Customer Reviews

The Howling Delve (Forgotten Realms: The Dungeons)

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

 

 

The Howling Delve by Jaleigh Johnson is the second book in a series of stand alone novels by Wizards of the Coast titled The Dungeons. The first book in this series is Depths of Madness by Erik Scott de Bie. The third book, Stardeep, by Bruce Cordell is scheduled for release in November, 2007. The fourth, and final book, in this series is titled Crypt of the Moaning Diamond by Rosemary Jones and is scheduled for release in December, 2007. I, for one, appreciate Wizards of the Coast doing these stand alone novels. It's beneficial for a couple of reasons. One, as a reader we get to `test drive' new authors and two, reading stand alone novels frees the reader from having to remember details for future books to follow the stories. I hope they continue on with this process.

The plot for this book is actually several plots woven together. There is obviously the large plot of exploring a dungeon. However, there is also an underlying plot of revenge, a sub-plot of a plan by a mysterious group to break a long held belief in Amn (best way I could say it to avoid spoilers, sorry), and a couple other smaller sub-plots for good measure. The overall plot arcs of this novel are well thought out and Ms. Johnson certainly has a good vision of plot development. However, while reading this book I felt as though the plot jumped around too much with little or no explanation. I also felt as though a couple pieces of the plot were forced and occurred for little or no reason. Simply put, there were times when the plot didn't make much sense. That's not to say that there is not a good plot within the pages of the book, nor does it mean that Ms. Johnson is not a good author. I think it's just a matter of Ms. Johnson needing to hone her craft a little more. There were flashes of a very good writer, but there were also flashes of a writer needing some work as well.

The characters in this book were some what of a disappointment to me. I didn't feel as though they were developed as much as they could be. In fact, I hard a difficult time making any type of connection with any of the characters. The only character I was interested in was Cesira, but she doesn't play that big of role in this novel. Kall and Meisha were just blah to me. I also had a hard time developing any type of visual picture of what these characters looked like. It just didn't seem like there were enough descriptors to show me what the author wanted me to see. I felt like the characters were two dimensional and didn't seem to interact very much with the plot. It was almost as though the plot merely dragged the characters along, instead of the characters influencing it.

I know some of the above may seem rather negative, however, like I said before there are some positives to this story and all that just points me to the belief that Ms. Johnson only needs a little more experience before she begins to weave extraordinary tales for years to come. I think every book an author writes is a chance to learn something; I would assume that Ms. Johnson would agree that she learned a few things writing this novel.

Some of the positives of this book are the pacing, and prose. They allow the book to move at a steady pace, aside from wondering about plot points, the novel read well. I also enjoyed some of the dialog between characters, especially later on in the book.

Overall, I would call this book average. It's certainly nothing special, but I also think it is better than other books I have read. I think with some more practice, Ms. Johnson may very well make a name for herself in the fantasy genre. Fans of the Forgotten Realms may want to pick this up, however, this is not a book I would recommend to someone just starting out reading Forgotten Realms books. It certainly does add to the overall lore of the universe, but not something the new fan would appreciate. I am looking forward to Ms. Johnson's next foray into the Realms though.

The Howling Delve, second book of the Dungeons series, by Jaleigh Johnson is a story of vengeance. The story is set in the Forgotten Realms wizard-hating land of Amn and follows Kall, a powerful gem merchant's son who escapes the bloody betrayal of his father's guard captain. After stumbling through a magical portal Kall finds himself in the midst of a digging camp led by a dwarven priest. A parallel story tells of an orphan named Meisha, who is taken in by a curious wizard that discovers her latent talent in fire magic. She becomes a Harper agent and fire elemantalist bent on vengeance also, for the murder of another agent. Both Kall and Meisha find homes in their respective situations and grow to become strong characters.

Meisha and Kall meet when Kall tries to return to his father but finds him completely wasted away in both mind and spirit. Meisha arrives on the scene and attempts to kill his father for murdering a Harper agent during the captain's betrayal. Kall pursues vengeance against the guard captain and Meisha reluctantly follows suit.

The Dungeon series is meant to elaborate on particular Realms lore, in this case an ancient, underground dwarven stronghold that holds a dark secret. The story is well done and fluid. It's full of fast paced action and great characterization as it reveals more and more of this ancient complex. The characters themselves are well done and make sense, feeling lifelike and plausible, even the villains and side characters.

Jaleigh's word usage and style are a delight to experience; the rhythm of her writing carries the reader through the entire novel marvelously. In fact, her rhythm carried me through several pages before I realized I noticed an inconsistency. It may have been implied from the beginning of the story and was mistakenly forgotten to remind the readers later on. It wasn't something that would drive the reader nuts over though. As I said, her rhythm is wonderful and is very smooth. You only stop to realize how much you've read when you have to put the book down to use the restroom.

Aside from the two issues above I enjoyed the book immensely. It ended on a most exciting note, one in which I hope Wizards of the Coast allows her to explore - it certainly has the makings of giving the Shadow Thieves of Amn a much needed remodeling, in my opinion. I am most anxious for her to return to the Realms and tell more tales. A great book, a fast read, and an enjoyable way to idle away the time!

The Howling Delve by Jaleigh Johnson

The Howling Delve is the second book released in The Dungeons series of stand-alone novels. The series contains three other entries, which are written by different authors. Since each novel is a stand-alone which means you can read the series out-of-order. The Dungeons series is set in the Forgotten Realms setting of Dungeons and Dragons. The other novels in this series are Depths of Madness by Erik Scott de Bie, Stardeep by Bruce R. Cordell, and Crypt of the Moaning Diamond by Rosemary Jones. The Howling Delve is Jaleigh Johnson's first Forgotten Realms novel. She has written two other novels based in the Forgotten Realms. Her second novel is part of the Ed Greenwood Presents Waterdeep series titled Mistshore and her third novel is titled Unbroken Chain. There is going to be a sequel to Unbroken Chain titled Unbroken Chain: The Darker Road that is going to be released in July 2011. Jaleigh Johnson has also written an original novella titled Nautilus Cell. She has also written a number of short stories for various anthologies and magazines. The Howling Delve was released in July 2007 and was published by Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

Kall Morel seeks revenge. His father's only friend, Balram, betrayed his family and left his father as little more than a puppet. Thankfully, Kall escaped with the help of his friend Aazen, who is also Balram's son. As Kall wanders about trying to elude his pursuers, he stumbles into a graveyard and lies down to rest. After waking, he finds himself not where he laid down but miles away. As he tries to comprehend what happened, he is found by two people, a human named Morgan and a half-elf named Laerin. He learns that he was teleported through some sort of portal and arrived in a camp full of diggers, lead by a dwarf named Garavin. During one night, Kall comes to the aid of a young woman named Cesira, who is a mute druid. The two become friends. After spending a few years with the diggers, he returns to Amn to try to save his father but runs into a Harper sent to kill his father. The Harper, an elemental mage named Meisha Saira, lets Kall's father live and agrees to help him track down the puppeteer, Balram. However, after seeing a pendent that Garavin carries, Meisha is plagued by dreams of her past and of her teacher Varan in a cavern called the Howling Delve. Meisha's teacher, Varan taught her how to control the element of fire so long ago. She, among a few other elementalists, lived miles under the country of Amn, whose residents feared and hated magic, to safely learn their craft. However, Varan soon becomes obsessed with something he discovered while exploring the delve. His obsession affects his students, because without him, they have no way to leave the delve or find food. The situation becomes so disparate that one of the other students wanders off and Meisha goes after her. However, what she finds causes Meisha to confront Varan and to leave the delve, never to return. As more years pass, Kall finds a gem that is linked with Balram and after giving it to Meisha, she realizes that it's something that Varan created. She decides to return to the delve, only to find that a lot has changed in the few years away from the place.

Criticisms:
1) Characters. For the most part, the characters in The Howling Delve were bland and uninteresting. They weren't awful, but there was something about them that made them feel like they were "cookie-cutter" characters. There wasn't anything really unique about any of them. Kall is just some revenge seeking character and is little more than that. He does have flashes of being more, but they aren't pursued in greater detail. There is a lot that could have been done with his character. His relationship with his father could have been further explored, along with his relationship with Aazen. For being the main character of the story, he never felt like he was a main character. We also have Kall's friends and companions, and they were just bland. Morgan and Laerin could have been interesting characters. They were used mostly for comic relief, but even in that aspect they were bland. They were incredibly one-dimensional. Garavin was the same way, but he was more forgettable. When he was introduced, he gave off this feeling of being important, but that feeling quickly passed. For the most part, he was forgotten by soon after he was introduced and didn't return until the last seventy pages or so. Later in the story we are introduced to a young man named Talal, who didn't have any presence in the story. Varan is decent and had a lot of good moments, but was ultimately forgettable. As for the antagonists, they were not great. We barely seen Balram and Aazen. It doesn't help that they have almost no presence in the story when they are in. They don't come across as intimidating or threatening, just boring. All in all, the characters were just bland.
2) Storytelling. The storytelling aspect of The Howling Delve felt 'jerky'. There's no other way to say it. There was hardly any establishing words that told of where the characters were and what they were doing. A lot of the time, characters suddenly appeared out of nowhere and it was jarring. There were a few times when a conversation was going on between two characters and suddenly another character, who was never mentioned to be anywhere near, pops up. It just felt 'jerky'. Also during fights, it seemed like the fighters were inches apart from one another in a heartbeat. When a character is obviously on the other side of a room and is suddenly and unexpected in a challengers face, it's jarring. This feeling continued throughout the whole novel.

Praises:
1) Meisha and Cesira. These are the only two unique and interesting characters in The Howling Delve. They both catch your interest and hold it. It could be because they are unusual and showed a lot of uniqueness in their character along with having interesting back-stories. With Cesira, she doesn't have a well-developed back-story, but that adds to the mystery behind who she is. On top of the mystery, Cesira was a unique character. She couldn't talk, yet the way she communicated with people was clever and interesting. It added a lot to her character. However, she could have been better developed. Her relationship to Kall could have been explored better. Also she just disappears at the end of the story, which was a letdown. Thankfully, Meisha Saira is the best character in this story and I would have liked the story to be solely focused on her. Everything about her was interesting. Her past, before Varan, had a lot of thought go into it. It really helped flesh out her personality and who she is. When she was with Varan learning her Art, her personality becomes even more fleshed out. As the story continues, she's the only one to really change throughout the story. She becomes more three-dimensional and realistic. These two characters really make this story worth reading.
2) Meisha's Story. The Howling Delve had two major stories that made up this novel. The main focus was on Kall's revenge, but it wasn't that interesting. Thankfully, Meisha's story was fantastic and should have been the main focus of the novel. Her story had more to do with the series that this book belonged to, but aside from that it was the more interesting story. What she went through was engaging and really saved The Howling Delve from being a boring story. I would have liked to see more of Meisha's training instead of Kall's ... whatever he did. Her story added a lot to the novel and helped in building up the end. I don't want to give away anything about this part of the book, but it's good.
Side Notes:
1) Amn. For a country that despises magic, they sure don't seem to mind all the magic that goes off in this book on the surface.
2) Howlings. The Howlings are dwarven adventurers who made the Howling Delve. I would have liked to have learned more about them.
3) Cover Art. The Howling Delve has a generally creepy cover. Varan looks scary and twisted, just like he does in the book. The darker and muted colors really do help in giving this cover a disturbing look. If I ever saw that face looking at me, I would be seriously scared to death. It really does grab your interest and make you want to pick up the book.

Overall: 3/5
Final Thoughts:
The Howling Delve is an average story. The characters are mostly bland. Every once in a while they do have a good scene or two, but mostly they are bland and uninteresting. They are one-dimensional and don't seem to really grow as the story goes on. The storytelling could use a lot of work as well. Characters seemed to appear out of thin air and there was this 'jerky' feeling to actions people took. Thankfully there are a few things that balance out these issues. Cesira was great. She had this mystery quality about her that I always like in characters. She could have used more characterization, but still she was memorable. That said, Meisha surpassed everyone in this story. Everything about her was fantastic. She was well-developed and pretty much carried this story on her shoulders. I do wish that the story focused more on her than anyone else. Her side story was more engaging than anything that Kall did. The Howling Delve would be a good story to pick up if you are new to the Realms, but there are a lot of issues that could turn you off.

I'm surprised that the reviews for Howling Delve have not been more positive. I found Delve to be an excellent book and one of the few from this genre that I have enjoyed. I normally don't read fantasy but one day I saw this in the book store and thought I would give it a try. I was pleasantly surprised to discover a robust, multi-layered story with well developed, "human" (actually not all human, I simply meant as opposed to "cardboard") characters. In fact, I liked it so much that I went out a bought a series of related books from different authors - Salvatore, Cunnnigham, etc. Those, by contrast, were a disappointment. Flat, unbelievable characters, implausible motivations, contrived plots.

I would recommend Delve to readers of any genre who enjoy characters and story telling. This is not epic fantasy. You won't discover that the swine herd from chapter one is actually the eternal hero named in the ten thousand year old prophecy who will eventually fight an arch demon to determine the fate of the world. Instead you will read about a troubled youth that faces through adversity and finds his way in the world - a well written story that just so happens to take place in the world of magic.

The Howling Delve is the story of Kall, an orphaned Amnish noble...

...or at least it's his story for the first 70 or so pages, at which time...

The Howling Delve is the story of Meisha, an orphaned(?) fire sorceress under the tutilege of the wizard Varan.

The two meet later and combine their stories into what becomes The Howling Delve. Hilarity ensues. (Well, not really. In fact, I don't remember a single laugh-out-loud moment in the entire novel.)

The Good

Not much, until the last 70 or so pages when the secret of the delve is revealed and the action goes pretty non-stop. Unfortunately, the novel is 311 pages long, with the remainder being...

The Bad

It's not that the characters are bad, but they are among the most bland set of characters I have ever read about. Kall and Meisha interract with a number of other people, none of which were the least bit interesting to me, with the possible exception of Cesira, the druid who is unable to speak (if only we were so lucky with the others).

The plot is uninspiring, and Kall never really seems threatened, which is unfortunate because the novel might have been more interesting that way. He always has an answer for any problem, and you never get the feeling he's going to lose. Those Kall travels with are undeveloped, and could have been named "Support Character A," "Support Character B," etc. and have the same appeal.

While the first book in the series, "Depths of Madness" was bad on multiple levels, this one's main fault is simply it's dullness (until the last 70 or so pages).

As always, we'll never know if this book was the victim of horrid editing or not (as the first novel in the series seemed to be), so I won't put the blame wholly on the author. I enjoyed the action scenes near the end, and I'm glad I stuck with it, as there were many times throughout the first 200+ pages or so when I simply felt like putting it down for good.

Overall I'd say 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3 for the purpose of this review.

The Howling Delve is the third book i read from the Dungeons series. First two books i read, Starfall (Cordell classic) and Crypt of the Moaning Diamond (a bad attempt at child fantasy) were both terrible in their own special way. So understandably i went into reading this title with more then moderate scepticism.

Well the book turned out to be quite nice. It's biggest strength is a solid plot, and strong side-characters. The plot moves nicely and although being a bit too linear for my taste, it is not boring at all. It is important to say that it isnt a choking dungeon-crawl like other books in the series. It does involve a dungeon, but in a different, much more creative way. Perhaps the other books should have followed this format. Too late now anyways. Book also contains much lore on some deties and places that havent been given much space in earlier realms novels. Side characters are really well thought out and interesting. I think Garavin the dwarf could carry a series of books by himself, and Cesira was truly unique.

Main characters, Kall and Cesira, could have been given more distinguishing traits i guess. They arent bad or annoying, and most importantly they arent cheesy like 90% of main characters nowadays. But they should really have been more memorable. I can say the same of the villains, who left much to be desired.

I really dont have any more complaints about this novel. Strong plot, good pace and writing, rich lore and interesting side characters. Well worth the time and money.

have to agree with this review. The character Kall seems like an average sword fighter and yet he is the big hero? I dont understand how he goes from not holding a sword up straight to best sword fighter I seen in FR novels.

Meisha had a lot of potential as a character that would get my attention, but I just ended up not really caring for her...

The 2 friends M and L sound like a interesting duel, but again they show up so little, that when they do their thing, it just doesnt matter...

I really wanted to get more on Cesira... She seemed like the kind of character the reader can get attached to, if give the chance...

For me Elaine C. book some of them are great because you can get attached to the characters ...

Last the ending was ... dont have the word for it, without writting a spoiler...

I will read other books from the author, because the overall plot, and sub-plots as mentioned on the review were very well planned, and I look forward to new plots from the author...