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A review by dark_reader
The Parched Sea by Troy Denning, Fred Fields
3.0
Reading the Forgotten Realms novels in publication order, it is interesting to see what comes out of specific writers over time. Troy Denning wrote the least-intolerable book in the gods-awful Avatar trilogy (Waterdeep), then the pretty-good second entry in the Empires trilogy (Dragonwall), which worked fairly well as a semi-standalone novel, although it suffered in comparison to the first entry in that series (Horselords) by David Cook. Here in The Parched Sea, we finally get to see a Troy Denning treatment of the Realms, wholly unleashed from the narrative requirements of others.
The Harpers "series" of novels was published in the early 1990's. There is no continuing storyline; rather each entry simply had to have some connection to The Harpers of Forgotten Realms lore. As such, it seems to me as it TSR simply told any interested authors, "Write whatever you want as long as it has a Harper in it somewhere". The Parched Sea would not have suffered if the character Lander identified with any other group instead.
It is good! You have the barely-disguised translation of "Bedouin" to "The Bedine" to describe a desert-dwelling culture. Troy Denning paints a rich people here, and manages to evoke a vivid, life-filled desert without compromising the harsh nature of the environment. The characters are well-developed and empathetic. The story is compelling. I do not recall any instance of dragging plot. There is a proper amount of action packed into a tight just-over-300 pages. There are just enough fantasy elements to keep it planted firmly in Dungeons & Dragons lore, while retaining the uniqueness of the desert setting of Anauroch.
One thing in particular that I appreciated, was that this is the first Forgotten Realms novel that portrays the Zhentarim as any kind of legitimate threat. Earlier in publication order, they were featured in the Avatar trilogy and in Ed Greenwood's Spellfire, and in both of those cases the Zhentarim were pitifully laughable enemies, bumbling fools screaming "Evil!" without any competence, diminishing in turn the standing of the 'heroes' who oppose them. Here, this enemy nation is portrayed as a reasonable threat for the first time.
My reading of this novel was broken up by a number of other books (often a stream of library loans that I was running out of time on) and the need to study for and write a professional certification exam, so what could have been an easy few days' read turned into almost 3 months. But despite these long interruptions, The Parched Sea maintained my interest and appreciation of the characters, which I take to signify the quality of this book, as far as pulp fantasy enjoyments (my favourite kind of enjoyments) go.
The Harpers "series" of novels was published in the early 1990's. There is no continuing storyline; rather each entry simply had to have some connection to The Harpers of Forgotten Realms lore. As such, it seems to me as it TSR simply told any interested authors, "Write whatever you want as long as it has a Harper in it somewhere". The Parched Sea would not have suffered if the character Lander identified with any other group instead.
It is good! You have the barely-disguised translation of "Bedouin" to "The Bedine" to describe a desert-dwelling culture. Troy Denning paints a rich people here, and manages to evoke a vivid, life-filled desert without compromising the harsh nature of the environment. The characters are well-developed and empathetic. The story is compelling. I do not recall any instance of dragging plot. There is a proper amount of action packed into a tight just-over-300 pages. There are just enough fantasy elements to keep it planted firmly in Dungeons & Dragons lore, while retaining the uniqueness of the desert setting of Anauroch.
One thing in particular that I appreciated, was that this is the first Forgotten Realms novel that portrays the Zhentarim as any kind of legitimate threat. Earlier in publication order, they were featured in the Avatar trilogy and in Ed Greenwood's Spellfire, and in both of those cases the Zhentarim were pitifully laughable enemies, bumbling fools screaming "Evil!" without any competence, diminishing in turn the standing of the 'heroes' who oppose them. Here, this enemy nation is portrayed as a reasonable threat for the first time.
My reading of this novel was broken up by a number of other books (often a stream of library loans that I was running out of time on) and the need to study for and write a professional certification exam, so what could have been an easy few days' read turned into almost 3 months. But despite these long interruptions, The Parched Sea maintained my interest and appreciation of the characters, which I take to signify the quality of this book, as far as pulp fantasy enjoyments (my favourite kind of enjoyments) go.