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jimothus 's review for:
Black Wizards
by Douglas Niles
- title is hilarious
- more LOTR inspiration with Trahern being a gollum-like, Cyndre manipulating the King
- magic castles rising out of the middle of the ocean is objectively awesome
- sahuagin are cool
- the Moonshae Isles are genuinely interesting as a setting while still being approachable to newcomers to the Forgotten Realms
- Niles hints heavily through the effects of Simmeridge Hugh's sword in the first book on Tristan and through Tristan's interactions here with Queen Allysonn that Hugh's spirit is compelling him in some way. I hope that leads somewhere substantial in the third book
- Canthus is back, swimming more in this one book than Michael Phelps' entire career
- more of an effort to have continuity with the tabletop lore, aligning Kazgeroth with Bhaal and retconning the Earthmother into Chauntea
- Darryth and Robin don't have any dialogue whatsoever. TF?
- A lot of different spells used in this book which is great
- Large-scale battles like the final one of this book can be chaotic and difficult to follow with the BEST of authors. I zoned out multiple times trying to follow the action
- Small-scale action tended to be better, I enjoyed Darryth's final fight with Razfallow although I wish it was a bit more climactic or had more impact to the plot since they have so much history
- Still pretty basic, unimpressive prose. Mid-elementary reading level and lots of exposition, mind-hopping in lazy ways
- Robin almost gets raped twice, wtf
- Doric (and other female characters) tend to be written as sexual/romantic objects or more generally uninterestingly with little relevance to the plot
- I think Douglas Niles has a lot of trouble so far writing believable character growth through character interactions and dialogue. Beginning of the 1st book Tristan is a young hothead who likes to drink and party, daddy-issues, and through Robin yelling at him and experiencing battles he grows somewhat. In book 2, he's again a partying, daddy-issue having kid who seems primed by Niles to grow in more substantial ways in this book, but the exact same thing happens: he battles a bit and I guess grew some?
- was hoping for growth via Pontswain in a Narnia/Eustace kind of relationship, but their dynamic never goes anywhere
- what is Pontswain even here for narratively? There's some hinting that he's more informed on secret things like the sinking city lore, but this doesn't go anywhere in this book, hopefully the third book does something with him
- too many characters that have no relevance/use beyond convenience in writing the characters out of conflict, like Yaziliclick, Fiona, Fenellen
- the high king just dies? Idk it felt like Tristan's noticing that Cyndre was mind controlling him in the prison might lead somewhere but I guess not. I feel like these books are full of hints at plot threads that don't end up going anywhere. Maybe I just read too deeply into little things
- ending makes it feel much more like a piece of a bigger story than the first, which was a good and complete story on its own
- I can only hope and imagine Douglas Niles has gotten more skillful and comfortable as a writer since writing this trilogy in the 80s
- more LOTR inspiration with Trahern being a gollum-like, Cyndre manipulating the King
- magic castles rising out of the middle of the ocean is objectively awesome
- sahuagin are cool
- the Moonshae Isles are genuinely interesting as a setting while still being approachable to newcomers to the Forgotten Realms
- Niles hints heavily through the effects of Simmeridge Hugh's sword in the first book on Tristan and through Tristan's interactions here with Queen Allysonn that Hugh's spirit is compelling him in some way. I hope that leads somewhere substantial in the third book
- Canthus is back, swimming more in this one book than Michael Phelps' entire career
- more of an effort to have continuity with the tabletop lore, aligning Kazgeroth with Bhaal and retconning the Earthmother into Chauntea
- Darryth and Robin don't have any dialogue whatsoever. TF?
- A lot of different spells used in this book which is great
- Large-scale battles like the final one of this book can be chaotic and difficult to follow with the BEST of authors. I zoned out multiple times trying to follow the action
- Small-scale action tended to be better, I enjoyed Darryth's final fight with Razfallow although I wish it was a bit more climactic or had more impact to the plot since they have so much history
- Still pretty basic, unimpressive prose. Mid-elementary reading level and lots of exposition, mind-hopping in lazy ways
- Robin almost gets raped twice, wtf
- Doric (and other female characters) tend to be written as sexual/romantic objects or more generally uninterestingly with little relevance to the plot
- I think Douglas Niles has a lot of trouble so far writing believable character growth through character interactions and dialogue. Beginning of the 1st book Tristan is a young hothead who likes to drink and party, daddy-issues, and through Robin yelling at him and experiencing battles he grows somewhat. In book 2, he's again a partying, daddy-issue having kid who seems primed by Niles to grow in more substantial ways in this book, but the exact same thing happens: he battles a bit and I guess grew some?
- was hoping for growth via Pontswain in a Narnia/Eustace kind of relationship, but their dynamic never goes anywhere
- what is Pontswain even here for narratively? There's some hinting that he's more informed on secret things like the sinking city lore, but this doesn't go anywhere in this book, hopefully the third book does something with him
- too many characters that have no relevance/use beyond convenience in writing the characters out of conflict, like Yaziliclick, Fiona, Fenellen
- the high king just dies? Idk it felt like Tristan's noticing that Cyndre was mind controlling him in the prison might lead somewhere but I guess not. I feel like these books are full of hints at plot threads that don't end up going anywhere. Maybe I just read too deeply into little things
- ending makes it feel much more like a piece of a bigger story than the first, which was a good and complete story on its own
- I can only hope and imagine Douglas Niles has gotten more skillful and comfortable as a writer since writing this trilogy in the 80s