Item - The Abduction

This book does not provide a promising start to the series. After a prelude written in a flowery but vague first-person style (which recurs elsewhere in brief snippets throughout the book), the story switches to a blandly-written third-person full of cheesy fantasy names, broad and uninvolving "character development," and paint-by-numbers action scenes. Don't even get me started on the painful attempts at comic relief. Most of the story revolves around generic fantasy politics and is set in a palace in Waterdeep; maybe if I was deeply familiar with the Forgotten Realms setting, I would have appreciated this more, but I have my doubts. Although it gets more involving as it goes on, this is a largely tedious introduction. Since this book was supposed to get people hooked and encourage them to buy the next eight volumes, I would have expected something more adventurous and fantastic. Alas, when I reached the cliffhanger, I couldn't have cared less about what would happen next. I'm going to read on only because the other segments of the story are written by other authors and will hopefully travel in more interesting directions.

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