Crypt of the Moaning Diamond by Rosemary Jones in the forth and final book in a series of stand alone novels collectively called The Dungeons. The books in this series are;
Depths of Madness: The Dungeons by Erik Scott de Bie,
The Howling Delve: The Dungeons (Forgotten Realms)by Jaleigh Johnson, and
Stardeep: The Dungeons by Bruce Cordell. This is Ms. Jones' first novel for Wizards of the Coast, though she has published short stories in the past. I have said in past reviews, I really appreciate Wizards of the Coast publishing these stand alone novels to give new authors a chance to hone their craft. I also appreciate that by reading stand alone novels, I do not have to have a wide base of previously read books to understand these novels. That is especially true with this book.
The plot of this book is somewhat linear. In that a group, the Siegebreakers, are hired to bring down a wall of a town to allow it to be retaken. A turn of events find the group in a long forgotten dungeon. The majority of the novel follows he group as they make their way though the dungeon and what they encounter in that dungeon. As one would expect, they encounter a variety of monsters, and situations. There is a little depth to the story, but for the most part this novel reads like a gaming session put on paper. For the most part, that works for the novel, however, at the same time it feels a little forced. I think the way the book started I was expecting a little deeper plot, but once I finished the plot was mostly surface plot lines and, quite honestly, a plot that when all is said and done feels recycled. However, that does not mean I was not entertained by this novel, just that it felt as though I have read this plot line before. I was hoping for something fresher and more innovative.
The characters in this novel do a great deal to carry the book. Characters such as Ivy, Mumchance, and Saval really add a great deal to the overall feel of the book. Ivy seems to be a very well developed character and I would be very interested to read further books, or short stories about her. The character of Kid, didn't really connect with me. I won't spoil who, or what he is, but his parts in the story did not seem right to me. I just had a hard time when he was a featured part of the scene. There are really two villains in this novel, one gets considerably more `face-time' than the other. Archlis is one of the two main villains and is written very well. He has just enough arrogance/power to make him a threat, but some of his actions speak to other things. I enjoyed his character quite a bit. I think the characters that stole scenes, at least in my opinion, were a pair of bugbears. Just an interesting view of bugbears and added something different to the story. As I said earlier, I think the characters in this book kept the novel from becoming lackluster. For the most part the characters kept me interested in what was going to happen, and I can easily see myself picking up another book if I knew Ivy would be in it.
I do have a couple criticisms with this book though. One, which I already talked about, was the plot seeming to be recycled - like I have read it before. The plot itself didn't leave me wanting more. It was simply average. The second main criticism is that there are several times in this book that Ms. Jones writes humorous scenes. However, then those scenes appear, they seem to drag on and on. In a book such as this I think humor should be used very sparingly and in short spurts - maybe one liners or something. Yet, the humor in this book seemed forced and placed wrong. One humorous scene was more than enough, but there are several in this book.
As I said above, the characters are very good. I enjoyed reading about the vast majority of them. I appreciated Ms. Jones giving each character a unique voice. It made them stand out more to me as individuals. Ms. Jones' prose is very easy to read, it is not overly flowery. She shows the reader what she wants and moves on. While there are a few places I would have liked just a little more description, I understand this is her first novel and I see a lot of good things in her future. She obviously has talent as a writer and I for one am looking forward to reading more books by her.
Overall, this is a hard book for me to rate. If I could, I would rate is a 3.5 - however, since that's not an option I will rate it at a 3. Not because it's a bad book, that is certainly not the case. I just don't think it quite measures up to what I believe a 4 Star book should be. Fans of the Forgotten Realms will certainly find enjoyable elements in this book and I would recommend it to them for sure. Fans of the fantasy genre looking for a nice paced read should think about picking this novel up as well. While this is an average Forgotten Realms book, I think it is still worth the read and will be suggesting it to a few people for sure.
