Elminster's Daughter

While once again reviewing some memories, as Elminster in Hell did, which gets somewhat old, this book has a good pace, and keeps people interested in Greenwood's FR works.

Great Book by Ed Greenwood. There's a surprising twist at the end of the book and it was amazing. One of the best stories in the Elminster story.

Ed Greenwood has provided us all with another amazing work here. As the title reveals, this is more about the Old Mage's estranged daughter than El himself. Narnra is an interesting character in her own right. Some readers may find her a character that lacks developmentally. The feeling of resentement she carries about her father is touched on briefly, then abandoned for a large section of the book. This was acceptable to me, because for that large section Narnra is running from Harper agents across Marsember. She does get the chance to discuss the whole situation with Elminster, at an appropraite time and place. The novel does start out in a slightly confusing manner. Greenwood gives us five or six different plot lines, which he slowly and carefully weaves together into one larger scheme. It will take some patient reading on the part of the reader to get through the initial setups, but you shall be rewarded by the end of the story! Overall, this was a great book. I like to think it shows the "dark side of being good."

This novel was typical Ed Greenwood fare. If you tend to enjoy his work with its omnipotent characters and ever-happy endings, you'll love it. If you have problems with his style, then you might want to think twice because this definitely contains more of the same. I tend to enjoy his books and thus found this one quite entertaining. The book starts off a little slow and then suddenly throws about five different plots at you. There is an excrutiatingly long chase scene (on foot) smack dab in the middle, but otherwise it flows very quickly once the plots get going. I honestly had trouble putting it down once I got past the first couple chapters. Fans of the Realms should read this book because it does contain some events that might affect future novels. While the title doesn't suggest it, Cormyr and its royal family, the Harpers, the Red Wizards, and Mystra's Chosen all play significant roles in this book. So if you're a fan of any of those, read this.

Written with on a more mature reading level. Very well written and captivating at once. Maybe somewhere between Salvatore's early work and a bit shy of George Martin. An excellent read if you have never read anything else in the Elminster Series.