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Book Cover |
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Excerpt |
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"There are too many of
them!"
Vambran yanked his sword
free from yet another twitching, quivering zombie. The undead thing
dropped in a heap at his feet, but two more shuffled closer to take its
place, pressing the mercenary officer back. Even more of them, visible
in the glare of the magical flare he had launched to help his tiny group
see and fight, swarmed around the periphery of the battle. He slashed at
the nearest one and lopped its arm off, but with every swing of his
sword, the blade felt heavier. "We can't keep this up!"
"We should fall back,"
Arbeenok said, fighting on Vambran's left. "But the path is cut off in
both directions."
Behind him and to the other
side, the lieutenant heard Elenthia gasp, and he risked a quick glance
in her direction to see what had upset her. Though she continued to
swing the light mace they had found for her to use, pounding with both
hands on anything that got close, her eyes were wide with unsuppressed
horror, staring at something in the gloom. He shoved his blade out,
skewering the nearest zombie, and stole another quick glance away from
his fight, in the direction she had been staring.
Four more of the creatures
were ambling out of a building on the far side of the street, distinct
enough in the glow of the flare that Vambran recognized the identical
cut and color of their clothing.
The Order of the Sapphire
Crescent. |
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Synopsis |
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Vambran Matrell
is in the city of Reth with Arbeenok, a druid that looks like a cross
between a gorilla and a human. The plague has returned once again, this
time created by magic. The plague swiftly overtakes the body turning the
afflicted into a zombie within minutes. Vambram and Arbeenok continue to
fight the zombies, which is a losing battle, and they know it.
Falagh
and Lobra Mestel have been planning deception with Grozier and Lavant.
Their objective to corner the lumber market so no one else can cut down
trees in the forest. there are also others in power that have a
different goal; to bring Reth back into the fold. Meanwhile, Emriana and
Xaphira are trapped in a magical mirror.
Lobra has intentions of getting
her paws on Emriana for what she did to her brother, Denrick Pharaboldi,
in The Sapphire Crescent. Meanwhile,
Pilos and Quill team up with some of the members of the Sapphire
Crescent. Pilos has important information about the dealings of Lavant.
Back in Reth, Vambran and Arbeenok begin a quest to look for a fabled
item that may be able to stop the plague. The only problem is that this
it was in the Cities of the Twelve Swords with sank to the bottom of the
Reach many years ago.
The Emerald Scepter is the third book of three in The Scions
of Arrabar Trilogy by Thomas M. Reid. This Forgotten Realms fantasy tale features
the following main characters: Vambran Matrell - a Lieutenant in the
Sapphire Crescent, Emriana Matrell - Vambran's younger sister, Xaphira
Matrell - Vanbram's aunt and a mercenary, Arbeenok - an alaghi and a
druid, Junce Roundface - an
assassin, Pilos - a young priest in the Temple of Waukeen, Grozier Talricci - a man who wants to take over the Matrell
household, Bartimus - a mage Grozier employs, and Lavant -the Grand Syndar in the Temple of Waukeen.
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Review |
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The Emerald Scepter
continues where The Ruby Guardian
left off. As the plot thickens, more characters are introduced. Maybe I
had a lot going on while I was reading this book, but I found my mind
wandering and not focused on the story in front of me. Maybe its because
the action is not as fast and furious as it was in the pervious book.
Maybe it was because of the addition of new characters into the plot
that we hadn't met before. It could have been a lot of things, but
whatever it was, my enjoyment level on this novel decreased a bit. Maybe
I didn't like that Emriana and Xaphira were barely in the story after
being such a driving force in The Ruby
Guardian.
Still, this book is the conclusion to The Scions of Arrabar Trilogy and does tie up a lot of the loose ends and answers most
of the questions about why things have been happening. I just wished it
could have been as excellent as the previous book. The fight scenes with
the living dead are fun and exciting, but all of the political intrigue
kind of left me dry.
Overall, The Emerald Scepter is still a good
Good book that borders on being Great but just needs some tweaking. I do
hope that Thomas M. Reid writes more Forgotten Realms novels using the
characters her created for House Matrell, as I find them to be
interesting. I will keep my fingers crossed.
I rated this book a 7½ out of 10. |
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