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Shandril's Saga #1
Spellfire
The Fire That Burns
It can lay low a dragon or heal a wounded warrior.
It is the most sought-after magical power in all Faerûn.
And it is in the reluctant hands of Shandril of Highmoon, a young, orphaned kitchen-lass.
Now she's on the run from half of the evil sorcerers in the land, not to mention their relentless minions. But with the help of a handsome young wizard, some rough-and-tumble Knights of Myth Drannor, and a certain old mage of Shadowdale, she just might manage to stay alive.
At least until tomorrow.
An all-new expanded version of Ed Greenwood's classic tale, including a new forward by the author.
One of Ed Greenwood's most popular novels, Spellfire is being rereleased in an all-new trade paperback edition. This version has been completely reedited and contains added text and material that bring new excitement to the story. This edition also features new cover art and is classified as the first title in the brand-new Forgotten Realms series Shandril's Saga.
It can lay low a dragon or heal a wounded warrior.
It is the most sought-after magical power in all Faerûn.
And it is in the reluctant hands of Shandril of Highmoon, a young, orphaned kitchen-lass.
Now she's on the run from half of the evil sorcerers in the land, not to mention their relentless minions. But with the help of a handsome young wizard, some rough-and-tumble Knights of Myth Drannor, and a certain old mage of Shadowdale, she just might manage to stay alive.
At least until tomorrow.
An all-new expanded version of Ed Greenwood's classic tale, including a new forward by the author.
One of Ed Greenwood's most popular novels, Spellfire is being rereleased in an all-new trade paperback edition. This version has been completely reedited and contains added text and material that bring new excitement to the story. This edition also features new cover art and is classified as the first title in the brand-new Forgotten Realms series Shandril's Saga.
382 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published July 1, 1987
133 people are currently reading
1851 people want to read
About the author
Ed Greenwood
362 books874 followersEd Greenwood is the creator of the Forgotten Realms fantasy world, which became the setting for his home D&D game in 1975. Play still continues in this long-running campaign, and Ed also keeps busy producing Realmslore for various TSR publications.
Ed has published over two hundred articles in Dragon magazine and Polyhedron newszine, is a lifetime charter member of the Role Playing Game Associaton (RPGA) network, has written over thirty books and modules for TSR, and been Gen Con Game Fair guest of honor several times.
In addition to all these activities, Ed works as a library clerk and has edited over a dozen small press magazines.
Invented the character Elminster from the popular Forgotten Realms RPG series. Currently resides in an old farmhouse in the countryside of Ontario, Canada.
Ed has published over two hundred articles in Dragon magazine and Polyhedron newszine, is a lifetime charter member of the Role Playing Game Associaton (RPGA) network, has written over thirty books and modules for TSR, and been Gen Con Game Fair guest of honor several times.
In addition to all these activities, Ed works as a library clerk and has edited over a dozen small press magazines.
Invented the character Elminster from the popular Forgotten Realms RPG series. Currently resides in an old farmhouse in the countryside of Ontario, Canada.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 162 reviews
August 4, 2019
I think I was in middle school when I read this. I learned that you should not buy a book just because it has an animated dragon skeleton on the cover and the word "spell" in the title, so my two dollars weren't completely wasted.
October 2, 2020
2020 Update: Five years wiser, I can safely report that no, Greenwood's novels do NOT get any better. I have to give a shout-out to Rob Bricken at Gizmodo magazine for his 100% accurate and detailed review of Spellfire; my own review below pales in comparison: https://io9.gizmodo.com/dungeon-drago...
******************
Although he created the Forgotten Realms, his skills as a campaign creator and dungeon master did not translate to being a good author! At least not in this case. Ed Greenwood wrote many books set in the Forgotten Realms, I can only hope that his writing improved over time. Spellfire was an almost unendurable novel. Were I not invested in the setting and D&D, I don't think that I would have completed the novel, and I rarely give up on a book. The problems are countless: a heroine / lead character who shows little personality and, for the most part, remains passive throughout the events of the novel; very poor characterization; a cast of forgettable, interchangeable characters with only a couple of exceptions; lack of real conflict; poor pacing; and worst of all, the constant need to refer to magic as 'art'. "My art is not strong enough", "his art is beyond compare", "art, art, art". No other Forgotten Realms novels use "art" for "magic"! It irked me with every utterance.
I am confident that later books by Ed Greenwood will be much more enjoyable, although I did try to read "Elminster in Hell" many years ago before I was interested in the Realms because it was on a free book exchange shelf, and I had to put that one down uncompleted, so maybe it doesn't get any better! I have to note too that the author bio lists no literary accomplishments, instead listing his appearances and activities at RPG conventions. This explains a lot. I will continue to read the Realms novels and really, really hope that his novels improve.
******************
Although he created the Forgotten Realms, his skills as a campaign creator and dungeon master did not translate to being a good author! At least not in this case. Ed Greenwood wrote many books set in the Forgotten Realms, I can only hope that his writing improved over time. Spellfire was an almost unendurable novel. Were I not invested in the setting and D&D, I don't think that I would have completed the novel, and I rarely give up on a book. The problems are countless: a heroine / lead character who shows little personality and, for the most part, remains passive throughout the events of the novel; very poor characterization; a cast of forgettable, interchangeable characters with only a couple of exceptions; lack of real conflict; poor pacing; and worst of all, the constant need to refer to magic as 'art'. "My art is not strong enough", "his art is beyond compare", "art, art, art". No other Forgotten Realms novels use "art" for "magic"! It irked me with every utterance.
I am confident that later books by Ed Greenwood will be much more enjoyable, although I did try to read "Elminster in Hell" many years ago before I was interested in the Realms because it was on a free book exchange shelf, and I had to put that one down uncompleted, so maybe it doesn't get any better! I have to note too that the author bio lists no literary accomplishments, instead listing his appearances and activities at RPG conventions. This explains a lot. I will continue to read the Realms novels and really, really hope that his novels improve.
June 24, 2016
Although the writting style is a little flat sometimes, and that the excessive number of characters and different plots are very confusing, this a fun introduction to the Realms, and a must read for Dungeons and Dragons fans.
June 10, 2013
http://www.rantingdragon.com/review-o...
Spellfire by Ed Greenwood is one of the very first novels published in the Forgotten Realms fantasy setting, and the first by the creator. It set the stage for what would become dozens upon dozens of books in one of the largest shared-world fictions ever made.
An introduction to the Realms
Being the very first major setting novel to be published in the Realms, which was originally picked up as a game setting rather than a fiction setting, Spellfire seems hell-bent on introducing as many characters, places, and concepts as possible. This makes the book a little hectic in places, with very few pauses for breath. However, it also does the job it was intended to do: show as much of the setting as possible in a few hundred pages. Various interviews and statements from Ed Greenwood have suggested that the original book was even longer, and that if he’d included everything he’d wanted to, that book alone would have been better served as a trilogy.
This is an interesting case for how first books introducing new worlds ought to be. I think if you are intending to share the fiction, as the creator, you owe it to your own artistic vision to claim as many pieces of proverbial turf as you can in your debut. With Spellfire, Greenwood sets out hard rules for how magic works, sets up multiple major heroes and villains, and establishes a significant number of rules in regard to religion and politics. He drops enough hints scattered around the world to enable him to come back to them at any time without any future authors doing anything that would make them impossible. I think though, that if you’ve created a large world you aren’t intending to share with other authors, something like Spellfire would have seemed uncomfortably busy and fast-paced to the point of creating comprehensibility problems. It felt like it was trying very hard to grab and hold your attention as strongly as possible, which leads into my next point.
Definitely a world for gaming
As a lifelong player of Dungeons and Dragons (2nd edition AD&D through 4th edition) and many other tabletop roleplaying games, I was struck throughout this book by how much it felt like the narrative of a game of D&D. The pacing was extremely quick, and the action felt like prepared set-pieces. Even a lot of the dialogue during action and combat felt like what you’d hear around a gaming table. If you’ll forgive some gaming jargon, I’m pretty sure we even saw several skill checks, saving throws, and critical hits. This isn’t exactly a criticism of the book, but it causes it to feel less like a novel and more like a gaming module. This might have been the point given the situation at the time it was written, but it still serves as a caution if you aren’t looking for blow-by-blow action and plenty of it.
Spellfire‘s use of this style to communicate the game elements set the stage for a lot of the early TSR publication in the Realms. Plenty of the early 90s authors in the Forgotten Realms started off designing game modules for TSR and D&D, and it shows in a lot of the fiction. It wasn’t until later years (in and around the Wizards of the Coast buyout of TSR) that we started to see more traditionally styled fiction in the Realms, but I feel it never truly lost that gaming element that was built into it.
Therefore, a great deal of structure
For readers who like their fantasy worlds to still be logically structured, Spellfire and the Forgotten Realms are a setting for you. At times, you can see the dice rolling in the background, and the rules help avoid a lot of the really frustrating fantasy tropes. No wizard in the Forgotten Realms has ever been out of magic, but at the dire final moment finds the strength for one last attack to save the day. When these guys are out of spells, they look around for rocks to throw, and it’s actually quite refreshing.
It’s really nice to see a world where the authors can concentrate on actually telling the story they want with the characters they want, and not have to worry about whether something ‘can be done’ or not. The rules are already there, there are sourcebooks for it, and while that may sometimes seem constraining, I would imagine that it is also very liberating to be able to go in knowing that if you follow those rules, you’re not going to accidentally mess up something important for all the other authors sharing the world.
Why should you read this book?
I believe Douglas Niles’ Darkwalker on Moonshae was published a few months before Spellfire, but the Moonshaes were really not used much in the overall fiction (which is a pity as I do love Celt-inspired settings). Spellfire needs to be read for the same reason you need to read Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Weis and Hickman, or The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett. There is always value in reading the first book of a long-running series. For that reason alone, every fantasy reader needs to pick up this book.
But beyond that, Ed is absolutely hilarious. I’ve had the pleasure of playing D&D with him on a few occasions, and he’s actually toning it down for his books, which are still pretty wild for Sword & Sorcery fantasy. His dialogue is snappy, witty, and contains just enough jargon and vernacular to make you know you’re in another world, but in a way that allows tone and context to communicate the meaning exactly. (Stlarn it!) His pacing in this book might be a little break-neck compared to other authors, but it certainly keeps you engaged. He also has this strange knack for just sliding in lines here and there in first-person for the more minor characters; these brief lines give you enough of a snap-insight into their character to make you identify with them a little bit more. The Forgotten Realms is one of the most successful fiction universes ever created, and Spellfire will give you a very good idea why.
Spellfire by Ed Greenwood is one of the very first novels published in the Forgotten Realms fantasy setting, and the first by the creator. It set the stage for what would become dozens upon dozens of books in one of the largest shared-world fictions ever made.
An introduction to the Realms
Being the very first major setting novel to be published in the Realms, which was originally picked up as a game setting rather than a fiction setting, Spellfire seems hell-bent on introducing as many characters, places, and concepts as possible. This makes the book a little hectic in places, with very few pauses for breath. However, it also does the job it was intended to do: show as much of the setting as possible in a few hundred pages. Various interviews and statements from Ed Greenwood have suggested that the original book was even longer, and that if he’d included everything he’d wanted to, that book alone would have been better served as a trilogy.
This is an interesting case for how first books introducing new worlds ought to be. I think if you are intending to share the fiction, as the creator, you owe it to your own artistic vision to claim as many pieces of proverbial turf as you can in your debut. With Spellfire, Greenwood sets out hard rules for how magic works, sets up multiple major heroes and villains, and establishes a significant number of rules in regard to religion and politics. He drops enough hints scattered around the world to enable him to come back to them at any time without any future authors doing anything that would make them impossible. I think though, that if you’ve created a large world you aren’t intending to share with other authors, something like Spellfire would have seemed uncomfortably busy and fast-paced to the point of creating comprehensibility problems. It felt like it was trying very hard to grab and hold your attention as strongly as possible, which leads into my next point.
Definitely a world for gaming
As a lifelong player of Dungeons and Dragons (2nd edition AD&D through 4th edition) and many other tabletop roleplaying games, I was struck throughout this book by how much it felt like the narrative of a game of D&D. The pacing was extremely quick, and the action felt like prepared set-pieces. Even a lot of the dialogue during action and combat felt like what you’d hear around a gaming table. If you’ll forgive some gaming jargon, I’m pretty sure we even saw several skill checks, saving throws, and critical hits. This isn’t exactly a criticism of the book, but it causes it to feel less like a novel and more like a gaming module. This might have been the point given the situation at the time it was written, but it still serves as a caution if you aren’t looking for blow-by-blow action and plenty of it.
Spellfire‘s use of this style to communicate the game elements set the stage for a lot of the early TSR publication in the Realms. Plenty of the early 90s authors in the Forgotten Realms started off designing game modules for TSR and D&D, and it shows in a lot of the fiction. It wasn’t until later years (in and around the Wizards of the Coast buyout of TSR) that we started to see more traditionally styled fiction in the Realms, but I feel it never truly lost that gaming element that was built into it.
Therefore, a great deal of structure
For readers who like their fantasy worlds to still be logically structured, Spellfire and the Forgotten Realms are a setting for you. At times, you can see the dice rolling in the background, and the rules help avoid a lot of the really frustrating fantasy tropes. No wizard in the Forgotten Realms has ever been out of magic, but at the dire final moment finds the strength for one last attack to save the day. When these guys are out of spells, they look around for rocks to throw, and it’s actually quite refreshing.
It’s really nice to see a world where the authors can concentrate on actually telling the story they want with the characters they want, and not have to worry about whether something ‘can be done’ or not. The rules are already there, there are sourcebooks for it, and while that may sometimes seem constraining, I would imagine that it is also very liberating to be able to go in knowing that if you follow those rules, you’re not going to accidentally mess up something important for all the other authors sharing the world.
Why should you read this book?
I believe Douglas Niles’ Darkwalker on Moonshae was published a few months before Spellfire, but the Moonshaes were really not used much in the overall fiction (which is a pity as I do love Celt-inspired settings). Spellfire needs to be read for the same reason you need to read Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Weis and Hickman, or The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett. There is always value in reading the first book of a long-running series. For that reason alone, every fantasy reader needs to pick up this book.
But beyond that, Ed is absolutely hilarious. I’ve had the pleasure of playing D&D with him on a few occasions, and he’s actually toning it down for his books, which are still pretty wild for Sword & Sorcery fantasy. His dialogue is snappy, witty, and contains just enough jargon and vernacular to make you know you’re in another world, but in a way that allows tone and context to communicate the meaning exactly. (Stlarn it!) His pacing in this book might be a little break-neck compared to other authors, but it certainly keeps you engaged. He also has this strange knack for just sliding in lines here and there in first-person for the more minor characters; these brief lines give you enough of a snap-insight into their character to make you identify with them a little bit more. The Forgotten Realms is one of the most successful fiction universes ever created, and Spellfire will give you a very good idea why.
March 9, 2018
2 rounded to 3 because I am a Realms junkie. This is not an outsider novel. This is barely even an insiders novel. If you ignore this advice enter at your own peril. The problem is Ed Greenwood's Realms is so rich, detailed and full of history (He created this world at the tender age of 5. FR wasn't released until 30 some odd years later.) he wanted to share his vision and stories with everyone. Unfortunately he shared it all in one, frantic dump.
The Good
The side characters are amazing. Elminster, Snow, the whole oeuvre of the Knights of Myth Drannor. Faerun and Toril is a living, dangerous place full of likable characters. It was interesting to see the inner workings of Zhentil Keep.
The Bad
Pacing, pacing, pacing. This book should have been titled Company of the Bright Spear, with a sliw burn of getting to know her group and Shandril coming into her powers at the end. I would have loved to fall in love with all the members only to see them crushed in the end. Instead they are dead in the first few chapters and 700 other things happen until the end.
The Ugly
Narm. Battle after battle after battle after....the end.
The Good
The side characters are amazing. Elminster, Snow, the whole oeuvre of the Knights of Myth Drannor. Faerun and Toril is a living, dangerous place full of likable characters. It was interesting to see the inner workings of Zhentil Keep.
The Bad
Pacing, pacing, pacing. This book should have been titled Company of the Bright Spear, with a sliw burn of getting to know her group and Shandril coming into her powers at the end. I would have loved to fall in love with all the members only to see them crushed in the end. Instead they are dead in the first few chapters and 700 other things happen until the end.
The Ugly
Narm. Battle after battle after battle after....the end.
June 16, 2022
A good Greenwoodian Greenwood story.
November 22, 2015
A Story About a Powerful Peasant
19 March 2012
To put it blunt this book was utter rubbish. Sometimes (actually most times) I wish Goodreads would have a rating system of 10 as opposed to the one they currently have (five) simply because I feel that a rating out of 10 gives a much better idea of what I actually think of a book. Then again, when does one stop, at 20, 50, 100? I personally don't know, but I have always liked to use a rating of 10 simply because giving a book a 1 seems to have more of an impact of a scale of 10 as opposed to a scale of 5.
That little gripe behind me, a friend of mine recently said that this is an example of Greenwood's bad writing done to tie in with a roleplaying product. Basically he wrote the story, and then decided to incorporate aspects of this story (such a Spellfire) into the roleplaying game. Personally I do think it is unnecessary and just adds a monty-haul concept (monty-haul is a gaming term that applies to characters that are all powerful) to a game that already has plenty off them.
I have suggested elsewhere that books based on roleplaying worlds can help to create a good atmosphere for the world, but with the exception of a small handfull of novels (namely the Dritzz series) I really never appreciated any of the Forgotten Realms novels. In fact most of them were seriously boring (though I will mention them as I come to them when writing reviews). They also did not portray a grey-area concept of the world that I liked. To be blunt, when I have run games set in the Forgotten Realms I have generally thrown the novels out of the windows (metaphorically speaking of course) and just run the game my own way.
Now, this novel is about a young woman that discovers that she has great amounts of power (something that really doesn't work in Dungeons and Dragons since all of the characters are supposed to be balanced and supportive of each other) and utilises raw magic known as Spellfire. Obviously bad guys want to get their hands on her, and good guys want to try to teach her to use it properly. Once again, unlike the grey-area worlds that I prefer there is no aspect where a group has decided that she is too powerful and therefore must die. I have seen similar plots and themes before, but when it comes to Greenwood and the Forgotten Realms, it simply fails.
19 March 2012
To put it blunt this book was utter rubbish. Sometimes (actually most times) I wish Goodreads would have a rating system of 10 as opposed to the one they currently have (five) simply because I feel that a rating out of 10 gives a much better idea of what I actually think of a book. Then again, when does one stop, at 20, 50, 100? I personally don't know, but I have always liked to use a rating of 10 simply because giving a book a 1 seems to have more of an impact of a scale of 10 as opposed to a scale of 5.
That little gripe behind me, a friend of mine recently said that this is an example of Greenwood's bad writing done to tie in with a roleplaying product. Basically he wrote the story, and then decided to incorporate aspects of this story (such a Spellfire) into the roleplaying game. Personally I do think it is unnecessary and just adds a monty-haul concept (monty-haul is a gaming term that applies to characters that are all powerful) to a game that already has plenty off them.
I have suggested elsewhere that books based on roleplaying worlds can help to create a good atmosphere for the world, but with the exception of a small handfull of novels (namely the Dritzz series) I really never appreciated any of the Forgotten Realms novels. In fact most of them were seriously boring (though I will mention them as I come to them when writing reviews). They also did not portray a grey-area concept of the world that I liked. To be blunt, when I have run games set in the Forgotten Realms I have generally thrown the novels out of the windows (metaphorically speaking of course) and just run the game my own way.
Now, this novel is about a young woman that discovers that she has great amounts of power (something that really doesn't work in Dungeons and Dragons since all of the characters are supposed to be balanced and supportive of each other) and utilises raw magic known as Spellfire. Obviously bad guys want to get their hands on her, and good guys want to try to teach her to use it properly. Once again, unlike the grey-area worlds that I prefer there is no aspect where a group has decided that she is too powerful and therefore must die. I have seen similar plots and themes before, but when it comes to Greenwood and the Forgotten Realms, it simply fails.
January 21, 2021
So I've been reading a few Forgotten Realms books and while they all have had problems, they've been enjoyable. Unfortunately, that stops with Spellfire.
This book does hold a lot of D&D tropes that I enjoyed in previous FR books, but compounded with a lot of choices the author made, it just makes it worse.
I'll go over some of the things I liked first: I liked that we had a female protagonist. I liked that we had both good and evil female characters, this hasn't really been a thing in the previous FR books I've read. I liked the depictions of magic. I liked the parties (ie, the Company of the Bright Spear and the Knights. I enjoyed the banter between Torm and Rathan.
Things I didn't like... Elminster. Even if we weren't told that Ed Greenwood invented Elminster, I would have figured that out for myself. Elminster is the Mary Sue of this story. He's so smart and powerful and everyone's heard of him. He's lived for hundreds (thousands?) of years, but even then he's still such a cool guy that the beautiful and lonely Mage Queen totally wants to bang him you guys.
The pacing in this book is bad. There are dozens of named characters and the story is constantly hopping between them. This works when GRRM does it, but not when you introduce, say, a dozen people in the Company of the Bright Spear... and then kill (virtually) all of them a few chapters later. I've spent the last couple chapters trying to learn these different named warriors and bards and mages, and now they're all just dead. Early in the book we spot an elderly mage and a younger man... a couple chapters later a fight almost happens, but an elderly mage and a younger man walk between the two parties. You'd think this would be the same people as before, right? NO! It's an entirely different pair of people. It was so difficult to keep character and location names straight.
Things happen so fast in this book--travel, combat, magic, scheming, FOUR different evil factions are after Shandril while they also discuss the in-fighting and power plays happening within their own ranks. Shandril gets her powers early in the book and is immediately able to take down TWO dracoliches, a regular dragon, Manshoon, and destroy a tower. At the end of the book when a THIRD dracolich was on its way to kill Shandril I had zero worry that she wouldn't be able to handle it.
While I love lore... there are some real Forgotten Realms deep cuts in this book. I know the names Elminster and Manshoon, but I don't know much about them... we're just sort of told they're powerful mages. I was utterly confused about the tentacle mage shapeshifters because we're given no explanation as to who or what they are. We're told the Harpers are a secret society... except for Storm, who is a Harper, and tells everyone she is a Harper. Oh and there are more Harpers in Silverymoon so go there. Also Shandril is pregnant, but it happens so early in her relationship with Narm I legit thought I misread the line until it's brought up again later. So... I guess we'll see more of that in book 2.
There's a lot of great potential in this book but the pacing REALLY kills it for me. So much happened without the plot really moving along. Literally every time Shandril was in danger, someone came to her rescue (usually Elminster who somehow knew).
Also, pet peeve: Shandril and Narm are reassured by the Knights that they're among friends and they can trust them... but then the Knights use a Sleep spell to knock them out, and later drug their tea to knock them out. How can you trust someone who does this?
Why were we repeatedly told how various women were barefoot so often? Like it happens so often I was getting uncomfortable.
Shandril is 16 and constantly sexually harassed by the cook at the Inn she works at and it's just kind of shrugged off.
Look, if you're REaLLY into FR lore you may like this. But this got to be a chore to read for me.
This book does hold a lot of D&D tropes that I enjoyed in previous FR books, but compounded with a lot of choices the author made, it just makes it worse.
I'll go over some of the things I liked first: I liked that we had a female protagonist. I liked that we had both good and evil female characters, this hasn't really been a thing in the previous FR books I've read. I liked the depictions of magic. I liked the parties (ie, the Company of the Bright Spear and the Knights. I enjoyed the banter between Torm and Rathan.
Things I didn't like... Elminster. Even if we weren't told that Ed Greenwood invented Elminster, I would have figured that out for myself. Elminster is the Mary Sue of this story. He's so smart and powerful and everyone's heard of him. He's lived for hundreds (thousands?) of years, but even then he's still such a cool guy that the beautiful and lonely Mage Queen totally wants to bang him you guys.
The pacing in this book is bad. There are dozens of named characters and the story is constantly hopping between them. This works when GRRM does it, but not when you introduce, say, a dozen people in the Company of the Bright Spear... and then kill (virtually) all of them a few chapters later. I've spent the last couple chapters trying to learn these different named warriors and bards and mages, and now they're all just dead. Early in the book we spot an elderly mage and a younger man... a couple chapters later a fight almost happens, but an elderly mage and a younger man walk between the two parties. You'd think this would be the same people as before, right? NO! It's an entirely different pair of people. It was so difficult to keep character and location names straight.
Things happen so fast in this book--travel, combat, magic, scheming, FOUR different evil factions are after Shandril while they also discuss the in-fighting and power plays happening within their own ranks. Shandril gets her powers early in the book and is immediately able to take down TWO dracoliches, a regular dragon, Manshoon, and destroy a tower. At the end of the book when a THIRD dracolich was on its way to kill Shandril I had zero worry that she wouldn't be able to handle it.
While I love lore... there are some real Forgotten Realms deep cuts in this book. I know the names Elminster and Manshoon, but I don't know much about them... we're just sort of told they're powerful mages. I was utterly confused about the tentacle mage shapeshifters because we're given no explanation as to who or what they are. We're told the Harpers are a secret society... except for Storm, who is a Harper, and tells everyone she is a Harper. Oh and there are more Harpers in Silverymoon so go there. Also Shandril is pregnant, but it happens so early in her relationship with Narm I legit thought I misread the line until it's brought up again later. So... I guess we'll see more of that in book 2.
There's a lot of great potential in this book but the pacing REALLY kills it for me. So much happened without the plot really moving along. Literally every time Shandril was in danger, someone came to her rescue (usually Elminster who somehow knew).
Also, pet peeve: Shandril and Narm are reassured by the Knights that they're among friends and they can trust them... but then the Knights use a Sleep spell to knock them out, and later drug their tea to knock them out. How can you trust someone who does this?
Why were we repeatedly told how various women were barefoot so often? Like it happens so often I was getting uncomfortable.
Shandril is 16 and constantly sexually harassed by the cook at the Inn she works at and it's just kind of shrugged off.
Look, if you're REaLLY into FR lore you may like this. But this got to be a chore to read for me.
July 19, 2022
This is one of the worst books I’ve read in quite some time, at least in terms of considered, thoughtful content, pacing, characterisation, description and the all-important worldbuilding. I think that if someone were to make a list of the rules, the do’s and donts of fantasy writing, Greenwood would have not just broken a few, he’d successfully trampled over the whole lot with abandon as if he had in mind a backup plan of submitting a screenplay to South Park (had it existed back then). Spellfire is not a novel I would recommend anyone to read, and yet it turned out to be a novel I ploughed through quite quickly and enjoyed thoroughly. The thing is, that whilst you can tell that Greenwood has no clue how to write a book whatsoever and no natural aptitude for it, you can also tell that – unlike Niles and Salvatore before him - this is his world and his characters and he’s just having a blast getting to play in his sandbox.
You can get a plot synopsis elsewhere, but basically *spoilers if that’s possible* our heroine Shandril runs away from her life serving in an inn to be a thief in an adventuring party who all get killed, she gets whisked via a portal across the continent, finds out she’s a super-mage who can wield spellfire (it’s like, ridiculous power to the nth degree), kills a bunch of cultists and Dracolich’s (dragons, only undead and stuff) falls in love with a rando guy she meets, gets trained up by Elminster (yeah, my favourite scene was the nude testing she had to carry out. Why, Ed, you perv?) and repeatedly gets attacked by bunches of rando mages because she’s now public enemy no.1
I can’t see any way of making this “good”, but Greenwood’s inability to pace the tale, dish out revelations in interesting ways, temper his action scenes a little bit and provide characters with interesting motivations (heroes and villains) push it all from terribly silly to completely gonzo. It doesn’t ever go anywhere, and since the first 150 pages are wall to wall climax, there’s nowhere for the last 250 pages even to go. Shandril gets attacked over and over until it feels like every wizard in Faerun has tried to have a piece and meanwhile Elminster says “ye” a whole lot, because apparently that’s what ye wise mages like to say and lover Narm comes across like a manchild who just wants to spend the rest of his days laying his head on his lovers bosom because, damn, they are in love (they met and fell in love within about 10 pages, by the way). Then it just ends after another attack without even bothering to set up the sequel which arrived a whopping 7 years later.
It was certainly an experience. I don’t think I’d want all Forgotten Realms novels to be this weird, but as a break between more serious – and competent – books, it’s surprisingly palatable.
Also - damn good cover.
You can get a plot synopsis elsewhere, but basically *spoilers if that’s possible* our heroine Shandril runs away from her life serving in an inn to be a thief in an adventuring party who all get killed, she gets whisked via a portal across the continent, finds out she’s a super-mage who can wield spellfire (it’s like, ridiculous power to the nth degree), kills a bunch of cultists and Dracolich’s (dragons, only undead and stuff) falls in love with a rando guy she meets, gets trained up by Elminster (yeah, my favourite scene was the nude testing she had to carry out. Why, Ed, you perv?) and repeatedly gets attacked by bunches of rando mages because she’s now public enemy no.1
I can’t see any way of making this “good”, but Greenwood’s inability to pace the tale, dish out revelations in interesting ways, temper his action scenes a little bit and provide characters with interesting motivations (heroes and villains) push it all from terribly silly to completely gonzo. It doesn’t ever go anywhere, and since the first 150 pages are wall to wall climax, there’s nowhere for the last 250 pages even to go. Shandril gets attacked over and over until it feels like every wizard in Faerun has tried to have a piece and meanwhile Elminster says “ye” a whole lot, because apparently that’s what ye wise mages like to say and lover Narm comes across like a manchild who just wants to spend the rest of his days laying his head on his lovers bosom because, damn, they are in love (they met and fell in love within about 10 pages, by the way). Then it just ends after another attack without even bothering to set up the sequel which arrived a whopping 7 years later.
It was certainly an experience. I don’t think I’d want all Forgotten Realms novels to be this weird, but as a break between more serious – and competent – books, it’s surprisingly palatable.
Also - damn good cover.
June 4, 2011
This is the last read for this particular copy. It has been through years of worldwide travel, reading, and more than one flood. (I'm not going to elaborate on that tussle with the geese) So I shall bid a tearful farewell to Shandril, her friends, and my old battered and beloved copy as I take it to the recycle. Don't gasp if your reading this.. it is in no condition to ever be read again... believe me if I didn't recall the missing parts it wouldn't have been readable these last few times. =)
I've not read much else in this series - which I understand is very good - but obviously I have enjoyed this trip into the Forgotten Realms. I don't think I can write much about the story without spoiling it. So I will leave it at this, If you have a chance to pick this up and read it - do so. I don't think you will regret a moment spent on this adventure.
please note my affection for this novel stems from my early teen years. I don't apply the same stringent criteria to it as I do other items read as an adult. You have been warned
I've not read much else in this series - which I understand is very good - but obviously I have enjoyed this trip into the Forgotten Realms. I don't think I can write much about the story without spoiling it. So I will leave it at this, If you have a chance to pick this up and read it - do so. I don't think you will regret a moment spent on this adventure.
please note my affection for this novel stems from my early teen years. I don't apply the same stringent criteria to it as I do other items read as an adult. You have been warned
February 20, 2012
Corny, to say the very least. I'm an enormous fan of the Forgotten Realms setting and the sword and sorcery style books it entails but, this book is too Disney Channel for my liking.
To be brutally honest, I didn't finish it. Shandril's character is one dimensional. Also, this might sound weird but, there's too many exclamation points and too many words in italics. For example:
"Do *I* stand and gawk? If I did, what would the guests eat *then*?"
"Shandril snorted. Great chance, indeed, of *that* ever happening!"
This dialogue and writing leaves nothing to the imagination and nothing left to be desired. This is much more suited for a younger audience. I have more to say about this book but I've already wasted enough time talking about it.
To be brutally honest, I didn't finish it. Shandril's character is one dimensional. Also, this might sound weird but, there's too many exclamation points and too many words in italics. For example:
"Do *I* stand and gawk? If I did, what would the guests eat *then*?"
"Shandril snorted. Great chance, indeed, of *that* ever happening!"
This dialogue and writing leaves nothing to the imagination and nothing left to be desired. This is much more suited for a younger audience. I have more to say about this book but I've already wasted enough time talking about it.
August 15, 2015
I wanted to like the first book by the famous creator of the Forgotten Realms, but, alas, there's nothing to like here. The plot is plain and uninteresting, does nothing to keep you reading. The most annoying thing, though, are the unidimentional characters, most of them are there to fill the dungeon-crawl formula (my own RPG campaings have had more developed characters). And I really, really hate Gandalf, err... Elminster. I bet he was a fun character when Greenwood played as him in his D&D games, but here is just the most cliché wizard ever.
If you are interested in the Forgotten Realms setting, skip this one and go directly to Salvatore's books.
If you are interested in the Forgotten Realms setting, skip this one and go directly to Salvatore's books.
January 11, 2015
I first read this book long ago in my youth and I had fond memories of enjoying it. Going through my book collection, I happened to stumble upon it and decided to relive the past nostalgia- boy was I wrong. This story was a chore to get through. I got the impression of it dragging from scene to scene and filled with a secession of coincidences and conveniences. In the end I was left feeling pretty disappointed at my shattered memory.
November 30, 2024
From previous reviews that I had read, I expected a bad book. The reviews were not so wrong, after all, but in the end it was slightly better than I expected.
The story is fine, a classical Forgotten Realms adventure plot, with a focus on two major characters and a large number of secondary ones. The secondary characters, however, are among the most prominent personages in the Forgotten Realms.
To be honest, the story is a bit repetitive. For example, the number of dragons (alive or dead) that try attacking Shandril is excessive to the point of being boring. From Forgotten Realms manuals, I expected Rauglothgor (generally called Rauglothgar in game materials, I wonder why) to be the main villain in this book, but that definitely was not the case. Actually, all dragons have a very minor role.
In truth, everybody has a very minor role, with the exception of Shandril and Narm. Everybody else is either a recurring supporting character, or a short-lived villain.
The exception are those characters that really have no place whatsoever in this story, and seem to be involved in a different story altogether, such as the Zhentarim as a whole (and Fzoul, Sememmon, and other minor ones). They appear only in relation to some marginal interest in spellfire, but there is no actual involvement, so theirs is mostly a side story, rather inconsequential to the book. The same is true for the Malaugrym.
All considered, this seems to be the major flaw in this book. The author has stuffed it with a huge amount of stuff that is prominent in the Forgotten Realms, but in the end much of that stuff is merely cosmetic. This book is first and foremost a manifesto of the Forgotten Realms, and this perspective takes up almost all room, so that there is very little margin for it to be a decent novel.
I'd rate it somewhere between 2 and 3 stars, but as a big fan of Forgotten Realms, I still found many of the references intriguing, so in the end I found some things I liked in there. But objectively it is quite boring and bad.
The story is fine, a classical Forgotten Realms adventure plot, with a focus on two major characters and a large number of secondary ones. The secondary characters, however, are among the most prominent personages in the Forgotten Realms.
To be honest, the story is a bit repetitive. For example, the number of dragons (alive or dead) that try attacking Shandril is excessive to the point of being boring. From Forgotten Realms manuals, I expected Rauglothgor (generally called Rauglothgar in game materials, I wonder why) to be the main villain in this book, but that definitely was not the case. Actually, all dragons have a very minor role.
In truth, everybody has a very minor role, with the exception of Shandril and Narm. Everybody else is either a recurring supporting character, or a short-lived villain.
The exception are those characters that really have no place whatsoever in this story, and seem to be involved in a different story altogether, such as the Zhentarim as a whole (and Fzoul, Sememmon, and other minor ones). They appear only in relation to some marginal interest in spellfire, but there is no actual involvement, so theirs is mostly a side story, rather inconsequential to the book. The same is true for the Malaugrym.
All considered, this seems to be the major flaw in this book. The author has stuffed it with a huge amount of stuff that is prominent in the Forgotten Realms, but in the end much of that stuff is merely cosmetic. This book is first and foremost a manifesto of the Forgotten Realms, and this perspective takes up almost all room, so that there is very little margin for it to be a decent novel.
I'd rate it somewhere between 2 and 3 stars, but as a big fan of Forgotten Realms, I still found many of the references intriguing, so in the end I found some things I liked in there. But objectively it is quite boring and bad.
April 25, 2020
This is the second book I read from Ed Greenwood, after The Herald. I wasn't sure what to expect, as I didn't like The Herald very much.
In short, I loved this book.
I am a big fan of Dungeons & Dragons, even though I discovered the Forgotten Realms less than two years ago.
Since then, it has been a nice surprise after the other.
This book is full of characters, a lot of characters; of course there are the two main characters, but there are so many of them in the plot, that is quite easy to become confused.
But it is worth; I loved every moment of it.
In short, I loved this book.
I am a big fan of Dungeons & Dragons, even though I discovered the Forgotten Realms less than two years ago.
Since then, it has been a nice surprise after the other.
This book is full of characters, a lot of characters; of course there are the two main characters, but there are so many of them in the plot, that is quite easy to become confused.
But it is worth; I loved every moment of it.
July 26, 2023
This was my first Ed Greenwood novel to read (and his first to write- back in the late 80s!) I was happy to discover that the main character is a young woman and that she becomes a total badass! Lots of action, humor, and even romance, as the reader gets introduced to many places and people in Faerun. Looking forward to reading book 2 of this trilogy.
August 16, 2025
Somehow, it did not make "click"
Some good characters, and there is a clear fantasy world building, but the book felt long.
(reading it in blocks, in different holidays did not help).
it would be 2.5 if I could give .5 stars.
Some good characters, and there is a clear fantasy world building, but the book felt long.
(reading it in blocks, in different holidays did not help).
it would be 2.5 if I could give .5 stars.
August 23, 2012
The story is simple: Shandril has always longed for adventure, and when she is able to leave her predictable life behind, she does so. Everything is very ordinary until she discovers she possesses this powerful form of magic which she is not able to harness or completely control.
I feel that Greenwood has many elements to craft a fantastic story. This is the original Forgotten Realms novel and it contains a great amount of information about the world and some of its characters. However, Greenwood errs in his entire treatment of the story. Instead of a powerful lead character, we have an insecure character who is reminded of her insecuirties by the constant shielding of her companions. Also, Greenwood find ways to introduce a love scene when perhaps it was out of place. Finally, the multitude of characters makes the reader be particularly lost, and these characters are so powerful, they are able to get the upper hand at all times.
Th result is "Spellfire". I felt at times that the author was patronizing me and that really bothered me. Also, because we have super characters, the opposition came about as completely useless. I felt that the majority of the times, the villains only were able to launch desperate attacks, without any strategy and their participation was circunstancial at best. Not only we have one main villain, we have many organizations trying to get a hold of Shandril's magic. I felt it became an auction to see which villain came up with the most outrageous plan. Because of this, I feel that there was no actual threat, and no substantial story to tell because the outcome would be decided.
The treatment of Shandril by the many characters also bothered me; they constantly shielded her, and protected her. This is very noble, specially fighting against the forces of evil, but in doing so she did not, in my opinion, developed as proper. Shandril just happens to become an object everyone is willing to protect, and because everyone is constantly on their guard, the rest of the ensemble lost wonderful opportunities to become likeable and to show us their stories. Shandril did not need to do anything because her companions would defend her.
It was until the end, when Shandril was finally on her own, that an actual story could have surfaced, albeit too late. It was at this time that I really enjoyed the action trsnapiring in the pages and felt that the author was finally trying.
This is a book to the most devoted fans. I do recognize that many people really like this book. It has tinges of brilliance, but the magic power, as well as the story, were not sufficiently harness to create something concrete.
I feel that Greenwood has many elements to craft a fantastic story. This is the original Forgotten Realms novel and it contains a great amount of information about the world and some of its characters. However, Greenwood errs in his entire treatment of the story. Instead of a powerful lead character, we have an insecure character who is reminded of her insecuirties by the constant shielding of her companions. Also, Greenwood find ways to introduce a love scene when perhaps it was out of place. Finally, the multitude of characters makes the reader be particularly lost, and these characters are so powerful, they are able to get the upper hand at all times.
Th result is "Spellfire". I felt at times that the author was patronizing me and that really bothered me. Also, because we have super characters, the opposition came about as completely useless. I felt that the majority of the times, the villains only were able to launch desperate attacks, without any strategy and their participation was circunstancial at best. Not only we have one main villain, we have many organizations trying to get a hold of Shandril's magic. I felt it became an auction to see which villain came up with the most outrageous plan. Because of this, I feel that there was no actual threat, and no substantial story to tell because the outcome would be decided.
The treatment of Shandril by the many characters also bothered me; they constantly shielded her, and protected her. This is very noble, specially fighting against the forces of evil, but in doing so she did not, in my opinion, developed as proper. Shandril just happens to become an object everyone is willing to protect, and because everyone is constantly on their guard, the rest of the ensemble lost wonderful opportunities to become likeable and to show us their stories. Shandril did not need to do anything because her companions would defend her.
It was until the end, when Shandril was finally on her own, that an actual story could have surfaced, albeit too late. It was at this time that I really enjoyed the action trsnapiring in the pages and felt that the author was finally trying.
This is a book to the most devoted fans. I do recognize that many people really like this book. It has tinges of brilliance, but the magic power, as well as the story, were not sufficiently harness to create something concrete.
June 30, 2017
I really wanted to like this book. The first book that started all the Forgotten Realms adventures and with a lot of promise to boot! Cover art made me salivate and then I started reading and the more book progressed the more angry it made me.
Characters: 2
Very unlikable characters made this book very boring to read for me. It was as if everyone in this book wants to protect Shandril. (A genius name, probably he best part about characters was their name). And I mean...everyone. From the first moment they lay their eyes on her they want to ether kill her or protect her. What???
Such good potential to make great characters and it just did not work for me. Maybe Greenwood is banking on more development on the next books? I'm not sure, but in this one story drove the characters, not the other way around and it made for boring characters.
Plot: 2
So overall the plot here had great promise. It just didn't pan out for me in the end. First quarter of the book or so happens in the cave, where people die and get resurrected and healed by potions...this is NOT a forgotten realms video game. This is a Forgotten Realms BOOK!!! AARRGGHH! That drove me crazy!!!
All sorts of different villains, which I liked.
All these villains are basically incompetent to the core. Which I didn't like.
If a villain hurts someone...let's just heal them. All of them. All of the time. Cause we got priests. WHAT??? I mean, c'mon!!!
The whole story just felt like you could just have had Shandril and Elminster and just delete everyone else. I mean she's smashing dragons back to back...defeating the strongest villans with a moderate effort, given.
Just silly. Very silly. I get the coming of age story, but this was just dumb.
Setting: 1
I love the Forgotten Realms setting idea. Execution is so poor here that the entire time I was reading this book, I literally imagines Ed Greenwood with a few buddies in a room playing a Dungeons and Dragons table top and recording what happens. Greenwood was the dungeon master in my head, his best friend played Elminster and his daughter was Shandril (not sure if he had a daughter, that's just what I saw in my head while reading). Then 3-4 other friends on the table's sides.
I was infuriated that the entire book, and I mean the entire book felt like a long D&D tabletop session. It did NOT feel like I'm reading a book.
Now. With that off my chest. I am going to read Part 2 because
1. My OCD won't let me not read it.
2. I NEED to see how this trilogy got as popular as it did. There has to be light at the end of a tunnel. Here HAS to be! Please let there be light at the end of the tunnel.
Roman "Ragnar"
December 18, 2020
I recognize all the merits Ed Greenwood had by writing the very first saga for the Forgotten Realms. But the book has many, many problems. For starters, those who are not familiar with this world - like I wasn't - will feel like this is a very strange narrative. Because it talks about people and places like you already knew them, never explaining where they came from or who they actually were. It is confusing, specially because Greenwood inserts so many parallel stories.
Also, the characters themselves seem to be echoes from the characters of other famous sagas (a.k.a. The Lord of The Rings), except the part where you get to actually KNOW everyone. In this book, all the elves have the same personality/aura, and if he was talking about one or another it didn't make any difference. People often compare Elminster with Gandalf, but I say there can be no comparison: Gandalf is way better written.
The feeling I had from it overall was that Greenwood wanted to write a love story, and it's really badly told. Shandril is not a heroine. She's just a girl who happens to have a great power within. Her beloved Narm frequently reminded me of Pod, the fool (but brave) shield-barer of Tyrion Lannister. The love story (or stories, to be fair, because lots of them are cramed in it) is poor, dull and sometimes irritating.
It mixes passagens where nothing seems to happen with everything happenin at once, and jumping "from the frying pan into the fire". I mean, three dragons in a row? Isn't it too much? Yes, it is, way too much. And all the passages jus reminded me of how much Greenwood wanted to tell a great tale like the one cited above, but just couldn't get there.
Anyway, it's nice to read fantasy that I had never read before, and I will continue reading the saga, eventually. But I will also stick with what everyone here is saying: there are better stories about the Forgotten Realms to be read. Hopefully I'll get to them.
Also, the characters themselves seem to be echoes from the characters of other famous sagas (a.k.a. The Lord of The Rings), except the part where you get to actually KNOW everyone. In this book, all the elves have the same personality/aura, and if he was talking about one or another it didn't make any difference. People often compare Elminster with Gandalf, but I say there can be no comparison: Gandalf is way better written.
The feeling I had from it overall was that Greenwood wanted to write a love story, and it's really badly told. Shandril is not a heroine. She's just a girl who happens to have a great power within. Her beloved Narm frequently reminded me of Pod, the fool (but brave) shield-barer of Tyrion Lannister. The love story (or stories, to be fair, because lots of them are cramed in it) is poor, dull and sometimes irritating.
It mixes passagens where nothing seems to happen with everything happenin at once, and jumping "from the frying pan into the fire". I mean, three dragons in a row? Isn't it too much? Yes, it is, way too much. And all the passages jus reminded me of how much Greenwood wanted to tell a great tale like the one cited above, but just couldn't get there.
Anyway, it's nice to read fantasy that I had never read before, and I will continue reading the saga, eventually. But I will also stick with what everyone here is saying: there are better stories about the Forgotten Realms to be read. Hopefully I'll get to them.
March 13, 2020
Ed Greenwood is a world builder extraordinaire. But his fiction could do with some lessons on pacing and realism. It is rather rare that a happy marriage is built upon meeting a lady, enjoying carnal pleasures with her under extreme circumstances, and marrying her, all within the span of a brace of days! Yet Greenwood plots out this exact storyline, with numerous coincidences, deus ex machinae, and just plain dumb luck. In his defense, he admits in the foreword that he was asked when writing this novel for TSR to introduce people to all of the Realms in but a single novel, and in fairness, we see a great deal of it. But I could strongly wish for a better narrative to pair with the travelogue of this novel.
On the plus side, he's nowhere near as bad as Douglas Niles. At least Greenwood's characters have some depth and humor to them.
On the plus side, he's nowhere near as bad as Douglas Niles. At least Greenwood's characters have some depth and humor to them.
March 14, 2012
My feelings for this book are a bit biased I'll admit...because this was the first fantasy book I ever read, and I've been reading the genre ever since...
So thanks Ed! :-)
I was a young teen (or close to it) when I read this book and I remember it being full of magic, wonder and even having some serious dramatic moments in it...at least for my age...
But even now I KNOW I enjoy reading books by Ed Greenwood. His writing style is interesting, his dialog for some of his key characters (certainly in some later books) is rich and believable, and his character 'Elminster' as featured in many of his books is undoubtedly one of the greatest fantasy characters (wizards) of all time.
I can't get enough of Elminster.
So thanks Ed! :-)
I was a young teen (or close to it) when I read this book and I remember it being full of magic, wonder and even having some serious dramatic moments in it...at least for my age...
But even now I KNOW I enjoy reading books by Ed Greenwood. His writing style is interesting, his dialog for some of his key characters (certainly in some later books) is rich and believable, and his character 'Elminster' as featured in many of his books is undoubtedly one of the greatest fantasy characters (wizards) of all time.
I can't get enough of Elminster.
February 16, 2025
I've been reading all the Forgotten Realms novels as nostalgia for the ones I loved as a child. This isn't one of the ones I read back then, so there's no nostalgia for this one in particular.
Ooph. I wanted to like this. The opening was pretty enjoyable - nothing particularly novel, but hey, I enjoyed the panache of Shandril 'auditioning' for the position of thief with the Company of the Bright Spear by stealing all their shit then presenting it to them. Unfortunately, this is basically the only moment Shandril displays any semblance of initiative. Narm, the love interest, isn't a particularly active character either. Some of the side characters are fun - I particularly enjoyed any times Torm and Rathan were bantering. The villain situation is kind of meh, due mainly to the pacing of the book and the lack of consistent villains throughout.
The pacing and plotting are awful, impressively so. It's not actually that bad until the end of the Myth Drannor arc, so it might not be noticed immediately, though even in that arc there's some insanely hectic messy bits (how many adventuring parties are in Myth Drannor at any given time?) This is also the bit with the most consistent villains which I think helps it out a bit. But after Myth Drannor (and at the end of it) it's a neverending slog of 'Shandril and Narm bum around a bit, cut to someone with the Zhentarim/Cult of the Dragon who wants spellfire/cut to them trying to capture Shandril and someone who's usually not Shandril or Narm stopping them/rinse and repeat' over and over and over again, and I'm not remembering those villain names, not when there's so many of them and they get no characterization. One particularly funny moment that didn't seem intended to be funny - Shandril got knocked on the head in a capture attempt. A friendly cleric asks if she can still use spellfire. She tests it by shooting spellfire down a seemingly empty corridor... and happens to hit the invisible mage that also wanted to capture her. This is ridiculous. I know Greenwood intended this as a bit of a 'Realms showcase' but the simple truth of the matter is that doesn't work in a novel!
Something I did enjoy, but I'm not entirely sure it's intentional - I think parts of this can be a fun read as a humor piece. For example, the part at the end of the Myth Drannor arc where they get attacked by, iirc, two dracoliches and a dragon ends up being rather hilarious since it involves multiple of the Knights of Myth Drannor being downed repeatedly and then revived. I'm sure any of us who've played D&D have had battles like that.
90s pulp fantasy, so like always, you know odds are it's weird about women. Spellfire's particular brand of weird about women is-
Shandril is 16. Her relationship with Narm, who is 22, is squicky to me because of that. Torm's sexualizing comments about her are also uncomfortable, and the way Korvan just casually sexually harrasses her, Gorstag knows about it, and yet he doesn't fire the damn man is pretty messed up. Gorstag also ends up marrying his much younger employee. In other words, the relationship power dynamics are really freaking weird. Shandril also regularly ends up burning all her clothes off with spellfire, though this is treated more like a joke.
More on Narm and Shandril's relationship, ignoring the weird age gap - these two have no chemistry, and I say this as someone who has pretty low standards for relationships in books. They meet, have sex maybe five pages later, propose shortly after that (on the same day they've met) and then several days later in the story and a decent chunk of the book later Shandril asks what Narm's last name is. This is another reason why I kept questioning if Greenwood was attempting satire here, but based on the way the other characters treat the relationship in the story, I think it really is intended to be read seriously. And their dynamic isn't one you get love from, despite how many times they state in the text how much they love each other. As much as I hated Tristan and Robyn's relationship in the Moonshae novels, they had more chemistry than this. Narm's protectiveness really reads as more of a weird possessiveness, not helped by him not actually loving anything in particular about Shandril other than that she's pretty, and Shandril really doesn't seem to have much of a reason to love him either (I'm not sure I can name one thing she loves about him...). After they've married, Shandril is speaking at one point about how she's unhappy she has spellfire in some ways, because she's not happy about the number of people she's had to kill that were coming after her because of it. (Remember, she only first killed someone a month or two ago in the novel at this point). Narm tells her that she whines too much. He then makes a joke of how he'll be certain to tell the next dozen corpses she's sorry she had to kill them. Shandril is, unsuprisingly, not cheered up by this joke. If she were, this could be a cute moment of Narm knowing exactly what she needs to hear. But instead, it's Greenwood displaying yet again that this relationship makes no freaking sense. This happens on repeat throughout the book. Narm reads Shandril's life as Gorstag as him treating her badly and rages. (One of the occurences where he's actually correct TBH). Shandril disagrees. Narm caves, but it's not an 'agree to disagree' or a 'I see the good things now', it feels like a moment where he's more like 'oh, Shandril likes him, better not piss her off or I'll stop getting to have sex with her.' It probably doesn't help that Narm is an incredibly flat character - at least Shandril actually has some hopes and regrets, even if she never actually acts on them.
Ooph. I wanted to like this. The opening was pretty enjoyable - nothing particularly novel, but hey, I enjoyed the panache of Shandril 'auditioning' for the position of thief with the Company of the Bright Spear by stealing all their shit then presenting it to them. Unfortunately, this is basically the only moment Shandril displays any semblance of initiative. Narm, the love interest, isn't a particularly active character either. Some of the side characters are fun - I particularly enjoyed any times Torm and Rathan were bantering. The villain situation is kind of meh, due mainly to the pacing of the book and the lack of consistent villains throughout.
The pacing and plotting are awful, impressively so. It's not actually that bad until the end of the Myth Drannor arc, so it might not be noticed immediately, though even in that arc there's some insanely hectic messy bits (how many adventuring parties are in Myth Drannor at any given time?) This is also the bit with the most consistent villains which I think helps it out a bit. But after Myth Drannor (and at the end of it) it's a neverending slog of 'Shandril and Narm bum around a bit, cut to someone with the Zhentarim/Cult of the Dragon who wants spellfire/cut to them trying to capture Shandril and someone who's usually not Shandril or Narm stopping them/rinse and repeat' over and over and over again, and I'm not remembering those villain names, not when there's so many of them and they get no characterization. One particularly funny moment that didn't seem intended to be funny - Shandril got knocked on the head in a capture attempt. A friendly cleric asks if she can still use spellfire. She tests it by shooting spellfire down a seemingly empty corridor... and happens to hit the invisible mage that also wanted to capture her. This is ridiculous. I know Greenwood intended this as a bit of a 'Realms showcase' but the simple truth of the matter is that doesn't work in a novel!
Something I did enjoy, but I'm not entirely sure it's intentional - I think parts of this can be a fun read as a humor piece. For example, the part at the end of the Myth Drannor arc where they get attacked by, iirc, two dracoliches and a dragon ends up being rather hilarious since it involves multiple of the Knights of Myth Drannor being downed repeatedly and then revived. I'm sure any of us who've played D&D have had battles like that.
90s pulp fantasy, so like always, you know odds are it's weird about women. Spellfire's particular brand of weird about women is-
Shandril is 16. Her relationship with Narm, who is 22, is squicky to me because of that. Torm's sexualizing comments about her are also uncomfortable, and the way Korvan just casually sexually harrasses her, Gorstag knows about it, and yet he doesn't fire the damn man is pretty messed up. Gorstag also ends up marrying his much younger employee. In other words, the relationship power dynamics are really freaking weird. Shandril also regularly ends up burning all her clothes off with spellfire, though this is treated more like a joke.
More on Narm and Shandril's relationship, ignoring the weird age gap - these two have no chemistry, and I say this as someone who has pretty low standards for relationships in books. They meet, have sex maybe five pages later, propose shortly after that (on the same day they've met) and then several days later in the story and a decent chunk of the book later Shandril asks what Narm's last name is. This is another reason why I kept questioning if Greenwood was attempting satire here, but based on the way the other characters treat the relationship in the story, I think it really is intended to be read seriously. And their dynamic isn't one you get love from, despite how many times they state in the text how much they love each other. As much as I hated Tristan and Robyn's relationship in the Moonshae novels, they had more chemistry than this. Narm's protectiveness really reads as more of a weird possessiveness, not helped by him not actually loving anything in particular about Shandril other than that she's pretty, and Shandril really doesn't seem to have much of a reason to love him either (I'm not sure I can name one thing she loves about him...). After they've married, Shandril is speaking at one point about how she's unhappy she has spellfire in some ways, because she's not happy about the number of people she's had to kill that were coming after her because of it. (Remember, she only first killed someone a month or two ago in the novel at this point). Narm tells her that she whines too much. He then makes a joke of how he'll be certain to tell the next dozen corpses she's sorry she had to kill them. Shandril is, unsuprisingly, not cheered up by this joke. If she were, this could be a cute moment of Narm knowing exactly what she needs to hear. But instead, it's Greenwood displaying yet again that this relationship makes no freaking sense. This happens on repeat throughout the book. Narm reads Shandril's life as Gorstag as him treating her badly and rages. (One of the occurences where he's actually correct TBH). Shandril disagrees. Narm caves, but it's not an 'agree to disagree' or a 'I see the good things now', it feels like a moment where he's more like 'oh, Shandril likes him, better not piss her off or I'll stop getting to have sex with her.' It probably doesn't help that Narm is an incredibly flat character - at least Shandril actually has some hopes and regrets, even if she never actually acts on them.
February 9, 2021
Started to sort of fall apart at the end.
February 28, 2019
Good
As I was reading this I kept thinking I had read it before. Not likely. Was a really good story though. Dracoliches are interesting. I want to dress up my rpg gaming characters in purple. I definitely enjoyed a trip to Shadowdale! I kept getting the Knights of Myth Drannor confused. A visual aid would be nice, but I can find those elsewhere. Now it's off to the Thunder Peaks to read about some Zhentarim meddlers.
As I was reading this I kept thinking I had read it before. Not likely. Was a really good story though. Dracoliches are interesting. I want to dress up my rpg gaming characters in purple. I definitely enjoyed a trip to Shadowdale! I kept getting the Knights of Myth Drannor confused. A visual aid would be nice, but I can find those elsewhere. Now it's off to the Thunder Peaks to read about some Zhentarim meddlers.
May 8, 2018
Shandril Shessair is an orphan girl who works as a kitchen hand in The Rising Moon inn in Deepingdale. Restless and wanting to see something of the world, she joins up with a passing group of adventurers and soon discovers that she possesses the rare and devastating ability known as spellfire. This immediately makes her a target for any number evil organizations keen to use her powers for their own nefarious ends. It is up to the likes of Elminster of Shadowdale and the Knights of Myth Drannor to ensure that no harm comes to Shandril. As her journey unfolds, she meets a young apprentice wizard named Narm and the two quickly fall in love.
The first novel written by Ed Greenwood, the esteemed creator of the Forgotten Realms setting, is a decidedly odd book. As far as entry points go, it's a surprisingly poor introduction to the famous setting, throwing characters, organizations and locations at the reader left, right and centre. That an extraordinarily rich, detailed world existed in the author's head is obvious to see: however, it feels like he was in a such a rush to introduce the reader to the vastness of his creation that fundamentals such as the pacing of the story rather went out of the window.
Ed Greenwood possesses an unusual writing style, embellishing his dialogue and even his prose with archaic affections that are occasionally whimsical but sometimes clunky and hard to follow. This makes the novel harder to get into than it really needs to be. I'll confess that upon reading it now, for the second time (my first was in the 90s!), there's a certain poetic quality to the book that I perhaps didn't appreciate the first time around. For every confusing passage of text, there's a beautiful line that lands clean.
Spellfire's story is very straightforward. Shandril is the Chosen One, a teenage girl who can wield destructive powers capable of shattering a dracolich. One gets the impression Mr. Greenwood wanted this book to be a love story and coming-of-age tale in addition to a miniature grand tour of the Forgotten Realms (or at least the Dalelands). Unfortunately, Shandril is extremely average and unremarkable in every way except for her spellfire. She's not particularly heroic nor compassionate. Her love interest, Narm, is equally dull. He is also responsible for one of the book's biggest flaws, which is his senseless decision to return to Myth Drannor after his master was brutally slain by devils for no good reason at all other than to have him meet Shandril again later.
In truth, a lot of the plotting doesn't make a great deal of sense. Shandril is a giant walking target for every bad guy in the Realms, yet she and Narm are constantly put into situations that place them and their protectors at huge risk. Everywhere Shandril goes, the bodies mount up. Elminster and others justify this as the moral approach by citing the freedom to allow Shandril to make her own choices and grow into her own person - but that's a cold comfort for the hundreds of dead she leaves in her wake wherever she goes. Also, she is rarely (if ever) left alone and unguarded, even when enjoying some private time with Narm, rendering that stated intent rather hollow. In one scene, no less than two mage allies eavesdrop on their lovemaking.
There is a surprising amount of (implied) sex in Spellfire. Greenwood's stated view of the Realms is one of sexual tolerance and freedom, so it makes sense. That said, the propdendarance of (much) older men with young girls raises eyebrows, as does Elminster's ability to make attractive females fall in love with him. Here we get the first hints of the problematic, invincible Mary Sue the Sage of Shadowdale would become in later novels. (I'd love to know how many DMs over the years have been asked the question, "But what is Elminster doing?" whenever there's a threat of any significance.)
To balance out the above criticism, let me say that taken in isolation, the Elminster presented in Spellfire is a highly likeable old greybeard who mitigates his vast power with a much-needed sense of restraint and humanism. In fact, outside of the two main characters in Shandril and Narm, the characters in this novel are an incredibly colourful collection of heroes and villains, hinting at endless stories that have happened and will happen. The effect this creates is to imbue a sense of mythic awe to proceedings - of a living, breathing, incredibly detailed world that begs to be explored.
There are some that will rage at this comparison, but Spellfire strikes me as the Forgotten Realms equivalent of Gardens of the Moon, the first book in the Malazan series by Steven Erikson. Both are intimidating and initially inaccessible; both make questionable story-telling decisions and throw everything plus the kitchen sink at the reader from the get-go. More importantly, however, both succeed in painting a compelling history and a world that begs to be persevered with despite these issues.
Spellfire is a sometimes confusing yet always entertaining novel that will reward those familiar with the setting - more so than newer readers. As the first novel written by the creator of, and set in the cradle of, the Forgotten Realms, it is essential reading for fans, with epic battle scenes and D&D lore aplenty. Just expect a bumpy ride along the way.
Note: this review is for the 2005 revision of the novel. The earlier edition was poorly edited, cutting out chunks of text Greenwood wanted to include, and thus is a substantially weaker novel. That said, editing issues remain in this edition, such as a dragon described as being "as long as seventy Rising Moons or more" - by my calculations, that's at least 2,000 feet!
The first novel written by Ed Greenwood, the esteemed creator of the Forgotten Realms setting, is a decidedly odd book. As far as entry points go, it's a surprisingly poor introduction to the famous setting, throwing characters, organizations and locations at the reader left, right and centre. That an extraordinarily rich, detailed world existed in the author's head is obvious to see: however, it feels like he was in a such a rush to introduce the reader to the vastness of his creation that fundamentals such as the pacing of the story rather went out of the window.
Ed Greenwood possesses an unusual writing style, embellishing his dialogue and even his prose with archaic affections that are occasionally whimsical but sometimes clunky and hard to follow. This makes the novel harder to get into than it really needs to be. I'll confess that upon reading it now, for the second time (my first was in the 90s!), there's a certain poetic quality to the book that I perhaps didn't appreciate the first time around. For every confusing passage of text, there's a beautiful line that lands clean.
Spellfire's story is very straightforward. Shandril is the Chosen One, a teenage girl who can wield destructive powers capable of shattering a dracolich. One gets the impression Mr. Greenwood wanted this book to be a love story and coming-of-age tale in addition to a miniature grand tour of the Forgotten Realms (or at least the Dalelands). Unfortunately, Shandril is extremely average and unremarkable in every way except for her spellfire. She's not particularly heroic nor compassionate. Her love interest, Narm, is equally dull. He is also responsible for one of the book's biggest flaws, which is his senseless decision to return to Myth Drannor after his master was brutally slain by devils for no good reason at all other than to have him meet Shandril again later.
In truth, a lot of the plotting doesn't make a great deal of sense. Shandril is a giant walking target for every bad guy in the Realms, yet she and Narm are constantly put into situations that place them and their protectors at huge risk. Everywhere Shandril goes, the bodies mount up. Elminster and others justify this as the moral approach by citing the freedom to allow Shandril to make her own choices and grow into her own person - but that's a cold comfort for the hundreds of dead she leaves in her wake wherever she goes. Also, she is rarely (if ever) left alone and unguarded, even when enjoying some private time with Narm, rendering that stated intent rather hollow. In one scene, no less than two mage allies eavesdrop on their lovemaking.
There is a surprising amount of (implied) sex in Spellfire. Greenwood's stated view of the Realms is one of sexual tolerance and freedom, so it makes sense. That said, the propdendarance of (much) older men with young girls raises eyebrows, as does Elminster's ability to make attractive females fall in love with him. Here we get the first hints of the problematic, invincible Mary Sue the Sage of Shadowdale would become in later novels. (I'd love to know how many DMs over the years have been asked the question, "But what is Elminster doing?" whenever there's a threat of any significance.)
To balance out the above criticism, let me say that taken in isolation, the Elminster presented in Spellfire is a highly likeable old greybeard who mitigates his vast power with a much-needed sense of restraint and humanism. In fact, outside of the two main characters in Shandril and Narm, the characters in this novel are an incredibly colourful collection of heroes and villains, hinting at endless stories that have happened and will happen. The effect this creates is to imbue a sense of mythic awe to proceedings - of a living, breathing, incredibly detailed world that begs to be explored.
There are some that will rage at this comparison, but Spellfire strikes me as the Forgotten Realms equivalent of Gardens of the Moon, the first book in the Malazan series by Steven Erikson. Both are intimidating and initially inaccessible; both make questionable story-telling decisions and throw everything plus the kitchen sink at the reader from the get-go. More importantly, however, both succeed in painting a compelling history and a world that begs to be persevered with despite these issues.
Spellfire is a sometimes confusing yet always entertaining novel that will reward those familiar with the setting - more so than newer readers. As the first novel written by the creator of, and set in the cradle of, the Forgotten Realms, it is essential reading for fans, with epic battle scenes and D&D lore aplenty. Just expect a bumpy ride along the way.
Note: this review is for the 2005 revision of the novel. The earlier edition was poorly edited, cutting out chunks of text Greenwood wanted to include, and thus is a substantially weaker novel. That said, editing issues remain in this edition, such as a dragon described as being "as long as seventy Rising Moons or more" - by my calculations, that's at least 2,000 feet!
November 12, 2008
I read this book in second grade and it is responsible for landing me with a lifelong love of the fantastic.
May 30, 2018
Ah, the memories this brings back.
I still have a major soft spot for all these Forgotten Realms books.
I still have a major soft spot for all these Forgotten Realms books.
January 12, 2016
A true story of herpes.
It was awesome. I could not ever put it down for to long. You will love this series of stories
It was awesome. I could not ever put it down for to long. You will love this series of stories
February 7, 2016
Pretty good fantasy book based on the D&D Forgotten Realms world. Quick easy read. Recommended
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