Cheap Realms of Shadow (Forgotten Realms: Return of the Archwizard anthology) (Book) (Lizz Baldwin, R A Salvatore, Troy Denning, Ed Greenwood, Elain Cunningham) Price

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Customer Reviews of Realms of Shadow (Forgotten Realms: Return of the Archwizard anthology)

Entertaining stories out way the time-wasters
This book provides an entertaining read even with the occasional poor story thrown in. The Theme of the book is interesting and several of the stories more than do it justice. The story by Paul Kemp was exceptionally entertaining, and the Lisa Smedman story was also very good. Salvatore's characters are always interesting and, although short, his story was a fun read. There are several others that make the book worth purchasing also, just accept that there will be some stories that will leave you shaking your head in disbelief. This book does prime the pump of interest in the return of the Shadovar adequately to make this an anticipated FR event.

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A mixed bag
Unlike the other reviewers, I found this particular collection to range from truly awful to good; there is nothing spectacular here, though. Troy Denning, an FR author I usually enjoy quite a bit (and whose first two books in this particular series are excellent), delivers a plodding, predictable story that degenerates into standard fantasy fiction stereotypes without any significant characterisation. This is atypical for Denning, and for this reason I am likely more disappointed than I might have been had another author penned the tale. Salvatore and Cunningham, as usual, deliver satisfying tales with memorable characters. Jessica Beaven is, to me at least, a new contributor. In my opinion, this should be her last attempt. Her tale was disjointed, stylistically pretentious and without any storytelling merit whatsoever. While this may tide one over between "The Siege" and the forthcoming "The Sorcerer," it would be best to not bring too much hope for an overall satisfying FR experience with this particular anthology.

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Elegant anthology
From Lisa Smedman's Netherese mystery tale to Peter Archer's Indiana Jones-esque reprise of a character from Realms of Mystery, Realms of Shadow offers a nifty tie-in which stands effectively apart from the polarizing Return of the Archwizards trilogy (personally I like the trilogy a lot, but plenty of you don't -- do not let that discourage you from buying this anthology). I particularly like Paul Kemp's story (watching this guy. He's going to be Salvatore-big some day), Elaine Cunningham's comedy and Richard Lee Byers' adventure tale set in the ruins of Tilverton. Ed Greenwood's story sets some kind of "sets of villains in one story" record with four - phaerimm, malaugrym, shades and Bleth/Cormaeril renegade Cormyrians.