Nota bene: Elven hunters do really exist to heighten the narrative tension via being butchered in nasty ways by various monsters. Giving them names almost humanizes them. It's like those red-shirted ensigns on Star Trek away teams that show up merely to illustrate what a dangerous situation the crew has found themselves in. Crispin, at least, is starting to flesh out a bit as a character. I don't know why he lets Wil go investigate the Drey Wood when he already thinks that there's danger. Must be all that rain on the pate. Chinese water torture or something. I note also, long after the fact, that Wil forgets in his horror to use the Elfstones. Good job slipping that one by us Mr. Brooks!
In other news: Amberle is still very much a teenager, but now that she is on a first name basis with Wil and falling asleep on his shoulder she has earned three more character points (I suggest that she put them into cuddle, summon animal companion, and dual wield). She is becoming more sympathetic and that helps the narrative keep its interest.
Chapter 24 (page 239) features the abandoned fortress of the Pykon. Brooks does a good job creating a decidedly foreboding atmosphere that has a different flavor from either the Drey Wood or the Matted Brakes which proceed it. The emptiness and silence are evocative and the stuck door comes at just the right place to heighten the tension. In fact, the whole scene is wonderfully paced to keep the horror steady and growing right down the narrow bridge and its frantic confrontation. There's probably a nod to "The Bridge of Khazad Dum" here, but it's artfully disguised. Wil's existential angst at his own failure in painfully believable as is Amberle's pleading desire to turn away. All that goes to make this perhaps the strongest chapter in the story thus far.
In other news: Amberle is still very much a teenager, but now that she is on a first name basis with Wil and falling asleep on his shoulder she has earned three more character points (I suggest that she put them into cuddle, summon animal companion, and dual wield). She is becoming more sympathetic and that helps the narrative keep its interest.
Chapter 24 (page 239) features the abandoned fortress of the Pykon. Brooks does a good job creating a decidedly foreboding atmosphere that has a different flavor from either the Drey Wood or the Matted Brakes which proceed it. The emptiness and silence are evocative and the stuck door comes at just the right place to heighten the tension. In fact, the whole scene is wonderfully paced to keep the horror steady and growing right down the narrow bridge and its frantic confrontation. There's probably a nod to "The Bridge of Khazad Dum" here, but it's artfully disguised. Wil's existential angst at his own failure in painfully believable as is Amberle's pleading desire to turn away. All that goes to make this perhaps the strongest chapter in the story thus far.
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