Let's Read and also Play Baldur's Gate: Bhaal must be stopped!

[Khay]

Interesting, thank you all for the feedback! I have to admit that the idea of "playing as Abdel" kinda went out of the window halfway through, because... well, it honestly doesn't work that well. I do want some game content for reference, but perhaps it doesn't need to be a full Let's Play. That would be awkward with the second book anyway, since Athans essentially skips the second chapter. I'll have to think about it if and when I cover the sequels. Maybe I'll lean onto an existing Let's Play for that (I like Mages and Murderdads.)

The book isn't a mediocre fantasy book if not forced to abide to D&D or Faerun standards. The main story is dribble.

That's true, and your criticisms are on point. The book is definitely bad - the plot relies on deus ex machina every five minutes, Sarevok's plan makes no sense and the "love story" raises about half a Soviet Union's worth of red flags. My point was more that the book, taken in isolation, actually isn't uniquely terrible.

It's bad, no doubt about it, but it's not a super interesting sort of bad. The book is awful to its female characters, but at least it doesn't make that a cornerstone of its worldbuilding. That sort of thing. If you blocked out the Forgotten Realms stuff, you'd basically have a low-tier hack-and-slash airport fantasy novel with a handful of decent sections. The reason it's so despised, I think, is the connection to the Baldur's Gate series, which is just... so much better than this. Of course, that connection is also the only reason anyone cares about these books at all, so.

[Nerd-o-rama]

I think you're undervaluing Airport Fantasy Novels a bit. There's lots of good stuff out there in that genre, not just atrocities against literature like Gor or exploitative garbage like this thing. David & Leigh Eddings, Raymond E. Feist, and almost everyone else who's published a D&D-branded paperback work in the same genre and medium and write books many orders of magnitude better than this crap on a purely structural level. Hell, even that guy who wrote Eragon executed his dull, derivative narrative in a much more competent manner, although he did have longer to write it.

The point is, by calling this thing average, I feel like you're falling into the trap of demeaning fantasy as a genre because it somehow has lower standards than other fiction, which is plain not true. This book is slapped-together crap no matter how you look at it, unless you're really digging for the few tiny bits that might be praiseworthy, like the good action descriptions.

At least it's not A Song of Ice and Fire, I guess. In this book, one of the psychopaths actually accomplishes something.

[Honest Tiefling]

Eragon was written by an 18 year old. I have to give some respect to turning out a well-liked book that young. Through I hope that doesn't have damsels in distress...Through I think I'd be more forviging of an 18 year old writing that then a 30-something...

[Khay]

I think you're undervaluing Airport Fantasy Novels a bit. There's lots of good stuff out there in that genre, not just atrocities against literature like Gor or exploitative garbage like this thing.

Yeah, that's a good point, actually. I want to give the book some allowance given the circumstances under which it was written, but the book itself is definitely garbage. I think I was being a bit too nice to Baldur's Gate (or a little too harsh on Airport Fantasy).

Eragon was written by an 18 year old. I have to give some respect to turning out a well-liked book that young. Through I hope that doesn't have damsels in distress...Through I think I'd be more forviging of an 18 year old writing that then a 30-something...

If I remember correctly, one of Eragon's central plot elements is an elf lady in distress. I think the protagonist has dreams about her? I don't know, it's been a while.

[Keltest]

If I remember correctly, one of Eragon's central plot elements is an elf lady in distress. I think the protagonist has dreams about her? I don't know, it's been a while.

if by "in distress" you mean "beaten to within an inch of her life by nasty demon type things" then yes. The point was less to show "oo, delicate elfmaid" and more "ooo, nasty demons can even take on an elf!"

[Nerd-o-rama]

The love interest in Eragon is...okay. She's the more modern "ass-kicking warrior woman who needs the male protagonist to help her learn how to deal with Feelings and occasionally rescue her when she manages to get in over her head" archetype rather than the "useless screaming horror movie victim" Jaheira's turned into here. So, really, a lot closer to Game Jaheira than Book Jaheira, although without the awkwardness of starting off married.

Still a paper-thin wish-fulfillment character, but not outright offensive.

[Spore]

Still a paper-thin wish-fulfillment character, but not outright offensive.

Without knowing the book, Eragon's elf damsel sounds like the Childlike Empress to me. More of a entity and less of a character or person. And the Neverending Story got a lot of praise, despite the Childlike Empress being in constant distress.

[Keltest]

Without knowing the book, Eragon's elf damsel sounds like the Childlike Empress to me. More of a entity and less of a character or person. And the Neverending Story got a lot of praise, despite the Childlike Empress being in constant distress.

While she is a she, she is also an elf, which means she needs to be perfect, aware of it, and highly opinionated about a great variety of things. Whether or not you like her character, it is certainly there.

[Spore]

While she is a she, she is also an elf, which means she needs to be perfect, aware of it, and highly opinionated about a great variety of things. Whether or not you like her character, it is certainly there.

A bit of a late reply but the Childlike Empress is more of a cosmic entity than a female. But she is portraited as a female and needs the male hero to save her so I feel it is similar. The Elf is a supernatural being, as is the Childlike Empress. Both are depicted as female, and in danger.