 |   Author : Thomas M. Reid Number of Pages : 320 Publisher : Wizards of the Coast List Price: Our Price: $2.96 You Save: $4.03 (58%) Used Price : $1.74 |
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- ISBN13: 9780786948079
- Condition: New
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Product Description
What brings a demon to the gates of heaven?The half-fiend Kaanyr Vhok finally arrives at the destination he has sacrificed so much to achieve--he is in the heart of Celestia with his lover and consort, the succubus Aliisza. Only to find that the House of the Triad is falling apart, and he is bound by a vengeful Aliisza and a renegade angel into trying to save it--not exactly the goal he had in mind.
The second full-length novel in The Empyrean Odyssey, The Fractured Sky continues to follow War of the Spider Queen favorites Aliisza and Kaanyr Vhok as the pair of fiends struggle to escape the heart of a deeply troubled Celestia while bound to a particularly determined angel.
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Customer reviews
My 5 cents, i guess? 
by .. Anastasia Belomyltseva ()
I really liked this trilogy in general. I agree with people in earlier reviws about the angels beeing annoying as hell, but it was all worth it just to see them all "get it" in the end. The setting was interesting, with the whole "Celestia", definately different. Some of the situations the characters got themselves into, well they should have had a harder time gettion out, but that did not bother me much. And the trilogy explained the Spellplague!!! Yay! This was the first story I read with it, and later on, when I read "Unclean, Undead and Unholy"(another great trilogy) i was clear on that part. Overall, i think this deserves more the 3 stars :)
Strong direction has been found in this series by .. The Cop Who Reads ()
While I thoroughly enjoyed the first entry in this series, The Gossamer Plain, I was unsure exactly how the trilogy itself would play out. After also enjoying The Fractured Sky to a great degree, I can say that as a long time Realms fan I'm definitely pleased with how things are rolling out.
I won't detail much of the story itself, as it really should be fully experienced by anyone interested in the characters or the developing structure of Faerun's pantheon. The character's feel vibrant and alive in their responses, and much of the novel still focuses around Aliisza and her seeming eventual crossroads concerning the life she's lived and the life she could have. Her moral situations in the first novel were brilliantly done, and while they're not present in the same degree here, the foundation they previously built is put on full display in her decisions. I, for one, am truly interested to see which path she will choose.
Some novels have set out to prove that 'good isn't necessarily right', and while that is a bit of a theme throughout this novel, it lacks the inept and clumsy approach that most other authors have tried to take in regard to it. Pride is a very dangerous and real flaw, especially in the righteous if they choose to fall to it; that plays out in an extremely profound (and very sad) occurence, in addition to turning the motivations of many celestials into something that definitely hinders the greater good and the task at hand. It definitely makes for a much more intersting story by casting an extremely believeable shade of grey, as oppossed to making anyone espousing virtue look like a bumbling idiot.
Suffice it to say that the Gods of Faerun can argue, and they can make incredibly stupid decisions just as well as anyone in the Realms. The largest of these events was hazy though, which I found unfortunate given who was involved; I am *really* looking forward to finding out what motivated the theoretical 'best of the best' in the Faerunian pantheon to justify what he did. All is definitely not well with the gods...which I guess is a setup for the at-this-time-seemingly-lame-world of the 4th edition.
My only slight gripe with the overall story itself is the repetetive and unoriginal nature of (not to mention the execution, which honestly left me scratching my head a bit) the 'terrible event'. This is absolutely no fault of the excellent Thomas M. Reid, who is easily one of the best authors in the brand; the creative heads pushing the seemingly unnecessary shift are definitely to blame. I won't slap down any brutual spoilers...but think the fall of Netheril and the Time of Troubles. Seriously, being the god of this specific portfolio seems like the crappiest job of all time.
I will say that I thought it was pretty funny that Azuth basically received a mental shot of viagra, which sets up the event itself.
All in all, this was an excellent novel. Conflicted and believeable characters, strong pacing, interesting dialogue, and a couple of Realms-shaking events. Read it and be irritated for the mid-2009 wait for the last entry in the series; you won't be dissapointed.
The Fractured Sky by Thomas M. Reid 
by .. Travis M. Eisenbrandt (Somewhere in Ohio)
The Fractured Sky by Thomas M. Reid- This is the second book in The Empyrean Odyssey trilogy, the first being The Gossamer Plain. The story follows Kaanyr Vhok, Aliisza, Kael (Aliisza's son), and Tauran in their attempt to stop Zasian Menz. This is my second read through in honor of the last book The Crystal Mountain coming out.
I'll just simply reword what the description says on the back of the book. Kaanyr Vhok finds himself in the heart of heaven, except under circumstances that he does not want to be and bond by an oath to an angel. Aliisza, in being tricked by Vhok, wants to teach him a lesson that it was not a nice thing to be tricked by her lover.
Negatives:
1) Micus and the Angels. The whole "holier than thou" thing just really grated on my nerves. With Micus, it just seemed like he was constantly blind by following the laws to the word. Then you have all the other angels, which have to, let me repeat that, have to follow everything by law. Yes, it's their 'job' to, but use some common sense! However, I do have to give props to Thomas M. Reid. He made you hate the "holy beings" and he really made them into the villains in this part of the trilogy.
2) Secondary Characters. I didn't like how all of the sudden, Zasian, Myshik and Kashada seemed to become not important enough to write about. Around the middle, you suddenly stop hearing about any of them, not counting the little two paragraph snippets you get here and there. Now I didn't like Myshik, and still don't so it didn't bother me to much to not read about him. Zasian I can't help but like and was disappointed that he suddenly disappeared halfway through. Kashada, on the other hand, was a good idea and just didn't get enough limelight.
3) Getting out of trouble. It seemed like no matter the trouble the group gets into, they always escaped it. Now, that isn't a bad thing necessary, but when it is obvious that they shouldn't have been able to make it, they do. The good thing about this is that, what they did to escape was actually logical and simple. Simple enough to be believable, but at the same time, simple enough to not believe it.
Positives:
1) Tauran. Now I strongly disliked him in The Gossamer Plain. However, here he seemed to really develop into an interesting character. He had more facets than sad and happy, and just became more complex and broken down. Just a great improvement.
2) Vhok and Aliisza. I still like these characters, even though some people may not agree. Vhok was good just because he was just plain bullheaded most of the story. It worked, amazingly. You could really tell that he despised helping Tauran and Kael in their quest. It didn't help with a divine oath. And yet, you can see Vhok gain a little more depth with Aliisza, and his feelings towards her. Aliisza on the other hand was great because of how she was slowly changing. She appeared to want to be a mother, a friend, and a lover all at the same time and her actions towards each member of the group really reflected a clash of different feelings.
3) The events. Their are two major events in this book. Both are "realms shattering" and would go on to change the Forgotten Realms forever. Now I may not like what happened to the Realms, but the way Thomas M. Reid wrote them made me feel very comfortable with what happened. I've already read about one major event in another story and it was done so poorly and unexpected. The way this is written made it understandable and welcome.
Overall: 3.5/5
*The problem was Micus and the angels, with their "we must follow protocol" attitude grated on my nerves. But along with that, the drop-off from the "villain" segment just was the real killer.*
Good story, just disappointed in the direction. by .. Mark G. Roberts ()
I just finished reading the second book, it took me a while to get into it because the first book was alright.. and I was really unclear about why Vhok wanted to rule Sundenbar, still not sure.
So they are in the Heavens, and there are problems. That is part of the story I like is that somehow two "good" deities get into a fight. It's plausible, because even two good people disagree. Also it's interesting that 2 Astral Devas of the same Deity can have a disagreement. I still find it odd about the killing though, especially when the devas refused to kill Vhok when they captured him.
I agree with the other reviews, it didn't seem like the main characters were in any danger at all. I was a little surprised at the end, but not too surprised because those who have gotten the 4th edition FR guide knows that *spoilers*
Shar and Cyric somehow kill Mystra and Azuth. I just hadn't known that the story was going to go down that path. I will definitely get the last book to see how it ends, but I HATE 4th edition, and I hate 4th edition FR as well. There are just so many things wrong with it, and they did these things to bring the Dragonborn in the realms, and to get rid of alot of old deities (particularly the Egyptian Deities and Tyr who is a Celtic god? I think..) and I liked D&D how it was, and I liked FR how it was.
I liked Thomas as a writer though, but I didn't like Kael, you don't see any of his father in him, or his mom for that matter. Tauran is good.. I love the story between him and Micus.
Average Realms novel by .. Andrew Gray (Minnesota)
The Fractured Sky by Thomas M. Reid is the second book in the Empyrean Odyssey trilogy. The first book is titled The Gossamer Plain (Forgotten Realms: The Empryean Odyssey, Book 1) and the third book, which is scheduled for release in November, 2009, is titled The Crystal Mountain: Empyrean Odyssey, Book III (The Empryean Odyssey). This is the second trilogy that Mr. Reid has written in the Forgotten Realms, the first trilogy being Scions of Arrabar trilogy. The books in that trilogy include; The Sapphire Crescent (Forgotten Realms: The Scions of Arrabar), The Ruby Guardian (Forgotten Realms: The Scions of Arrabar), and The Emerald Sceptre: The Scions of Arrabar (Forgotten Realms: The Scions of Arrabar). As with the first book in this trilogy, fans of The War of the Spider Queen series may want to know that memorable characters Kaanyr Vhok and Aliiszra are once again featured in this novel. Here are my thoughts on this novel.
The plot of this book is a little more straight forward than the first book. The characters have essentially divided themselves into two groups. One group "the bag guys" trying to put into motion a plan that will have far reaching consequences. The second group "the good guys" are seeking to stop the first group. That in and of itself would be a rather simple plot, but true to form, Mr. Reid includes several sub plots that add depth to the story and the characters. One of the sub plots is the alluding to the battle between the gods Tyr and Helm. Another sub plot is in regards to one of the angels striving to do what he feels is best and needs to be doe, even when that goes against what others of his kind believe he is wrong. There are also several sub plots between individual characters and feelings towards other characters. As a whole I appreciated, and was much more involved, in the plot of this book than the first book. However, even with that said, I still have a lingering feeling that Mr. Reid was some how constrained in what he was to write about and what he needed to happen to get there. The flow of the plot seems a little robotic to me and not as natural as the plot of the Scions of Arrabar trilogy.
The characters in this novel are, for the most part, the same cast thatw as present in the first book. Returning characters such as Vhok, Aliiszra, Kael, Tauran, Myshik, and Zasian. In my review of the first novel, I divided the characters into three basic groups. The first being Interesting and Imaginative, the second being Supportive, and the last group Ones I could have done Without. I was curious what my perception would be of the characters a second time around. After finishing the book, I think I would still keep two of the three categories and omit the third. Tauran was a much improved character in this novel. He did not feel nearly as two-dimensional and forced as he did in the first book. One of my major points of contention with the characters is that while in the War of the Spider Queen Vhok and Aliiszra were interesting, when given more face time and a larger role I simply care less and less about them. I found it very difficult to connect with them and care about their plight. At times the dialogue came across as forced and almost as though the characters were `pushing' the story forward instead of allowing it to unfold. It's a very subtle thing, but the characters never felt natural to me aside from a few minor instances. I really wanted to care about what was going on, but I simply wasn't able to. The characters are just there and are missing something to help me connect with them.
A couple criticisms about this novel:
1 - I never really felt the characters were in any kind of peril that they wouldn't escape from. It seemed that every instance of trouble was over come by force or power. I wish the characters would have been less powerful for the scope of the story. I understand we are dealing with devils and angels, but that sense of trouble was missing.
2 - The forced feel of this book. I don't know if it is something that comes from the top (WotC) and them telling Mr. Reid what to write or what. But, as I said before, the robotic feel of the plot and characters in this book doesn't fit with previous works I have read by this author. It just doesn't flow in a natural sense.
Some things I enjoyed about this novel:
1 - I have always been a fan of how Mr. Reid describes scenes ad settings. He does so again in this novel. He gives the reader just enough to allow them to see his vision, but to also finish that vision with their own imagination. Instead of pigeonholing a reader into something he allows them to make it their own. I appreciate that immensely.
2 - I like the events that occur in this book. I won't go into what happens, or what visions show, but there area couple events that Realms fans will perk up at. I know WotC has taken a lot of heat for moving into the 4e setting, but I am not sure it is a bad thing yet.
When all is said and done, while I don't think this is the best Forgotten Realms book I have read or the best book I have read from Mr. Reid, it's not a bad book. Fans of the Forgotten Realms probably should read this book, and trilogy, based on the events that occur and the far reaching impact they may have. While I wasn't captivated by the characters, I did enjoy the plot and wanted to know what happens. Overall, I have to say this is an average novel. Nothing really sticks out to me as good or bad. It just is. For the hard core Forgotten Realms fans I would recommend picking this one up. For those fantasy fans who are so so on the Realms I may suggest steering away from this trilogy until you know for certain you want to read it.