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A review by beautyinruins_ca
Pinquickle's Folly by R.A. Salvatore
3.0
Although I’ve read a lot of R.A. Salvatore, it’s mostly been his Forgotten Realms work (along with The Crimson Shadow trilogy). I haven’t read the 7 books of The DemonWars Saga, but Pinquickle’s Folly was pitched as being a “great starting place for readers,” so I thought I’d give it a shot.
On that note, I found the first few chapters to be a rough ride. Through the narrative we’re given a bare-bones history of the world and the conflict with the Xoconai, but I felt like it wasn’t enough. Even as a long-time fantasy reader, I found myself overwhelmed with details, names, geographies, politics, and races – especially since the terms aren’t used as we’d expect, with ‘sidhe’ referring to humans rather than magical races. That tripped me up a lot before it sunk in. I think if the book came with a proper “what came before” summary, a half dozen pages to explain the saga prior to this, it would have been a huge help.
Once I got started to get a sense of the players, though, the story came together quite well, with a lot of action-packed high seas adventure. At times it felt a little silly, and at times it felt a bit rushed, but it was engaging and fun. I read the bulk of the book in the same time it took me to struggle through the first few chapters, so it’s definitely worth sticking with.
There are a lot of prominent characters, but Massayo and Quauh are the two who stuck with me, primarily because they were the deepest and most well-developed of the lot. This is a doing/talking book, not a thinking book, so we don’t get into the heads of characters the way you may be used to in Salvatore’s other universes. It’s a shame that the cover – that ugly, horrible, digitally-rendered (maybe AI?) cover – gives away part of Quauh’s story arc, because I’d have rather wondered and been surprised.
Not great, but good, Pinquickle’s Folly was a fun read that may resonate better with audiences who know the backstory.
https://sallybend.wordpress.com/2024/02/01/book-review-pinquickles-folly-by-r-a-salvatore-fantasy/
On that note, I found the first few chapters to be a rough ride. Through the narrative we’re given a bare-bones history of the world and the conflict with the Xoconai, but I felt like it wasn’t enough. Even as a long-time fantasy reader, I found myself overwhelmed with details, names, geographies, politics, and races – especially since the terms aren’t used as we’d expect, with ‘sidhe’ referring to humans rather than magical races. That tripped me up a lot before it sunk in. I think if the book came with a proper “what came before” summary, a half dozen pages to explain the saga prior to this, it would have been a huge help.
Once I got started to get a sense of the players, though, the story came together quite well, with a lot of action-packed high seas adventure. At times it felt a little silly, and at times it felt a bit rushed, but it was engaging and fun. I read the bulk of the book in the same time it took me to struggle through the first few chapters, so it’s definitely worth sticking with.
There are a lot of prominent characters, but Massayo and Quauh are the two who stuck with me, primarily because they were the deepest and most well-developed of the lot. This is a doing/talking book, not a thinking book, so we don’t get into the heads of characters the way you may be used to in Salvatore’s other universes. It’s a shame that the cover – that ugly, horrible, digitally-rendered (maybe AI?) cover – gives away part of Quauh’s story arc, because I’d have rather wondered and been surprised.
Not great, but good, Pinquickle’s Folly was a fun read that may resonate better with audiences who know the backstory.
https://sallybend.wordpress.com/2024/02/01/book-review-pinquickles-folly-by-r-a-salvatore-fantasy/