City of the Dead: Ed Greenwood Presents Waterdeep
by Rosemary Jones
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Book Summary Information
Author: Rosemary JonesEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-06-02
ISBN: 078695129X
Number of pages: 320
Model: 24026
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
Book Reviews of City of the Dead: Ed Greenwood Presents Waterdeep
Book Review: Fun...fun...fun
Summary: 5 Stars
City of the Dead by Rosemary Jones has a pretty linear plot line. It is a tale of revenge involving the graveyard that unwittingly puts a family and all of Waterdeep at risk of the walking dead. The main character, Sophraea Carver with the help of an out-of-towner "Better than some, worse than others" wizard Gustin Bone investigates to get to the bottom of the strange occurrences happening in the graveyard. A couple of subplots flavor up the story with the alternate agenda of Gustin's visit to Waterdeep, a merchant man's overreaching hand, an old lord's ambition to keep Waterdeep from changing too much, a family's day to day activities, and of course a love interest.
The pacing of CotD moves along nicely and doesn't get too fast or bogged much down at all. The novel flows quite well, however, there are a couple of bumps in the road that, to me, interrupt it and that was due to the choice of names for some of the characters, names such as Fidelity, Judicious, Vigilant, and the antagonist Rampage Stunk. I found that I had to re-read sections to make sure that those were indeed the character names and not random words put in the sentence.
Ms. Jones was able to take the CotD and bring it to a much greater life than I have seen before. I have read in other realms novels where characters entered the graveyard but the vision that I got was nowhere near as vibrant as it was with reading this one. I also was given enough details to get the author's vision without overbearing details.
I was able to connect well with all the characters. I even wanted to reach into the book and throttle the antagonist and his henchmen. The character development was also done very well, even the old Lord's character developed some at the end. Other readers may find something different from me, but I was just having so much fun reading CotD that I may have missed a few things.
A couple minor criticisms:
1. Like I mentioned before, the names of the characters were a bit silly to me. I will say that at least they were not long jumbles of consonants crammed together, but using everyday words for names made it a bit confusing. I did like Sophraea's father's name and the way that it fit with the family's profession.
2. Though there are some nice battle scenes throughout CotD, I just never really felt that the characters were in any mortal danger. I could easily predict a few times of how they could escape from the predicaments that they were in. I did enjoy some of the escapes though.
Some positives:
1. Aside from the title, this is definitely not a dark fantasy novel. It is very lighthearted and a joy to read. I do like dark fantasy as well, but this was nice as it was a break from the norm. It was just a fun, fun read
2. The characters were fun to read. The humor was not too silly or over the top. Each one seemed to have their own voice and make decisions logically based on the situations and their knowledge.
3. The writing was awesome. I had a hard time putting this one down. I looked forward to every moment I could get to jump back in. Ms. Jones knows how to keep things interesting and always leaves something to look forward to.
4. The vision added to the CotD made the graveyard as welcoming in the daytime as it was foreboding at night. I was very easy to envision the graves and mausoleums as well as a few added bonuses that truly enhance Waterdeep as the City of Splendors.
Overall, I enjoyed myself very much. I enjoyed Crypt of the Moaning Diamond also, but this was even better. If you only like reading dark fantasy or serious fantasy epics, then you may want to skip this one. Now if you re looking to get started into the Forgotten Realms, I can recommend this as a place to test the waters. There is no previous realms lore needed to understand how things are in Waterdeep. There is a small amount about the spell plague, but it is used differently in a way that enhanced the story. I am not a gamer, I have only read FR novels, but to me there was little to do with the 4E rules and this book did not seem much different from previous realms books. For those who are adamant about reading realms books because of the 4E, I would recommend trying this one out. You may be pleasantly surprised.
-Dimndbangr
Summary of City of the Dead: Ed Greenwood Presents Waterdeep
A haunting adventure hand-picked by Ed Greenwood...Something is causing trouble in the City of the Dead, and Sophraea Carver, born and bred next to the historic graveyard, is determined to solve the mystery before it places all of Waterdeep in peril.
Set in the classic City of Splendors and presented by Forgotten Realms® campaign setting creator and celebrated author Ed Greenwood, you don't want to miss out on this exciting glimpse into what the latest edition of the Realms has to offer.
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