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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31701 Posts |
 Posted - 03 Aug 2010 : 05:28:46
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Well met
This is a Book Club thread for Elminster Must Die (part of "The Sage of Shadowdale" saga), by Ed Greenwood. Please discuss chapters 21 - 25 herein.
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Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium -- Volume IX now available (Oct 2007)
"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood
Zhoth'ilam Folio -- The Electronic Misadventures of a Rambling Sage |
Edited by - The Sage on 03 Aug 2010 16:24:55
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Broken Helm
Learned Scribe
USA
108 Posts |
Posted - 12 Aug 2010 : 19:48:12
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I just wanted to say that it was in these chapters that the city of Suzail started to feel like a real place around me, without Ed seeming to stop at all to do any description.
How did he DO that?   |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 12 Aug 2010 : 23:14:50
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 Magic.
love,
THO |
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Garen Thal
Master of Realmslore
USA
1105 Posts |
Posted - 12 Aug 2010 : 23:28:05
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quote:
Originally posted by Broken Helm
I just wanted to say that it was in these chapters that the city of Suzail started to feel like a real place around me, without Ed seeming to stop at all to do any description.
How did he DO that?
Oh, dear Helm. That, better than anything at all, is precisely what Ed does, and has done, down the years, to make the Realms a living, breathing place we know instantly and yet want to learn everything about. It's why his players cared to learn more about the Realms, and therefore why he developed it further, and therefore shared it with everyone... wherefore TSR chose to purchase it.
In other words: Magic. |
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Baleful Avatar
Learned Scribe
Canada
161 Posts |
Posted - 25 Aug 2010 : 16:08:44
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I bet Ed has worked out the routes of the dung wagons and all of that. The man's mind is awe-inspiring...and a little frightening.
Great book. Can't wait for the next one.
Did you notice how many names of Suzailans he just casually gave us, throughout the book?
BA |
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Iluvrien
Acolyte
United Kingdom
49 Posts |
Posted - 22 Sep 2010 : 22:25:33
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This is the problem that my copy of Elminster Must Die having taken 44 days to arrive causes... the other scribes have been, made the most prudent observations and gone before I have even managed to read the first page!
I wonder if any scribe has taken the new names of noble and commoner alike and set them among those already known within Suzail?
Marlin's plots continue with little surprise for me, he is proceeding much as I had expected him to... and as such my focus is elsewhere.
The talk of the Harpers and their purging themselves of alien influence was good to hear, albeit from a Sembian. I had wondered if the rumours in the FRCG were exactly that, merely rumours. To have this confirmed pleased me.
With all of Arclath, Amarune and El's dashings through the streets of Suzail, and Ed's consumate skill in describing them, I find that I have to agree with Broken Helm, Garen Thal and Baleful Avatar. It just seems to much more real than it has done since I was reading the Cormyr series. Although it does, again, make me sad that I am not to see Filfaeril passing through them again. (Brokem record, I know.)
And speaking of saddened, the scene between Storm and Alassra just tore at me. Alassra has never been my favourite of the Sisters, nor had she garnerd much in the way of sympathy from me in the past... and yet I found myself, once again due to Ed's masterful storytelling, thinking "Even Alassra doesn't deserve this... and Ethena Astorma certainly doesn't." (A happy smile found itself on my face when I read her full name again, I thought I would never see it again, thanks Ed!)
My focus has firmly been on Amarune, though. She continues to captivate me. I have to admit, I shall probably carry an image of her firmly set features, behind the Dragonriders' bar, supplying a stream of well-aimed glasswares into the faces of those idiot nobles, for a long LONG time. And for that I thank you again Ed.
I can't stop reading! |
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Shadowaxe
Acolyte
United Kingdom
16 Posts |
Posted - 12 Oct 2010 : 17:05:15
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quote:
Originally posted by Baleful Avatar
I bet Ed has worked out the routes of the dung wagons and all of that.
I have just reached this and thought exactly that! And there has been so many moments of witty brilliance throughout this read! |
Mead, mead, from the honey bee,
How I long to drink thee. |
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Dennis
Great Reader
9933 Posts |
Posted - 26 Nov 2010 : 02:42:21
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quote:
Originally posted by Iluvrien
And speaking of saddened, the scene between Storm and Alassra just tore at me. Alassra has never been my favourite of the Sisters, nor had she garnerd much in the way of sympathy from me in the past... and yet I found myself, once again due to Ed's masterful storytelling, thinking "Even Alassra doesn't deserve this... and Ethena Astorma certainly doesn't."
Indeed. I've always been Alassra's fan. She looked worse than a chained dog or a Thayan slave in that scene... |
Every beginning has an end. |
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Blueblade
Senior Scribe
USA
804 Posts |
Posted - 06 Aug 2012 : 03:53:41
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As I reread this great book, I find myself agreeing with Iluvrien's observation: despite the fact that we mainly see Suzail's streets from the POV of someone racing through them on urgent business, Ed somehow makes the city feel REAL and alive around the reader.
I'm enjoying this all over again.
BB |
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Elminster Must Die -- Chapters 21 - 25
