Vengeance of the Iron Dwarf

And so the Companions Codex comes to its rushed and unexciting conclusion with Vengeance of the Iron Dwarf. It is as if the whole trilogy was a mere prologue for an actual story, happening somewhere in future. Like the plot points were necessary and had to be told, but someone decided they also had to be spread over three books, regardless if they had the potential to be interesting enough for it or not.

The next series is definitely going to be where the really cool stuff is at. The first volume is apparently titled Archmage -- Gromph, obviously-- and the name of the series is Homecoming. Thus back to Menzoberranzan we go, and I have a feeling it will be amazing. Too bad we had to endure this trilogy before getting in there.

In Vengeance of the Iron Dwarf, the dwarves finally do their thing and drive the orcs back to where they came from. The Silver Marches are taken back -- very cleanly and quickly -- and things get back to normal. And the white dragons are defeated by the bronze dragon sisters as expected.

In addition to the bronze dragons, Jarlaxle also brings back the secondary companions. Though Effron apparently got lost or they just forgot him. Afafrenfere being a conduit for this grandmaster Kane entity suggests this novel will not be the last we see the monk of the terrible name. That side-story must be going somewhere. I just wish Salvatore did not force such characters into the Drizzt books, no matter how much he loves monks.

The dark elf himself gets to fight Tiago from dragonback but that is still far from a scimitar-rewarding duel. Maybe they finally get to do that in Homecoming. I do wonder if Tiago really ends up going to Maerimydra with Doum'wielle, though. Or what was the point of mentioning the City of the Spider Queen by its nickname? But I would like to see that actually happening, as CotSQ is the main location of the D&D 3E adventure of the same name.

I do not have much else to say about VotID. It feels like a forced effort by Salvatore. There is very little character development and any form of excitement. I truly hope Archmage and the whole next series will be better than this one.

Archmage has been out since September but there does not seem to be information about a paperback version which is somewhat worrying. Wizards of the Coast has heavily cut down the amount of Forgotten Realms novels they publish these days. I hope that does not mean there will be no cheaper physical copies anymore. I would very much like to continue buying books as paperbacks due to their price and easier handling.