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Pluddon
Seeker
57 Posts |
 Posted - 22 Mar 2014 : 02:48:48
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Is the maztica trilogy worth the read and how does it mark up to the some of the other Realms novels? Thanks
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Clegane
Seeker
65 Posts |
Posted - 19 Apr 2014 : 00:37:43
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| I would rate them fair to good. Personally I think Greenwood, Cunningham, and Salvatore have the best FR novels. I consider them page turners. |
Edited by - Clegane on 20 Apr 2014 17:19:02 |
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Lord Karsus
Great Reader
USA
3736 Posts |
Posted - 20 Apr 2014 : 07:13:12
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-The books were...alright. I don't know if the campaign setting was drawn up before the books (the Maztica Campaign Setting was published in 1991, and the books in 1990 and 1991, but obviously the design phase happened before the release of all of those products) or vice-versa, but Maztica is very heavily based on real-world "New World" exploration, and that kind of detracts from the setting and story of Maztica as a whole. The books do a better job at adding more fantasy and D&D elements to continent than the Maztica Campaign Setting at distancing it from the real world parallels its based on, but there's only so much that can be done when the source material is drawn so heavily from. It's been a long time since I read them, but from my hazy memories, there was a Eagle/Jaguar Knight character that was kind of cool, something about a desert zigguraut that I liked, and to not spoil things, there was an involvement of Drow that I enjoyed, that was both an interesting twist and a nice way of connecting Maztica to Faerun and the rest of the world as a whole.
-In terms of how they stand up to some other novels, that's all very subjective, I guess. As an earlier book series during the TSR days, I do think that they are a little more hokey, '80s D&D cheesy and less fast-paced than more modern era books. |
(A Tri-Partite Arcanist Who Has Forgotten More Than Most Will Ever Know)
Elves of Faerūn
Vol I- The Elves of Faerūn
Vol. III- Spells of the Elves
Vol. VI- Mechanical Compendium |
Edited by - Lord Karsus on 20 Apr 2014 07:16:16 |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36779 Posts |
Posted - 20 Apr 2014 : 14:21:03
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| I never read them, myself. I could barely get thru the Moonshae trilogy, and that really steered me away from the Maztica books. The lack of interest in the area didn't help, either. |
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Artemas Entreri
Great Reader
USA
3131 Posts |
Posted - 23 Apr 2014 : 03:38:21
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| It's been about 15 years, but I enjoyed them at the time. It was nice to see a new area of the Realms. I get bored of Cormyr and the Sword Coast. |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31701 Posts |
Posted - 23 Apr 2014 : 04:05:36
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| I liked them, but I didn't really read them as "Realms novels," as such. Rather, I interpreted them just as a fantastical Mesoamerican series of tales instead. |
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Lord Karsus
Great Reader
USA
3736 Posts |
Posted - 23 Apr 2014 : 15:57:28
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quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
I never read them, myself. I could barely get thru the Moonshae trilogy, and that really steered me away from the Maztica books. The lack of interest in the area didn't help, either.
-Those books also had of token "hokey, '80s D&D cheesiness" that I really can't explain, too. It's like, based on what I remember of the books and how I felt when I read them, each character kind of very obviously fit into basic fantasy molds. While there's nothing wrong with that, and sometimes more contemporary books kind of went "too out there" in terms of presenting unorthodox race/class/backstory combinations, it's kind of a little boring, looking back at it.
-The Moonshae books specifically, even today, when I think of the characters, I see them only through the lens of SNES Final Fantasy sprites. Daryth is a Red Mage, Robyn is Rosa from Final Fantasy II/IV, King Ironhand was X-Death from Final Fantasy V, Prince Tristan was Edward from Final Fantasy II/IV. |
(A Tri-Partite Arcanist Who Has Forgotten More Than Most Will Ever Know)
Elves of Faerūn
Vol I- The Elves of Faerūn
Vol. III- Spells of the Elves
Vol. VI- Mechanical Compendium |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36779 Posts |
Posted - 23 Apr 2014 : 17:41:11
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quote:
Originally posted by Lord Karsus
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
I never read them, myself. I could barely get thru the Moonshae trilogy, and that really steered me away from the Maztica books. The lack of interest in the area didn't help, either.
-Those books also had of token "hokey, '80s D&D cheesiness" that I really can't explain, too. It's like, based on what I remember of the books and how I felt when I read them, each character kind of very obviously fit into basic fantasy molds. While there's nothing wrong with that, and sometimes more contemporary books kind of went "too out there" in terms of presenting unorthodox race/class/backstory combinations, it's kind of a little boring, looking back at it.
-The Moonshae books specifically, even today, when I think of the characters, I see them only through the lens of SNES Final Fantasy sprites. Daryth is a Red Mage, Robyn is Rosa from Final Fantasy II/IV, King Ironhand was X-Death from Final Fantasy V, Prince Tristan was Edward from Final Fantasy II/IV.
I did not form the same impressions... I just wasn't interested in the characters, save for Daryth and Canthus, and couldn't get all that interested in the plot, either. I liked his Druidhome trilogy a lot better, but that's still relative, and I would not rank them all that highly against other Realms novels. Higher than some, obviously, like two that I wanted to hurl across the room at the end*, but far lower than some faves, like The Ring of Winter, the Finder's Stone trilogy, or any of Elaine's books.
*Because the endings flat-out pissed me off and made me feel that the books (and in one case, a trilogy) had been a waste of time to read. |
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silverwolfer
Senior Scribe
789 Posts |
Posted - 25 Apr 2014 : 15:31:23
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Eh I liked it, it showed off I think the reality of something of a LN God would have,folks treat Helm to much like a Good Aligned god, and this is a good story I think, in showing how the mortal followers can be so drastically different then what , good two shoe paladins folks are use to pretending helm is.
The new gods were a nice touch, as was the layer of old gods that we areuse to. The storyline was, a bit slow but works. |
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
11690 Posts |
Posted - 26 Apr 2014 : 02:18:48
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| I barely got through the first book because it was too literally like our own new world exploration. I never finished the series. That being said, I think the region could have been really good, had it not literally looked so much like our own stories. |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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ksu_bond
Learned Scribe
New Zealand
214 Posts |
Posted - 27 Apr 2014 : 03:34:21
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I just finished reading them...as I've been reading through the entire FR series...only a few books left...on the Pools series now and just have the Diamond series left then I've read them all...well except for the 4e books which I may move on to if I like the direction 5e takes...but I've put off the Maztica series because I knew they wouldn't be my cup of tea and in that regard I was correct...they held little interest to me...there were high points but several low points as well...
The series/setting seemed more like it was tacked onto the Forgotten Realms rather than an organic development..the portrayal of Helm and his clergy was quite enjoyable as they did seem to better reflect the LN alignment of Helm then the more LG aspect that is often depicted...the drow and the dwarves that helped tie Maztica to Faerun had potential but I thought fell flat as none of the dwarves seemed to know much if anything of what it meant to be dwarves and didn't seem to tied to the Dwarf pantheon at all...the Drow story was great as they felt as though they had been liberated by escaping the rule of Lloth, then the story IMO was spoiled by having Lloth interfere in the story and curse her wayward children (which implies that ALL drow are under her pervue regardless of whom they actually worship and that she can do anything to any Drow any time she feels the whim...which seems to run counter to the idea of the "reformed" drow like Drizzt and others, and begs the question if she can curse a group of renegade drow in Maztica then why has she suffered the renegade drow on mainland Faerun)...other elements of the stories read like a novelization of the conquistadors "discovering" the New World at first to discover a new trade route to the Far East (Kara-Tur) and once it is realized that the world they discovered was in fact a "new" world inhabited by a primitive peoples they sought ways to exploit it (primarily through sheer military superiority)...there a few plot twists that were enjoyable and interesting...and the "redemption" of the Jaguar Knight who eventually became some sort of a hybrid jaguar/eagle knight was one the stories highlights...otherwise the story often felt predictable... |
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The maztica trilogy
