Bastion of Darkness : Book Three in The Chronicles of Ynis Aielle

Rating:
Summary: Return to Ynis Aielle!
Review: First I just wanted to say that another review on this page contains major spoilers for this book. Be warned!This is the third book in the Chronicles of Ynis Aielle, which began with Echoes of the Fourth Magic and continued with The Witch's Daughter. If you liked those books, you will like this one too...Eventually. It has a very slow beginning that doesn't have the the usual quality Salvatore feel to it. It has the action but the characters and plot are both very hollow. It seems as if the author had a little trouble gettng back into the flow of this series. JUST KEEP READING- it gets very good. The plot really takes off with the usual R.A. Salvatore combination of Great Characters+Great Aciton=Great Story. In fact the story becomes so good that it is easy to forgive the slow start. A very worthy addition to the wonderful Chronicles of Ynis Aielle series.

Rating:
Summary: Undead soldiers battle for control of Ynis Aielle
Review: The good wizards and greatest heros of Ynis Aielle have battled back the Black Warlock, and always he returns stronger and more determined. Now with his Staff of Death, the Black Warlock (also known as Morgan Thalasi) is able to ressurect an army of undead soldiers to do battles. He has also used the staff to bring forth the horrid wraith of Hollis Mitchell his general. Now its up to Rhiannon, the Emerald Witch of Avalon's daughter, and the half elf Brian of Corning to stop Morgan Thalasi, and its up to Belexus Backavar to defeat the wraith of Hollis Mitchell and avangeng his dearest friend. But the only hope of deafeating Morgan Thalasi lies at the heart of a mountain, guarded by a dragon as old as the world itself. Joining the ride to the dreaded Talas-dun is the hyperactive wizard Ardaz, Brielle the Emerald Witch of Avalon, the dead spirit of Jeffery DelGuidice, and the King Benador and the noble Avalon ranger Bellerian. R.A. Slavatore has paid homage to the Magicians and wizards using a discriptive and detailed story of the age old battle of Good and Evil, of Light and Darkness. A wonderful read and exiting tale.

Rating:
Summary: A dissapointing finale
Review: While I didn't think this book was terrible, it was a bit of a dissapointment after how good Witch's daughter was. In my humble opinion, this book was really a retelling of that book, with a few different plot points added to the mix to change things up a bit. But beyond that, there are many flaws here.

Like Witch's Daughter, Bastion suffers from too many fantasy cliches (questing for a weapon, saving damsel in distress, etc.) but does not have the great action to make up for it, which was Witch's Daughter saving grace. Also, some of the plot was just plain silly and bad. A certain someone comes back from the grave (don't want to say who it is), and that fact, to me anyway, takes away from the over all story. Salvatore again makes facing a dragon in its lair a key point of one of his novels (he's done this about 4-5 times now, and may want to consider retiring that plot device). And also, a tribe of black carribbean-accented dwarves are introduced, seemingly for no reason whatsoever (that one REALLY had me scratching my head).

At the end of all of this is tacked on an extremely anti-climactic non-battle sequence that is over before it really begins. My advice: this book is only for us diehard Salvatore fans who want to read EVERYTHING he does. Everyone else may want to read something else of his. The Legacy perhaps? Ahhh, now there is a fine novel. In any event, you may want to skip this one and pick something else up instead.

Rating:
Summary: A dissapointing finale
Review: While I didn't think this book was terrible, it was a bit of a dissapointment after how good Witch's daughter was. In my humble opinion, this book was really a retelling of that book, with a few different plot points added to the mix to change things up a bit. But beyond that, there are many flaws here.

Like Witch's Daughter, Bastion suffers from too many fantasy cliches (questing for a weapon, saving damsel in distress, etc.) but does not have the great action to make up for it, which was Witch's Daughter saving grace. Also, some of the plot was just plain silly and bad. A certain someone comes back from the grave (don't want to say who it is), and that fact, to me anyway, takes away from the over all story. Salvatore again makes facing a dragon in its lair a key point of one of his novels (he's done this about 4-5 times now, and may want to consider retiring that plot device). And also, a tribe of black carribbean-accented dwarves are introduced, seemingly for no reason whatsoever (that one REALLY had me scratching my head).

At the end of all of this is tacked on an extremely anti-climactic non-battle sequence that is over before it really begins. My advice: this book is only for us diehard Salvatore fans who want to read EVERYTHING he does. Everyone else may want to read something else of his. The Legacy perhaps? Ahhh, now there is a fine novel. In any event, you may want to skip this one and pick something else up instead.