Darkwell

This is a reprint of the original publication, of which the first two books I own came from. The first and second actually contained good endings in and of themselves, if you discount the little plot hook epilogue (that I remember).

I don't remember much of the first two series, except bits and pieces here and there. I guess they weren't memorable enough to stick. Granted, it was years ago, but great books tend to stick around in my head. I think this series should've been a duology instead of a trilogy. I do remember liking the final war in the second book.

The closing of this trilogy was somewhat... dull. The whole thing feels stretched to its limits in plot content and character development. Characters die before I've had a chance to recall who they were, repetitive guilt trips and “reflections” that tended to invoke annoyance than empathy, poor encounter management, and little character development.

It felt like I was watching a roleplaying session. There are several D&D books that feel this way and each one of them was boring. Encounter one, overcome it. Encounter two, overcome it. It feels very planned out and rigid. The whole plot felt almost like a rehash of the formula in book 2, except the characters and the details have changed. At least, it managed to answer my question on who was the Earthmother from the first two books and why she wasn't listed in the Forgotten Realms source books that I have.

Still, the pacing of the book was all right, a little meandering near the start, faster towards the end. The way faith and Bhaal was handled felt like it was breaking some 2nd edition rules, but I'm not so familiar with them anymore to comment specifics.

It was an ok read, nothing spectacular, but it's not exactly boring either; just somewhat predictable and repetitive.