How to Ruin a Fantasy Novel

[Draccus]

If you are reading, or might read Brent Weeks' Night Angel series, go ahead and stop reading this post as it will contain spoilers. Not that that's a big deal, as Mr. Weeks is his own epic spoiler.

I don't read a lot of fantasy novels. But I was in an airport bookstore and saw The Way of Shadows on the shelf. Being a huge rogue and assassin fan, the title and the cover art (a black-clad assassin) caught my eye. I picked it up and found what I thought was a gold mine.

The story is GREAT. It's complex and deep and detailed. The characters are even better. He does a great job of combining and hero and anti-hero into one book and making both rather likeable.

But at the end of the book, within the last 10 pages, he makes massive mistake. A mistake that may prevent me from finishing the series.

For some reason I can't comprehend, he decided to make the main character immortal. Well, not just immortal, that I could handle. He made him unkillable. I understand immortality to mean that a character wouldn't die of old age. Brent Weeks made his character unable to be killed at all. He can take a poisoned dagger to the heart and have his throat slit wide open and he'll recover. HUH?

Look, I know that Drizzt isn't going to die. I know that Conan isn't going to die. But even knowing that the author won't kill them off, the fun lies in how he's going to get out of those "certain death" situations. You know he's going to escape but you never know now.

With an immortal character, you don't care. He will NOT escape. Instead, he'll fail and he'll be killed...but he'll recover. TERRIBLE! Now that I know he can't be killed, the scenes have no tension.

When Drizzt is captured by 10 drow swordsman and is staring a Priestess of Lloth in the eyes, I'm reading as fast as I can to see how he gets out. Will he jump up, spit-kick the nearest guards, backflip away from the priestess, summon his cat, disarm a fighter and use the guy's sword and a chair to slaughter the room? I don't know but I want to find out.

In the Night Angel series, he doesn't make some miraculous escape. He doesn't take out a room full of elite guards with his unsurpassed quickness and skill. He just dies and comes back to life.

Boooooring.

/rant off

[Do'Urden]

/signed

This is why I really enjoyed George R.R. Martin, A Song of Ice and Fire series. You can pretty much expect really bad things, even death, to happen to your favorite characters

[AZgreentea]

Is that eberron based?

Maybe he had a Syberis cake....

[EKKM]

/signed

This is why I really enjoyed George R.R. Martin, A Song of Ice and Fire series. You can pretty much expect really bad things, even death, to happen to your favorite characters

Never read the OP's story but agree with this comment, although I would change "even death" to "especially death"

OT - HBO series based on the books in 2011 http://www.hbo.com/game-of-thrones/index.html

[Tarrant]

I read the Night Angel Trilogy because it was recommended by Amazon after I told it how much I wanted to marry the Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson (I stand by this statement).

My personal thoughts on the Night Angel series aside, that particular plot point is more complex and interesting than it initially appears. If that's all that's stopping your enjoyment of the series, you should read on.

[Chai]

**SPOILERS****SPOILERS****SPOILERS****SPOILERS**** SPOILERS****SPOILERS****SPOILERS****

Naaa. Salvatore just "kills" his avatars off in ways he can bring them back again later if the fan base asks for it.

First Wulfgar with the whole demon torture thing, and now Cadderly, Regis, and Cattie Brie, all in the same book.

He couldnt make them actually lose a fight, and actually die, which is what would likely happen to any warror eventually, no matter how good they are. Instead he had to march two of them into a unicorn and rainbow laden grove that is immune to all of the insanity effects brought on by the magical chaos, and set the third up as the leader of a plane of existance borne of an alignment he is diametrically opposed to.

I can almost smell their return in a future novel. Had any one of them died in actual combat...there would be more reason to doubt said return.

[KKDragonLord]

I recommend the artistic masterpiece manga series Blade of the Immortal.

Its quite neat, although a bit gory.

[rest]

I read the Night Angel Trilogy because it was recommended by Amazon after I told it how much I wanted to marry the Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson (I stand by this statement).

Mistborn was a great trilogy fo sho.

[Garix]

Without spoliing the Night Angel books, I will say there are some serious consequences that Kylar is unaware of. Its well worth reading on and perservering with them

Found the books kinda of by accident and loved reading them

[Draccus]

Oh, I'll finish them. I've already bought the entire series; I just wanted to rant a bit.

Speaking of spoilers, here's another mistake I made. I was about 7/8 of the way through the book when I found myself in another airport bookstore. Knowing I'd finish the first book on the plane, I picked up the second. As I was waiting to pay for it, I flip to the back cover and read:

"Durzo Blint is dead." ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!! He's not dead YET! They put a major spoiler to the first book on the back cover of the second?? You're killing me, Night Angels!

That all being said, I loved the Durzo and Kyler characters. I avoid reading these books before going to bed because they make me want to get up and play DDO.

Hey, Tarrant, can I get a set of Wetboy Grays for Dresek??

[gott_ist_tot]

Well, I have not tread the book, but there can be some explanation behind this. If the rest of story is as good as you say, it probably means the author is not a n00b and making the main character immortal serves some 'higher purpose' you're not aware of. Probably. Think Planescape Torment. A freaking computer game, in which yuor character is immortal! And it was so much better than Quake in godmode which would get boring after half an hour.

I'd guess the author, being not a n00b knows he's got to create tension to keep the book interesting. If anything, after such a trick, I'd be actually more interested to read the rest to see how he manages to do it.

Some have tried already (Wagner's Kane, and that other new book I heard about but can't remember the title where an immortal is seeking death), whether thay've succeeded is up to your personal taste. But it can be done, and is interesting enough to enhance the reading experience intead of killing it.

[KKDragonLord]

Oh, I'll finish them. I've already bought the entire series; I just wanted to rant a bit.

Speaking of spoilers, here's another mistake I made. I was about 7/8 of the way through the book when I found myself in another airport bookstore. Knowing I'd finish the first book on the plane, I picked up the second. As I was waiting to pay for it, I flip to the back cover and read:

"Durzo Blint is dead." ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!! He's not dead YET! They put a major spoiler to the first book on the back cover of the second?? You're killing me, Night Angels!

That all being said, I loved the Durzo and Kyler characters. I avoid reading these books before going to bed because they make me want to get up and play DDO.

Hey, Tarrant, can I get a set of Wetboy Grays for Dresek??

I assume you are griefing other people on the internet to vent out your frustration from being spoiled...

now you just made me not want to read any of this as i absolutely abhor spoilers of any sort

[Missing_Minds]

In the Night Angel series, he doesn't make some miraculous escape. He doesn't take out a room full of elite guards with his unsurpassed quickness and skill. He just dies and comes back to life.

Boooooring.

/rant off

If there is a sequel, maybe it is the journey to become not immortal?

So your "adventure" of "how will" may become not so much what happens to the character, but in how the character protects/gets out with said object that can be destroyed.

Also, the next kicker... ok, so he doesn't die... doe he still age?

There are many things that could be done...

Or it could be as you said and ended horribly. Never read it so I haven't a clue. I'm just saying is that sometimes the ending is the start of the real beginning.

[Daggerswan]

I usually just lurk on the boards, but this was one thread that I thought I should comment on. I read the entire Trilogy. The other two books are not comparable. I won't give out spoilers but my advice is to just leave it with just one book. Remember when you first saw The Matrix and thought "OMG! I hope they make a sequel!"...and then they did?

[Primalhowl]

I disagree with Daggerswan. The subsequent books aren't worse. They just take a different tact... less about just Durzo and Kyler and being a wetboy and more about some of the other characters as well, along with a broader look at the war that has begun.

Overall I enjoyed the whole series and wouldn't mind another story set in the same world... although perhaps not with the same main characters or in the same time frame as the current trilogy.

[brian14]

**SPOILERS****SPOILERS****SPOILERS****SPOILERS**** SPOILERS****SPOILERS****SPOILERS****

Naaa. Salvatore just "kills" his avatars off in ways he can bring them back again later if the fan base asks for it.

First Wulfgar with the whole demon torture thing, and now Cadderly, Regis, and Cattie Brie, all in the same book.

He couldnt make them actually lose a fight, and actually die, which is what would likely happen to any warror eventually, no matter how good they are. Instead he had to march two of them into a unicorn and rainbow laden grove that is immune to all of the insanity effects brought on by the magical chaos, and set the third up as the leader of a plane of existance borne of an alignment he is diametrically opposed to.

I can almost smell their return in a future novel. Had any one of them died in actual combat...there would be more reason to doubt said return.

If I am not mistaken, Drizzt is killed once by Entreri, but somebody resurrects him.

It is D&D, after all.

[KKDragonLord]

If I am not mistaken, ...

It is D&D, after all.

**** this thread

[Draccus]

**** this thread

The very first sentence of my post said that this thread had spoilers. If you do indeed despise spoilers like you say, why would you not immediately hit the Back button after reading the first sentence. Why would you then continue to check the thread?

[KKDragonLord]

The very first sentence of my post said that this thread had spoilers. If you do indeed despise spoilers like you say, why would you not immediately hit the Back button after reading the first sentence. Why would you then continue to check the thread?

Because i couldn't care less about Brent Weeks

Just unsubscribed to it.

[Aspenor]

I'm reading a book called The Many Deaths of the Black Company, which is apparently the second (or third AND fourth, I guess, technically, the way the author writes them) book in a series. I missed the first book(s), but I am still really enjoying this one. I plan to go backward and read the first, even though I have a pretty good idea that I'll know what is the outcome. I just happened to see this one on a BOGO at Borders, and bought it since I knew I'd need some reading on the plane ride home from Long Island.

The book is much different than most fantasy literature. You come to terms with the fact that the "heroes" are still dark people. The author has done a great job of blending good and evil, and in my opinion has done a tremendous job of creating a fresh new world that works differently than any other about which I've read.