Elminster's Daughter (Forgotten Realms: The Elminster Series)

Rating:
Summary: Should be called "Vanghedehast Retires"
Review: Ed Greenwood isn't my favorite Forgotten Realms Author, but I make it a point to read all the FR Novels. To date, I've read 90% of them, and most were great reads. Elminster's Daughter was kinda slow, and boring, but picked up near the end, but one thing made me scratch my head when I finished the Novel--Why was it entitled "Elminster's Daughter" ? True, his Daughter is in it, but she is the secondary plotline. Most of the novel revolves about the possibility of Vanghedehast retiring.

Also, in all of Ed Greenwoods novels, he seems to enjoy having the females appear nude and fall in love with Elminster or some such thing. In my opinion, this book had no substance like his previous novels.

If you want a truely GREAT story, read the Forgotten Realms new series "The Erevis Cale trilogy" Book one, "Twilight Falling" and Book Two, "Dawn of Night". Both are probably the finest novels in the Forgotten Realms series!

Rating:
Summary: A so so book
Review: Long time fan of the forgotten realms here. And Huge fan of Elminster and Mystra. So this book had me pumped. Unfortunately I had some serious issues with how Ed protrayed both the Hapers and Mystra in this book. And I found the ending with his daughter...daughters a cop out.

Mystra is a young goddess but... she's almost portrayed to be a novice. Correct me but Midnight did inherit more than just the powers of a goddess. She became the goddess of magic with subsequent jumps in consciousness(INT/WIS) and memories of the past mystra I'm sure. Yet she acts almost like a little school girl needing reassurance from mortals. Moreover, its never explained why Mystra 'betrayed' Elminster. I call allowing my child to be born without my knowledge and worse yet, ignoring her, a betrayl.

My biggest complaint is with the Harpers. I've always been a huge harper fan, but after this book I think perhaps the Red Wizards of Thay might look more attractive. At least they never sway in their outlook and goals. In this book, the harpers act like complete tyrants. I'm sorry but using magic to beat a defenless girl (who just wants freedom) to submission, and one who has been proven to be protected by Mystra just smacks of Evil. Winning by any means possible is not a justification for your actions.

I also find Ed's manner of writing hard to follow. He tends to jump from scene to scene within a few pages. Juggling 4-6 different storylines at the same time might be impressive to some but to me its just plain confusing. Especially since we don't get to see them getting tied together till much later in the book.

Still if you're a fan of the realms like me, I would say read the book. It does cover what happens to Vandeghast, which is a pretty major story/game plot. Also it has some interesting scenes with The Symbul and insights into life in the realms which Ed does so well.


Rating:
Summary: Good read for fans of Elminster and the Realms
Review: This novel was typical Ed Greenwood fare. If you tend to enjoy his work with its omnipotent characters and ever-happy endings, you'll love it. If you have problems with his style, then you might want to think twice because this definitely contains more of the same. I tend to enjoy his books and thus found this one quite entertaining.

The book starts off a little slow and then suddenly throws about five different plots at you. There is an excrutiatingly long chase scene (on foot) smack dab in the middle, but otherwise it flows very quickly once the plots get going. I honestly had trouble putting it down once I got past the first couple chapters.

Fans of the Realms should read this book because it does contain some events that might affect future novels. While the title doesn't suggest it, Cormyr and its royal family, the Harpers, the Red Wizards, and Mystra's Chosen all play significant roles in this book. So if you're a fan of any of those, read this.

Rating:
Summary: Page Turner.
Review: Written with on a more mature reading level. Very well written and captivating at once. Maybe somewhere between Salvatore's early work and a bit shy of George Martin. An excellent read if you have never read anything else in the Elminster Series.