Dangerous Games

I'd give this second book a 2.5 star. It's a little better than the first one, but not by much. It was entertaining enough at times, particularly in the handling of the final days of Netheril - except for one part - Karsus himself. Also I kinda enjoyed the fighting scenes; it takes away having to think about the weak plot. The book felt like an excuse for just 3 things to happen: just to show you what Karsus did, a rather lame and unjustified reason for Sunbright to "become a shaman", and to set up a love triangle for book three (I'm guessing).

The whole spectacular event of the fall of Netheril and the sacrifice of the goddess Mystryl was really momentous in the Realms. So why oh why is Karsus just a ridiculous madman? Disappointing really. I had always imagined that it was arrogance that brought the downfall of the Netherese Empire, not depravation and insanity. I'll give that the handling of a society on the verge of collapse is pretty well portrayed. I just find it really difficult to swallow to have an empire where all its archmages became high Int, low Wis characters within a span of just three and a half centuries.

Sunbright and Candlemas has this odd chemistry. I don't really get why they'd get along. As usual, Sunbright just tears through any enemies thrown at him, but you'd think that given his experience in book 1, he really shouldn't be having so much trouble in book 2. And Candlemas... Is a pretty lousy excuse of a wizard. I think I counted him casting a total of 3 spells in the entire book... two of them in the first chapter!

In general, this book has a weak overarching plot and is filled with filler encounters - the whole romance thing was pretty weak and rather forced; and the cameo by Lady Polaris was inconsequential. It's essentially just to showcase Netheril in its end days and set up a few plot lines for the third book. But as I said, I did enjoy Sunbright's many fight scenes, especially the ones took place within the enclave.