The Jewel of Turmish

The Cities #3

by Mel Odom

Dedicated to preserving the balance of nature, the reclusive Haarn Brightoak must compromise his beliefs as a druid to protect the city of Turmish, a place that has never welcomed him, from an ancient evil that has returned to the world of the living and has gathered an undead army to destroy all humankind. Original.

Genres: Forgotten Realms, Fantasy, Fiction, Dungeons and Dragons, Adventure, Science Fiction Fantasy, Collections

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 1, 2002

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

aka Jordan Gray

Mel Odom is a bestselling writer for hire for Wizards of the Coast's Forgotten Realms, Gold Eagle's Mack Bolan, and Pocket's Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel book lines. His debut SF novel Lethal Interface made the Locus recommended list . The Rover was an Alyx Award winner. He has also written a scientific adventure of the high seas set in the 19th century entitled Hunters of the Dark Sea. He lives in Oklahoma.

Reviews

[Stuart Schneider · Rating 2 out of 5]

First, I cannot believe Mel Odom wrote this book. Getting past my racist hatred of tree huggers, it took half the book just to kill a wolf and raise the Mohrg! The back story involving the anatagonist’s support is never explained in any detail, the battle sequences at the end were mostly thrown together and there was no real romantic interplay with Druz really until the big finale. I have so many problems with the storyline here that I found myself rooting hard for the undead to take over Turkish and be dealt with in another later novel, so that I could put this one behind me. This one will most certainly wind up being one of the years’ worst. How, or I should say, when did Haarn cut the jewel off from the mohrg anyway before affixing himself to be a part of the Stone wall. This came real close to one star due to my disappointed expectations and dissatisfaction.

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A credit to the tales of the Forgotten Realms. Druids and mindless legions of undead haunt these pages to draw together a rich story that enchants and delights. I truly enjoyed this book. =)

[Daphne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't a bad addition to the FG world. The character building was a bit off, but I did dig the MC and the hardcore Druidness of him.

[Katrin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a rather quick read and it wasn't bad.. it had a capturing storyline and it was gripping at times. Still I wasn't happy with some of the choices. Half of the book tells stories that do not contribute to the whole, there's just some character building but one could start reading after almost half the book and actually not miss anything of the real storyline. I loved the druid a lot and his character was well carved and his motives and believes really fascinated me. I didn't like the end at all, though and it was so out of character. It didn't serve any purpose since these are standalone novels. Mixed feelings, but anyway three stars because of the overall captivating story.

[BRANDON · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book started more slowly than some of the others on the series but it gained speed quickly. I was excited to have a druid MC, but I wasn't wild about his characterization. I guess I like my druids a little more granola and less Ayne Rand. I really enjoyed the horror elements. Kiosk's escape and rampage were very spooky.

I hacn't read Odom's Threat from the Sea books so I felt a little lost with this one as it references them a lot, but I do look forward to making that my next Forgotten Realms series. On to Waterdeep!

[David Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Jewel of Turmish is one of the books in "The Cities" series of Forgotten Realms novels.
I read this directly after reading The Sea Devil's Eye (Forgotten Realms: The Threat from the Sea, #3). It was a complete fluke that I chose this book to read next. Though nothing in this book impacts the war with Iakhovas and the tale told in "The Threat From the Sea series, it does reference it several times, something that I really liked considering I'd just put it down and it was still fresh to me.

This is an easy and fairly quick read. Alaghôn is the City highlighted in this particular Cities novel. It's story revolves around the Druid hero, Haarn Brightcloak, his companion bear Broadfoot, and a sword for hire, Druz. It focuses on their being drawn to a battle with Borran Klosk, an undead conqueror that has been returned to the world of the living, even though he is no longer alive. He is determined to reek havoc and conquer vast territories, seek revenge and correct his previous conquest failure.

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[KY · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a standalone which supposed to feature a city in Faerun, the bulk of the plot didn't really focus on said city; Alaghon until much later towards the near end.

There were sections whereby small city events took place in the earlier chapters but the plot did not bring the protag to the city until almost at the end where a major event took place.

The main focus characters are quite bland with your typical villian doing obvious villiany things and the character in the story even made it very clear that s/he is going to do villiany things.

Your hero is the standard serious-type-yet-to-open-up-to-acceptance affair. The featured heroine took a sudden strong interest on the hero upon initial encounter with very little context, likely due to "hero plot armour" worn by the protag.

Not alot of strong character growth to be found here as well. Both hero & heroine remained somewhat the same at the end of the plot with small developments here and there.

Overall, the story is pretty simple & average at best. Think of it akin to a D&D campaign for begineers in terms of story here. Nothing spectacular but would recommend for lovers of the Forgotten Realms setting as it does reference a number of things which are commonly found in a Dungeon Masters guidebook.

[Filippos Farmakis · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting story that was written well but lacked some character development and a certain finesse that I can't quite place. The story was attractive, but the characters were very one-sided caricatures and there was nothing particularly interesting about them.

I read it easily though, as it was based and set on a D&D world that I am familiar with. The first one of the series was way better.

[Kagan Oztarakci · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Nothing worth doing"..."is ever easy."

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would say I really enjoyed this book all the way up until just about the end.

I really liked Odom's take on the Emerald Enclave and the druid character. I think Odom moved between the two main plots, and smaller plots, well. Having read the "Threat from the Sea" series by this author, I can say that he plagiarized himself just a little bit in this book. But I really love how he gives the reader intimate insight into not only the protagonist, but the antagonist as well. It makes for a very intriguing read.

There is an amazing scene on a ship that must have been inspired by the Bram Stoker Dracula chapter about the Demeter that was very enjoyable.

I would have given 5 stars except for a somewhat anti-climatic climax...and maybe too much real-world issues slipped in. (I feel like it is important to say that I agree with the statement I think Odom was trying to make, just pulled me out of the fantasy)

I really enjoyed the bad guy in this one as well. Something new I had not seen in the Realms in the past and definitely want to use in games in the future.

[Loreley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this because I wanted to get more information about druids in Forgotten Realms and Emerald Enclave. (I play with druid characters in Dungeons & Dragons)
It served the purpose well, but I can't say the book has much literary value. Maybe if it was longer, the author could develop characters better. It felt like a rush to give us as much background about that as possible and sometimes appeared forced.

[Ken]

Sold to Lewis White on eBay on 7-Jun-11:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI....