The Fanged Crown by Jenna Helland is the first novel in The Wilds series set in the Forgotten Realms. The Wilds are a series of stand alone novels that feature remote parts of Realms. The other three books are; The
The Restless Shore: The Wilds by James P. Davis scheduled for release in May, 2009;
The Edge of Chaos: The Wilds by Jak Koke scheduled for release in August, 2009; and Wrath of the Blue Lady by Mel Odom scheduled for release in December, 2009. This series follows a trend Wizards of the Coast seems to be doing with stand alone novel series, such as The Citadels, The Fighters, The Wizards, etc. I have said before, I am happy this is continuing as it allows the reader to not have to read previous books to understand the story. Hopefully, Wizards of the Coast keeps this trend going. Here are my thoughts on this novel.
The main plot of this book centers on a small group of adventures hired to find a colony that has lost contact with the mainland. There are a couple subplots mixed in as well such as, the past of several characters makes them more than what they appear, the reason for the colony's existence may be for reasons other than what first thought, and a more far reaching mystery (that I Won't talk about because of spoiler potential). While there seems to be many elements to the plot, in actually reading it, it seems rather lean and linear. At times there is barely enough happening to hold the readers attention. Yet, at other times the pace is frantic and riveting. So, the flow of the book was inconsistent to me. One thing that contributes to this unevenness is attributed to how the chapters are arranged in the first half of the book. There is a mix of present day chapters (1479 DR) and things that occurred in the past (1469 DR). While reading it felt like this was done for no reason and even after I finished the book, I am not sure these dedicated chapters to the past were needed and added anything substantial to the overall story. There is enough substance to the plot that keeps things going, but there is really nothing that is surprising or a must read factor here. It is almost like a short story wrapped up in the body of a full length novel.
The characters in this novel are much like the plot. At times they are interesting, but at other times they are two dimensional and flat. There is a relatively select group of characters that the reader will come to know; Harp, Boult, Kitto, Verran are the main adventurers. Some side characters are Liel and Tresco. Of all those characters I was most interested in Kitto as he seemed to be the fullest most developed character. Verran, at times, is an interesting and complex character - but it seems that he is more often than not relegated to small scenes and then the background. The dialogue in this novel is pretty good. The constant banter between Boult and Harp is well done and makes for a couple of chuckles, but too much of a good things spoils the rest. Towards the end of the book that banter seems to fall short and becomes ordinary. There is also a lack of any real character development aside from one character. The rest of the characters finish the novel pretty much right where they started. While I don't expect each and every character to grow and progress at some exponential rate I still expect characters to grow and change in some way or another. Like the plot, I think these characters may have been better off in a short story than a full length novel.
Some criticisms about this novel:
1 - The time jump between chapters, going back and forth. It just didn't work and was more confusing than anything. If Ms. Helland felt the need to add back story, I would have liked to see it as small flashbacks rather then completely separate chapters.
2 - The linear and simple plot. There are several attempts at adding mystery to the plot, but they never really seemed to be really mysterious. There needed to be an extra element to make things mysterious and it just wasn't there. This book almost read like an adventure module.
3 - There seems to be many missing characters. What I mean by that is there are several instances when there should obviously be more characters present then what are actually written about. Such as the crew of the Crane and the dwarfs of Chult. I wanted to know more about them, and there is nothing there to read about.
Some positives about this book:
1 - Ever since
THE RING OF WINTER (Forgotten Realms Novels) by James Lowder, I have always been a fan of Chult. So, I am glad that another author was able to write in the that region. Chult ha s alife of its own and Ms. Helland was able to capture the ruggedness of the region.
2 - I always enjoy witty, snappy dialogue and that is certainly present in this book. Some of the one liners between Boult and Harp and nearly perfect. The bond of friendship is quite evident. It adds a nice, real touch to the characters.
3 - Descriptions are this books strongest point. I never felt I did not know what Ms. Helland wanted me to see. There is a certain vividness in how she writes and describes things. Yet, she never over describes anything, allowing the reader to use their imagination to fill in the gaps and make the vision their own.
When all is said and done, I have mixed feelings about this novel. I don't think it is a bad book by any means, but I also think that there are several things that if done differently, it could have been a much better experience for the reader. As far as I know, this is Ms. Hellands first novel so some of those things are understandable. I think Ms. Helland has some definite talent and some honing of the craft will certainly lead to many outstanding novels. Fans of the Forgotten Realms, and more importantly the region of Chult, will most likely want to pick this novel up. Readers looking at getting into the Realms could also pick this one up, as there is little to no prior knowledge needed to read this novel. In the end, it's a decent book, but a little short of the usual standards I have come to expect from the Forgotten Realms.
