The Tainted Cup - Robert Jackson Bennett

    2024; 406 pages.  Book 1 (out of 1) in the “Shadow of the Leviathan” series.  New Author? : Yes.  Genres : Intrigue; Epic Fantasy, Murder-Mystery.   Overall Rating: 9½/10.

 

    Taqtasa Blas, one of the Commanders of the Engineers, has met a gruesome end.  You can read about it in the first excerpt below.  The “how” is easily determined – exposure, either through ingestion or inhalation, to the malignant blooms of the dappleglass.  It appears there is a murderer afoot. 

 

    Interestingly, ten other engineers also perished recently from dappleglass poisoning.  But they were nowhere near Blas, and they died at somewhat different moments, which indicates they weren’t all infected at a single time and place.

 

    Iudex Inspector Ana Dolabra has been assigned to the case, along with her assistant, Dinios “Din” Kol.  Their task is to figure out who the poisoner, or poisoners, were, and when and where those lethal doses were administered.

 

    But Ana is a topnotch investigator.  She intends to also find out who hired the poisoner(s), which will answer the question of why someone wanted so badly to kill a bunch of engineers.  Good luck on that quest, Ana.

 

What’s To Like...

    The Tainted Cup is an epic fantasy tale set in the Holy Empire of Khanum.  Ana and Din are emissaries of its ruler, the Conzulate, but they are a long way from the capital city, Imperial Sanctum.  Khanum is a hierarchal society where one’s rank is of utmost importance.  Ana’s and Din’s loyalties will be tested, but this is also true for those whom they will question about Blas’s murder.

 

    Our two protagonists reminded me muchly of Arthur Conan Doyle’s heroes.  Din assumes the role of scribe, chronicling the events like Dr. Watson did for Sherlock Holmes.  Ana has some remarkable deductive talents, just like Sherlock, and uses some quirky habits, including most of the time interacting while blindfolded, to better “read” the tones and nuances of witnesses’ testimony.

 

    Din himself has some special talents as well.  He’s an “engraver”, which means he has eidetic memory, which in turn means he is the perfect set of eyes and ears to witness events and to “record and playback” testimony.  And unlike the usually clueless Dr. Watson, Din frequently injects biting sarcasm into his snappy remarks, even when conversing with his boss, Ana.

 

    The action starts immediately with Ana and Din arriving at the manor where the remains of Taqtasa Blas repose.  The servants there seem to be covering something up, but what?  From there the case quickly gets more complicated as additional bodies are found.  The worldbuilding overall is superb, with Robert Jackson Bennett deftly blending it into the storyline, yet somehow avoiding bogging things down with long descriptions.

 

    The ending is how I like them: tense and exciting, with lots of twists, yet quite logical.  All the murders are solved, and both Ana and Din reveal personal secrets to each other.  It is obvious that they are going to be a formidable investigative team for the Conzulate of Khanum.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.6*/5, based on 3,017 ratings and 463 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.69*/5, based on 22,048 ratings and 4,903 reviews.

 

Things That Sound Dirty, But Aren’t…

    “Pick a glass and stick it up your damn nose quick!”

 

Excerpts...

    The most remarkable feature of the room was the clutch of leafy trees growing in the center—for it was growing from within a person.

    Or rather, through a person.

    The corpse hung suspended in the center of the bedchamber, speared by the many slender trees, but as Otirios had said it was initially difficult to identify it as a body at all.  A bit of torso was visible in the thicket, and some of the left leg.  What I could see of them suggested a middle-aged man wearing the purple colors of the Imperial Engineering Iyalet.  The right arm was totally lost, and the right leg had been devoured by the swarm of roots pouring out from the trunks of the little trees and eating into the Stonewood floor of the chamber.

    I stared into the roots.  I thought I could identify the pinkish nub of a femur amid all those curling coils.  (pg. 9)

 

    “The number of people holding a grudge against the Hazas is beyond count.”

    “Might you also count among that company, ma’am?” I asked.

    She raised her eyebrows at me behind her blindfold.  “My, my.  That’s rather insolent of you, isn’t it?”

    “I would simply note, ma’am, that Vashta just referenced your old grudges with them.”

    “A rumor,” she said dismissively.

    “And you also once said of the Hazas—I wouldn’t mind seeing all their progeny rotting in the ground like a bunch of f**king dead dogs.  Which is, I feel, mostly how one talks of one’s enemies.”

    “Oh, yes, well,” she said, sighing.  “This is why people are so loath to talk before an engraver. . .They never forget a f**king thing you say!”  (pg. 241)

 

“What a tool cynicism is to the corrupt, claiming the whole of creation is broken and fraudulent, and thus we are all excused to indulge in whatever sins we wish.”  (pg. 286)

    There’s quite a bit of profanity – 22 instances in the first 10%, seven of which were f-bombs.  Later on, “localized” expletives were used—“by the Harvester” and “by the titan’s unholy taint”—which I always like.  I don’t recall any adult situations, but homophobes beware, a gay relationship is alluded to.

 

    I didn’t note any typos at all.  Kudos to the editors.

 

    For me, The Tainted Cup was a captivating first book in a series, with fantastic world-building, mystery-composing and witty interactions.  My only gripe is that the second book, A Drop of Corruption, won’t be released until next April.  I have very little patience when I’m forced to be patient.

 

    9½ Stars.  One last thing.  Here’s hoping that the next book’s cover includes a drawing of the main creature in this story, the leviathan.  It has a major impact on the storyline, periodically comes out of the sea, and wreaks havoc on the human coastal bulwarks, even when the humans are tipped off that it’s on its way.  Yet I don’t recall it ever being described. Is it a giant whale-like beast?  Inquiring minds want to know.

Exile - R.A. Salvatore

    1990; 307 pages.  New Author? : No.  Book 2 (out of 33) in the Legend of Drizzt series.  Genres: Epic Fantasy; Dungeons & Dragons; Sword & Sorcery.  Overall Rating: 8*/10.

 

    The dark elf Drizzt Do’Urden is fleeing for his life.  All sorts of people want him killed.

 

    Some of them are his own kin.  There’s his three sisters: Briza, Vierna, and Maya; and his older brother, Dinin.  Briza’s the most dangerous.  She’s a high priestess, capable of some powerful, deadly spellcasting.

 

    Right now, Drizzt’s siblings are after him at the behest of his mother, Malice Do’Urden.  He’s to be caught and brought back to face judgment.  Malice is not someone you want mad at you.  Her proper title is “Matron Malice”, and she's the leader of House Do’Urden, one of the most powerful houses in Menzoberranzan.

 

    Still, Drizzt’s chances of eluding capture are decent.  He’s traipsing around in a huge maze of underground tunnels and caverns called The Underdark.  He’s explored the area a lot more than any of his siblings.  Alas, Drizzt has offended a more powerful foe than anyone in his family.  Lolth, aka “The Spider Queen”, the main deity of the Dark Elves.

 

    And let's face it: when a goddess is after you, you’re doomed.

 

What’s To Like...

    Exile is the second book in R.A. Salvatore’s Legends of Drizzt series.  It takes places ten years after the events in Book One, Homeland, which is reviewed here.  That means Drizzt’s been on the run for quite some time, although a decade is admittedly a small part of a dark elf’s lifespan.  His only companion is a magical panther named Guenhwyvar, but the cat lives on an astral plane and only comes when danger threatens Drizzt.  The loneliness of his exile is slowly killing Drizzt.

 

    The main plotline chronicles Lolth’s efforts, through Matron Malice, to destroy the renegade warrior.  But we also watch Drizzt try to make friends and find companions to join him in his wanderings.  That’s a difficult task, since befriending someone cursed by the gods generally means being marked for death as well.

 

    The story takes place almost entirely underground, with lots of critters and other races to cross paths with and often cross swords with as well.  The book cover shows Drizzt being threatened by a pack of illithids, nasty creatures whose name translates into “Mind Flayers”.

 

    I liked R.A. Salvatore’s lighthearted approach to naming some of the characters.  Yes, this is Epic Fantasy at its finest, but you have to smile when being introduced to someone named Belwar Dissenguip, Elviddinvelp, Bristan Fendlestick, and my favorite, King Schnicktick.

 

    The book is divided into 26 chapters, plus a very helpful prelude which gives a brief backstory of Book One.  The ending is spread out over the last three chapters.  As you’d expect, Drizzt successfully overcomes the threats to his life, but at some terrible and unexpected collateral costs.  Things close with a teaser for the next book in the series, Sojourn, with Drizzt contemplating a trip to the aboveground part of his world, to get better acquainted with what is perhaps the strangest race of creatures he’s met thus far.

 

    Humans.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.7/5 based on 6,828 ratings and 557 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.23/5 based on 66,013 ratings and 1,522 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    “Get me information from Menzoberranzan, and quickly.  I like not the prospect of dark elves wandering about my front door.  It does so diminish the neighborhood.”

    Councilor Firble, the chief of covert security in Blingdenstone, nodded in agreement, though he wasn’t pleased by the request.  Information from Menzoberranzan was not cheaply gained, and it as often turned out to be a calculated deception as the truth.  Firble did not like dealing with anyone or anything that could outsmart him, and he numbered dark elves as first on that ill-favored list.  (loc. 1734)

 

    “Why do human wizards practice the art of magic at all?” Drizzt asked.

    Belwar shook his head.  “I do not believe that any scholars have yet discovered the reason,” he replied in all sincerity.  “A strange and dangerously unpredictable race are humans, and better to be left alone.”

    “You have met some?”

    “A few.”  Belwar shuddered, as though the memory was not a pleasant one.  “Traders from the surface.  Ugly things, and arrogant.  The whole of the world is only for them, by their thinking.”  (loc. 2555)

 

Kindle Details…

    Right now, Exile is selling for $7.99 at Amazon.  The other books in the series go for that same price.  R.A. Salvatore occasionally discounts a book or two, usually (but not always) from the first dozen books in the series.

 

“We do not consider friendship a debt.”  (loc. 1779)

    There’s very little profanity in Exile.  I noted less than a dozen cusswords throughout the whole book, most of which were “damn”.  When the circumstances called for swearing, the favorite phrase used was “magga cammara”, which means “by the stones”.  I don’t recall any “adult situations”.

 

    Overall, I found Exile to be a quick, yet entertaining read.  The pacing was quick, there was action aplenty, and the worldbuilding was once again fantastic.

 

    8 Stars.  One last plaudit for Exile.  The structure of the Dark Elves society is conspicuously matriarchal.  Women hold all the positions of power; there are high priestesses but no high priests; and Goddesses call the heavenly shots.  Males are generally regarded as dolts when it comes to spellcasting, and are really only useful when fighting is necessary.  I found this to be a refreshing deviation from the norm.

Sword of Destiny - Andrzej Sapkowski

   1993 (originally in Polish), 2015 (English translation); 374 pages.  Translator: David French.  Book 2 (out of 8) in “The Witcher” series.  New Author? : No.  Genres: Epic Fantasy; Anthology; Sword and Sorcery.  Overall Rating : 8*/10.

 

    Six more tales of the early adventures of the Witcher.  Back before he was featured in comic books, video games, role-playing quests, board games, and even a Russian rock opera called The Road of No Return.  Back when the only language the stories were issued in was Polish.

 

    This was in the early 90s when tales of the Witcher were only penned as short stories.  After a dozen or so of those, Andrzej Sapkowski, moved up to writing full-length novels, and still later his tales were translated into many other languages, including English.

 

    The short stories would be combined into two anthologies, each containing a half dozen tales.  I’ve read the first collection, The Last Wish; it is reviewed here.  I’ve finally got around to reading the second volume of those short stories, which is titled Sword of Destiny.

 

What’s To Like...

    The six tales in Sword of Destiny are:

1.) The Bounds of Reason (81 pages)

2.) A Shard of Ice (46 pages)

3.) Eternal Flame (50 pages)

4.) A Little Sacrifice (65 pages)

5.) Sword of Destiny (66 pages)

6.) Something More (59 pages)

 

    Unlike the selections in the first anthology, the stories here all seem to take place in chronological order.  They have other recurring characters besides the Witcher, who of course is in them all.  The bard Dandelion appears in 4 of the 6 tales, the sorceress Yenefer appears in 3, and the waif of destiny, Ciri, who I don’t recall being in the first anthology at all, makes her debut here via 2 of the stories.  I have a feeling these three will all continue to be present in the full-length novels that follow.

 

    Our heroes cross paths with a host of critters, including basilisks, dragons, dwarves, zeugls, halflings, dopplers, gnomes, mermaids, dryads, and myriapods.  All of them are worthy to be wary of.  There is some magic, including the Witcher’s ability to invoke certain “signs”, but sorcery is not necessarily a cure-all against a hacking-&-slashing warrior.  I liked that.

 

    The paperback version I read is written in English (translated, actually), not American, so you can fight with sabres, eat vittals and molluscs, be as barmy and nosey as you wish, and even carry a child pick-a-back.  The stories are set in various medieval-era villages, including one, Novigrad, which I presume references a present-day town in Croatia.  I enjoyed joining in with the Beltrane celebration in the Story 6, smiled smugly when halflings appeared in Story 3, was impressed by the mayor who haggled with the Witcher in Story 2, and snickered at the mention of cannabis, also in Story 2, where it is used as a balm/elixir.  Sure.

 

    All six stories were good, but my favorite was the first one, The Bounds of Reason, which is also the longest tale.  Without giving any spoilers, let us simply make the point that, while putting together a gang of thrill-seekers to go find and kill a dragon and divvy up the treasure trove it presumably is guarding, one of the group always has to confront the dragon first, and that poor soul almost always ends up burnt to a crisp.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Snug (n.) : a small, comfortable public room in an inn or pub (a Britishism).
Others: Kilim (n.).

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.7/5 based on 30,294 ratings and 1,195 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.28/5 based on 168,483 ratings and 9,356 reviews

 

Excerpts...

    “The Holy Book says,” Eyck said, now yelling loudly, “that the serpent, the foul dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, will come forth from the abyss!  And on his back will sit a woman in purple and scarlet, and a golden goblet will be in her hand, and on her forehead will be written the sign of all and ultimate whoredom!”

    I know her!” Dandelion said, delighted.  “It’s Cilia, the wife of the Alderman of Sommerhalder!”

    “Quieten down, poet, sir,” Gyllenstieren said.  (pg. 53)

 

    “I love her,” Agloval said firmly.  “I want her for my wife.  But for that she must have legs and not a scaly tail.  And it’s feasible, since I bought a magical elixir with a full guarantee, for two pounds of exquisite pearls.  After drinking it she’ll grow legs.  She’ll just suffer a little, for three days, no more.  Call her.  Witcher, tell her again.”

    “I’ve already told her twice.  She said absolutely no, she doesn’t consent.  But she added that she knows a witch, a sea witch, who is prepared to cast a spell to turn your legs into a handsome tail.  Painlessly.”

    “She must be insane!  She thinks I would have a fishy tail?  Not a chance!”  (pg. 184)

 

“To me, frankly speaking, you are equally loathsome.”  “Thank you.”  (pg. 40)

    It’s hard to find anything to grouse about in Sword of Destiny.

 

    There’s a moderate amount of cussing: I noted 27 instances in the first 20% of the book, and I’m curious as to how a translator handles Polish-to-English cusswords.  I imagine scatological and copulative vocabulary exists in both languages, but what about eternal judgment ones?

 

    That’s all I can complain about.  Yes, it is an anthology, and those are rarely as good as an author’s full-length novels.  But that just makes me anxious to start in on Book 3 of the series, Blood of Elves, which is not an anthology, and which I have on my Kindle.

 

    Summing up, Sword of Destiny was a pleasant reading surprise for me.  The writing/translating was masterfully done, and the dialogue was once again rich in Andrzej Sapkowski’s wit and humor.  None of the stories dragged, and deeper subjects, such as destiny and honor, are explored without the text becoming preachy.

 

    I’m tempted to take a look at the Netflix adaptation of the series, just to see how well the author’s literary skills segue onto the silver screen.

 

    8 Stars.  Sword of Destiny was the winner of the 2012 Tahtifantasia Award for Best Foreign Fantasy book released in Finland.  You say you’ve never heard of that?  Me neither, but it is nice to see that Wikipedia has a posting for it, and that Finland appreciates the labors of those who do Polish-to-Finnish translations.

Dragonflight - Anne McCaffrey

   1968; 286 pages.  Book 1 (out of 25) in the “Dragonriders of Pern” series.  New Author? : No.  Genres: Time Travel; Epic Fantasy; Dragons.  Overall Rating: 7*/10.

 

    The dragonriders are coming!  They’re on an official Weyr Search, so quick, hide the women of the village!

 

    Well, maybe show the riders a couple of the older ones, so they don’t get suspicious that Ruath Hold isn't holding out on them.  After all, they do have a right to be on this hunt.  A new queen dragon is about to be hatched and a suitable maiden must be found to form a lifelong bond with the royal beast.

 

    Lessa isn’t worried.  She’s already in hiding, disguised as a lowly serving girl, and the sole survivor of the former ruling family of Ruath Hold which was wiped out by its current overlord, Fax.  She has sworn vengeance, and is biding her time, making plans on how to kill Fax.

 

    Lessa views this Weyr Search as a golden opportunity.  The dragonriders are heavily armed and any one of them just needs to be manipulated into challenging Fax to duel to the death.  Their leader, F’lar, must most certainly be the best swordsman in the group.

 

    And he seems dimwitted enough to be easily maneuvered into challenging Fax to a fight.

 

What’s To Like...

    Dragonflight is the first book Anne McCaffrey’s signature science-fantasy series “Pern”.  The series is actually a family project: Books 1-16 were written by Anne, books 17-24 were written either by her son Todd alone or in collaboration with her, and Book 25 was written by Anne's daughter Gigi.

 

    F’lar and Lessa share the spotlight as the two human protagonists, but their dragons, Mnementh and Ramoth, get equal billing.  The main storyline concerns the possible return of the “Threads”, a kind of concentrated acid-rain phenomenon that might be real or legend.  Subplots include the strained relationship between the elite (who live in the Weyrs) and the commoners (who live in the Holds), the depletion of the dragon ranks, and of course, F’lar’s and Lessa’s relationship.

 

    I liked that all the characters are gray.  Lessa is manipulative and aspires to be a killer.  For F’lar, duty trumps ethics.  And although the lords of the Holds may be disloyal to the Weyrs, their discontent stems from a valid point:  why do they have to pay tithes of grain and livestock for the protection of the dragons against a threat that hasn't been seen in ages?

 

    The world-building is fantastic.  There’s a short introduction at the beginning of the book, giving the backstory of Pern.  Book One apparently takes place in the future and is the result of a Terran colonization effort abandoned by the home planet after Pern was almost entirely wiped out by the Threads.  Fire-spewing dragons and fire-lizards were developed be the surviving Pernese to counter the destruction wrought by the Threads, with limited success.  Pern ekes by, due more to the Threads going away than to the eradication program.

 

    The book is divided into four parts.  There are no chapters, but Anne McCaffrey inserts a short poem each time a new sub-section begins.  There’s a “Dragondex” in the back; bookmark it; you’ll be referencing it a lot.  There are zero cusswords in the text; instead, made-up cussing is used: “in the name of the Egg”, ”by the First Egg”, “by the Void that Spawned us”, etc.  I wish more sci-fi/fantasy writers did this.

 

    There’s not much magic—at one point Lessa casts a “Blurring” spell, but that’s about it.  There is a couple instances of using chemistry, which is always a treat since I’m a chemist.  Here it involves things like “black heavy-water” and a substance called “Agenothree” which is revealed in the Dragondex to be nitric acid.  The dragons are telepathic, which I thought was a neat twist.  They communicate mentally with each other, as well as whatever human they are bonded to.  Oh yeah, if you like sci-fi books with time-travel in them, you’ll love Dragonflight.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.6*/5, based on 7,060 ratings and 909 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.45*/5, based on 36,056 ratings and 169 reviews.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Captious (adj.) : tending to find fault or raise petty objections.

Others: Disinter (v.).

 

Excerpts...

    “Well, isn’t it possible that our conviction about the imminence of the Threads could stem from one of us coming back when the Threads are actually falling?  I mean . . .”

    “My dear girl, we have both analyzed every stray thought and action—even your dream this morning upset you, although it was no doubt due to all the wine you drank last night—until we wouldn’t know an honest presentiment if it walked up and slapped us in the face.”  (loc. 2896)

 

    “I don’t need to be reminded of Moreta right now,” F’lar growled, bending to the maps.  “She could talk to any dragon in the Weyrs.”

    “But I can do that!” Lessa protested.

    Slowly, as if he didn’t quite credit his ears, F’lar turned back to Lessa.  “What did you just say?”

    “I said I can talk to any dragon in the Weyr.”

    Still staring at her, blinking in utter astonishment, F’lar sank down to the table top.

    “How long,” he managed to say, “have you had this particular skill?”

    Something in his tone, in his manner, caused Lessa to flush and stammer like an erring weyrling.  (loc. 2931)

 

Kindle Details…

    Dragonflight will cost you $3.99 at Amazon right now.  The rest of the 25-book series range in cost from $5.99 to $9.99, except for Books 3,4, and 6, which for some unfathomable reason are not available in Kindle format.

 

“If a queen isn’t meant to fly, why does she have wings?”  (loc. 1304)

    There are some quibbles.  A map is included, but it spans across two pages, which means the East-West midpoint area is impossible to read because of the book's crease.  The e-book version, which doesn’t have a crease, suffers from this as well; apparently the map pages were just photocopied for insertion into the e-book version.  Also, the choice of font to write the place names is also not very reader-friendly.

 

    The mass market paperback version, published by Del Rey, had a few typos: ot/to, slaming/slamming, etc.  I read the first 25% of Dragonflight in this format, then switched to Kindle, and was happy to find all the typos had been corrected.

 

     The biggest issue was the ending.  Things build toward an anticipated climax, but just as we reach the climax. the book closes.  It's at a logical spot, but it's devoid of any action.  Even though it's a foregone conclusion as to what happens next, the book doesn’t bother to confirm this.  It’s as if the whole purpose of the book was to just introduce the reader to the world of Pern.

 

    Still, I found Dragonflight to be a decent read, and I have two more books from the series on my Kindle, including the sequel, Dragonquest.

 

    7 Stars.  Wikipedia indicates Dragonflight is, for the most part, a blending together of two Pern novellas from 1967, Weyr Search and Dragonrider, and originally published in the sci-fi magazine Analog.  Combining several shorter tales to make a full-length novel can be clunky, and perhaps that’s why the ending is weak.

Homeland - R.A. Salvatore

 

    1990; 315 pages.  New Author? : Yes.  Book 1 (out of 37, soon to be 38) in the Legend of Drizzt series.  Book 1 (out of 3) in the Dark Elf Trilogy series.  Genres: Epic Fantasy; Dungeons & Dragons; Sword & Sorcery.  Overall Rating: 8*/10.

    Some drow elves are born great.  Some achieve greatness.  Some have greatness thrust upon them.

 

    For the drow elf Drizzt Do’urden, the first isn’t true – he's the third son (“thirdboy”) of a minor House of Elves in the city of Menzoberranzan, and they normally are sacrificed immediately to the Spider Queen deity Lolth.

 

    It’s also doubtful that anyone will thrust greatness upon him.  More likely a dagger will be thrust between his ribs by one of his elder brothers as a preventative measure against Drizzt doing the same to them to climb up the House’s succession ladder.  Such things are natural occurrences in familial politics in Menzoberranzan.

 

   That leaves achieving greatness as the only option.  But only under a strictly-monitored upbringing: starting with being a house servant until age 15, then 5 years under the tutelage of a weapons master, followed by 10 more years at the Tier Breche Academy learning all about fighting, wizardry, and properly serving the merciless goddess Lolth.  Drizzt quickly becomes a stellar student there.

 

    Except for obeying the “properly serving” aspect.

 

What’s To Like...

    Homeland is the first book in R.A. Salvatore’s epic fantasy series “The Legend of Drizzt”.  There are now 38 books in this series, which are further divided into subsets consisting of 2-5 books apiece.  The setting ties in closely with Dungeons-&-Dragons’ (“D&D”) Forgotten Realms role-playing games.  This is epic fantasy at its finest, with lots of fantasy races (at least 20 of them here), artifacts, magic, Houses of Nobility, and schools of learning to keep the reader’s attention.

 

    Homeland serves as an introduction to the series.  The story commences with the Matron Malice, ruler of House Do’urden, pregnant, and eventually giving birth to Drizzt, whom we then follow through his three decades of training and first couple of combat operations on behalf of the goddess Lolth.  That might sound like a significant portion  of someone's existence, but the typical lifespan of an elf is a millennium or so.

 

    The world-building is superb.  The realm of the drow elves is entirely underground (“the Underdark”) and spending any time aboveground where the hated “surface elves” dwell (you and I would call them “faeries”) is a grueling experience, due to a big orange ball of fire in the sky.  The drow elf realms are matriarchal, which is a pleasant change of pace.  The ruling matron usually takes a (male) patron, mostly for offspring purposes, and can dump him for another at any time if he becomes boring.

 

    Daughters comprise the ruling succession line, with the non-eldest ones becoming prime candidates for the roles of high priestesses.  Females are generally much better at magic than males, and are also usually (but not always) more powerfully built as well.  High priestesses are clairvoyant, which means a male drow elf with a rebellious streak has to be careful of both what he says and what he thinks.  Drow elves are almost always paranoid – all other races are enemies to be slain, and all activity must be guided by the dictates of the Spider Goddess Lolth.

 

    The major characters here - the drow elves (including Drizzt’s family) and their scheming and competing Houses – are essentially “black hats”.  The main plotline is Drizzt coming to grips with that, the problems this realization causes him, and the difficult decisions he then has to make.  He crosses paths with a couple characters in the same quandary, which helps him try to resolve these difficulties.

 

    The ending is epic, exciting, D&D-ish, but without any plot twists to throw things askew.  That may sound like a criticism, but if you’ve ever participated in a D&D roleplaying game (I have), you’ll appreciate devising a well-thought-out plan of action that results in a well-deserved conclusion.  The book’s primary goal is attained – Drizzt is born, trained, introduced to the combat and intrigue of the Underdark, and is now ready for (at least) 37 more adventures.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.7/5 based on 3,964 ratings and 1,076 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.25/5 based on 81,356 ratings and 2,777 reviews

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Weal (n.) : well-being, prosperity, happiness.

 

Excerpts...

    He put his head down and charged the mirror.

    Perhaps it was a teleportation door to another section of the city, perhaps a simple door to a room beyond.  Or perhaps, Alton dared to imagine in those few desperate seconds, this was some interplanar gate that would bring him to a strange and unknown plane of existence!

    He felt the tingling excitement of adventure pulling him on as he neared the wondrous thing—then he felt only the impact, the shattering glass, and the unyielding stone wall behind it.

    Perhaps it was just a mirror.  (loc. 623)

 

    Only twenty-two of the original twenty-five in Drizzt’s class remained.  One had been dismissed—and subsequently executed—for a foiled assassination attempt on a high-ranking student, a second had been killed in the practice arena, and a third had died in his bunk of natural causes—for a dagger in the heart quite naturally ends one’s life.  (loc. 2370)

 

Kindle Details…

    Right now, Homeland sells for $7.99 at Amazon.  The other 37 books in The Legend of Drizzt series run anywhere from $7.99 to $14.99, with the newer books being the more expensive.  $14.99 is the pre-order price for Book 38, which is scheduled to be released this coming August.

 

“I do not wish to waste my time conversing with a magical mouth.”  (loc. 808)

    There’s not much to gripe about in Homeland.  The book was surprisingly clean: I counted only nine cusswords in the first 33% of the book, all of them eschatological (“hell” and “damn”).  There is some violence, naturally.  I don't recall any “adult situations”.

 

    Most of the “made-up words” (piwafwi, thoqqua, svirfnebli, illithid, yochlol, et al.) are clearly explained when they first appear, but it took me a while to figure out what a “dweomer” was.  It’s a magic spell or ward.  I suspect I neglected to highlight its meaning when it first cropped up.

 

    Thanks to the book's cover image, the fate of Guenhwyvar was pretty obvious to me.  I was surprised though that it is not a made-up name, being a variant of the girl’s name “Guinevere”.  Now I just need to figure out how to pronounce it.

 

    That’s about it for the nit-picking, and those are all pretty miniscule.  I’ve been meaning to read something by R.A. Salvatore for quite a while now, and this introduction to his signature work lived up to my expectations.  I have a feeling that the Drizzt books get even better now that the worldbuilding is done and the (initial) main characters have been introduced.

 

    8 Stars.  Homeland is a standalone novel in addition to being the start of a 38-book series, full of magical beings, dodging life-threatening monsters and nasty spells.  There's even a subtle strand of humor woven into the story, as the first excerpt above demonstrates.  I think I'm gonna like The Legend of Drizzt.

House of Chains - Steven Erikson

   2002; 1,015 pages.  New Author? : No.  Book #4 (out of 10) in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series.  Genres : Epic Fantasy; Sword & Sorcery; Military Fantasy.  Overall Rating: 8*/10.

 

    A convergence is coming.  A gathering of forces building into an epic conflict.  A select few can feel it, and even  sense its location: it will take place in the barren wastes of the Raraku Desert.

 

    At the earthly level, it will pit two massive armies against each other.  On one side, the army of the Malazan Empire, commanded by the Adjunct Tavore, the Empress’s Chosen One.  Facing them, the Army of the Apocalypse, commanded by Sha’ik, the Whirlwind Goddess’s Chosen One.  A number of fringe characters will also be drawn into the fray, few in number but great in impact.

 

    But some of the mages can sense a higher level of convergence as well, involving the “Houses” of various gods and goddesses.  A new House trying to establish itself, which complicates things.  No one, not even the resident gods, is quite sure what new deity is behind this.

 

    But stirring beneath all of this is an even deeper level of convergence, one that has an “elemental” feel, one that could easily sway the battles between both the puny mortals and the petty deities.  Its source is the Raraku Desert itself.

 

What’s To Like...

    House of Chains, Book 4 in Steven Erikson’s epic fantasy series, is the sequel to Book 2, Deadhouse Gates, which I read three years ago and is reviewed here.  Books 1 and 3 are thus far a separate storyline, and I’m getting the feeling that this “alternating settings” technique is going to continue through most of this series.

 

    Here we follow the trials and travails of a number of characters, often traveling in pairs or small groups (a necessity if you want to inject dialogue into the text), as they are drawn slowly and inexorably toward the impending mega-battle. The opening portion of the book  introduces a new character, Karsa Orlong, who cuts a path of blood and destruction through various tribes that have the misfortune of being neighbors to his own clan.  In effect this amounts to a giant prologue, spanning about a quarter of the book, before we get to the main “convergence” storyline.

 

    The book is written in English, not American, with the usual weird-looking (to us Yanks) spellings like ageing, behaviour, offence, armour, no-one, and abraiding.  Yet oddly enough, the “ize-words”, such as realized, apologize, and recognize are spelled the American way.  This puzzled me until I discovered that Steven Erikson is Canadian.

 

    As always, the world-building, character-development and wittily thought-provoking dialogue are all superbly done.  That’s not an easy undertaking when you have a gazillion beings wandering all over the place on their way to Raraku, but Steven Erikson is up to the task, and I deeply appreciate the inclusion of a Dramatis Personae in the front and a Glossary in the back. 

    The ending is a mixed bag.  After more than 800 pages of herding the combatants to a meeting point, the final battle turns out to be somewhat less than epic.  But it does take around a hundred pages to cover it, and it kept me turning the pages the whole way.  It says something about Steven Erikson’s writing skills that he can pull this off, again and again, in this every-other-book storyline.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.7*/5, based on 1,415 ratings and 381 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.34*/5, based on 41,219 ratings and 1,393 reviews

 

Kewlest New Word…

    Knout (n.) : a whip used to inflict punishment, usually causing death.

 

Excerpts...

    Karsa spoke in a low voice, “Torvald Nom, listen well.  A warrior who followed me, Delum Thord, was struck on the head.  His skull cracked and leaked thought-blood.  His mind could not walk back up the path.  He was left helpless, harmless.  I, too, have been struck on the head.  My skull is cracked and I have leaked thought-blood—”

    “Actually, it was drool—”

    “Be quiet. Listen.”  (pg. 171)

 

    “And that crossbow can lob cussers far enough?  Hard to believe.”

    “Well, the idea is to aim and shoot, then bite a mouthful of dirt.”

    “I can see the wisdom in that, Fid.  Now, you let us all know when you’re firing, right?”

    “Nice and loud, aye.”

    “And what word should we listen for?”

    Fiddler noticed that the rest of his squad had ceased their preparations and were now waiting for his answer.  He shrugged.  “Duck.  Or sometimes what Hedge used to use.”

    “Which was?”

    “A scream of terror.”  (pg. 753)

 

“It’s all a waste of breath, soldiers.  Sooner or later, we’re all marching in wide-eyed stupid.”  (pg. 850)

    The quibbles in House of Chains are minor and for the most part are the same ones I had with Deadhouse Gates.

 

    There’s a lot of intrigue in the story, but until we reach the final showdown, not a lot of action.  So if you’re looking for a hack-&-slash adventure, you’ll probably be disappointed, at least for the first 90% of the book.

 

    There are (fictional) pithy quotes at the start of each chapter, but this time around they didn’t do much for me.  There’s only a smattering of cussing (8 instances in the first 20%), and once again it’s mitigated by a number of colorful expressions invoking the locale deities, such as: “Beru fend!”, “Hood’s dripping tongue!”, “Fener’s tusks!”, and “Hood’s balls!”  In addition, there is a rape or two, and a molester of little girls who eventually gets his comeuppance.

 

    Lastly, my favorite group, the Bridgeburners, get very little ink here.  To be fair, most of them are dead, and those few who still live have been outlawed by the Malazan Empire.  A couple of the surviving members – including Quick Ben and Hedge – make cameo appearances, while others – such as Fiddler, Kalam, and Cuttle - are either using aliases or hiding out.  Late in the story, we do get one revelation about the Bridgeburners that gives me hope that some of the dead ones, Whiskeyjack and Dujek Onearm in particular, may resurface somewhere down the line.

 

    8 Stars.  ANAICT, “Malazan Book of the Fallen” is a completed series, which means I’m 40% of the way through it.  Book 7, Reaper’s Gate, is on my TBR shelf, but I don’t have Books 5 and 6, Midnight Tides and The Bonehunters. I may have to venture out into the Covid-infested world to find these.