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Violanthe · Webmaster Joined: 24 Jul 2003 Posts: 5903

How does this opener strike you?

THE REVOLT HAD BEGUN HERE, in the huge nave of the Ministry, and the dried blood of those killed in the first battle could still be seen, staining the wooden pews and the stone floor, splattered across the walls and the sculpted statues.

The cathedral was built along the wall separating the city's merchant class from the common folk, and thus held a strategic position indeed. It had changed hands several times in the weeks since the fighting began, but so determined were the revolutionaries that the cyclopians still had not held the place long enough to climb the tower and cut down Duke Morkney's body.

If you've never read this book, or had no clue where the opener comes from, then how does it strike you? If you had only this opener to go on, would you read more? Does it grab you and spur you to read on? Or does it leave you unenthusiastic?

If you read the book it came from, did you remember right away or did you have to look it up? What made it so memorable - or not so memorable?
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Golophin · Moderator Joined: 29 Mar 2006 Posts: 238

Okay. For once i havent googled and i feel a flicker of interest...

pecooper · Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2007 7:28 pm

I feel a sense of d�j� vu. Haven't we already done this one before, or have so many fantasies been written that start with a bloody revolt in a large hall that they are starting to sound alike?

If the former, it doesn't appeal to me any more than it did the first time. If the latter, definitely not. In fact, shoot the author before he does it again.

Violanthe · Webmaster Joined: 24 Jul 2003 Posts: 5903

It's entirely possible that I may have posted it twice.
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Violet "Violanthe" Kane
[email protected]
ARWZ.com: A Magazine of Alternative Reality Fiction

Mervi · Warlord Joined: 29 Aug 2006 Posts: 1119 Location: Finland

Salvatore has very glib and easy-to-read style with lots of fight scenes. (I should know since I've read almost all of this Drizzt books...) Alas, his characters are shallow and they never die or get hurt.

Peter · Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 7:10 pm

I'd disagree that Salvatore writes shallow characters. What he does write (as far as (TSR/Wizards) far as characters goes, is what the gaming companies expect. So, Drizzt, Ivan Bouldershoulder, etc, will go through hell but not die - 'cos after all, their games wouldn't sell if the favourite toon was killed off, would it?

So, he's a bit constrained as to what to do.

But, Luthien is a Tolkien name...what's it doing here in this unrelated book?

Violanthe · Webmaster Joined: 24 Jul 2003 Posts: 5903