5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Darkvision Adventure Module?, May 12, 2007
This review is from: Darkvision (Forgotten Realms: The Wizards) (Mass Market Paperback)
Darkvision was an ok read, good in places.
Overall the writing is ok. The characters are pretty good, although it was half way through the book before I began to think so.
The story is also pretty good. I did find the cystal body parts a bit sci-fi though, but it just about worked. And the climax came accross as if it had been an adventure module at some point.
For realms fans, the book has background around the shining south, which is rarely written about.
Overall although I enjoyed reading it, I don't think it was quite good enough to get 4 stars. If your a realms fan or D&D fan, its worth picking up.
And I have no idea why its called darkvision. It seemed a strange choice for title.
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11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A book written for the wrong world, should have been Eberron, September 20, 2006
This review is from: Darkvision (Forgotten Realms: The Wizards) (Mass Market Paperback)
Darkvision by Bruce Cordell is the third in a series of stand alone novels published by Wizards of the Coast. The particular series that this book is part of is the Wizards. Previously, they have released the Rouges, Priests, and Fighters. All books in these series are standalone and you don't need to read anything else before hand to understand the book. The other books in the Wizards series are; Blackstaff by Steven Schend and Bloodwalk by James P. Davis. Thus far the other two books in the Wizards series have been disappointing reads. This one, sadly, is not any different. Darkvision has a lot of potential, yet it fails to follow through and seems to be a book written in the wrong world (I'll explain that later).
As I mentioned above, the plot of this book has great potential - if not a little rehashed. An ancient evil has found a foothold in the world and a couple groups of heroes seek to solve the problem. Is this a rehashed plot, absolutely, by Mr. Cordell lays it out in such a way that it does seem new. However, this book seems written in the wrong world. Some of the things that are present in this book do not belong in the Forgotten Realms, they belong in Eberron if anywhere. Things such as airships, crystal body parts etc. There is a line between adding new things to a book and blatantly crossing the line and adding things that don't belong. I honestly can't believe that WotC allowed this book to be published with all the things that don't belong.
The characters in this book are pretty good. Yet there is one cliché that the author uses not once, but twice to the same effect and that is the age old cliché of putting an old wizened person with a young person and the old person provides the knowledge and `hints' to get the younger person though the tough times. Think Gandalff from Lord of the Rings. One of these type of characters in a book is bad enough, but two it two too many. It quickly becomes repetitive and the reader no longer has to guess who will survive, because it's quite evident how it will end. There are some good characters in this book, but they quickly become loss within the crystal body parts, the sage advice, and at times the disjointed scene transitions.
Overall, this book seems to fit well with the other Wizards series books in that it's just not very good. There is one more Wizards series book scheduled for release in December of 2006 and I can only hope it will be a lone bright spot for this series. The first 50 pages of this book are very good, but then the author seems to lose control of the book and it seems almost as if he tried to include too many `new' things. Some times it's better to keep things simple. In the end this is another below average novel and a disappointing one at that.
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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
descent book, September 23, 2006
This review is from: Darkvision (Forgotten Realms: The Wizards) (Mass Market Paperback)
I read this book knowing that it was written by a new author to the Forgotten Realms universe. So dont be overly critical when you judge this book. Darkvision has a nice mix of different info on the realms that you dont see in most of the books these days. Mentions of the Leshay, halruaan airships, a descent mix of monsters and some passing history and info on Imaskar brings a nice variety that keeps you interested. The author, however, doesnt get the reader interested in the characters of the story like you would normally see. An example of this is the star elf character lacking any backstory to explain the actions and attitude that she puts forth throughout the story, which irritated me too much to enjoy this section of the book. I wound up just wishing her interaction in the book would go by as soon as possible. This plus other elements made the story lack the draw a book needs. Descent book that offers some variety that you dont see that often in Realm's books.
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