- ISBN13: 9780786902033
- Condition: New
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Product Description
In ancient days, sorcerers sought to learn the One True Spell that would give them power over all the world and understanding of all magic. . . .
The One True Spell was a woman, and her name was Mystra — and her kisses were wonderful.
Priest Havilon Tharnstar
Tales Told to a Blind Wizard
It is the time before Myth Drannor, when the Heartlands are home to barbarians, and wicked dragons rule the skies. In these ancient days, Elminster is but a shepherd boy, dreaming of adventure and heroics. When a dragon-riding magelord sweeps down upon him, though, the boy is thrust into a world of harsh realities, corrupt rulers, and evil sorcerers.
With patience and grit, Elminster sets about to change all that. The result of his labors is a world reborn and a mage made.
Anonymous @ 7:49 am
I have read hundreds of science fiction and fantasy books along with hundreds of non fiction books — included were dozens of D&D titles — prior to this one.
Given the one-star reviews, I only bought this one book in the Elminster series — usually, I buy all the books in a series — but, the one-star reviews made me cautious.
This was a good read — basically I went straight through over two days.
I think the one-star reviewers had an axe-to-grind. For example, nudity was “mentioned” in the book, but it was very non-graphic, and in good taste — it fit the story line — no basis for complaint, in my opinion. For example, lovemaking was alluded to in the book, but it was completely non-explicit and non-”sexy” — it also fit the story — no basis for complaint in my opinion.
I agree that the other reviewers are entitled to a different opinion as to what constitutes an enjoyable read. But, having read the book, the comments seemed a bit much, considering the actual verbiage in the book. The negative comments misinformed me.
I was very satisfied with the book, and will buy more by the same author.
R. Reinhart @ 10:15 am
While I was reading the reviews for this book. The few one-star reviewers made NO SENSE. Calling Elminster a wuss. Excuse me he is only a kid. Actually pretty strong kid after seeing his parents murdered right in front of his eyes. Then they say there is nudity. I have read about nudity in some of Lackey’s books and this is G-rated. I love the progression of the book just like in a PC generated D&D game which divided up each part of the book While I read the book I saw no typos and Greenwood did a great story. The fact is that there was not enough history and not to much. But I look forward to the rest of the series with great excitement. The only critical thing I have to say about the series is the fact that the order of the books are kinda of confusing. I will list what I think is the correct order:
1. Elminster: The Making of the Mage.
2. Elminster in Myth Drannor
3. The Temptation of Elminster
4. Elminster in Hell
5. Upcoming Elminster’s Daughter.
I hope everyone will enjoy this great series.
crowdert@wam.umd.edu @ 10:29 am
Ed Greenwood did a great job with Elminster: The Making of a Mage. If you’ve read other books with the masterful Elminster in it, you will be pleasantly surprised when reading how his stupendous mage powers came about. The book is full of magic and intrigue, so you’re kept interested throughout the book and even wanting more. For those of you who haven’t read any of the Forgotten Realms series, you will still find a great read from this book. Elminster is a commanding mage who is centuries old. He is well respected by all in the Realm, including those that oppose him. Finding out why and how he became the mage that he is now will leave you enlightened and full of awe at the wisdom and character of Elminster.
Scott @ 11:08 am
This book was a great story about a small boy growing to be one of the most formidable mages in the realm of Faerun. You get to see how he goes from one stage of his life to the next, trying to find his way, all the while having an overriding goal driving him.
You are given very good insight into the devlopment of Elminster and where he comes from. The story begins when he is a young lad. His world is shattered and he is thrust into the world with very little knowledge of who he is and his potential. His journey takes him in various directions, not always towards the way of magic, which you know is where he eventually winds up, but every step of the way has a purpose and meaning to him. Elminster learns what he is, and more importantly, what he is not.
The one drawback to the book is the lack of development of all the other characters in the book. This happens mainly because there are so many of them. Unsually in Forgotten Realm novels, there is a great deal of develpment of all the main characters, good and evil. In this book, Elminster’s travels introduce him to all sorts of peoples and unless the author wanted the book to be roughly 1,000 pages long (or an entire trilogy), there just wasn’t enough space to delve into all the players. This is somewhat discouraging because the foes of this book had huge potential. They could very easily have ranked up there with Matron Malice (from Drizzt’s 2nd trilogy) if they had been explored to some extent.
Besides allowing a full exploration of the main character, the lack of development of other characters allowed the book to be very fast paced. Very few times did the book get bogged down in mundane details. At one point in the book Elminster is given the task of finding an ancient artifact. This journey in and of itself could have been a novel, however here you turn the page and Elminster has already gotten a band of adventurers, raided with them, and is on his way to his goal. All in about 40 pages.
I would definetly add this book to your reading list if you are at all interested in the main characters that make up the Faerun realm.
Amanda M. Hayes @ 1:32 pm
I picked up this book after being introduced to the Forgotten Realms setting by a friend who got me hooked on Baldur’s Gate. I was curious about the strange old man in the hat who went by the name of Elminster and seemed to pop up at unexpected moments. I can’t say this book entirely satiated my curiousity–but then, that’s not the point.
Have no doubts, the story has flaws: its main characters are, as has been said, distressingly powerful; it seems to be 75% fighting action to 25% plot; the supporting characters appear and disappear so quickly that we have no time to get a good feel for them. Elminster himself seems rather unreal. There were several opportunities for plot twists that weren’t taken, which I thought was a shame.
However, it does well to keep in mind that this *isn’t* a fantasy epic as such, and to expect any book based on an RPG to be as mindblowing fantastic as early Wheel of Time books or even earlier works of Mercedes Lackey seems a way to doom yourself to disappointment. Very few of them are deep and thought-provoking literature. Instead, most–with this being no exception–would appear to be quick, fun romps through worlds of swords and sorcery, full of action and power, action and gods, history and action, action and more action… and what’s so bad about that? (Okay, so maybe a *little* less action might be nice. Just a tad.)
_Elminster: the Making of a Mage_ is a fine example of an RPG-based novel. I was left wanting to read more about the Forgotten Realms and Elminster himself, which is probably part of the idea; I found it difficult to put down, and nothing that keeps me that interested can be all bad! It’s a decent book to start the series with, although readers unused to the style of RPG books (or who prefer their protagonists to be more on the puny side) might do better to begin with something else.