The first book in Lisa Smedman's "House of Serpents" trilogy, "Venom's Taste" promises mystery, action, thievery, and intrigue, but how well does it deliver on these?
Venom's taste was one of the books I didn't read. I tended to read Icewind Dale, Drizzt's Adventures, The god-war Saga, and the ones that interested me.
It takes a good writer to turn game mechanics into compelling reading.
Nothing turns me off more than picking up a fantasy novel and having pages of game stats.
That's why, I'm staying away from pure game mechanics in my stories. My stories are about the people and the places, not the stats. I never describe anything as dexterity or strength rating.
People may fall, may trip over something, may get the shit kicked out of them, may get knocked out of the trees by lightning. But there are no rolls, no equivocation.
One of the other authors I tended to enjoy with Forgotten Realms, Richard Lee Byers, ran into the gamefication problem in a major way with the fourth book of his Brotherhood of the Griffon series, though how much of that was his fault and how much was WotC influence, I'm not sure. The timing of it was rough, though. That book was released within a few months of 4th ed's launch, so a lot of the newer jargon ended up worked in there. (That's what made me feel like it might've been WotC interference.) It was a shame since Byers had a very cinematic writing style that lent itself well to the setting, but then that series really should've ended as a trilogy anyway.
Smedman's issue with that is more one of how certain new elements are introduced later in the book. She makes a good effort at trying to couch the introduction in a method that's creative and fitting for the story, but it ultimately ends up reading a bit like a DM describing a series of new abilities to his player. Fortunately that's the only real instance of that in the story that I can recall, and by the story I mean the entire trilogy.
I thought that little scale would be a little more fun than the typical number scale haha. I debated heavily between listing it as a Great Read or Flawed Fun, too, but eventually settled on that lower rating only because those couple stumbling points did pull me out of the story more than I remembered them doing when I was younger, and I did remember them being parts I wasn't as fond of. For me, though, it really straddles the line between those points, and tends to have much more good than bad. If you can find it cheap, yeah, snatch it up. I think they have an omnibus release with all three books, too, which I'll be reviewing for future WW's :)
Jan 24·edited Jan 24Liked by The Man Behind the Screen
Man, I read a bunch of R.A. Salvatore's Drizzt books in my late teens/early twenties, and I never really liked the character either. I thought he was kind of a whiny, emo bitch. I always preferred Wulfgar. I honestly wasn't much of a fan of Salvatore either, even though I read most of his books through the Transitions series.
He occasionally had glimpses of greatness (such as the Hunter's Blades and Dark Elf trilogies), but so much of his work was redundant (Streams of Silver is the Kirkland Signature version of The Hobbit), and he tended to infantilize his characters.
I never read anything of his outside the very little bit of his Forgotten Realms stuff I borrowed from my friends in high school. He's fine, definitely wasn't the best author in their stable but he was very prolific. (I suspect that's why he ended up being the big name more than anything.) Drizzt, though? Yeah, he was the kind of emo whiner that the edgybois in high school loved to relate to, and if you know Drizzt you know exactly the type I mean. (The type you don't want at your table because they're just gonna sit and brood and be a loner the whole time.)
Personally, I found that I much preferred Lisa Smedman and Richard Lee Byers as authors when it came to Forgotten Realms stories. Both of them have pretty different approaches to their writing, but I found their books much more entertaining than what I read of Salvatore.
I would suggest finding the books of the gods-war saga. It shows what happens when mortals overthrow the gods and take their places. It's full of treachery and intrigue.
Venom's taste was one of the books I didn't read. I tended to read Icewind Dale, Drizzt's Adventures, The god-war Saga, and the ones that interested me.
It takes a good writer to turn game mechanics into compelling reading.
Nothing turns me off more than picking up a fantasy novel and having pages of game stats.
That's why, I'm staying away from pure game mechanics in my stories. My stories are about the people and the places, not the stats. I never describe anything as dexterity or strength rating.
People may fall, may trip over something, may get the shit kicked out of them, may get knocked out of the trees by lightning. But there are no rolls, no equivocation.
One of the other authors I tended to enjoy with Forgotten Realms, Richard Lee Byers, ran into the gamefication problem in a major way with the fourth book of his Brotherhood of the Griffon series, though how much of that was his fault and how much was WotC influence, I'm not sure. The timing of it was rough, though. That book was released within a few months of 4th ed's launch, so a lot of the newer jargon ended up worked in there. (That's what made me feel like it might've been WotC interference.) It was a shame since Byers had a very cinematic writing style that lent itself well to the setting, but then that series really should've ended as a trilogy anyway.
Smedman's issue with that is more one of how certain new elements are introduced later in the book. She makes a good effort at trying to couch the introduction in a method that's creative and fitting for the story, but it ultimately ends up reading a bit like a DM describing a series of new abilities to his player. Fortunately that's the only real instance of that in the story that I can recall, and by the story I mean the entire trilogy.
I really appreciate the rating scale! I don't have enough fantasy on my bookshelf, perhaps I should add Venom's Taste to my list.
I thought that little scale would be a little more fun than the typical number scale haha. I debated heavily between listing it as a Great Read or Flawed Fun, too, but eventually settled on that lower rating only because those couple stumbling points did pull me out of the story more than I remembered them doing when I was younger, and I did remember them being parts I wasn't as fond of. For me, though, it really straddles the line between those points, and tends to have much more good than bad. If you can find it cheap, yeah, snatch it up. I think they have an omnibus release with all three books, too, which I'll be reviewing for future WW's :)
Man, I read a bunch of R.A. Salvatore's Drizzt books in my late teens/early twenties, and I never really liked the character either. I thought he was kind of a whiny, emo bitch. I always preferred Wulfgar. I honestly wasn't much of a fan of Salvatore either, even though I read most of his books through the Transitions series.
He occasionally had glimpses of greatness (such as the Hunter's Blades and Dark Elf trilogies), but so much of his work was redundant (Streams of Silver is the Kirkland Signature version of The Hobbit), and he tended to infantilize his characters.
I never read anything of his outside the very little bit of his Forgotten Realms stuff I borrowed from my friends in high school. He's fine, definitely wasn't the best author in their stable but he was very prolific. (I suspect that's why he ended up being the big name more than anything.) Drizzt, though? Yeah, he was the kind of emo whiner that the edgybois in high school loved to relate to, and if you know Drizzt you know exactly the type I mean. (The type you don't want at your table because they're just gonna sit and brood and be a loner the whole time.)
Personally, I found that I much preferred Lisa Smedman and Richard Lee Byers as authors when it came to Forgotten Realms stories. Both of them have pretty different approaches to their writing, but I found their books much more entertaining than what I read of Salvatore.
I never read any Forgotten Realms stuff outside of Salvatore. Might have to change that.
I would suggest finding the books of the gods-war saga. It shows what happens when mortals overthrow the gods and take their places. It's full of treachery and intrigue.