Corsair (Forgotten Realms: Blades of the Moonsea, #2) by Richard Baker

Corsair (Forgotten Realms: Blades of the Moonsea, #2) Reviews

• 
  Travis

  Corsair by Richard Baker- This is the second book in the Blades of the Moonsea trilogy. The first being Swordmage and the last book is called Avenger, which is due out in March of 2010. This trilogy is set in the Forgotten Realm universe. Richard Baker has written numerous novels for the Forgotten Realms and others. Some of his notable works in the Realms include; The Last Mythal trilogy (Forsaken House, Farthest Reach, and Final Gate), The Shadow Stone (part of The Adventures series), Easy Betrayals (a book in the Double Diamond Triangle Saga), The City of Ravens (part of The Cities series), and the third book in the War of the Spider Queen series called Condemnation.
  
  The story picks back up a few months after the events in Swordmage. We find Geran Hulmaster returning to Hulburg after a visiting his mother. During the journey back, Geran comes across two ships that are beached on the coast. While one ship, a merchant ship, is being searched through by the pirates that took it, Geran notices that they have captured a young woman from the merchant ship and takes the risk to save her. He does and finds out that she was traveling to Hulburg to take control of one of the merchant companies, which her family owns. After returning to Hulburg, the harmach decides to put a stop to the pirates attacking ships that are bond for Hulburg. Geran is to captain the ship to search out the pirates along side with his spellscarred cousin, Kara, the ghostwise halfling, Hamil, and the teifling mage, Sarth. After sailing around the Moonsea, Geran, Hamil, and Sarth find a pirate ship and become part of its crew. During their journey as being pirates, Geran finds out that the High Captain of the corsairs, or pirates, is his disgraced uncle, Kamoth, who tried to take the throne of Hulburg from Geran's other uncle. Slowly the trio finds out the plans the corsairs have with Hulburg and try to stop it. However, back in Hulburg, militia groups are terrorizing the town. But things aren't as they seem with the terrorizing gangs. Can Geran stop the corsairs in there plans and will Hulburg survive another tempt at usurping power?
  
  Negatives:
  1) Pacing. While this story is better paced than Swordmage, it still feels a little slow at times and to fast at others. There were many chapters that just dragged on for one reason or another. It's really hard to pin down exactly why they felt like the dragged on, they just did. As for the fast paced chapters, they just didn't really flow too well. It felt rushed through, thus making it harder to follow. The scenes in which this is apparent are when the trio are corsairs in order to find out their plans. There were some chapters in which things just progressed to quickly and it felt like there was a lot of things left unsaid and undone. I do have to say that the pacing is still better than Swordmage, but there still was a lot of problems.
  2) Sudden Appearances. Where did Sarth and Kara come from? There absolute sudden appearance aboard the Seadrake, the ship that Geran takes to find the pirates, was a little more than startling. Honestly, I just thought that Hamil is the only one joining Geran on the mission. Then to have a really brief sentence saying that Sarth and Kara are aboard wasn't right and it really felt stupid. This might be a small issue, but it still really bothered me nonetheless.
  3) Hulburg Plot. I honestly didn't really care for the whole subplot involving Hulburg. While it was well written, it just felt really simple. Also, it was just a plain rehash of the events that occurred in Swordmage, with a few changes. I didn't care about it because the Hulmaster's are just plain dumb and clueless. Sure it helps the plot, but everything just screamed, “Look at what just happened in Swordmage, and you're just going to sit and have pretty much the same thing happen again?” It just annoyed me. However, it was better thought out than what happened in Swordmage.
  
  Positives:
  1) Characters. While some have the same blandness as in Swordmage, the ones in this novel are better. Geran is a deeper character than he was. Before, he had little to no personality. Now, you can really see the motivations he has and how that affects him in more emotional and personal ways. He is just better. Hamil did feel more of an important character than before. He had more of a presence and it was hard for me not to like him. Finally, Sarth was still interesting. Some of his mysteriousness vanished, but he still was an interesting character to read about. The best scenes with him have to do with his time being a corsair with the others, it just made him into a better defined character than he was.
  2) Plots. The plots really were better because their weren't ten or so going on at once. The main plot of Geran tracking down the pirates was much easier to follow and simpler. Then the events that happen within the main plot line do feel like they would be problems instead of some random thing that doesn't feel like it would affect the plot. The secondary plots are better because they are smaller and didn't take you out of the main story. It just was better all around.
  3) The Ending. The last five or so chapters were plain amazing. In one chapter, the crew is utterly amazed and astonished at what they are seeing and I felt the same way reading it. The descriptions of this 'alien' place was just awe-inspiring and beautiful, but totally foreign and unknown. Then all the events that take place after this, were exciting and satisfying. It just was a great ending.
  
  Side Notes:
  1) Kara. I was actually kind of glad of how little we see of her. She wasn't a good character in Swordmage because she really had nothing interesting to her character. The less I saw of her, the happy I was. I'm not saying that she won't be a great character, I really do think she would be, but it feels like she is just being misused.
  2) Chapter 23. Two words. Wonderful and beautiful. Just the sense of wonderment the crew had, I had. Then the descriptions were just wonderful.
  3) Cover Art. I like the art work here a lot. It's not as busy as the art work for Swordmage and there's Sarth in the back ground so that gives it some props.
  
  Overall: 4/5
  Final Thoughts:
  Corsair really improves on everything that Swordmage had problems with. The plot lines are simpler and more to the point, no more lollygagging. The characters are improved, most of them were better developed and much more interesting. The only big problem was how the pacing was off for most of the story. It was mostly slow, but there were times in which things felt rushed. Even with that problem, I did have a harder time putting the book down for too long. All in all, Corsair is a big improvement over Swordmage.
• 
  Max

  This is a pretty good follow-up to the first installment, especially because it draws on D&D's history while also writing a new story for the 4th edition Forgotten Realms. This time, instead of intrigue at home and tons of orcs, Geran, Hamil, and friends are up against a bit of intrigue and a ton of pirates. Specifically, the Black Moon pirate band, who plot to bring five ships to bear against Hulburg. Apparently this is a lot. Of course, piracy is a bit weird in the Forgotten Realms because while there's some magic, it's not a PotC type of thing - there's no guns, and most of the pirate ships have no ranged weapons at all. Still, the high seas action manages to be pretty entertaining, as it covers both the Moonsea and, as the Realms calls it, the Sea of Night, courtesy of a spelljamming helm. Or, for those not versed in D&D lore, the story goes from sea pirates to space pirates - who are still using wooden sailing ships. It's pretty entertaining and awesome all around, especially since it means a visit to Selune's tears in addition to a jaunt around the Moonsea. Geran continues to be a fun hero, showcasing the coolness of the swordmage class and also being a pretty good guy. I liked the twist that the leader of the pirates is Sergen's dad, and somebody that Geran liked back in the day. I'm not sure I care as much for Rhovann, the elf who's sworn revenge on Geran for a duel they fought years ago. I liked having him show up at the end of the previous book, because it makes it clear that things are about to get a lot worse, but on the other hand, he just has the same goals as Sergen and isn't all that interesting. I will say that the epilogue reveal of the real villain behind things was interesting, and I have been enjoying this series enough that I'll definitely be reading the third book. Plus, I'm also likely to haul out my copy of the 4th edition Forgotten Realms guide one of these days so I can read up on the Moonsea some more because this trilogy is making it sound like a fun place for adventuring.
• 
  Geir

  For the trilogy: 3 books of good oldfashioned swords'n'sorcery. I was in the mood for some easy reading and this scratched the itch. These won't strain your brain, but have some good action with magic and battles and such. The plots are somewhat predictable, but the author manages to keep it interesting. A decent read if you're in that mood, but will not read again.
• 
  Richard

  Leaves you wanting more
  
  Fantastic series so far. I have thoroughly enjoyed the adventure and story. Geran, Hamil, Mirya, all have had a way of leaving you wanting more. I can't wait to see how the trilogy concludes!
• 
  Kagan Oztarakci

  That looks like a place you venture into when you've a mind to feed yourself to some horrible monster."
  
  "The mark of a man'a ability to deal with crisis was his willingness to make use of the facts as they were, not as he wished for them to be."
• 
  Jacob Brewer

  This book was pretty good. It had a slow start but that was just setting up for the main story. The story picks up after the first 50 pages then gets good and hard to put down. I'm not a big fan of books about sailing and pirates but this book does a great job with them. A much better map at the start of the book that shows the progress of the travels. So much time is spent on the main story line that little time is put in for secondary story lines. I did feel like the secondary story line with Mirya was mostly in as plot filler as it slows down the story for the last hundred pages as you go back and forth with the action and back to her troubles.
  
  All and all I thought it was a good read
• 
  Dave

  Neogi! Spelljammer!
• 
  Horia Mut

  A delight.
• 
  Josh O

  I just finished the book Corsair by Richard Baker. This book is a sequel to the book Swordmage, and starts off a couple of months after the first book’s ending. Hulburg is still recovering from the orcs and undead that recently attacked it, and Gerans cousin, Sergen, has fled. Pirate attacks along the coast have been getting worse and worse, and are only attacking ships to and from Hulburg. Geran is on his way home from another city, when he finds two pirate ships on the shore with a captive. He rescues her fro the pirates and discovers that she is a Lady from a neighboring town. He brings her to Hulburg and they decide to send a war ship out to protect Hulburg. Geran, Hamil, and their new companion, Sarth, lead the ship. After investigating for a while, the pirates attack Hulburg and capture Gerans lover, Mirya, and her daughter Selsha. Geran takes the ship out again to save them. Gerans ship is called Seadrake, and the pirate’s is Kraken Queen. In the middle of the chase, Kraken Queen lifts out of the water and flies away. Geran learns it is because of a magical device on the ship, and all the pirate ships have one. Geran gets one, and flies to the Sea of Night, a sea in space. The pirates have an island with a keep on it where they store their things. Geran gets there and learns who the captain of Kraken Queen is, and searches for Mirya and Selsha. But you have to read it to find out the rest.
  I really like this book because the plot is awesome. It is just filled with surprises, and has a lot of action. I think it is much better the Swordmage. This book gets a perfect 5 out of 5 for just being a great book. I love it.
• 
  Michael Tharp

  What happens when your past comes back to haunt you? When that past takes the form of a vengeful, powerful wizard it can only spell disaster, for Geran Humaster and the City of Hulburg.
  
  Pirates are disrupting the trade routes of the Moonsea, and the Merchant council is putting pressure on the Harmarch (city ruler, mayor,) to do something about it. The Harmarch allows Geran, his nephew, to out fit a ship and chase after them.
  
  The Pirates are just a distraction, however to get Geran, the swordmage, out of Hulburg so that the sinister Rhovann, a rival from Gerans past, can insert his puppet as ruler. What follows is a chase across the Moonsea, a mysterious compass that allows a ship to fly, across the sky.
  
  Dazzling swordplay, magic, monsters and mayhem all well written, and plotted, and with great characterization.
  
  
• 
  Graham

  This was the second book in a series I started several years ago. It took me a little bit to remember all the characters, and the plot to this point, but the book allows you to easily pick it up. The plot was pretty good. It starts out a little slow, and slowly picks up steam. The last portion of the book is the very best I thought. Its set out at sea, and seems like a very mundane story as the characters are just sailing along as usual. Like I said, it does slowly pick up momentum and really does at the end with the whole sea-faring setting. There are some open ends, which leaves good questions as to where things are going. The epilogue helps to start tying things together, and has me anxiously awaiting the next book to come in.
• 
  Robert Carlberg

  Great 2nd book of the series. Was pretty cool to see Spelljammer of a sort come back into the books. The main characters of Geran and his halfling partner Hamil make a great pair of heroes. Sarth is also back, and the teifling brings with him wizard spells. Now if you haven't read the first book, I recommend to go read Swordmage first. The author brings back an old foe of Geran's, but with his appearance in the very beginning of the first book it really isn't a surprise. With the ending I can't wait to get to the final book of the trilogy.
• 
  Rodel Cuenca

  I read this because I read the first book in the series and I have a difficult time not finishing a series once I've started (even if the series is mad boring). Eventually, I will have to read the third book in the series. . .
• 
  Anthony

  More fluffy tripe. Again, not bad, for what it is...
• 
  David Tanner

  Better than the first book in the series.
• 
  Dan

  It was a step up from the first book, which gives me hope for the next, but still very one dimensional. It wasn't as predictable as the first, so I will check out the third book. Fingers crossed
• 
  Phil

  Prolly worth 3.5 stars, but just not quite good enough. Better than the first, a little less predictable. But still missing that intangible to make it memorable.
• 
  Christopher Taylor

  Good sword and sorcery read. Book 2 in the series. As one of the other commenters wrote it scratched the itch, once the sailing starts the adventure truly grabs you.