Customer Reviews

Stormlight (Forgotten Realms: The Harpers)

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

 

 

If you are among those hoping that Ed Greenwood will develop his characters more as time goes on, Stormlight is sure to disappoint. In it, Storm Silverhand becomes involved in a scheme by a dead god to revive himself. (Those who have read TSR's Lost Gods offerings will find this a familiar theme, though Stormlight is not part of that series.) Despite several interesting moments, Stormlight falls short on at least two counts.

First, Greenwood's characters continue to develop in raw power without any concurrent personality development. Even though she is likely the least powerful of the Seven Sisters, Storm is revealed to be a near-god by the end of this novel: she has lived for centuries; she has allies among the kings and archwizards throughout the land (and drops their names liberally in her dialogue); and, though not a wizard, she exhibits practically undefeatable spell-like abilities. Meanwhile, her personality remains shallow and inconsistent, e.g. bemoaning the fate of a long lost love at times and flirting with various male characters at others. Sadly, we learn very little of her past, or her connection to Elminster, Mystra, or her sisters.

Second, the plot has roughly 75 pages worth of substance, but the author presses the formulaic battle-then-regroup button long enough to churn out the requisite 312 page TSR novel. A potentially interesting secondary villain is quickly introduced then defeated by characters only peripherally involved in this novel, leaving the reader to wonder if interesting subplots have been deliberately clipped out by a sadistic editor.

In short, I recommend Stormlight only to those desperate for a Forgotten Realms story.

Action in its finest form, appealing plot twists, and a very human character. Human in the sense of her attitude, of course, as she's pretty resistant. The plot always made me want to know the next events, and I couldn't let it down. Again, a great work of Ed Greenwood.

Not a good book to read your first time through the Realms, but quite amusing if you know anything about Storm or the Seven Sisters.

Ed Greenwood's writing is anything but stimulating here, but FR fans do get plenty of Storm's biting humor. However, there are frustrating plot-defects. Storm's habit of ending up nude distracts from the book and is plain annoying. I read "Spellfire" and "Crown of Fire" long before this book (found neither of them gripping) and there are mentions of Selune and the loss of Storm's lover which contradict everything in "Stormlight" from the appearence of Selune to everything else in Storm's life.

The only other thing that trips up this novel is the fact that being a Chosen of Mystra makes Storm next to invincible, killing any hint of suspense that could have existed here. So if you are a Seven Sister's fan and can straighten out those little life-plot inconsistencies and like to see snobby nobles getting an earful, then go check this one out at the library or borrow it before deciding to add it to your collection.

Though the characters are a little flat and the plot a simplistic, the book was still a good read. The story has everything that a TSR book should, including the the dim but honourable soldiers, egotistic wizards, a sexy heroine who is almost godlike, and of course the all powerfull villian. But that is also the books problem because it becomes too pridictable and repetative in some of the action sequences.

This book is a fine example of everything Ed Greenwood does wrong when he writes a novel. Ed seems incapable of creating characters who are anything short of omnipotent. Storm can always fall back on some poorly explained mystic power whenever her sword-weilding abilities or wits fail her. This is terrible because it dampens all of the excitement of the fight scenes. No matter how well the author could choreograph a fight ( and I'm not saying he does it well), the reader is bored because he knows somehow this Storm character is in no real danger.

Ed's supporting characters are usually stereotypical, and the nobility described in this book are no exception. They are snobish, condesending, and incapable of displaying any intelligence that could save them from their impending doom. Ofcourse it is up to Storm to gallantly and selflessly save them from their ignorance. Please!

Ed "peppers" his book with nude scenes of Storm that do nothing to develop the story, and are completely inappropriate to the moment at hand. Who is he catering to? Adolescents? He reveals more about Storm's anatomy than he does about her character, her motivations, her past, or her fears. Instead of writing a believable, living, breathing character Ed fails and creates a pin-up girl.

This is the classic example of Ed Greenwood being a dirty old man. Totally plot driven, populated with gaudy, overrrated characters who resemble a dominatrix rather than a fantasty character. I barely made it through the first 30 pages before I started skimming half heartedly through this haphazardly tossed together "novel".

Perhaps if Mr Greenwood really loved the world he created, the publisher would not have destroyed it. Instead he beat it to death and stunned the fans with garbage like this, which didnt end here. He is not literary in the least-kitchy and childish, yes. Alas the Forgotten Realms, which held so much potential, has ended its appearance in our world.

Someone, or something, is killing servants, armsmen and nobles in Firefall Keep. Killing them with evil magic that leaves no trace.

The Seven Sashes, a group comprised of seven of the realm's mightiest war wizards, are unable to locate the killer and even some of their own members are being found dead.

Storm Silverhand, one of the chosen servants of the goddess Mystra, finds that the killer looks desturbingly like her long dead love. Will she be able to prevail over the killer without bringing down the Keep? First she must overcome centuries of mistrust, fear, and poisonous intrigues from those she is duty-bound to protect.

I first read about Storm in Spellfire. She didn't make that much of an impact on me. I almost didn't get this book. After I read it, though, Storm became one of my favorite of the Seven Sisters. It is a must for fans of the Seven, Shadowdale, and even fans of the Dead Three will find a couple of surprises in there. It's worth the read.

... Ed Greenwood has little grasp of plot, charachter development, or suspense. This book reads like a fifth grade book report. It is definately the worst of the Harper series and one of the worst books in the Forgotten Rhealms setting.

The start of the book is ok. Anything about the silver sisters is somewhat interesting. The only problem is there is so much randomness going on in the book that it is hard to follow. Ed Greenwood is not the greatest writer, and I agree with others that anyone looking for a good fantasy book should look elsewhere. Too much random nudity, destruction, and plot lines.