Customer Reviews

The Siege (Forgotten Realms: Return of the Archwizards, Book 2)

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

 

 

This is the second book in the series dealing with the return of the powerful Archwizards. This novel does not pick right up where the first left off and some things were unclear to me. The plot revoles around Galaeron, the elf mage, Vala, the fighter from Vassa, the city of Shade and the Chosen of Mystra. Shade is trying to reclaim the old land of Netheril, but this is having an affect on the rest of Faerun.

I thought that this was a good read with alot of great battle scenes throught the novel. The main characters were developed more and favorite characters were brought in (the Chosen). Some of the fights, however, were a little far fetched and the story was choppy in some parts making it hard to follow. The book was interesting and hard to put down and I would recommend it to anyone.

Very good book, covers a variety of different areas of the forgotten realms. Lots of Mystra's chosen and powerful magic

The first book in this series (The Summoning) is worse than this book by a good margin, but there are only 5 five stars, so I have given them both a 3/5.

Denning still doesn't explore the points of view of any of the other characters, even Ruha (who, admittedly, it IS nice to see again after the Parched Sea and the other novel with her in it, I can't remember the title), who he wrote a whole novel about. However, Galaeron's shadow conflict is a little less ubiquitous, and it is far more interesting than the first, mainly since there is a little more at stake in this novel than there was.

The shadows are obviously gathering for the war between the Shadowvar and the rest of Faerun, and the Shadowvar will hopefully lose. They are a bunch of selfish, greedy <Bad word>s who really should be taught to function in the context of the rest of the realms. Someimes they remind me of the Colonial British.

Anyway, it was a decent book, better than the first, and I am now working through the third apace. If you read the first, you should read this as well. If not, don't punish yourself.
Harkius

This was probably the worst of the three return of the Archwizards books. I really think the "Bad guys" needed much more character development. I did spend a lot of time trying to figure out who the real enemy was. Overall I suppose it was worth reading, if for any reason it would be to know the story line and how it plays out. If you are a forgotten realms junky like myself it is a worthwhile read.

I found the premise of Netheril a superb one in the past, when the FR still came out; what I found farfetched, a long time ago , was the fact that ALL of Netheril was destroyed. Considering that these 'ArchWizards" were creators of Mythallars and extraordinarily powerful, it made no sense they all disappeared. This Trilogy remedies that, and it is SPECTACULAR.

This book is NOT as food as the first one, but that only means it a 4/5 instead of a 5.

The Whole premise, Shar's Shadow Weave, the Shadovar, the Princes of Shade Enclave, the reclamation of Anaurauch Desert, and everything else is one of the best premises to base a book on I have seen in the FR.

Buy it, you will not regret it; I have already read it twice, and writing this review, I am going to read it again; BTW, the characters are very well fleshe dout, especially the Elf "struggling" with his ruthless, practical, evil Shadow self.

This book is the second in a new trilogy which details the the return of a city of ancient Netheril. It does not continue directly after the last book so some readers may be confused, especially if you haven't read the first book or if it's been a long time since you read "The Summoning." It does continue the development of the main character, an elven sorceror, who is learning to use and control his shadow magic without losing himself or his friends. It is a very good book that'll draw you into the plot and leave you wanting for the next book.

Thes story picks up were the last one left off. We see the city of Shade moving across the desert and get to meet the shadow wizards. These are good villains, but not as effective as the traditional "bad guys" in the realms. There is no Manshoon, Szazz Tam or even Semmemon here. They are a little cardboard at times, and pose little threat to the Realms. Even Telemont, the Shadowmage is not as formidable as he should be.

As for the writing style, too many cliff hanging ends to these chapters with characters I cannot really relate too. There are some villainous plot going on here to hold my interest. I can see many hooks for future novels here. Excavations of the Netheril sites, even the revival of Myth Drannor lies within, as the monstrous phaerimm are defeated!

Again Troy Denning reveals his ability to be able to produce trilogies that hold your attention from begining to end.

This book is awful! It is the worst D&D book I have ever read. The plot is slow, confusing, and boring. The characters have no focus. I could not even finish reading the book because it was so bad. Troy Denning has written some good stuff in the past but he has lost his touch with this series.

Though this saga starts out a bit slow, it soon builds enough steam to keep the pages turning. The auther creates a brilliant setting and fascinating main characters; tie that in with one heck of a story and this turns out to be another great read by Troy Denning. I cannot wait until the next installment!