Customer Reviews

Scream of Stone (Forgotten Realms: The Watercourse Trilogy, Book 3)

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

 

 

I read both Whisper of Waves (Forgotten Realms: Watercourse Trilogy Book 1) and Lies of Light: The Watercourse Trilogy, Book II (The Watercourse Trilogy) the days they came out. I was originally very excited about this trilogy because of the mentioned "world shattering" event (completion of the canal) and thought this would be a very interesting trilogy because the "world shattering" event was not a huge war or the magical artifact changing the world; but rather a politically motivated, blood and sweat event.

This being the final series in the Watercourse Trilogy I was expecting great things from this book. I really enjoyed the first book and somewhat disappointed in the second book. The chapters are extremely short and the storyline jumps all over the place. Not only this, but the books span several years and unless you are very knowledgable about the Faerun calendar system or pay close attention the months and dates at the beginning of every chapter it can be difficult to follow how much time has passed between chapters. This book did a better job of verbally explaining how long someone had been in jail or exiled compared to the book's predecessors; but, it was still slightly difficult to gauge the time. There is a helpful calendar explanation as an appendix, and this would have been more helpful in the first two books, as well.

The one shining part of this trilogy was one of the main characters: Ivar Devorast. I thought he was an intriguing character and I thoroughly enjoyed his attitude and demeanor. Some of the other characters I could have done without as their story lines were hardly engaging and I didn't care what really happened to them.

Overall, a very disappointing trilogy with so much potential. I would only recommend this book to those that have already read the first two books in the Watercourse Trilogy and die-hard Forgotten Realms fans.

Scream of Stone by Philip Athans is the final book in the Watercourse Trilogy. The first book in this trilogy is titled Whisper of Waves (Forgotten Realms: Watercourse Trilogy Book 1) and the second is titled Lies of Light: The Watercourse Trilogy, Book II (The Watercourse Trilogy). For fans of the Forgotten Realms this book, and series for that matter, this book is unlike most other Forgotten Realms books. It is written in very short chapters, most about 2-5 pages. It goes without saying, but if you have not read the first two books in this trilogy than you really do need to before reading this one. There are events that occur in this book that would make very little sense to someone who is not up to speed with the rest of the story.

The plot of this novel carries on with the plot from the first two books fairly well. There are also a couple sub-plots that are brought to conclusions from the previous books. The main plot line is of a character attempting to make a canal to connect the Lake of Steam and the Nagaflow. However, there are some that don't want this to happen, and of course some that do want it to come to fruition. One of the sub-plots is a Thayan envoy attempting to play the senators against each other to get what he wants. Another sub-plot involves a character from the first two books and something that happened to him and what he is set to do now. Overall, this book, for the most part, continues the overall plot lines of the first two books.

The characters in this novel are largely the same as from the previous two books. In my reviews of the first two books I commented that largely the characters seemed flat and uninteresting. Not much has really changed with this book. I still enjoyed the character Ivar, and I found myself more interested in Pristoleph other than those two though, the characters seemed flat and uninteresting. They seem to be cast in clichéd roles and were two-dimensional. There was very little true character development in this book, and really in this trilogy, aside from a few small instances. From the start of this book, it is fairly obvious what is going to happen in terms of how the characters will act and what, in the end, will occur.

This book, as a whole, is really nothing but average. The clichéd characters could have been salvaged. However, how the book was written, jumping from piece to piece via these ultra short chapters makes for a book that feels disjointed and it was extremely difficult for me to focus on something. It seemed every time the story was picking up steam, there was a new chapter and a dramatic shift in events.

Aside from the clichéd characters and flow, my main criticism of this book is that this trilogy has always been billed as a `Realms Shaking Event'. Something that would change the landscape of Faerun forever. However, at the conclusion of this book and trilogy, very little (if anything) has been changed. In fact, once I finished the book I felt as though I was merely back at square one where the firs novel picked up. I felt distinctively cheated by this fact. I invested the time and effort to read three novels, only to be back where I started.

Phil Athan is a wonderful author, and I have enjoyed many of his previous works. However, this trilogy is not one of them. I feel let down by the conclusion, I feel let down by the flatness of the characters. All in all it was just a blah reading experience for me. While there are some decent moments in this novel, they do not save this book (or trilogy) from mediocrity. This will not be a book, or trilogy, that I will be recommending to people.

Scream of Stone is the third and last (thank goodness) instalment in the Watercourse Trilogy. The book is definitely an improvement compared to Whisper of Waves and Lies of Light, nevertheless it is too little too late.
To start with, the characters are burned out and there is not much one can do with them. In addition, as in the previous two books, there continue to be inconceivable spelling mistakes throughout the book, which is simply unacceptable, such as on the second to last line on page 151 where it should read "from" not "form," on page 211 it should read "heard" instead of "head," on page 279 "Rainwater and spittle `flew' (not few) from the man's lips," while a word is missing altogether from "The naga yanked back hard and came out with the still-beating, black heart of the firedrake [in] its clawed fist." (p.163)
On the positive side, Chapter 39 introduces the reader to the Tanar'ri Maurezhi (details found on page 110-111 of the AD&D Second Edition Planescape Monstrous Compedium II) through a well described summon monster spell. Additionally, Chapter 62 tells of the fate that befell Phyrea's ancestors that later came to haunt her. Moreover, Philip Athans provides on pages 157 and 219 wonderful descriptions of a wizard casting a polymorph other spell and of a cleric using her turning undead ability respectively. Furthermore, the author provides for some extraordinary descriptions of undead at work: "He smashed her face against the floor and the scream was momentarily combined with a wet crack, then she quieted to a moaning, sickly sound that made Willem's dead flesh crawl, so he smashed her face down again. Her body convulsed and her legs kicked out. He drove her face once more into the ever-increasing puddle of hot, sticky blood and broken teeth. She kicked one more time then was still" (p.213), "The ghoul staggered backward, clawing at its face and tearing free great strips of flesh, revealing the bone beneath. It had no skin on its face at all when it finally fell still" (p.165), "Surero's head exploded from the force of Willem's blow. The dry-skinned fist shattered teeth, drove the alchemist's mouth open, and continued on through flesh, bone, brain, and sinew to burst out the other side drenched in blood and saliva" (p.204), "The undead barrel-makers poured water into a barrel they'd finished. It was bad enough that the thing sprung leaks in a dozen places or more, but as they poured the water in, strips of their own rotting flesh fell into the barrel, fouling it" (p.289), and finally "Willem Korvan ate his mother's corpse, little by little, over the course of seventeen days not because he required sustenance, but out of some dimly-felt sense of necessity. Marek Rymut could feel the undead thing's need and confusion the second he stepped into the house. It hit him just as squarely, though not quite as hard, as the stench. The smell of the rotting carcass of Thurene Korvan mixed with the dried-meat and spice smell of her son. Throughout was the tang of disease." (p.246) In addition, Philip Athans provides for vivid descriptions that facilitate the reader to better visualize the scenes e.g. "Willem could smell the urine that drenched his already rain-soaked trousers" (p.92), "When the mist hit her, her skin blistered. She opened her mouth to scream again and inhaled a deep breath of acid. Instead of another scream, what came out was a white and pink froth. Her eyes melted into her skull and were gone entirely in less than a single heartbeat. The girl lived too long, dissolving away while trying to breath and scream, but succeeding only in sizzling," (pp.134-135), and "Marek snapped his fingers and the demon's forearm snapped. The creature howled in agony and grabbed the twisted limb. Its clawed hand hung limp at the end of it." (p.156) Finally, the author speaks truthfully when stating that: "You can only use people that allow themselves to be used... and anyone who would allow that is not worthy of your shame." (p.191)
In conclusion, despite several shining moments the Watercourse Trilogy was such a disappointment, especially after reading Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, and Philip Athans' story ("The Lady and the Shadow") from the Realms of the Arcane anthology, which were amazing. Hopefully the author's future work will be more in line with his better earlier novels. 3.5 Stars

Scream of Stone is the third part of the Watercourse Trilogy and although Book 1 was for me the best one, the third book is a more than enough closing book for this trilogy.
What I liked most about this trilogy is that it is mainly based on characters without exceptional abilities. They are not powerful fighters, wizars or whatever. With the exception of the main villain of the trilogy they are just plain people caught up in the events.
This makes this trilogy different than most Forgotten Realms trilogies, it is based on politics and on the differences among the characters.
Yes, there is the occasional cliched dwarf or other characters that seem unimportant, but there at least 3 or 4 great characters and a wonderful storyline that makes up for the few fights and the lack of hack-n-slash dungeon crawling.
If you wish to read a book that is somewhat different than the usual "good guy vs bad guy" Forgotten Realm novel, then this book and this trilogy are recommended.

Scream of Stone is the third and final installment in the Watercourse trilogy by Philip Athans. First two novels truly impressed me with their uniqueness, depth and general quality. This one lives up to the standard. Its should be mentioned that these three novels are in fact a single book divided into volumes, so don't bother trying to read this one before you have read the first two, you will just be at loss, and miss the greatness of the series.
I wont berate much about this third novel much, because I feel I would be repeating myself from pervious reviews. It is enough to say that Athans ties up all the loose ends, stays far away from clichés and simply speaking does what he did in the first two novels.
The series as a whole is probably the most original work to come out of WotC publishing ever. Its really serious fantasy. Yes there are dwarves in this book, but they aren't there just for the sake of comic relief. There are dragons, but they don't lie down on hoards of treasure, waiting for adventurers to kill them. Most of the characters in the book are normal people, and not "chosen ones", with prodigal magic or fighting skills. And as such, they are more unique and interesting then others we have read about a million times. It's not about great evil something threatening to take over the world. Its about love, envy, determination, greed and obsession, and how far each of those emotions can drive an average human.
I wouldn't want to sound rude, but this trilogy is ABOVE average FR reader. It is intellectually challenging, and involving. I would certainly like to see more books like these set in my favorite fantasy universe.
Buy it, and enjoy.

Ive got to completely disagree with the usual reviews for this book.
2 stars? are they nuts?
Yes, this is not a book for the stupid, it is not a book for people who are simply lookign for action.
b ut the watercourse trilogy is one of the best books IVe ever read. a hefty some.
the characters may seem bland to some but their actually flushed out VERY well. you just need to pay attention and above all else trust me
READ THIS SERIES IN ORDER!!

I read books one and two of this trilogy and I HATED them. I have yet to find a book written by Phillip Athans that I like.

His characters are unlikeable (and that's an understatement), he uses bizarre flashbacks at the oddest times, and he jumps past key plot elements with barely a mention.

I think I'm probably going avoid anything this author writes in the future.