Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very interesting and unique,
This review is from: The Halls of Stormweather (Sembia Gateway to the Realms) (bk. 1) (Mass Market Paperback)
This book is not your typical fantasy novel. It is the first book of the excellent Sembia series consisting of seven stories, each about different characters in a noble household. I don't normally like short stories, but in this case it worked surprisingly well. There is a consistency among the stories, giving the novel a more structured feel, and most of the stories with a couple of exceptions are four to five star tales.
1. THE PATRIARCH - "The Burning Chalice" by Ed Greenwood By far the worst story in the book. It thows way too many names at you way too quickly, and all of the characters in the book seem flat and poorly drawn. Feels like impromptu trash. ** 2. THE MATRIARCH - "Song of Chaos" by Richard Lee Byers Fairly interesting but very strange. This story does an excellent job of telling a character's past in the present, and displays an interesting relationship between Uskevren matriarch Shamur and her daughter Thazienne. **** 3. THE HEIR - "Night School" by Clayton Emery A decent but not great story. The main character is an annoying fop who succeeded in making my head hurt with his annoying lines such as "jolly good!" and such. The plot itself was rather weak, but despite these flaws I found it mildy entertaining. *** 4. THE DAUGHTER - "The Price" by Voronica Whitney-Robinson One of my favorite stories about one of my favorite characters, this one gets a 4 star only because of its rather slow beginning. I liked the author's writing style and find Tazi very interesting. **** 5. THE SECOND SON - "Thirty Days" by Dave Gross An outstanding tale about the second son of the Uskevren family who gets a not-so-mysterious disease from some creature on a hunting trip gone haywire. The disease is "not-so-mysterious" thanks to the picture preceeding it showing the main character as a werewolf, but that wasn't the author's fault. Other than the picture, a great read. ***** 6. THE BUTLER - "Resurrection" by Paul S. Kemp The absolute best story and character in the book, Resurrection is the tale about the amazingly interesting and multi-dimensional butler, Erevis Cale. Wonderful action, characterization, and an excellent plot are all packed neatly into this short little story. This tale alone is worth the price of the book. Truly outstanding! ***** 7. THE MAID - "Skin Deep" by Lisa Smedman This and Greenwood's story are certainly the worst in the novel, though this one is not nearly as awful. A rather uninteresting character and dull plot war with the above average imagination of this writer to produce a 3 star tale that was brimming with potential but not quite up to the level of the other 5 stories. *** Overall, this is a great novel, and if you are looking for a good fantasy/Forgotten Realms series, this is a great place to start.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very Good,
By Neso (Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Halls of Stormweather (Sembia Gateway to the Realms) (bk. 1) (Mass Market Paperback)
1. The Patriarch: The Burning Chalice, by Ed Greenwood. Much more cohesion and much less cliché than in your average Greenwood story. Deals more with the history of the Uskreven, than with Thamalon's character. Nothing special, but does the job. ***
2. The Matriarch: Song of Chaos by Richard Lee Byers. A good story by Byers. Highly magical, with a detailed insight in Shamur's background, and her relation with her daughter, Thazienne. A short story written in a way it should be. **** 3. The Heir: Night School by Clayton Emery. A good description of an interesting character, Thamalon Uskreven the Second, or "Deuce". This story is all about that. Otherwise, some nice humor and a weak plot. **** 4. The Daughter: The Price by Voronica Whitney Robinson. Uninteresting and sort of forced. The story, to be honest, does describe the main character in detail, but that doesn't make her (the main character) any less annoying.** 5. The Second Son: Thirty Days by Dave Gross. A very good story by Gross. Rich, detailed writing, well conceived plot and interesting characters. **** 6. The Butler: Resurrection by Paul S. Kemp. The jewel story of the book. I won't berate much about this one. Just read it and meet Mr. Erevis Cale. ***** 7. The Maid: Skin Deep by Lisa Smedman. A story that really had potential. A good plot and fairly interesting characters, marred with a great bit of naivety. *** I must add that all of the stories deal with backgrounds and histories of their respective main characters, which is a good thing in my opinion. Don't expect grand plots and twists, but seven stories about seven more or less interesting characters. Check it out.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Review: Sembia: Gateway to the Realms - Halls of Stormweather (3 1/2 stars),
By Eric DeCarlo "WyrmHole of New England" (North Kingstown, RI USA) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Halls of Stormweather (Sembia Gateway to the Realms) (bk. 1) (Mass Market Paperback)
This review is for the book 'The Halls of Stormweather', which is Book I of the seven book 'Sembia: Gateway to the Realms' series. This review is intended as a critique of the writing and flow of the book, not to reveal plot or "spoolers".
This book is an anthology of seven stories written by seven different authors, edited by Philip Athans. This is intended as an introduction to the city of Selgaunt in the land of Sembia, using the Uskevren family as our guides. Each story focuses on a single member of the Uskevren household, and each is about 50 pages in length. Story 1: The Burning Chalice by Ed Greenwood (3 stars) - This story focuses on the patriarch of the family, Thamalon Uskevren, written by the creator of the Forgotten Realms fantasy setting. This story uses flashbacks to provide the reader with how Thamalon became head of the family, and to provide knowledge of the politics of Sembia. Due to there being a lot of information packed into its 50 pages, the plot breaks can sometimes seem sudden and it may take the reader a little bit to regain which time period the new scene takes place. Overall the story is well written and well organized. Story 2: Song of Chaos by Richard Lee Byers (3 stars) - This story focuses on the matriarch of the family, Shamur Uskevren. This story uses flashbacks as well to provide the readers with the background of Shamur, but in a very different way than the first story. Due to the mechanism used to initiate the flashbacks, the breaks are fluid and don't leave the reader guessing. There are some places where the reader will wish for more information, but within the framework of the 50 pages, the flow of the story and information provided is well done. Richard Lee Byers also writes The Shattered Mask, Book III of the series. Story 3: Night School by Clayton Emery (2 stars) - This story focuses on the heir of the family, Thamalon Uskevren II. The story, although liner, doesn't flow well. It may be because Thamalon Uskevren II is a very interesting character. The reader is left with a better feeling and image of the support characters than the focus character, including the dogs. It took a long time to get through this story, but since it is short it is worth just getting through for the background information. Story 4: The Price by Voronica Whitney-Robinson (3.5 stars) - This story focuses on the daughter of the family, Thazienne Uskevren. This story delves into the darker side of Sembia. The story is well written, and like all well written stories, the ending, although abrupt, is not out of place. Voronica Whitney-Robinson also writes Sands of the Soul, Book VI of the series. Story 5: Thirty Days by Dave Gross (3.5 stars) - This story focuses on the second son of the family, Talbot Uskevren. This story has the disadvantage of having the character portrait at the beginning reveal the outcome of the story. Hence, readers are not able to follow Talbot in his journey of discovery. Even with this disadvantage, the story is told very well and fits nicely into the already established setting of Sembia and the Uskevren family. Dave Gross also writes Black Wolf & Lord of Stormweather, Book IV & Book VII of the series. Story 6: Resurrection by Paul S. Kemp (4.5 stars) - This story focuses on the head butler to the household, Erevis Cale. This story is a `consequences to your actions' story. The character of Erevis Cale, and his friends and enemies, come alive on the page. For readers of other Forgotten Realms books at first it seems easy to draw a comparison to one of the Forgotten Realms' most loved characters, Drizzt Do'Urden. However, you will quickly learn that Erevis Cale can definitely stand on his own. If a reader is looking for a single reason to read this book, here it is. Paul S. Kemp also writes Shadow's Witness, Book II of the series. Story 7: Skin Deep by Lisa Smedman (4 stars) - This story focuses on one of the maids to the household, Larajin. This story slowly and creatively gives the reader a glimpse in the lineage of this `fish out of water' character. The story is well written and organized, and leaves the reader looking forward to learning more about Larajin. Lisa Smedman also writes Heirs of Prophecy, Book V of the series. Overall, this book is well written and provides the reader with enough information about Sembia and the Uskevren household to look forward to the rest of the Sembia: Gateway to the Realms series. If available, I would have rated this book 3.5 stars. The nice thing about this anthology is that, like for myself, it may introduce readers to other authors they may not have otherwise read. I would recommend this book to not only readers of the Forgotten Realms and other shared fantasy settings, but also to general Fantasy readers looking for a new view on fantasy story telling. A Note to Readers new to Forgotten Realms: Like many shared settings, especially those stemming from gaming or other media types, the Forgotten Realms books are written with the assumption that the reader has some familiarity with the Forgotten Realms gaming setting. This frees up the author to focus on his or her story, instead of having to explain the world in which the story takes place; the calendar, geography, common races/species, magical properties, etc. This is very important when the book length is normally confined to 300 - 350 pages. As a reader reads more books in the Forgotten Realms setting, they will become more familiar with the world of Faerun and its inhabitants, making the experience more pleasant. The `Sembia: Gateway to the Realms' series is an excellent place for a reader to begin their journey into the Forgotten Realms, since the stories take place in a fairly localized area and contains mostly creatures common to fantasy literature in general.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
|
|
