Forgotten Realms novels: Darkwalker on Moonshae by Douglas Niles (1987)
My recent re-infatuation with Heroic Fantasy is mostly fueled by my recent move to a different state than where I was living the past 20 years. My old position was being eliminated, and I took a position which opened up in another state. Now living a few hours' drive from my social circle, I found myself needing some local social contact. Being who I am, I naturally looked at the nearby gaming stores. These days, there are a relatively limited number of games you can hope to get involved in on the fly. The three big ones for organized store play are: Warhammer (and Warhammer 40,000) miniatures, Magic: the gathering collectible card game, and Dungeons & Dragons (4th edition). These are the big cash cows of the modern gaming industry (non-computerized division) and are all enthusiastically supported in stores by their respective publishers. Of the three, I chose D&D, since it is (A) an RPG and (B) far less expensive a proposition than CCGs or miniatures. Of course, D&D is owned by Hasbro these days, and they've done their best to monetize that sucker beyond any dreams of the RPG publishers of my youth. But that's a topic for a post of its own.
This was the first time I'd played D&D since 1989 (the group I played with at the time ditched it for GURPS when 2nd edition came out.) There had been other RPGs in the meantime, even some fantasy campaigns, but not D&D proper, with the half-elves and halflings and magic missiles and saving throws and gelatinous cubes. A big floodgate of nostalgia popped open in my mind. Further fuel was cast on the fire by: the brilliant "A Game of Thrones" TV series, watched all within 24 hours this summer; the hugely enjoyable new "Dungeons & Dragons" comic book from IDW, written by John Rogers; "Dragon Age: Origins", a computer RPG I'm a little late to play, but so, so good; and the "Demon Knights" comic by Paul Cornell, just launched by DC Comics. Sometimes these things just pile up all at once.
Since it was D&D that triggered my cravings, it was only natural that one of the potential sources of literary edification I decided to turn to was a series of novels spawned in part by the game itself. TSR (original publishers of D&D) branched out into publishing novels in 1984, with the Dragonlance series. I'd read the first couple of them, but never really warmed to them. These were fantasy novels that were turned into a game setting, and they didn't quite jibe with the feel of "regular" D&D. D&D creator Gary Gygax, meanwhile, started a series based on his World of Greyhawk setting, which, naturally, felt much more "right". However, Gygax split with the company in 1986, and the series only last a couple years under a different writer. In 1987, TSR published the first book based on the Forgotten Realms. The Realms didn't start as a game setting, being primarily created by Ed Greenwood in his childhood as a place where the fantasy adventure stories he concocted could take place. By the 80's, though, Greenwood and his friends had transformed it into a game setting, and Greenwood had written a number of articles for Dragon magazine describing bits and pieces of it. (We'll run into Greenwood later, as he was naturally one of the authors of the FR novels).
So, back to 1987, and the publication of "Darkwalker on Moonshae" by Douglas Niles, the start of the most successful "shared universe" novel series ever. With dozens (hundreds?) of books in over 60(!!!) sub-series, this is a massive body of work. Surely some of it must be good!
"Darkwalker", sadly, is not.
The kingdom of Corwell, one of several relatively peaceful kingdoms in the Moonshae Isles, is being menaced by an impending invasion of Viking-like Northlanders. But the real threat to the land lies in the revival of an ancient dark force of corruption called The Beast (but actually named Kazgoroth). Our destined hero for this walk through of basic High Fantasy cliches is Tristan Kendrick, Prince of Corwell, teenaged disappointment to his surly father, the King of Corwell. Tristan spends his time hunting, goofing off, and hanging out with his only slightly disreputable halfling pal Pawldo. Tristan also has a confused crush on his adoptive sister, Robyn, who sort of returns the feeling, but in such a way that I suspect they'll not end up together. In the first chapter, Tristan gets a new Special Pet (the unusually intelligent moorhound Canthus) from Pawldo, and meets his new best friend, the Calishite thief Daryth, when the latter picks his pocket at the dockside.
From there, adventures ensue. The shape shifting Beast travels about, killing some people and corrupting others, gathering strength until it replaces the king of the Northlanders. Tristan and company find a roving band of Firbolg giants, unusually close to human settlements. Robyn discovers she suddenly has Druidic powers. They meet a traveling bard; a crotchety dwarf (female, to buck tradition, but still bearded); a band of hot-elf-chick paladins; and an obnoxiously "cute" and "humorous" faerie dragon. They discover and defeat a Firbolg stronghold, in the treasure room of which Tristan discovers a legendary sword, the finding of which marks him as a hero of prophecy or some such. This band of adventurers must now turn back to Caer Corwell to save it from the Northlander invasion, as well as the darker threat of the Beast.
I only really read the first couple of chapters. At an early point, I started skimming, just trying to get the plot straight. Even then, I failed to finish, giving up about midway through the climactic battle, around the time Robyn is suddenly commanding storms and tossing lightning around because some old wise person gave her a magic staff, and maybe because her unknown mother might have been someone special. The book just hit too many of my "off" buttons. Special Pet. Destined Hero. Comedy Relief "Cute" Critter. Unearned Special Powers. Teenagers. Extra characters who serve no major function. For example, Pawldo and Daryth are somewhat redundant, aside from Daryth being around for a potential (but unexplored) love triangle. Stylistically, its a bit of a mess, which can possibly be chalked up to it being only Niles' third published work, and also to bad editing. A stand-out error is a scene transition in which our heroes, out hunting in the woods one day, are attacked by a boar. Cut from charging boar to the dark of night, elsewhere on the same isle. After a second scene explicitly occurring under a full moon, we return to the boar attack, still in broad daylight, no time having elapsed. Oops.
Niles went on to write two more books in the Moonshae Trilogy ("Black Wizards" and "Darkwell", in 1988 and 1989); a sequel trilogy (the Druidhome Trilogy: "The Prophet of Moonshae", "The Coral Kingdom", and "The Druid Queen" from 1992 to 1993) and, in between, The Maztica Trilogy ("Iron Helm", "Viperhand" and "The Feathered Dragon" in 1990 and 1991). I won't be reading any of these (thus sparing me the Fake Aztecs of Maztica, who I was dreading regardless of author.) At this time, Niles has had over 50 novels published, more than half of them in the Forgotten Realms or Dragonlance lines. (21 Dragonlance books!)
"Darkwalker" takes place in the year 1345 by Realms reckoning. The current 4th Edition Forgotten Realms Players' Guide (purchased at a going-out-of-business Border's) is set in the year 1479. It is my pleasure to inform you that, some time in the ensuing 134 years, the Kingdom of Corwell was destroyed, and now lies in ruins, deserted.
Next: Something I actually liked.
This was the first time I'd played D&D since 1989 (the group I played with at the time ditched it for GURPS when 2nd edition came out.) There had been other RPGs in the meantime, even some fantasy campaigns, but not D&D proper, with the half-elves and halflings and magic missiles and saving throws and gelatinous cubes. A big floodgate of nostalgia popped open in my mind. Further fuel was cast on the fire by: the brilliant "A Game of Thrones" TV series, watched all within 24 hours this summer; the hugely enjoyable new "Dungeons & Dragons" comic book from IDW, written by John Rogers; "Dragon Age: Origins", a computer RPG I'm a little late to play, but so, so good; and the "Demon Knights" comic by Paul Cornell, just launched by DC Comics. Sometimes these things just pile up all at once.
Since it was D&D that triggered my cravings, it was only natural that one of the potential sources of literary edification I decided to turn to was a series of novels spawned in part by the game itself. TSR (original publishers of D&D) branched out into publishing novels in 1984, with the Dragonlance series. I'd read the first couple of them, but never really warmed to them. These were fantasy novels that were turned into a game setting, and they didn't quite jibe with the feel of "regular" D&D. D&D creator Gary Gygax, meanwhile, started a series based on his World of Greyhawk setting, which, naturally, felt much more "right". However, Gygax split with the company in 1986, and the series only last a couple years under a different writer. In 1987, TSR published the first book based on the Forgotten Realms. The Realms didn't start as a game setting, being primarily created by Ed Greenwood in his childhood as a place where the fantasy adventure stories he concocted could take place. By the 80's, though, Greenwood and his friends had transformed it into a game setting, and Greenwood had written a number of articles for Dragon magazine describing bits and pieces of it. (We'll run into Greenwood later, as he was naturally one of the authors of the FR novels).
So, back to 1987, and the publication of "Darkwalker on Moonshae" by Douglas Niles, the start of the most successful "shared universe" novel series ever. With dozens (hundreds?) of books in over 60(!!!) sub-series, this is a massive body of work. Surely some of it must be good!
"Darkwalker", sadly, is not.
The kingdom of Corwell, one of several relatively peaceful kingdoms in the Moonshae Isles, is being menaced by an impending invasion of Viking-like Northlanders. But the real threat to the land lies in the revival of an ancient dark force of corruption called The Beast (but actually named Kazgoroth). Our destined hero for this walk through of basic High Fantasy cliches is Tristan Kendrick, Prince of Corwell, teenaged disappointment to his surly father, the King of Corwell. Tristan spends his time hunting, goofing off, and hanging out with his only slightly disreputable halfling pal Pawldo. Tristan also has a confused crush on his adoptive sister, Robyn, who sort of returns the feeling, but in such a way that I suspect they'll not end up together. In the first chapter, Tristan gets a new Special Pet (the unusually intelligent moorhound Canthus) from Pawldo, and meets his new best friend, the Calishite thief Daryth, when the latter picks his pocket at the dockside.
From there, adventures ensue. The shape shifting Beast travels about, killing some people and corrupting others, gathering strength until it replaces the king of the Northlanders. Tristan and company find a roving band of Firbolg giants, unusually close to human settlements. Robyn discovers she suddenly has Druidic powers. They meet a traveling bard; a crotchety dwarf (female, to buck tradition, but still bearded); a band of hot-elf-chick paladins; and an obnoxiously "cute" and "humorous" faerie dragon. They discover and defeat a Firbolg stronghold, in the treasure room of which Tristan discovers a legendary sword, the finding of which marks him as a hero of prophecy or some such. This band of adventurers must now turn back to Caer Corwell to save it from the Northlander invasion, as well as the darker threat of the Beast.
I only really read the first couple of chapters. At an early point, I started skimming, just trying to get the plot straight. Even then, I failed to finish, giving up about midway through the climactic battle, around the time Robyn is suddenly commanding storms and tossing lightning around because some old wise person gave her a magic staff, and maybe because her unknown mother might have been someone special. The book just hit too many of my "off" buttons. Special Pet. Destined Hero. Comedy Relief "Cute" Critter. Unearned Special Powers. Teenagers. Extra characters who serve no major function. For example, Pawldo and Daryth are somewhat redundant, aside from Daryth being around for a potential (but unexplored) love triangle. Stylistically, its a bit of a mess, which can possibly be chalked up to it being only Niles' third published work, and also to bad editing. A stand-out error is a scene transition in which our heroes, out hunting in the woods one day, are attacked by a boar. Cut from charging boar to the dark of night, elsewhere on the same isle. After a second scene explicitly occurring under a full moon, we return to the boar attack, still in broad daylight, no time having elapsed. Oops.
Niles went on to write two more books in the Moonshae Trilogy ("Black Wizards" and "Darkwell", in 1988 and 1989); a sequel trilogy (the Druidhome Trilogy: "The Prophet of Moonshae", "The Coral Kingdom", and "The Druid Queen" from 1992 to 1993) and, in between, The Maztica Trilogy ("Iron Helm", "Viperhand" and "The Feathered Dragon" in 1990 and 1991). I won't be reading any of these (thus sparing me the Fake Aztecs of Maztica, who I was dreading regardless of author.) At this time, Niles has had over 50 novels published, more than half of them in the Forgotten Realms or Dragonlance lines. (21 Dragonlance books!)
"Darkwalker" takes place in the year 1345 by Realms reckoning. The current 4th Edition Forgotten Realms Players' Guide (purchased at a going-out-of-business Border's) is set in the year 1479. It is my pleasure to inform you that, some time in the ensuing 134 years, the Kingdom of Corwell was destroyed, and now lies in ruins, deserted.
Next: Something I actually liked.