Customer Reviews

Sands of the Soul (Forgotten Realms: Sembia Series)

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

 

 

Slow, boring, predictable, and the hero is silly and self-absorbed. Also the dialogue is dull and shallow. But, besides that........

{Try, Paul S. Kemp's "Shadow's Witness" (Forgotten Realms: Sembia series, Book 2)" or "Twilight Falling" (Forgotten Realms: The Erevis Cale Trilogy, Book 1) these are really good books!}

OVERALL SCORE: (C-)
PLOT: (C-), CHARATERS: (C-), DIALOGUE: (C-), SETTING: (C), ACTION/COMBAT: (C-), ANTAGONISTS: (B-), ROMANCE: (B-), AGE LEVEL: (PG)

A friend recommended this series to me, and I was pleasantly surprised to find myself engrossed in every aspect of this story. Voronica Whitney-Robinson's creativity and vivid descriptions, from the Dark Bazaar to the Calim Desert, consistently left me eager to get to the next step in Tazi's journey. Highly recommended for everyone! Well done, Voronica.

I've been waiting for this story since her debut in Halls of Stormweather and was not let down. Not as much hack-n-slash as some FR books, but good nonetheless.
Without giving away too much, Tazi goes on an extended trek to save her friend and herself. What she finds at the end is not exactly what she thought she would.
I think Tazi is becoming my favorite female FR character, right behind Arilyn and Storm Silverhand. It's hard to find good books where the main protagonist is a girl, but Tazi holds her own.

Hope to see more of her!

"Sands of the Soul" is the penultimate novel in the Sembia series, and it focuses on Thazienne Uskreven, the daughter.

This book starts strong, and has a very interesting and deeply magical plot, which is slowly revealed through the novel. It is a standard fantasy plot, but the author raises it well above the average. Next, the descriptions and writing are rich and smooth, giving you some interesting insight into the land of Calimshan and its deserts. The characters are OK, with Steorf, young Thazienne's consort of sorts, sticking out as a really interesting character. After reading the short story in the The Halls of Stormweather (Gateway to Sembia) anthology, I was a bit annoyed with Tazi's spoiled behavior. You won't see any of that in this book, though. This book also contains some very good scenes, almost cinematic in their vivacity.

But, this novel also features some very, very annoying clichés. First, all of the characters have a habit of talking to themselves. Those are not simple swears or short reassurances that we all do, but at times turn into two-page long monologues?! Besides that, there are a lot of washed-out taunts in combat, and some small, but annoying logical errors. I almost forgot to mention, villains are gloating a lot, a cliché that became almost unavoidable in similar novels.

There is a certain spin-off from this book, and it's called The Crimson Gold (Forgotten Realms: The Rogues, Book 3). You don't want to read that, though. A terrible, terrible book. A novel without a reason, really.

All in all, it's far from being a bad book, really, but one just can't look past those monologues. Really spoiled the book for me.

Check it out, anyway.

This book had some real potential, but it sort of de-railed along the way. While it has a great start and a killer villain. However, once Tazi leaves Sembia the story goes from great to mediocre. A once greatly malicious villain turns into your average nasty schmoe and the novle just degenerates into a standard hack and slash unbtil you get to the end of the story type book.

While not bad, this is definately the low point in the Sembian series, which means it is still good, just not as good as the rest of them.

This feels like a short story which has been stretched. Not enough happens, and as has been remarked, the villain is not terribly credible. The plotting doesn't hang together all that well, while the description of Calimport will seem a bit uncomfortable to those who visited it in the company of R.A.Salvatore. Is this the city ruled by Pasha Pook?

The character of Tazi is interesting, and I'd been looking forward to this volume. It's OK-ish. I'd just hoped for something more involving.

Just not a very interesting story. I had to read it to finish the series, but it is a sub par read.

I didn't think I would like this book as much as I did. I tend to stick to Ed Greenwood,RAS and other established writers, but I took Elaine Cunningham's advice from the boards and gave this a read and I wasn't disappointed!

While the book is geared for newer readers of the Realms, I still enjoyed it, too, and I consider myself an "old hand".

Looking forward to reading more about Tazi in Crimson Gold!

I've been following the Sembia series and have enjoyed all of them so far, but some more than others.

After reading Tazi's story in Halls of Stormweather, I figured her novel would be typical theiving stuff, with her jumping from rooftop to rooftop. To my surprise and pleasure, Tazi did a little more than that!

This tied up the loose ends from Halls as well as some dangling items from Shadow's Witness quite nicely. I like the way Tazi is shaping up and hope she'll be around the Realms for some time to come!

I would recommend this to everyone reading the Sembia Series and even those who aren't!

I have to agree with the majority that have posted here when I saw I really liked the book. Sort of funny to read the review before mine, though. I always laugh when people have some critisim of another's work when they can't even bother to check their own spelling. :)

Tazi gets herself back together, but...spoiler...I sort of wonder what's going to happen to her as she loses those closest to her. Should be an interesting journey for her.

Eagerly waiting for Tazi's next story!