Customer Reviews

Vanity's Brood: House of Serpents, Book III

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

 

 

Just put the book down and wow, what a book. This whole series has been great and you would be well advised to get into it. Great action and a wonderful cast of characters. good Job

If you like books like this one, might I suggest another I've recently come across. The Unsuspecting Mage by Brian S. Pratt. It's another fantasy adventure sure to please. I highly recommend it.

Vanity's Brood picks up from where Viper's Kiss left off and continues to shed light on Arvin, a rogue/psion, and his efforts at exacting revenge on Sybil, the half-demon yuan-ti abomination responsible for the deaths of Naulg and Karrell, the only two people he ever felt close to. In this final installment Arvin who has grown stronger, mastering powers such as invisibility and polymorph self among others, returns to Hlondeth before traveling to the exotic Jungles of Chult...
Vanity's Brood starts off incredibly well, with a description of Smaragd, one of the infinite layers of the Abyss, immediately catching the reader's interest and attention. The plot as a whole is excellent! The book is so incredibly well written and presented that the reader feels that they have been transported to another plane of existence and are actually present among the characters, seeing what they see, feeling what they feel, sensing what they sense.
Lisa Smedman has done a FANTASTIC job of acquiring and presenting, efficiently and successfully, essential knowledge relevant to Faerun, including customs, religion and the history of the peoples of Toril. Her solid grasp of factual detail makes her capable of providing the necessary background needed to carry out the difficult task of writing Forgotten Realms novels, which is something often missing from the work of many Fantasy authors. Consequently, from the moment you pick up the book you have trouble putting it down and if that is not a clear sign of a fantastic writer/author, I don't know what is!
Moreover, Lisa Smedman does a fantastic job of providing a good dose of Faerunian history and lore throughout the book (e.g. pages 12-13).
Furthermore, on pages 122, 130, and 237 respectively, the author provides more exceptional portrayals that help teleport the reader alongside Arvin: "They recoiled and stumbled backward, screaming and weeping. At least a dozen ran blindly into the lava and were killed, their hair and clothes bursting into flame and their flesh sizzling as it roasted from their bones," "He could remember every detail. Sibyl, sending out waves of magical fear that turned into lava and burned the flesh from his bones, leaving him a walking skeleton the reeked of seared meat. Zelia, cracking open enormous eggs and slurping out the screaming infants they contained, her neck bulging grotesquely as she swallowed them down. The marilith demon, hacking open Karrell's pregnant belly with its swords, inside was a nest of dead snakes tied in an intricate knot," and "She bit into it [the heart] like an apple, blood-juice running down her chin and throat."
On the negative side:
1) Yuan-ti are monsters and there is nothing cute or pleasant about having the hero become intimate and have babies with one. If it was elves, or even halflings it would be great, but scales and forked tongues... Really...
2) Sibyl had been to Chult before and since she is winged she would have recognized the landmark/volcano. The same applies for the Se'sehen who are native to the region and would have also picked up on the portal's location.
Nevertheless, these are quite minor when compared to the overall story, the dialogues, and the small details, which are all wonderful and create a strong sense of mystery and anticipation.
Dwarves, Halflings, Yuan-ti, Couatl, Dinosaurs, Tanar'ri, Gods (!), and factions like the Thieves' Guild and Talos' clerics have been presented very well.
If you love the Chultan Peninsula and all that it entails, try and get your hands on a copy of The Ring of Winter and The Jungles of Chult Accessory/Adventure (they are both Second Edition AD&D, out of print and it will take a bit of searching, but it's well worth it).
In conclusion, the House of Serpents trilogy is a series highly recommended to all Fantasy, and especially Forgotten Realms and Planescape, fans. Those with a soft spot for the Vilhon Reach and the Jungles of Chult in particular will have a ball.
Magic, romance, intrigue, betrayal, and swordfights are all about.

Vanity's Brood is the third and final book in the House of Serpents trilogy by Lisa Smedman. The first book in this trilogy is Venom's Taste; the second is Viper's Kiss. It is important to note that if you are considering this book you need to read the other two in order to be up to speed or else you will be completely lost in regards to some of the pieces in the plot line.

This book is mainly plot driven. Being that it is the conclusion of a trilogy Ms. Smedman needs to tie up loose ends that were in the first two books. Smedman does tie up many of the loose ends that were created during the first two novels, however, once I was finished with this book I felt slightly unsatisfied with the conclusion. There were a few twists in this book, but at least one of them seemed contrived and almost forced into the story. Don't get me wrong though, the book does a good job at concluding the story and leaving some room for future use of some of the characters if so desired. The first two books had an intimate feel to them. Well written, good story, and a sense of closeness with the story. This book seemed... to broad I think. It has a totally different feel than the first two. If the first two had been like this it may not have been as noticeable. For lack of a better term this book just seemed `off' to me.

Character development seems to take a back seat in this book. The first two in the series had a plethora of character development, yet that aspect seemed very neglected in this novel. Maybe, the author figured the characters advanced as far as they needed to in the first two, I can't speak for the author - but I was really disappointed with the lack of character development found within the pages of this book. There seems to be so much room for growth and exploration of the characters, specifically Arvin, Karrell, and Zelia. The use of Psionics as a class is little known in novels. The author does a good job at moving the character along in progression in the first two novels yet in this novel there is little to no growth in his powers or anything.

This trilogy as a whole would garner a 4/5 stars from me. But this book almost seems to be written by a different author, or rushed to get it on the store shelves. I don't know. Even the final battle seemed, `wrong' to me. It didn't seem to fit the story at all nor the previous events from the first two books. After finishing the book at contemplating the final two chapters, I had an empty feeling like nothing was really accomplished.

For fans that have invested time in the first two books, I suggest reading this book simply to know how it ends. For fans of the Forgotten Realms, this is a decent series and most will enjoy the psionic use and how the main character progresses (in the first two books). For general fans of fantasy books, I hate to say, but I would recommend not reading this if you have other book in your `to-read' pile. Let me say again though, this is not a bad trilogy by any means. In fact the first two books are very good. But, this third book... just doesn't do it for me. I do enjoy Ms. Smedman's work though and will keep reading he books.

I find this book (and series in general) has several limitations preventing me from really enjoying it.

First. James Bond Syndrome. In no less than 3 occasions does the evil, horrible, unbelievably cruel killer who lacks all remorse.... leave the protagonist incapacitated, yet not quite dead. Much like in the James Bond movies where the villain always leaves Mr. Bond in a complex death trap & then just leaves along his merry way. Thus allowing Bond to be in "Great Danger", yet still managing to escape to thwart the bad guy in the end. This comes off as hockey & improbable. There is also instances of monologuing (a term from the Incredibles). This is where the villain just stands there talking about how evil he is, how great his plan is, how he's about to rule the world.... And while he yapping, the hero sneaks off & hits the self-destruct button. This novel lacks the sense of style or wit to pull this off without sounding tired & recycled.

Second. This book is based in the Forgotten Realms, a setting for the Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game. The book is almost an endless series of flavor text. When a Game Rule interferes with the action of the story, the author seems to bend over backwards to accommodate the rules. This leads to such exchanges which are barely over "I can't get my spells now because Page 45 of the Player's Handbook says I have to pray for spells for 1 hour at the same time each day." I find this barely disguised flavor-text distracting.

For an example, when the main character throws his dagger at a translucent, undead foe, he offers the following observation "I half expected my dagger to pass right through it." This is because the Translucent Foe had the Incorporeal Property of the Game. Part of this property is a 50% chance for all physical attacks to miss. Thus the "I half expected it to miss" remark. I fully expected some character to say "I'm out of Power Points", "I can't cast 4th level Spells," or "It's ok, I'm still at half Hit Points."

I find this writing style disorienting. One, I play the game a lot. Two, they mess it up at some point. They get a rule, or effect completely wrong. When an author writes and decides to set certain limitations upon themselves, violating those rules can be jarring. In this case, the author made a consistent attempt to only write within the rules of the D&D Game & to make the audience aware she is accepting these limitations. These limitations I know pretty well. Thus, when she writes something that is inaccurate or wrong, it leaps out at me in a way it wouldn't normally otherwise. Much like a historical writer setting a story during the US Civil War & having soldiers equipped with machine guns. The inaccuracy leaps out at you.

For a story about half-snake people running around in a fictional world trying to go to another plane of existence to fight gods.... You've already stretched my suspension of disbelief pretty far. When you start making things up I know to be wrong (things that can't be done in D&D, yet you've spent 120 pages making sure I know this is a D&D novel) then you breach my limit.

Overall, I don't recommend this to the casual reader. However, if you:

1. Really like the Forgotten Realms. You might enjoy this. It details a race of people (the Yuan-ti snake-people) in a detail never done before. The story also takes place in Chult & Hlondeth, two areas which have received little attention in the past. I was able to finish it, despite my misgivings, due to the detail surrounding peoples & cultures long ignored by FR writers.

2. A D&D player. The book is chock full of D&D references & is reasonably faithful to the Game it represents (although the better you know the rules, the more jarring the inconsistencies). Whether you are just looking for better ways to talk "in-game" about various powers, spells, or abilities, or looking for inspiration how to set you own Character's Adventures to Paper, you'll find inspiration here.

Those merely seeking a well-written piece of fiction, may be disappointed.

The book has moments of potential, the characters are well written & the overall plot & story quite good. It just fails to overcome the limitations of tired, overused plot devices & an archaic language best suited to a sub-set of people that understand what a d20 is used for.

I just don't get the yan'ti as a villan-race. the mind seed stuff I don't like either.