Rating: 
Summary: Weak Characterization Is Only the Beginning
Review: If a generic fantasy 'dime-novel' is your concept of good reading material, then Philip Athans' writing will not disappoint you. Otherwise, you'd be best advised to leave this one alone. The main protagonist's characterization is weak and may leave you wondering if you are supposed to care about his fate. The remaining characters are brushed over with such cursory dialogue and minimal depth to the extent that they might be regarded as garden gnomes as opposed to companions on an epic quest. The strongest material in his writing is not dialogue or plot, but the in-depth descriptions of the protagonist's fights with many a blow-by-blow commentary. Otherwise, there isn't much to separate this book from the paper that you throw into the recycle bin. Fans of the Baldur's Gate series are advised to keep away from this book! It's easily apparent that the writer did not play the game or read over the in-game dialogue. The characters are faithless renderings of the originals and poorly written so as to cause much pain while reading. Fortunately, I was able to read this book before making the mistake of purchasing it. You have been warned!
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty good
Review: If you are a fan of D&D or similar fantacy stories, this is a pretty good book. If your expecting it to be just like the pc game you might be a bit disappointed. If you just enjoy a good fantacy story about fighters, mages, vampires, druids ect. it should be quite entertaining.
Rating:
Summary: While this title gently burns...
Review: If you've played the game, you're going to hate this book with a vengeance, and not just because Minsc suddenly has red hair (which is mentioned a few times, as it's apparently very important to the story). If you haven't played the game, it's really an uninspired, flawed sword-and-sorcery novel that's about as rewarding as watching an uninspired, flawed sword-and-sorcery movie. It helps pass time, that's about it.Some people have chosen to interpret the book as a parody! It almost works, if you squint your eyes... Clearly the author wasn't taking the topic seriously, which adds to the suggestion. But really, it's not fair to the game, which was the product of a team of hard-working people whose creative talents clearly dwarfed whatever meager talent the author had to tap in to write this sorry excuse for a cut-and-paste pagefiller. If he didn't hate himself afterwards he was probably concentrating too much on the sound of money hitting his bank account. If you think this book is an accurate indication of what the game is like, either qualitywise or storywise, think again. This is insipid commercial plagiarism. Contrary to what you might expect, the game is a *lot* better, so if you have a computer you're much better off buying the game instead and being a part of the story yourself. You won't finish the game as quickly as the book --- that, however, is a Good Thing. And if you think computer RPGs lack storytelling quality, try playing "Planescape: Torment". If that doesn't do it for you, you should stick to reading books. Good books, that is, not `novelizations' (ick, the word itself sounds vile). Sheesh, after reading this (as far as I could bear it) I got the idea that *I* could write something better. And since I've never written a book in my life, that can't be a good sign.
Rating:
Summary: The author should have played the game before writing this
Review: In short, the book is [weak].
Why.
The game was good, one of the best. One of the components that made it such was the story telling. The player believed in the world he was put in, he could feel the plot twisting around him. The villain was done very well, his voice acting especially deserves a honorable mention.
And there comes the book. I was thinking, well, all the author needs to do is to repeat the situations from the game with words. Nothing more. The hero needed to meet his old friends - Minsc and Jaheira, to start chasing Imoen, to meet with Bodhi and Irenicus and in the end get to the grand finale in the elven city.... But this book did not do what I described above! First of all his main hero is the worst thing I've ever seen. First of all he is Conan. You know Conan. We all know him. Strong, black hair, loves women and all. But the author doesn't stop there. Conan was a hero of honor and strenght of mind. He would help his friends and never would appear weak-willed. Unlike the hero of BG2! The interpretation of the games' characters is horrific. Minsc is a fearful [simple minded] instead of a crazy barbarian. Jaheira is a maid in distress instead of a strong and stubborn woman warrior. Imoen I do not want to talk about. Bodhi is vampire... who wants to RAPE the main character! She is a... antagonist! Enough... The plot is NON-existent. The author played the game once a few months before writing his abomination and didn't remember it well. That is obvious. So what he did was he wrote in the followind style "Battle, battle, soap opera, battle, sex, battle". And then he repeats it. To make the long story short - this book is an abomination.... It is a total waste of time.
Rating:
Summary: Not remotely worth the paper its printed on.
Review: Just when you though it was safe to see if this book would be better then the first one. 10 bucks I could have spent at an arcade where at least I could work for the headache I got while reading this lump of trash. Think of the poor tree that died to make this book. It brings tears to my eyes!
Rating: 
Summary: And it's hilarious!
Review: No one's really mentioned how funny this book is. It pokes a lot of fun at the CRPG's story to great effect. This is the most fun I've had reading a book in ages. Way better than the first one.
Rating:
Summary: 'Insert Material Here' on 'Insert Material Here'
Review: Philip Athans constantly used this phrase, turning me off to the book in the first two chapters. It never gets better, and is a complete waste of money and time.
Rating:
Summary: A great follow up to the original
Review: The follow up to the game of Baldur's Gate was great, and so is this book. As the first game was, this is game was a bit hard to follow story wise. But this book brings it all together. Phillip Athens, the writer of the fist novel in the trilogy does a great job telling the story in detail of Abdel and his companions. We even get to follow them into a drow city deep under the world that we dont know much about. This story is essential to the outcome of the trillogy.
It is here that we get plunged deeper into the city of Baulder's Gate, and deeper into the lives of Abdel and his companions. The battles are well written out and hold on to the reader tightly. This is the story that brings everything you have been wondering about together. The feeling is much deeper than that of the first, which is great. You will find plenty of turns and twists in this second novel of the Baldur's Gate series. I recommend this book to any fan of the games or fans of the first book.
Writing a fantasy novel is difficult in itself, but writting a book that is based on a best selling video game trilogy is even more difficult. Why? Because you have to be able to keep the fans reading and give them the same sense of adventure that they experienced in the game. Leaving it at that, I feel that Athens hit a perfect mark with this second book.
Rating: 
Summary: Embarrassing
Review: The game i considered a trivial masterpiece. However, i later picked up this novel just to use as bathroom reading, it seemed short enough.
The author sure left a lot of stuff out of the game, which would have probably made it a better book too. The romance with Abdel and Jaheira was still really lame (but atleast it didnt make me laugh like Baldur's gate one did though,) and Imoen, seems more like a plot herself then an actual character. If you want to read some good fantasy/adventure, try novels by RA Salvatore or Cunningham. For a truly submersive BGII experience, play the game and dont read the book, it gives FR a bad name.
Rating:
Summary: Not for fans of the game
Review: This book definitely ain't for fans of the game. In fact I can say it's cr@p really if one compared it to the game. My complains? It's way too dumbed down, first of all, they condensed the whole epic of Baldurs Gate II and shrank it into a book the size of an Enid Blyton storybook. Lots of the amusing quirks and plots I loved from the game never made it into the book, Minsc especially, the author wrote about him but just dumped him halfway through the story. It's either the author's a lazy !^(&^ bum or he didn't have time to write it all. I'm going for the former. Not to mention, I don't think the author even played Baldurs Gate II or even knows the story of Baldurs Gate II, it's so different from that of the games. Trust me, your money is better spent elsewhere because if you do buy it, you'll just end up bitter and cursing the author like me.
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