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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Better than the first, February 23, 2006
This review is from: The Shattered Land: The Dreaming Dark Book 2 (Mass Market Paperback)
Too often a sequel or 2nd part of a trilogy will be somewhat of a letdown. I felt that way about Two Towers compared to The Fellowship of the Ring. With City of Towers, Keith Baker introduced us to a short list of characters that were to start on a epic life journey. Notice I said "life journey" and not quest. Although I found the first book in this series to be fairly good, I had trouble getting into the setting of Eberron and understanding some of what Keith Baker wanted us to know and appreciate about his fantasy world. Well, let me tell you folks, this book more than steps out in front of City of Towers - it far surpasses that first book! Baker is definitely getting better as a writer (and so are his editors, as I found much fewer errors in this novel than his first). This is a "cannot put it down" adventure novel, with a much better development of characters than the previous book. The dialogue seems to be improving, too, as the character of Daine provides a good example in this novel.
For those interested in Eberron's role-playing aspects from the D&D RPG, this book will help add to the players' knowledge base and understanding of what it means to 'play' in the world of Eberron. Xen'drik is wonderfully featured here, in all of its obscurity, from Stormreach to the jungles themselves. The drow are portrayed in an interesting way, as a cross between Zulu and native American warriors. Its the old D&D drow taken 90 degrees away from its predecessor.
For those not interested in RPGing but just a good adventure/fantasy story, this book should easily fill that desire. My father is an old fantasy reader, not much knowledge of D&D, and he was able to appreciate and be entertained by the first book. I know this book will be devoured in one day's sitting when I finally let him borrow it.
In short, an excellent fantasy/adventure book with suspense galore. Keith Baker, you've got my vote for best fantasy book of 2006, and it's only February!
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Keith Baker raises the bar!, February 23, 2006
This review is from: The Shattered Land: The Dreaming Dark Book 2 (Mass Market Paperback)
That difficult second album. Sometimes it is really hard to follow up on a novel that most people found to be fantastic. Sometimes the middle book can be a little bit of a let down, as it is simply the second act of a play and rarely has a satisfying end. Here though, Keith Baker has crafted a book that exceeds his first novel, and has enough action, intrigue and character building to keep you flipping those pages.
The book does end on a cliffhanger to end all cliffhangers, but it just means that we will be rushing out to get that last volume the minute it hits the shelves.
This book is The Dreaming Dark's equivalent of Aliens to Alien, Superman II to Superman, The Empire Strikes back to Star Wars. But I have a feeling that his last novel in the series will not be a Return of the Jedi or Superman III.
This book takes you on an adventure across Khorvaire to a land that we know very little about, Xen'drik. Along the way Keith Baker adds so many layers to his characters it is unbelievable. We now have a group of people that we genuinely care about. To be honest I was not bothered either way what happened to them in the first book, but whilst reading this I was panicking at the thought of anything this group of adventurers.
I loved the new elements that were introduced in this novel, namely the adventures on Xen'drik. I really enjoyed the Xen'drik drow. These are a race that could have been done so wrong, playing on the cool factor of the drow from Forgotten Realms, but Keith has done enough to make them as different and fresh as possible and at the same time make them as deadly as ever.
I am really looking forward to the final volume now, and have a new found respect for this man who only released his first novel about this time last year.
Keith Baker - I salute you!
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent mix of action, magic and mystery, February 24, 2006
This review is from: The Shattered Land: The Dreaming Dark Book 2 (Mass Market Paperback)
This book, the second book in the Dreaming Dark trilogy, has a little bit of everything. There is plenty of action and adventure and all the magic one might expect in a D&D-related book. But at its most basic level this book is mystery set in the fantasy world of Eberron (and a very good mystery at that).
The Shattered Land is filled with plot twists and turns that keep the reader guessing. Add to this an interesting set of characters all with their own mysterious background and what you get is an exceelent story that keeps the reader on the edge of his or her seat, eagerly awaiting to see what comes next. While I was able to see some of the plot twists coming, many of them caught me by surprise.
One aspect of the book (and the series in general) that I really enjoyed is that the motivations of the characters are often unclear. The characters are well thought out and have interesting backstories. Many of them are wrestling with their mysterious pasts and trying to figure out how the past is related to the events and struggles they are currently facing.
The author does an excellent job of dropping clues without revealing everything. This keeps the reader guessing about how various events fit together with the main thread of the story. Some of these mysteries are solved (at least in part) in this book while others are left unanswered (presumably until the third novel is released).
As mentioned by some of the other reviews, the book does an excellent job of familiarizing the reader with the setting. The reader is brought along as the characters explore the mysterious continent of Xen'Drik, almost sharing in the discoveries.
One word of warning. This is the second book in the series and to fully enjoy it and follow the mysteries I recommend you first read The City of Towers, also written by Mr. Baker.
Other Eberron books you might enjoy include: The Binding Stone, by Don Bassingthwaite and The Orb of Xoriat, by Edward Bolme
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