Baldur's Gate: Amazon.ca: Philip Athans: Books

Product Description

Bhaal must be stopped!

Someone is sabotaging the iron mines of the Sword Coast, pushing powerful realms toward a bloody war, and a young mercenary toward an unimaginable secret.

Evil gods, giant spiders, murderous doppelgangers, flesh-eating ghouls, and wicked Zhentarim come to life in the action-packed novelization of the Baldur's Gate computer game form BioWare and Interplay.

Ingram

A novelization of the much anticipated new computer game from Interplay. The son of a dead god fights his way along the Sword Coast in search of a truth that could rip the world apart.

Inside This Book (Learn More)

First Sentence
The blades came together so hard they threw out a blue-white spark bright enough to burn its gentle arc into Abdel's vision. Read the first page

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Concordance

Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover

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Customer Reviews

72 Reviews

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(36)

Average Customer Review

2.4 out of 5 stars (72 customer reviews)

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1.0 out of 5 stars Keep away, Jan 12 2011

By

Aleks - See all my reviews

This review is from: Baldur's Gate (Mass Market Paperback)

I don't remember how I stumbled upon this book on Amazon, but as I looked at the price for a new book (about 50')I was sure it's because the book is so terrible good. I should have stuck to terrible to better fit my expactations I had when reading it. I never ever read aanytging as shallow and boring like this.

I played the game roughly a thousand times, and I should have started yet another game instead of reading this book.

Keep away if you either liked the game, good written fantasy novels or don't want to feel like you wasted precious time after reading.

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2.0 out of 5 stars So so Forgotten Realm book, April 4 2004

By

Vagabond77 (Tennessee, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Baldur's Gate (Mass Market Paperback)

"Baldur's Gate" is based on the popular computor game set in the Forgotten Realms. In it Abdel, a young but experienced sellsword, is charged by his dead adopted father to solve the mystery of why the iron supply in the land is being ruined. He is escorted/guided by a half elf Harper, a flesh eating ghoul, and assorted other charactors as he solves both the political mystery and the secret of his heritiage. I really wish that Amazon.com had a two and a half rating, because that is what this book deserves. Where it is good, like some of the descripition of the mystical realm of The Sword Coast and some of the action, it is excellent. But where it is bad, like with the cardboard charactors and their relationships, it is equally as extreamly a failure. The action and fight scenes that is in the book are exciting and graphic. The book is fairly short, so you can get through it some what quickly. But it also has a tendency to start a chapter after a fight is finished, and some of the description of the places Abdel and company goes is not described very well. The love story between Abdel and Jaheria, the half elf (who is married, by the way) seems like something out of "Melrose Place"; escpecially when Abdel kills the husband. And Abdel seems just a little too psycotic; he loves killing too much. Although this is explained at the end, the blood lust still seems too fake to be a real. Some of the scenes are obviously borrowed. Doppelgangers are murdering important politicians and assuming their identities to further their master's cause. This reminded me a lot of Robert E. Howard's King Kull story "The Shadow Kingdom". To me, though, it's biggest mistake was the end; or the lack there of. The book dose not so much end as it just stops very abruptly. In the end, "Baldur's gate" isn't bad, considering it had to stay within the confines of the game it is based on, but it could have been much better.

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1.0 out of 5 stars Bites, Feb 27 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Baldur's Gate (Mass Market Paperback)

"Knocking the author's storytelling ability is a little silly, considering the story is from the computer game."

That's the problem. I believe the author probably didn't put much effort into this novel because he just saw this as a story from a computer game. If I want fan fiction I can read it for free on the internet. I read the book and played the game, and I enjoyed playing the game more then reading the book.

If you put your heart into writing a book it show. RAS is a better writer then this because at least he cares about his characters and story telling ablity. That's why R.A. SALVATORE is a popular fantasy author and Philip Athans is hiss at by any and all readers.

The reason that this book gets bad reviews is not because it is one angry and rude reader responding. The reason this book gets bad reviews is because its readers are literate! They expect books to be good.

To have no depth of character, describe details poorly, and have unbelievable character emotions are NEVER allowed in GOOD fiction. Just because you aren't writing for Random House or Del Rey doesn't mean you have to suck.

This isn't about following the game. I could care less if he wrote about what happened in the game. I already played the game! I just want a GOOD book. That's all I'm asking.

Is that too much to ask for in modern Fantasy literature?

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Most recent customer reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Not entirely bad, but definately not very good
When I first saw that there was a book based off of Baldur's Gate (my favorite game) I immediately bought it. Let me tell you something. This book is not bad. Read more

Published on Feb 27 2004 by Magus

4.0 out of 5 stars Amatuer Author
This probably wasn't the best pick of author, Abdel was at beginning and through the whole beginning of his life, to boot, a huge murderer, also... Read more