"It was time for all of Halruaa to die."
-The Floodgate, by Elaine Cunningham.
"The Floodgate" is the sequel to "The Magehound," published last April by Wizards of the Coast. "Floodgate" is the second book in a trilogy by noted Forgotten Realms author, Elaine Cunningham and it picks up not long after first book ended. This trilogy is set in Halruaa, an area generally ignored and thus ripe with story possibilities. This potential is well used by Cunningham.
Be aware, this review does contain spoilers.
"All that remained was the one wizards who could complete the destruction."
-The Floodgate, by Elaine Cunningham.
This story is a sequel and continuation of the story in "The Magehound." In the previous story, Matteo, Andris (both jordani – see below) and Tzigone (a street waif) managed to stop a plot by Kiva (a inquisitor for Halruaa, the Magehound of the novel title). In the process, the reader learns some of Halruaa’s dark secrets. Among other thing, this includes a host of atrocities visited upon elves by Halruaa mages centuries ago.
The jordani are an elite group of people who theoretically possess no magical ability and are resistant to certain magic. In Halruaa, where magic is so common place, these people are as advisors and councilors.
The plot thickens in book two. Akhlaur was apparently a vastly powerful necromancer approximately 200 years ago. In addition to being personally responsible for visiting the lions-share of horrors on Halruaa’s elves, he also created the laraken, is responsible for creation of the Akhlaur swamp and is bonded to Kiva with complex magic. However, he did not die 200 years ago, but was forced into the plane of Elemental Water.
Kiva has apparently been working on a way to wipe out Halruaa in revenge for the crimes against her people. Even if they were for the most part committed by Ahklaur, Halruaa evidently benefited from the necromancer’s actions.
Ahklaur also had a hand in the creation of the jordandi. Tzigone is related to someone important to Kiva’s plot. Andris, having been partly transformed by the laraken, turns traitor and joins Kiva. The Queen spirals further into an introverted madness. The king acts more evasive. A Mulhorandi army marches on Halruaa. An icehouse is trashed. Crinti attack. Unseelie faeries are unleashed. Tzigone confronts the man who may – or may not – be her father. And Matteo gets a new horse.
"It was time for Akhlaur to return."
-The Floodgate, by Elaine Cunningham.
This book is better than the first in the trilogy. The first suffered from uneven pacing and a difficulty in determining when the heroes were in peril. This book does not have those problems and also resolved several plot threads left hanging from the first book.
As stated in the original review for "The Magehound," it is nice to see a Forgotten Realms book take place somewhere besides Waterdeep, the Savage North or Shadowdale. The Realms are a big place, but their books have focused a great deal on just these places. Ultimately to the setting’s detriment because, at the very least, over familiarity with those pseudo-Celtic/faux-Nordic/Tolkienesk settings means they are less strange. By moving to exotic and humid Halruaa, Cunningham manages to reassert the fantastic part of the "fantasy setting."
Further, Cunningham’s writing seems to have improved. She has always been one of the Realms better writers, but even so this book is enjoyable read. Her prose is elegant and the story manages to keep the convoluted plot plausible and moving.
The story does have its flaws. Perhaps for most of these are the proverbial plot holes left unexplained. For example, Ahklaur has been living in the plane of Elemental Water for 200 or so years. The idea that he managed to survive that long is not to surprising – he is a very powerful necromancer. However, what is odd is that in 200 years he never managed to free himself from the plane. So he apparently did not know the "Gate" or "Wish" spells. Even if game mechanics should not dictate a story (they do not, even though Cunningham in the story demonstrates a keen grasp of mechanics) this seems odd. Also, how did no one notice that Kiva as corrupt during her tenure as a Magehound? Further, Kiva would rank high on the Halruaa’s most wanted list – why where so few resources dedicated to her recapture?
Also – this is not a flaw, but hopefully a question to be answered in the final book of the trilogy – which sent the bird that clued Andris into the books?
The books are being released a year apart. Sadly, this means that the final book will not come till 2002. A long time to wait. Dennings trilogy of Archwizard book s not going to take three years to release, so what gives?
P.S. Having created so many interesting thing (such as the jordandi) and so many interesting characters (Matteo, Kiva, etc) in the stories, one hopes that the good people at Wizards of the Coast might give her a chance at game mechanics writing so she could detail them further for use in an actual game.
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