Customer Reviews

Under Fallen Stars (Forgotten Realms: The Threat from the Sea, Book 2)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Overall Mel Odom continues to do a good job with this saga that touches on an area that no Realms novel has ever dealt with before. He deserves much credit for being the first author to work in this virgin territory, creating detailed pictures of the cultures and creatures that make their lives under the waves. In this second installment of the trilogy he continues to add color and depth to his characters as well as introduce a few new ones. My only regrets which keep this a 4 star review, are the few moments when I had to suspend my disbelief. For example, Jherek with the help of his new found friend the paladin launch a clumsy, hopeless attack on the HQ of a pirate, and are only saved by the good samaritan actions of another pirate. Not too believable. Jherek's sense of honor also gets a bit annoying, mainly during combat. In the naval attack on Baldurs Gate he passes up oppurtunities to strike his sauhagin foes in the back, and he shudders at the tactics his fellows use in combat because they seem "unfair" to him. In all probability Jherek should have gotten himself killed fighting the way he does. However, towards the end of book Jherek's sense of himself receives a serious blow, and he needs the help of a friend to get himself centered again. So in a sense his character retains some realism and becomes believeable. The book's pace doesn't quite match the first, but I still enjoyed reading it and look forward to the final novel.

While I can't agree with the reviewer below that Odom is better than Salvatore - he is certainly making a grab for fame. Mr. Odom has managed to make an aquatic setting actually interesting (no mean feat) and (what I imagine inspired the below review) you can actually care about the characters while most of the AD&D novel characters are complete throw-aways. I can't wait for the next one! The next Salvatore? Maybe. ... but a very fine novel in the meantime.

Just read this series -- that's all I have to say -- you MUST read this series! IMO Odom has passed Salvatore as the FR bard par excellence! This book is so rich in detail and characterization -- plus action, action, action -- and draws all the best from AD&D and the FR setting--WOW!

The story of Jherek and the Sahauguin invaders continues in this well written book. Odom continues to develop his characters well, even adding a couple of new additions to the journey. A young paladin joins Jherek on his journey after the item given to him by the priest of Lethander. And they end up at the Sea of Fallen Stars right where the old bard weaving his tale just happens to have traveled to.

The series is shaping up to be a fantastic one all in all, but this book was missing something compared to the first book. It seemed drawn out at times just filling space, like the author ran into the problem of one group being here and the other there and no way to bring them together, but he manages to pull it off rather well and it doesn't destract from the book at all.

Despite what some reviewers say this does not surpass the books of Salvatore. Does it come close? I will have to concede that it does. This is shaping up to be one of the best adventures in the Realms in recent history. Enjoy!

As I read this second book it what is shaping up to be a fantastic series, I can not help that notice that this book is not as strong as the first. The Character development contined at a some what slower rate, and I see signs that the story is begining to be drawn out (Though not to the extreem that Robert Jorden is still doing), and can only hope that the next book remains the same quality.

I find that there are a lot of similarities in the general story line to a series of "ready to play" adventures developed by TSR for the DD gaming universe. So I recomend for those players that liked this series to look in finding the "Trouble in Saltmarsh" adventures and trying them out.

Over all I did like this book and I highly recomend that the fans of the first should also get the second.

Overall I really liked this book, as with the others in this series. The battle/action scenes are great, and the whole time I was wondering, "What will happen next?" It was very hard to put down...
My only complaint about this book would be that the characters were just plain stupid a lot of the time. I had just finished reading some of RA Salvatore's crap, and I will say that the characters are nowhere near as annoying as his, but they are still annoying sometimes. Pacys the bard seems like a nice guy, but all he does is lament that the song he wants to write will never really come to him, and yet he is given lines to said song like every other minute. Jherek is clearly the chosen one or whatever, and yet he still denies it, even when any conclusion other than he is the chosen one would be incredibly insane. I guess he is too busy feeling sorry for himself to realize he is actually really tough. OK the character I liked least in these books was Sabyna...you can tell from reading the books that she's not hot at all, but thinks she is...again she is actually a really cool character when compared to RA's "Cattie-Brie" but she was still a pain in the neck sometimes. Oh wait, maybe Sabyna isn't the most annoying character, there is this sahaugin named Laqueel that is a religious fanatic, OK fine, people, and sahaugin should be able to believe what they want, and I have no problem with that, but if you do decide to be a religious fanatic, there shouldn't be books written about you. I don't want to read about someone if I always know what they will do in any given scenario. Oh and along the same lines as Pacys complaining he can't think up a song when he is writing one throughout the book, Odom says time and again that the Sahaugin hate magic, and yet all they do is use magic...What's going on here Mel? OK so that's all the bad stuff...the characters are really stupid and uninteresting, but much cooler and more interesting than any of Salvatore's good guys.
Here let me just say that I can't emphasize enough how cool Odom's battle/action scenes are...that alone has me reading this trilogy for a second time.

Ok I picked up the first one had thought it was a pretty good book it definetly had my intrests peaked so when I settled in my favorite chair to start up reading the sequel I was expecting a decent read. I was definetly disappointed. This book is horribly drawn out. This book should have been condensed to a couple chapters and edited in the 3rd book to save people time from reading it.