This is set in the D&D universe of Icewind Dale and all that follows from there. I didn’t much care for the book as the characters are all over the top, and they don’t develop at all. I was amused by the assassin, but not much more than that. The story didn’t make up for the lack of character development either. The one good thing about this book is that it has interesting action sequences, but that is about it.
Adam, Kevin, Andrew, and I played a day of MTG where we took about 15 packs worth each and made a sealed deck with them. I was able to get a decent control deck going, but didn’t have any way to finish it. There were a few big hitters, but they weren’t enough typically to do the trick. I played a black, blue, and then added some green when I played against Andrew. Andrew took the day like he normally does. I didn’t have as good a showing as I typically do. I look forward to next time when we can do a rare and epic draft. It will be a decent bit harder since there will be many more multicolored, and the mana curve will be very different.
I enjoyed a rousing game of squash with Nima. He destroyed me badly at the start. It took me a while to get my placement back, but once I did Nima had a hard time beating me. It was a really enjoyable game. I look forward to playing him more, and I expect to have a good deal more time when I have the apps published.
Stephanie showed me the movie Amelie, and I liked it. The whole movie was a series of quirks, but it was funny quirks and the story was nice. I also liked that it didn’t end with everyone in love and getting along. It seemed more real that way.
This book was a fantastic ending to the series. There were a good number of twists that I didn’t see coming, but had been shown as building up the entire time. I really enjoyed the book, mainly for the story. I found a good number of the characters to be a little shallow and immature. Only a few had good development and those that did didn’t have much about them really change. They simply became more of what they were at the beginning of the story. I greatly appreciate the work that went into the world building and especially the lore building. Unlike many of the worlds that have been build before this world has a lot of the change in the stories. The real events got lost and changed with time.
Steph and I went to Nima and Caryn’s party and it was pretty good. We played a round of pool and a round of Hanabi, which we didn’t do so great on. Nima cooked some fish and served some cake and ice cream. We then went back up to their apartment after the pool house was closed down. We played a good number of rounds of Cards Against Humanity. I did really well and we learned a good bit about the different cards.
Steph and I took a ride into Palo Alto for some chocolate tasting and I ended up getting two bars. Then we stopped by the bike shop before coming back to Beachhead for breakfast. Steph cooked eggs, facon, latkes, and some Indian lentil food. I made some orange sauce, which turned out much better than the previous attempt.
This book has everything starting to come together. The action starts to focus on Southmarch, and things start going very wrong. Most of the big reveals have happened by this point, and now it is just resolution from here on out. I enjoy the stories of the non-humans much more than the humans. Most humans in this story are very immature.
The story really takes off in this book, with characters being spread all over the world. The world also goes through a lot of building where the gods are concerned. The stories of the gods are really well done in that there are multiple versions that have gone through many changes over time. There were revolutions and people bent the dogma to their own needs, making the topic of the gods in the stories change from place to place, even though it was all based on real events that happened thousands of years before. I also like that things older than the gods are alluded to, but not discussed in detail.
It's an Exciting World 