Let's take a look at the four main pillars of a story as applied to this work.First, characters. The characters in this book were relatable enough, and though not completely developed as one would hope, they were easy to follow, understand, and run along side with. Though I will admit that Adon was pretty useless the entire time and never really pulled his own weight. I'm not for throwing the character overboard. I'm just saying, he needed to step up his game and contribute. However, one character, Torm, seems to throw a bit of a wrench in the system. The importance of the character shot through the roof without much buildup or explination, and his actions following a certain turning point in the plot don't seem to be the smartest or most believable of choices.Plot: The plot was straight forward, fluid enough, and meshed pretty well. While there were certainly points of predictability, I was fine with it, and I can see how events would unfold as they did. There wasn't too much surplus of useless fluff, nor were there any significant gaps. Perhaps it may not earn a five out of five rating, but to be honest, there really wasn't much to complain about there.Setting: This one was done fairly well. I could envision the world, the culture, the ambiance, and the tension when I needed to. Geographically, more explination or tactful description could have been used. There were a few scenes in particular that relied heavily upon an understanding of the location, which the reader did not have. This could have been simply fixed by a couple paragraphs here and there of the main characters percieving their surroundings, but alas, the reader was left to make up something in their mind which undoubtably had to be revised continuously as they read.Style: Ugh. What can I say here? Style consists of the display of dialogue, exposition, and narrative. Dialogue was weak in many places, and sounded as though they were lines in a fifth grade melodrama. Exposition was the same way at times as well, giving far too overt of an explination, or phrasing something with simple and uneloquent language. I realize that this is certainly something that every writer develops over time, I for one try to enhance my style as strongly as I can before submitting my ideas to publishers. I feel a good editor could have called out the weak style and lead the author to step up their game.Long story short, I'll read the other one because I'm already this far and I have a thing about completing stuff, but it sure won't keep me up at night turning the pages.
Picking up where Shadowdale left off, Tantras starts with some of the same questionable character motivations and disjointed plot elements but quickly moves into a much more cohesive narrative. Unfortunately, this advancement in storytelling quality is sullied by a story which, in itself, is fairly dull for three quarters of the book. Added to this are characters who are impossible to like (Adon for acting like a half-comotose five-year-old and Cyric for going out of his way to be cruel, even for the bad guy he is becoming). The end result is a less disjointed but much more lackluster read than Shadowdale. I feel it deserves more praise than its predecessor, but is still relegated to the realms of the average as there just isn't anything to get excited about until the last 64 pages of the book. if the first 274 had been condensed and the last portion expanded upon, the result would have probably been much better.
What do You think about Tantras (1989)?
Aún sin esperar mucho de el, ni la estrellita factor nostalgia le doy esta vez. Los personajes pierden por completo el sentido, con un cambio en Cyric que aunque sabías que tenía que suceder, no hay por donde cogerlo. Sigue la historia de aventuras siendo más alocados los encuentros y perdiendo gancho los villanos. Los dioses son sencillamente cortitos en el relato, vale que algunos eventos suceden para adaptarse al cambio obligado de la editorial pero rompen por completo con las limitaciones que habían impuesto en su caída. Esperemos que el desenlace por lo menos tenga más fuerza porque Tantras acaba provocando bostezos
—David
Okay, so I think I see where they're going with that cliffhanger I referred to in my comments on the last book. However, that's only because having been a D&D geek for years, I have some foreknowledge of the ultimate fate of at least one of the characters. Not having known that, I would be wondering why the author bothered and assumed it was because his contract specified a certain number of words. More to follow ...Okay, if I hear "the raven-haired mage, the green-eyed fighter, the hawk-nosed thief or the blond cleric" one more time I'm going to hurl. But I have a lot more to go.Not dreadful fare, but not particularly good either. Maybe things will ramp up in book three.
—Red Siegfried
Tantras moved a lot slower than Shadowdale and I had a hard time keeping focused enough to read it. I definitely felt like the author thought "I know I want three books in the series, so here is the main thing my heroes need to do in this book, the second book, and the third book." But when he got to the second book he went "Huh.... well, this needs to be at least 300 pages long, what can I do to fill the pages up to make it longer."The story just dragged on and on and on and I felt a lot of stuff happened that didn't help enhance the story. It wasn't entirely terribly, but needless to say I'm glad its over.Oh, and the fact the author seems to think that using "he" and "she" and "they" instead of the characters names or, the even more annoying, "green-eyed fighter" "raven haired mage"...etc. won't be understood by the reader is getting so annoying it makes me want to punch someone in the jeans! Seriously, did this guy even go to elementary school? Dear Scott Ciencin, if you are talking about Midnight on an entire page, I will know you are referring to her if you write "she" instead of Midnight or raven haired mage. It's really not that hard.Sincerely,Teresa
—*Miss Fame*
