterdeep. Would I recommend this? Yes. Anyone could pick this up and have a great time. City of the Dead was a good, fun, and lighthearted read.

I did enjoy reading this, and I don't like all the FR novels. I have to say though, there were times, reading this, that I thought this was a Scooby Doo mystery. All-in-all, it was good.