Twofer again tonight, starting with Nigel Findley's return to The Cloakmaster Cycle with The Broken Sphere.
There isn't that much to say about the plot of this installment of Teldin's adventures in the Phlogostein, since most of the book is an extended chase from Crescent to the eponymous Broken Sphere wherein he can find the fabled SpellJammer.
On one hand, this one does have a few advantages; with the return of Julia, we get a better reason that recycling as to why characters keep returning to the series after being presumed dead, and we also get a lecture on why late stage capitalism in Medieval space is just as bad as it is in post modern time.
Unfortunately, this is still a big "Sail here, find out there are traitors and spies on the new crew, meet an old cast member who may or may not be bad, find out who the actual big bad is an their motivations, then proceed on the quest."
Which, honestly, isn't poorly written, and indeed features a Beholder in human disguise as a crewman. It's more that we've have 4 books prior to this really following a similar formula. I am happy they decided to enter an Elvish concept of a person to whom fate bends around as a reason why people keep wondering in and out of the story.
It's just, if it weren't for the appearance of the legendary ship at the end, this book would have been filler.
Showing posts with label Nigel Findley. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nigel Findley. Show all posts
Friday, August 23, 2019
Sunday, July 7, 2019
Why are we out of Rum?
I need to go watch Pirates of the Caribbean again, since I'm running out of Captain Jack quotes, and I just realized that between 4 more volumes of the Cloakmaster Cycle and the two books I just got from the library all having nautical themes, I'm going to need them.
Anyway, it would seem that all 6 books of the Cloakmaster Cycle have different authors, which does mean that book 2, Into the Void, has some major tonal differences from its predecessor, making me wonder if this is going to be a case of Naked Came the Stranger in RPG format.
Anyway, we pick up with Teldin Moore as the Gnomish ship he's flying on is getting ready to leave Krynnspace. Sadly, the gnomes get attacked by more Neogi. Teldin happens to be out on a longboat when the attack happens, leaving him and 3 of the gnomes stranded as the gnomeship make evasive maneuvers. Thankfully, they get picked up by a Hammership crewed by mostly humans, captained by Estriss, an Illithid.
The Probe is bound for Realmspace, specifically the island of Rauthaven, where Estriss is looking to buy strange artifacts at an auction. Which does take us out of Krynnspace and into the Flow for the first time. We learn bits of Teldin's cloak's powers, like the ability to change his appearance, which Teldin does end up doing in Realmspace, after the Probe rescues a stranded ship.
Once again, the Neogi attack, although this time we find out they have a spy on the Probe.
In the end Teldin gets betrayed by at least 3 people, as just about everyone except for some of the crew wants the cloak.
Fun read, and it looks like the next book will explore areas that are specific settings for SpellJammer, which should be interesting.
Anyway, it would seem that all 6 books of the Cloakmaster Cycle have different authors, which does mean that book 2, Into the Void, has some major tonal differences from its predecessor, making me wonder if this is going to be a case of Naked Came the Stranger in RPG format.
Anyway, we pick up with Teldin Moore as the Gnomish ship he's flying on is getting ready to leave Krynnspace. Sadly, the gnomes get attacked by more Neogi. Teldin happens to be out on a longboat when the attack happens, leaving him and 3 of the gnomes stranded as the gnomeship make evasive maneuvers. Thankfully, they get picked up by a Hammership crewed by mostly humans, captained by Estriss, an Illithid.
The Probe is bound for Realmspace, specifically the island of Rauthaven, where Estriss is looking to buy strange artifacts at an auction. Which does take us out of Krynnspace and into the Flow for the first time. We learn bits of Teldin's cloak's powers, like the ability to change his appearance, which Teldin does end up doing in Realmspace, after the Probe rescues a stranded ship.
Once again, the Neogi attack, although this time we find out they have a spy on the Probe.
In the end Teldin gets betrayed by at least 3 people, as just about everyone except for some of the crew wants the cloak.
Fun read, and it looks like the next book will explore areas that are specific settings for SpellJammer, which should be interesting.
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