The Threat from the Sea [Paperback]

I have mixed feelings about this book.

The positives of this book is that it has a great epic feel to it. The characters develop throughout the series. There are many interweaving plots which come together marvelously. The battles are amazing with swashbuckling adventure on the high seas. Swords, magic, and the gnashing of teeth make this book hard to put down. The book is also a trilogy but reads like one really long book. In these regards it is similar to a Lord of the Rings.

I have two problems with the book. The first is monsters. Anyone who has read a few fantasy novels will quickly recognize most monsters in a fantasy setting. Most books will have an array of elves, dwarves, orcs, goblins, dragons, etc. Anyone who is a D&D fan specifically will probably have an even greater monster vocabulary such as bugbears, displacer beasts, and hobgoblins. Since the primary setting for this book series is under the oceans most Dungeon Masters have never run an underwater campaign. Even some of the most experienced RPG gamers will come up short when it comes to some of the more obscure undersea creaters flowing throughout the series. I would daily have to go online to try to figure out what things like a Shalarin, or a Ixitxachitl are. The author often throws these bizarre rarely heard of creaters into the book with very little description of what the creater actually is. Everyone knows what a merman is but not everyone is going to know a Locathah.

The second problem I have is the unbelievability of the setting. The ocean is an alien environment. You don't have to go too far below the surface and you encounter heavy pressure, freezing water, and absolute darkness. If you gave me a magic potion that allowed me to breathe underwater that won't change the cold, dark, and pressure. In order for a human to function at such a depths all of these things would have to be taken care of. But then even if they were taken care of if I am hanging out with a merman the merman has a tail. Even an olympic swimmer will only be able to travel just so far before being completely exhausted, whereas the merman companion will feel like a gentle trip with little fatigue. Characters will also not be walking around the bottom of the ocean willy nilly either. Anyone who has ever tried to walk on the bottom of a pool will know that you generally will float around and and won't do a very good job of walking. Then there is the myriad of bows and arrows underwater, the lack of a 3D battlefield underwater, and so on. The undersea environment of the book feels more like "The Little Mermaid" than R.A. Salvatores underdark books when it comes to realism.

› Go to Amazon.com to see the review  3.0 out of 5 stars