The Fellowship was fortunate enough to obtain a copy of STONE OF TYMORA from Wizards of the Coast. R.A. Salvatore and Geno Salvatore wrote
this novel.
Maimun is an orphan, and he’s been passed around all his
life. Now he’s twelve, his latest guardian has been killed, and he’s been
attacked by a nasty demon-like creature named Asbeel. So he flees, and spends
time as a sailor, a pirate, a scholar, and even hobnobs with some of the
better-known characters in the Forgotten Realms. Ultimately he decides to
destroy the religious artifact that has made his life so difficult, but even
that really doesn’t make it any less interesting.
This novel is set in the Dungeons & Dragons Forgotten
Realms setting, which the elder Salvatore helped make famous back in the 1990s.
It’s a world which has seen a few battles, a few cataclysms, and more than a
few epic fantasy tales. The story is told is a bit of a rambling style, with a
narration by a pirate-captured Maimun interjected piecemeal in the usually
third-person chapter sequence. It’s an awful lot for a twelve-year-old main
character to handle, but it’s a high-fantasy story involving godlike artifacts
and other magical weaponry, so it doesn’t really ever seem overwhelming to the
reader. I thought the cameo appearances were a little much, but not enough to
take away from the story, which had enough interesting twists in it to keep it
going. And the Salvatores (R.A. and son Geno) are still really good at
describing swordplay J
This is the first of a new wave of Forgotten Realms novels
coming out this fall, and if it’s any indicator, we’re in for a great ride.
STONE OF TYMORA is available now in bookstores everywhere or
by order from wizards.com.
~Mike
