The Yellow Silk: The Rogues

I agree with most of the reviewers, this is a very entertaining book. However my only disappointment with this book was the reason's behind why the true villian became nasty and evil. It was lame and quite comical. Overall a good read.

Like one of the reviewers here, I must applaud the author of this book for giving creedance to an oft-overlooked class in D & D literature: The Bard. Tychoben Arisaeen is as unlikely a hero as ever, described as a short hairy singer, but his gifts for music and mirth, as well as getting into trouble, kept this reader highly entertained. The author, Don Bassingthwaite, excels in his bardic abilities as well, because I could almost hear the music in this novel. And the magic behind it? Magnificent! The story takes place in the Port City of Spandeliyon in Altumbel, but don't let the charming name fool you. In the winter, this port is dark and cold and full of villains you wouldn't want to meet in a down-trodden tavern, much less an alleyway! But the heroes are warm and engaging and I found myself caring for them quite easily. Tycho has an excellent everyman quality mixed with charm, a rapier wit and a good heart. His mentor, the once great Veseene "the Lark", is a wise and wily old bird whom anyone would love to have as an honored grandmother. Li Chieng, a fighter from Shou Lung makes Tycho an unlikely partner, but his story is full of the secrets of a young man trying to regain his family honor. And the luscious Laera, a rich young woman with aspirations of bardhood is a welcome addition. On the other side of the fence are the villains, and boy, are they nasty! I was reluctant at first to mentally accept a halfling as the main master of villainy, but the retired one-eyed pirate named Brin is WICKED. As one reviewer put it, he's very Napoleonic, and the fact that he can control and frighten a world of "big people" certainly says something. He is a terror. I don't want to give away the other villains because that would spoil this finely woven tale which had me hanging on every word. Buy it! Read it! And enjoy!

This is the fourth and final (I believe) book in the series of stand alone novels featureing the Rogues in the Forgotten Realms. The thing I enjoyed most about this book int he main character is vastly different from that of most fantasy books. The story is also something that hasn't been rehashed a hundred times either. It's something new. Overall this is a very good continuation of the Rogue series and well worth the read.

A one eyed, patch wearing, Halfling gang boss. As an unlikely bad guy as Scrappy Doo but it was still fun to dislike this wicked Napoleon. The main charter seemed to be typical of the series, the unlucky non-hero thrown into the heroic situation; usually to save a loved one or the girl. In this case, our hero might not save the day and the girl is a little scorned. A fun read with the required big battle with plenty of swordplay and magic at the end. Everything you should expect from a Rogue.

I thought this book was great simply because it focused on an often overlooked character class in the written world of fantasy and D & D (especially the Forgotten Realms). Bards are a huge part of any fantasy world with taverns and inns with common rooms, but I cannot remember the last time I read any mention of one in a FR book. Bards play an important role in any fantasy community, as illustrated in the first few chapters at the tavern of choice. The storyline and plot was good also, although at points it was very vague on the motives behind one of the foreign characters to the city of Spandeliyon. But it was vague because the foreign character was keeping something from everybody else, but of course, it all becomes clear. While mentioning this person, Li, it seems strange to me because there seems to be a race in this book that I am unfamiliar with and could not understand if they were from Faerun or somewhere else, or just some obscure part of the Realm. This "race" just seemed to be humans with an Asian or oriental decent - which of course is fine but it is just hard to grasp what exactly this persons decent was from a stand-alone book. Maybe I'm just not as well-read as I should be. I just kept conjuring this image of stereotypical samarai warriors who somehow keep getting confused as elfs?! I guess the city is not very well-cultured. Li is also insanly impulsive and just goes nuts sometimes. It seems almost out of character, but I suppose it's not. These couple things, while simingly minor, haunted the back of my head while reading "The Yellow Silk," and thus is the reason for four stars instead of five. Another highlight of this book is the halfling mob boss that everyone either criminally works for or is afraid to cross. He has an eye patch and is a pig/warthog hearder. It makes for a very interesting mental picture of all these minions serving this 2.5 foot halfling conducting business in the pigstys. Classic. Good book. Great characters, good story, confusing cultural background. This book has its moments where it clearly and classically utilizes the talents of a bard. I found it almost as interesting and as entertaining as some of the battles of barbarians and the thefts of the other rogues in various FR books.