[Harkoliar]

memnoch ------------------- I hope you didn't spend money on Spellfire, Z...I think that a 6-pack of toilet paper would have been cheaper and probably more comfortable as well. Spellfire - A literary masterpiece...in comedy. A book about adventure? Try Sweet Valley High maybe. Shandril and her doofus boyfriend spend practically the ENTIRE novel drooling over each other and blasting every manner of powerful creature imaginable, including the most powerful dracolich that ever lived, a few Level 18 mages, baatezu, dragons, Manshoon, you name it, she can cook it. Makes your BG2 characters seem outright puny. Maybe the book should be titled, "Shandril Satay Sizzlers". And moving on to the sequel "Crown of Fire" (Mystra help us if he ever comes up with a trilogy!) there's the obligatory nude scene featuring Storm and Elminster (ever notice how all these sex scenes involve Elminster?) what is the point of that? I quote: "Clothing floated through the air in his direction; more than once Storm smiled her thanks at him. When she was done, he merely said, 'Ye still look magnificent lass.'"" C'mon! Elminster's not a dirty old man. Is he?? Didn't he look after Storm when she was still a baby? And I recall Ed saying that Ed (oops, I mean Elminster) has had sexual relations with ALL the Seven Sisters - who all look alike, incidentally. At least we all know what his type is, eh!! Of course when they lie together Storm is unclad while El is not. Of course! I'm not even going to mention how often Shandril walks around naked for NO REASON AT ALL. In fact she even sits on a Lord of Waterdeep's head naked! I'd long ago given up trying to understand how certain events described linked back to the plot, so I won't even make an attempt to make a connection here. Thank Tempus there was a rug between her and the guy's head, otherwise I'd be looking for the Playboy bunny on the spine of the book. His prose is turgid and completely lacking in originality and evocativeness. Truly, how often does he have to repeat the phrase "motes of light" before it sticks in his memory? Didn't he have Roget's thesaurus at hand when scribing his missive? And why, may I ask, does EVERY SINGLE FEMALE in his book have to be half-naked, naked, or naked and frolicking in the out of doors? His use of sex and sex scenes is totally unnecessary to the plot. Shandril Shessair certainly shares this exhibitionistic tendency, dropping her clothes at any given moment. I have no problem with sex or nudity in literature as long as they add, not detract from the plot. In this case they're just there obviously to give his 11yo target market wet dreams. Then again, that's Ed's target market so I guess I shouldn't compare him to Tolstoy or anyone, eh. Of course, these nubile, oversexed, uninhibited young temptresses all fall in love with Ed's alter ego Elminster, who happens to be 900+ years old. (Read the Temptation of Elminster - a book that has NO plot - but is good for a laugh and you will see what I mean. And while you're at it - look at the artwork of Elminster on the cover and then flip to the inner back cover of the book and check it against Ed's photo. Do you see a SIMILARITY??) Too bad Ed didn't include pictures to go with his books...then they might actually be worth the money.

spiritwarrior -------------------- And you know that was another book I was wondering about, Spellfire. I know now not to go near it. It always seems Greenwood gets the best cover pictures to his books (I know, I know don't judge a book by...) cuz Spellfires' cover looked great and that's how I remember seeing it.

i guess its too late for me.. bah! one of the worst books ive read was spellfire.. and wasted 100 bucks on that trash . at least the book pages were nice