Bookflog: The Rage by Richard Lee Byers (Chapters 21-22 & Epilogue) with a short story
Sorry for the late post, but my week has been slightly full of friends and good food. In any case, spoilers away!
Chapters 21- 22 and Epilogue
All right, in what can only be described as a “CLIMAX DOES NOT EQUAL CONCLUSION, YOU SILLY AUTHOR! No one will want to make whoopie with someone who doesn't know how to properly conclude so don't write stories that way either!” kind of mood I have finished the first book. There's a short story called “the Prisoner of Hulberg” that I will blurb after I grouse about the last few chapters of the Rage.
I generally don't like the story climax to occur in the last chapters and have only 5 pages dedicated to resolution. To make things inescapably clear, I don't give a rat's butt that this is the beginning of a trilogy. At least it doesn't end on a horrible cliffhanger.
So, Taegan goes toe to claw with a dracolich after a his good spirit-y dragon ally gets banished in a puff of logic. Jivex is still funny. They roll a bunch of twenties and clean out the Cult of the Dragon enclave. Yay! After acquiring enough loot to cover his debts, Taegan decides to go find the other main characters and help them. At least my elf fangirl tendencies will be assuaged for at least part of the next book.
The “happy” half-golem hedgehog and friends battle a bunch of critters to find out... That ancient elves set the Rage upon the dragons to break the dragon empires. Also, they left it running. With a little hop of logic, they speculate that somehow Sammaster managed to modify it. All of this makes me really want a Crown Wars story more... sigh *adds to the “to do” list*
Anyway Sammaster is undeterred by the progress of the good guys (although he is extremely upset that they've been successful so far) and is trusting in all the lovely traps he left behind and is planning on leaving behind. There's also mention that his base of power in in the north. Traps of doom, yay!
So ends the Rage. It isn't bad as far as generic fantasy goes and most of the gripes I've got are more of the general kind that are associated with game based fantasy novels (and a lot of other things post RPG era). It certainly has that “first book of a trilogy” feel going on. Makes me glad that I got this in a collection form.
Interlude short story: The Prisoner of Hulberg
Apparently Dorn and his peeps have split up. This story centers more around Will and Pavel, the party clowns. They've split off from the main party to chase another lead from Sammaster's folio pages. In doing so, they free a gem dragon from Zhent control and the slightly grateful wyrms drops some tidbits of info regarding the Rage. It's cyclic based on the appearance of a “star” called the King-killer. My misspent youth of looking through telescopes says that this is probably a comet.
Again, not bad, but not super spectacular. I do wish that the decision to split up had been detailed in the Rage though. It feels like a particularly jarring jump in addition to robbing me of seeing more of the group dynamics in action.
Chapters 21- 22 and Epilogue
All right, in what can only be described as a “CLIMAX DOES NOT EQUAL CONCLUSION, YOU SILLY AUTHOR! No one will want to make whoopie with someone who doesn't know how to properly conclude so don't write stories that way either!” kind of mood I have finished the first book. There's a short story called “the Prisoner of Hulberg” that I will blurb after I grouse about the last few chapters of the Rage.
I generally don't like the story climax to occur in the last chapters and have only 5 pages dedicated to resolution. To make things inescapably clear, I don't give a rat's butt that this is the beginning of a trilogy. At least it doesn't end on a horrible cliffhanger.
So, Taegan goes toe to claw with a dracolich after a his good spirit-y dragon ally gets banished in a puff of logic. Jivex is still funny. They roll a bunch of twenties and clean out the Cult of the Dragon enclave. Yay! After acquiring enough loot to cover his debts, Taegan decides to go find the other main characters and help them. At least my elf fangirl tendencies will be assuaged for at least part of the next book.
The “happy” half-golem hedgehog and friends battle a bunch of critters to find out... That ancient elves set the Rage upon the dragons to break the dragon empires. Also, they left it running. With a little hop of logic, they speculate that somehow Sammaster managed to modify it. All of this makes me really want a Crown Wars story more... sigh *adds to the “to do” list*
Anyway Sammaster is undeterred by the progress of the good guys (although he is extremely upset that they've been successful so far) and is trusting in all the lovely traps he left behind and is planning on leaving behind. There's also mention that his base of power in in the north. Traps of doom, yay!
So ends the Rage. It isn't bad as far as generic fantasy goes and most of the gripes I've got are more of the general kind that are associated with game based fantasy novels (and a lot of other things post RPG era). It certainly has that “first book of a trilogy” feel going on. Makes me glad that I got this in a collection form.
Interlude short story: The Prisoner of Hulberg
Apparently Dorn and his peeps have split up. This story centers more around Will and Pavel, the party clowns. They've split off from the main party to chase another lead from Sammaster's folio pages. In doing so, they free a gem dragon from Zhent control and the slightly grateful wyrms drops some tidbits of info regarding the Rage. It's cyclic based on the appearance of a “star” called the King-killer. My misspent youth of looking through telescopes says that this is probably a comet.
Again, not bad, but not super spectacular. I do wish that the decision to split up had been detailed in the Rage though. It feels like a particularly jarring jump in addition to robbing me of seeing more of the group dynamics in action.