Book Review: The Ghost King (Transitions #3, The Legend of Drizzt #19)

The Ghost King by R.A. Salvatore
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Summary:

Don't miss the gripping conclusion to Salvatore's New York Times best-selling Transitions trilogy!

When the Spellplague ravages Faerûn, Drizzt and his companions are caught in the chaos. Seeking out the help of the priest Cadderly–the hero of the recently reissued series The Cleric Quintet–Drizzt finds himself facing his most powerful and elusive foe, the twisted Crenshinibon, the demonic crystal shard he believed had been destroyed years ago.

Review:

This is hard for me, and for you to understand that, I have to tell you a story.

First I want to say it's amazing how much a person can love a work of art, a creation. That is why I will never fault fans, even if the work itself is extremely faulty with many issues that impressionable teenagers shouldn't be exposed to. (But that is a story for another time.)

My point is that R.A. Salvatore's work is the reason why I started to write fantasy. So, giving it three stars hurts a little. It hurts the remnants of that fourteen year old girl who finally found her place, and was terrified of it till college. It hurts the little girl who used to secretly watch anime on Cartoon Network without telling anyone at school. It hurt the little girl who read her adult mystery novels at home, while trying to read age appropriate books in front of other people.

You see, I was thirteen when I fell in love with Harry Potter. That made me realize I loved fantasy. So I went looking for more. Tried reading The Hobbit, and utterly failed. (It was boring, still is.) And then someone told me about the Drizzt books. Some kid online I used to do one of those post style roll-plays with.

So I bought Homeland, and to my surprise it was signed. I read it, loved it, and proceeded to read his Drizzt books and his Demon Wars Saga works. I started mixing in other fantasy, but most of it was different genres. Humor, urban fantasy. The occasional mystery. Then literary works once I entered college (aside from my Lord of the Rings class). I fell behind.

One day I bought the ebooks of the ones I hadn't read yet, this being the first. It took my a while to get through it. For a while I couldn't pin down why. Then it hit me. My nostalgia had bottomed out, collapsed, vanished into thin air. I had become too educated and well read, and these books weren't holding up to my new standards.

The first thing I noticed was that the writing just wasn't that special. It lacked the emotional detail I was looking for. It was straight forward fantasy narrative, but was all over the place. Most of the time it seemed to try to be shooting for third person omniscient, but kind of failing. It was honestly a bit annoying. I mean the writing wasn't bad, but not special. It was like reading Garden of the Moon again. It didn't hold my interest.

And the characters. Damn. How do I say this? When a writer has 20 years of work they need to do something with, I expect such finality to have more of a slow build. Instead I feel like it came on like a truck leaving a smeared mess in it's wake.

First, the falling apart of magic. That alone could get some serious mileage. It's changing how people live. I got broadsided with no reason why.

Instead I got to watch some people panic, favorite characters become absolutely useless, and Cadderly become a walking deus ex machina. I don't even know what really happened. I'm just confused and kind of upset. I mean these characters have always had a slight comic book quality, you know, feats of heroism that would make shounen characters clap in appreciation at the sheer ridiculous, but damn.

I don't even know how I can voice my disappointment anymore. I seriously have no more words. I want to downgrade to a two star, but I guess I have a small shred of nostalgia left over. I don't even know why that's still there. The leftover fan in me is very angry right now. I just realized that. I thought I didn't care about the events in the book, but I do. I feel cheated. Everything felt so sloppy and haphazard. Things just happened. They happened, feeling unconnected to everything else. That is what it was like. That is why I'm disappointed and a bit sad.

I'm angry (view spoiler)[Cattie-brie got fridged (hide spoiler)].

I'm angry characters I loved were just kind of there.

I'm angry I wanted it to be awesome, and then it just wasn't.

Screw it, two stars.

Sifting Through Old Stuff

My husband and I bought a 3-hole puncher this weekend. He needed it to organize some of his paperwork into binders, so we took a trip to Office Max. This purchase ended up being beneficial for me as well because I could finally put new drafts of my novel into my binder. In a paper-wasting act of organization, I proceeded to print out all 12 revised chapters to replace the ones that still remained in the black binder that sat on the corner of my desk. I can certainly say that it was gratifying, but what about the old copies?


I went through all the folders and holders I possessed to gather up the old drafts that I had lying around. It has been 8 years since I started my novel, and some of the drafts are years old. Over those years I have become a better writer and have repaired flaws that needed to be repaired. Naturally these old drafts were just plain bad. Yes, bad. I was shocked that I ever wrote that way and am glad that I improved. I couldn't help but think of my friends in high school who would nag me for my spiral bound notebooks so that they could read the new words I had scribbled down as my teachers lectured. I had never dreamed such a project would get carried away.


For years I just had fun with it. There are characters that are more caricature, now cut out and forgotten. My main characters' actions have become more refined and realistic as I have gotten to know them better, and as I have gotten older. I became better read, so my writing style has evolved to become my own and less adolescent. My word count has shot up due to the cry for more detail and explanation from those who have read what I have written. I have introduced new characters that make the plot more complex. Old ideas have grown to become their own monsters. My work, my world has evolved.


Now its a serious project that I am constantly working on. Sadly I am a bit of a procrastinator, and have issues with staying consistent. One moment I am doing the much needed rewrite for chapter 1, and the next I am working on chapter 13. (That doesn't include the two short works I'm currently writing.) I have to prevent myself from going through all that I have just printed out and doing more revising. The perfectionist in my tries so very hard to deter me, but I am making progress. I have a goal to write more every day so that I can get all of Part 1 (now Book 1 due to length) finished so I can really grind at it. Yes, I have a dream about getting it published some day. Whether it will have to be self published or not is yet to be seen. I will continue to write, because now with the division of the parts, I have two books written and a third started. I can say I'm pleased with myself, and I have enough ideas for a dozen books.


I need a filing cabinet.


Now it is time for me to admit that this blog is being used as a procrastination tool. I must get back to that chapter 1 rewrite.


If you want a little taste of my work go to BookCountry, but I should warn you that there is a word count limit for nonmembers. My book is under Hands of Ash, and my short stories are "Principium" and "Red Autumn."