Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal

Forgotten Realms: Baldur's Gate #3

by Drew Karpyshyn

Death to the Children of Bhaal!

On the run and hunted by everyone in Faerûn, Bhaal’s offspring are being wiped out. Instead of ridding the land of evil, each kill gives more power to a vicious group of Bhaalspawn intent on returning their father to the world.

Follow the ultimate battle of the children of Bhaal in this thrilling novel based on the computer game from BioWare and Interplay!

Genres: Forgotten Realms, Fantasy, Fiction, Dungeons and Dragons, Ebooks, Adventure, Video Games

246 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 1, 2001

About the author

Drew Karpyshyn is a Canadian author and game designer. After working at a credit union for some time, he eventually became a game developer. He joined BioWare towards the end of the Baldur's Gate series, and wrote the tie-in novel for Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal. He stayed with BioWare, where he worked on Neverwinter Nights, and became the Senior Writer on the critically acclaimed Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.

This Star Wars connection gave him the opportunity to write Darth Bane: Path of Destruction, his first hardcover. Karpyshyn still works for BioWare where he is the lead writer for the Mass Effect series.

Reviews

[Matu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Better than the first two books in the series, but still nothing amazing. If you like classic, often cheesy fantasy, this book should provide a few hours of entertainment, but nothing more.

[stella · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just as terrible as the first two and I don’t understand why many people say otherwise. In fact I was honestly *more* offended by this one because it seemed to be written more competently at first.

The women in the book are sexualized side pieces to Abdel, a character the book can’t go one page without describing how big or muscular he is. Or how much stronger than other people he is.

Jaheira atleast has been given a character I guess. That’s more than I can say for the other two books. She still terribly out of character most of the time though. Imoen was okay but killed in a stupid way, and mostly seemed to be there for the author to make jokes about how much lesbians hate men. (I don’t have a problem with Imoen being a lesbian as a lesbian myself, I actually like the idea. I *dont* however like how the books went about the idea of her being a lesbian.)

The book repeatedly misdescribes important plot points from previous entries, and honestly I hesitate to even call this an adaptation of Throne of Bhaal. I guess Abdel defeated all the people you defeat in the game, but that’s about it.

Anyways. Don’t read these. I’m a big fan of the series and thought to myself “They can’t be *that* bad, surely?” But trust me. They are. I recommend buying BG1/2EE on steam or any other platform and just playing through those instead. Wonderful stories, but these books completely butchered them.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did like the gradual progression of bosses that Abdel the mostly unclothed had to face.

[Thingolo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have very low expectations for literature based on computer games, but this book made me very happy.
Yes, the game seems more multi-dimensional and well-developed, but the book reveals the characters and their motivations better, even if they are quite different from their game counterparts. I especially liked the dual pair of Abdel-Sarevok, as well as the ways in which various characters had treated their Bhaal heritage.
It also seems to me that the author managed to convey the atmosphere of the Forgotten Realms better than, say, Robert Salvatore, who mainly focuses on characters and their development.

[Ryein Goddard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book because the setting and the fact I played the game and I am obsessed with it. The book is poorly written though and doesn't even really follow any details.

Either this book is meant for 12 year olds, or it was written by one. Sorry to be so harsh, but it was just really disappointing.

I just think it is hard to measure up to the game unless you actually wrote something more in depth.

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was actually better than I had expected. I am not familiar with Karpyshyn, but they did a great job continuing the story.

Like most Forgotten Realms books, this isn't ground breaking literature, but Karpyshyn did a great job creating a plot that moved forward at a good pace; not a lot of loose ends. A slight twist to the ending. Overall, a good, quick and easy, fantasy story that continued to expand on the fallen god Bhaal and his progeny.

[Emilie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't expect this to be *good*, but my goodness it's bad. The authour mentions the protagonist's massive muscles every other sentence, and the same info is repeated multiple times within the span of a paragraph. Unreadable.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Out of this trilogy, this is the better of them. More fluid and on point. I didn't play the PC games so I am not sure how close it stayed to the story, if it even did.

[Duip]

Only if you want to learn what has happened before the Larian's game...

[Benjamin Hesdorf · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never played through the expansion, so I don't know how much is the game and how much is the novel. It was a very interesting read though!

[Luxembourg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Better than the first two (though that isn't hard) but just as misogynistic as the last two.

[Kagan Oztarakci · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Determined, intense, inscrutable, and cold. Not really alive, but merely going through the motions of life."

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you for murdering some of my childhood's favorite characters. I spent many a childhood evening traveling through the world of Baldur's Gate with Jaheria and Imoen. To see them killed of so nonchalantly, almost as an afterthought, was more than unsettling. TL;DR I hated this, don't read this book if you love these characters.

[Deneir · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't finish the first book in the series so I'm knocking this off my Want To Read List. I highly doubt it gets better so pretend this book was never written and re-install the game. I just got the Enhanced Edition so I'll be enjoying this story the way it was meant to be enjoyed. By playing the Video Game!

[Bob_the_antichrist · Rating 1 out of 5]

At least the first two were bad enough to make you laugh.
Unfortunately, this one isn't that bad, but it's still so bad that a
twelve-years old's pornographic 'My Little Pony' fanfic is better.

On a lighter note, this is very useful as a torture method.

[Paulo "paper books only" · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nothing memorable of this book. I can't even remember much of it.

[JM · Rating 1 out of 5]

Again...