Stardeep

Forgotten Realms: The Dungeons #3

by Bruce R. Cordell

The deeper you go, the more dangerous it gets! Explore the Dungeons!
All Kiril Duskmourn does is run away--from guilt, from her past, and from her responsibilities. But she can't run any longer. She lost everything stopping the Traitor from loosing his unholy revolution, and now the bindings on his cell are weakening. She alone holds the key to his release or further imprisonment. But does she still have the strength of will and arm to make the right choice?

Genres: Forgotten Realms, Fantasy, Fiction, Dungeons and Dragons, High Fantasy, Ebooks

311 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Bruce R. Cordell authored books for Dungeons & Dragons over the course of 4 editions (2nd Edition through 5th Edition D&D). These days, he’s a senior designer for Monte Cook Games, LLC designing Numenera , Gods of the Fall, and The Strange. Also a novel author, his credits include several titles set in the Forgotten Realms. Bruce’s tenth novel, Myth of the Maker, is just out from Angry Robot Books:
http://brucecordell.blogspot.com/2017...

Reviews

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stardeep by Bruce R. Cordell

Stardeep is the third book released in The Dungeons series of stand-alone novels. The series contains three other entries, which are written by different authors. Since each novel is a stand-alone novel, you can read the series out-of-order and should be able to pick them up without any prior knowledge. The Dungeons series is set in the Forgotten Realms setting of Dungeons and Dragons. The other novels in this series are Depths of Madness by Erik Scott de Bie, The Howling Delve by Jaleigh Johnson, and The Crypt of the Moaning Diamond by Rosemary Jones. Bruce R. Cordell has written other novels set in the Forgotten Realms universe; a book in The Priest series titled Lady of Poison, a book in The Wizards series titled Darkvision, and the Abolethic Sovereignty trilogy (Plague of Spells, City of Torment, and Key of Stars). He is also writing the second book in the Abyssal Plague series titled Sword of the Gods, which is due out in April 2011. He has also written a novel under the pen name of T. H. Lain titled Oath of Nerull. He has also contributed a number of short stories to various anthologies. Stardeep was released in November 2007 and was published by Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

Deep in the prison of Stardeep, a being of immense power and evil is held. Ten years have passed since the Traitor's last escape attempt, thanks in part to the watchful eyes of the Keepers of Stardeep and those pledged to the Cerulean Sign tasked to keep the Traitor locked up. As the Traitor's attempts at breaching his cell are foiled by Stardeep's security measure, a golem-like being named Cynosure, along with the help of a Keeper named Delphe, she notices that Cynosure's response was severely delayed. After voicing her concerns to the golem, he assures her that all is well. However, the other Keeper of Stardeep, Telarian is planning something. Elsewhere, Raidon Kane is tracking down his family's heirloom sword that was taken from his father. After finding the man who took it, he easily gets it back but is forced to leave the city, but not before he notices that his mother's forget-me-not amulet has changed. Worried that he may lose something that ties him to his mother, he sets off to the Yuirwood, the only place his mother talked about. When he arrives, all is not well with the elves that live there. Elsewhere, a thief by the name of Gage is on a job to recover an item that was stolen from a friend. After having a rough time taking it back to its rightful owner, he decides to tag along with her, but not solely for companionship. The items rightful owner is the elven swordswoman Kiril Duskmourn. After being reunited with the righteous sword Angul, she has Gage reiterate what happened as he stole the sword back. As Gage is telling her what happened to him, he mentions that the thieves who stole it worked for a man named Nangulis. Kiril is shocked to hear the name of her dead love and sets off to return to Stardeep, the place where her and Nangulis were Keepers ten years ago. When they arrive at the hidden prison, they learn that all is not well in Stardeep.

Criticisms:
1) The Traitor. The main problem with Stardeep is that the Traitor never really felt that menacing. Throughout the story, the Traitor is built up to be this all-powerful evil force but it never felt like it panned out. Instead we just have little bits where the Traitor tries something small but is quickly foiled. Sure, you can argue that it's because of the Traitor's influence that the events in the novel unfold like they do, but up until the last fifty pages, it never felt like it was because of the Traitor. There was almost no hints or suggestions that the Traitor is pulling the strings, until close to the end. We are lead to believe that the Traitor had a hand in everything that happened, which would have been fine if it was even suggested anywhere else. The Traitor just felt very underused with all the build up that was given.
2) Lore. Stardeep's other problem is with the amount of previous knowledge and lore you need. The book is rather heavy on Forgotten Realms lore. Without any knowledge of what star elves are or what Sildëyuir is you may be a little lost and confused at times. Thankfully, these two things are explained enough that a casual reader would understand them quite quickly. However, there are too many other things that aren't. There isn't any real explanation of who exactly is the Traitor and all we know is that he used to be a star elf and almost betrayed his race. There are bits and pieces about the Traitor thrown in here and there, but for the most part, he is never really explored further. Also, aboleths are brought up but never talked about or explained. The only thing that seems to be given is that they are bad, and that's basically it. There are other things here and there that aren't explored as far as they could have been. This shouldn't be the case for a stand-alone novel. Stand-alone novels should be able to bring new readers in and not alienate them with knowledge that hardcore fans would know. It shouldn't be a requirement to have to read a Dungeons and Dragons campaign supplement to understand creatures or things. Even the casual fans of Forgotten Realm novels would be turned off at times in this story. In order to understand Stardeep fully, you would need a superior background in Forgotten Realms lore.

Praises:
1) Main Characters. Stardeep does have some truly interesting and surprisingly deep main characters. Most of the main group was well-rounded and have morally grey views, which help them be a little more realistic. The best characters are Kiril, Telarian, and Gage. However, before I delve into them, I have to mention that Keeper Delphe and Raidon Kane lacked any real depth. Delphe was just oblivious to almost everything. That's really all she was. There isn't much else to her character other than that. On the other hand with Raidon, he didn't really seem to have any true and believable motivation. The motivation he did have felt forced and awkward. Why try to find your long lost mother after years of not even trying to when having the ability to do so? Raidon just felt too convenient. Let's not even go into his personality, or utter lack of one. Aside from those two characters, the other three main characters were fantastic. They were deep and brought a lot of 'grey' to the story. Gage is the weakest of the trio, but still had something about him. He was Stardeep's 'thief with a heart of gold' and you instantly liked him from the moment you met him. He struggles choosing between getting a job done and his friend Kiril, and it really comes to a head in the last act of the book. Now I won't spoil anything, but his decision really brought him up a few notches in my book. From that point on, I just enjoyed Gage. Telarian really pushes the whole morally grey story. His character really is the embodiment of that. His views on what is right and what is wrong really makes you question those same things. If you ever wanted a character to make you think, Telarian is just that character. Finally we have Kiril. Kiril is just awesome, there's no other way to put it. She isn't your typical heroine. She's a foul-mouthed alcoholic who just happens to be our heroine. In Stardeep, we start to see why she is like this and the horrors she's witnessed. It really adds a lot to her character and makes her all the more interesting. She isn't normal, by any means, and that's what I like about her. All in all, the characters in Stardeep are good and give you a healthy dose of morally grey.
2) Action. The action scenes in Stardeep were breathtakingly awesome. Every fight scene had me on the edge of my seat wondering what is going to happen, and I wasn't let-down. The fights were fast paced and action-packed, which helped in adding to the excitement. A lot of the fighting was also very stylized, with flying kicks and acrobatic moves. It really allowed your imagination to run wild. At times it really reminds you of a kung-fu movie. All in all, the fight scenes were awesome and definitely made Stardeep more exciting.
Side Notes:
1) Darkvision and Abolethic Sovereignty trilogy. There are a few characters that appear in these books. Kiril appeared in Darkvision and Raidon Kane was one of the main characters in the Abolethic Sovereignty trilogy. You don't need to read these books, but if you would like to learn more about these characters, it wouldn't hurt.
2) Raidon Kane. Does anyone else get the feeling like Raidon is unstoppable? He just felt too powerful or good at everything. It left a bad taste in my mouth after finishing the book.
3) Cover Art. The artwork for Stardeep is interesting. It's a good cover and it does it's job at being eye-catching. It may not be colorful, but the muted colors do a good job at making it look interesting. The character on the cover, who I think is supposed to be Delphe, has a great pose. You wonder where she could be going and what is down there. However, something is horribly wrong with Delphe's face. The nose seems like it was added after the rest of face and really makes the face blurry and horribly unattractive. From a distance, it looks okay, but up close it's distracting. The last great thing about this cover is the shadow behind Delphe, who I assume is Cynosure. It adds a sense of horror to the cover, because you don't know who or what that is and you just want to scream, "Look out behind you!" Overall, Stardeep does have an interesting cover that really grabs your attention.

Overall: 3/5
Final Thoughts:
Stardeep is an average story that could have been so much more. The build-up that the Traitor received throughout the story of being this horrible threat never really felt like it was realized. Instead, we get something that feels like a half-hearted attempt at explaining that the Traitor was behind it all at the end. The Traitor didn't live up to the hype. Also, there is a lot of unexplained or unspoken lore. For a stand-alone novel meant to draw in new readers, this isn't good. Thankfully the characters add a lot to the story. They toe the line of black and white, and are mostly morally grey. They make you question what is the right thing to do. Also, the action scenes were fantastic. They were fast paced and kept you at the edge of your seat. However, I can only recommend Stardeep for die-hard Forgotten Realms fans otherwise skip it.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

As all Forgotten Realms novels, they are fun romps through Faerun, albeit not the most sophisticated. Stardeep shows off some unique corners of the world, while introducing some fun characters.

Pros:
-I liked the adventurers.
-The plot had me worried it would be would be too narrow, geography-wise. It wasn't.
-Some unique concepts introduced, which I hadnt experienced before in Faerun.

Cons:
-Villain(s) a little obvious and dull
-underdungeon was underwhelming

[Jason Fawkes · Rating 1 out of 5]

Another dud in this series. A lot of sci fi computer dialogue with the magic prison (giving the authors preference for awkwardly using obscure words I'm surprised he doesn't call it an oubliette, as that's what he describes). At one point a character uses the word sociopath. None of the characters land.

[Kagan Oztarakci · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The usefulness of a cup is its emptiness."

[South Away]

sticker residue across barcode on bottom right back cover - good otherwise

[Nickmarple Marple · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tried this on audio and had no idea what was happening. Reading the kindle version was much better.

[Alexandra Lowrance · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 15%. This author really likes his thesaurus…

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked Stardeep. Being a Faerûnian Elven scholar, I picked the book up immediately, thinking there’d be plenty of new lore about Star Elves, the Sildëyuir, and the Yuirwood. Well, there was some new lore on those places, but not as much as I expected. Not as much as would have liked. That said, the saving grace of the book were the characters.

I’ll just get this part out of the way now: the whole Aberration angle. Yeah, with the FRCG out already, and the ‘full story’ having been told now, I still don’t appreciate and/or like the entire ‘Abeir’ and ‘Toril’ are two different places schpiel that this book alluded at. That said, I like how the knowledge of these ancient events tie to the Star Elves, which in turn can tie to the lost Yuir deities, a hypothesis that I am fond of. I also like how the Order of the Cerulean Sign was tied into the Forgotten Realms. There’s some seeming continuity problems there (How could have Stardeep existed before the Sildëyuir?), but it is what it is.

Anyway, the only character I disliked was Cynosure. That entity really seemed completely out-of-place for the Forgotten Realms. This is the second time that I can recall Bruce Cordell introducing something really foreign to the Forgotten Realms in a novel of his- in Darkvision, it was the entire “alternate future” thing going on, with Usuai at the end. Anyway, Cynosure was akin to a…sentient supercomputer robot, and as such, I didn’t like the character at all.

All of the other characters, though, were excellent. I didn’t like Kiril Duskmourn much, in Darkvision, but this novel added to my like of her. Gage, the thief, very interesting fellow, especially with his gloves. Raidon, I have a weak spot for Kara-Tur, and the Yuirwood, so his presence was like putting vanilla and chocolate together into one flavor. Delphe, I could sympathize with her confusion, her duties, and betrayal. Telerian was an excellent antagonist, in that at different points in the book, I was thinking that he was being controlled by the Traitor, was actually evil, was actually doing things on his own volition, sure that his actions were for the greater good, and whatever other views he had at the time. Even the Traitor, who we know nil about, seems very interesting. Kill him, and he summons the seat of the Abolethic (Such a silly word, that) Soverignty, in Xxiphu. Let him free, and he summons the seat of the Abolethic Soverignty, in Xxiphu. The only way to stay safe is to keep him in an eternal stasis. Edgewarden, a character mentioned only on a few pages, seems especially interesting, though I doubt we will ever see more information on him again.

The overall plot, I enjoyed. A few of the details, I didn’t like. Like, for example, ‘Nis’. As an evil sentient sword, made of all of the evil in an Elven spirit, I like. As ‘sin’ written backwards, and as the remaining letters in ‘Nangulis’, I don’t. That’s kind of hokey, in my opinion. But, it is what it is.

[Lee Dunning · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow, okay, I'll just be frank and say I found this a pretty mediocre read. It was very slow getting started, prime PoV characters were still being introduced as late as page 56. Once that finally transpired, then it took another 200 pages to get everyone to where they were supposed to be going. It was more a series of interlude stories about each character before they finally hook up and get to the serious business of fighting terrible evil.

I found two of the characters engaging. The monk, Raidon Kane (sounds like he should be in a Mortal Kombat game), was a likable half elf in search of his mother who had essentially abandoned him years ago without even telling him her name (and no, he never does get to find her). The other, a rogue named Gage possessed a cool demonic glove, and for some unfathomable reason is interested in Kiril. The two were in general the most competent of the characters in the story and had the closest thing to likable personalities.

The rest of the characters ranged from completely cardboard and flat to seriously unlikable. Kiril is a drunk with the personality of a seasick badger. Despite her sad backstory, I found her impossible to warm up to. The villain is simply a nut, and only gets away with his idiocy because everyone else is so incompetent. The fact that this super important order who work to keep a world ending traitor imprisoned only have two keepers to watch over him (plus a sentient construct) came across as ludicrous. Even elves have to rest, and there should be more people to help keep an eye on one another. As it was, even the two keepers hardly every spoke, and that was one of the primary reasons the nutty one was able to do so much damage.

There is also a mage, who spends most of his time in the story incapacitated, and for some odd reason, possesses only a single scene as a PoV character - when he croaks. I suppose it might have been intended to be heart rending, but instead it was jarring due to the fact we hadn't once been in the guy's head during the previous 250 pages.

There were some cool monsters. The twist on the undead was refreshing and imaginative. The weird, friendly fungus guy was interesting, but not developed enough. The horrible stone spider worked well, and the otherworldly creatures attacking the Sky Elf homeland were interesting. There wasn't enough of this, though, especially for a book that was supposed to focus on a dungeon. As far as I could tell, the dungeon in question was the mysterious area situated beneath the prison and not the prison itself. If that was the case, again, it didn't show up until very late in the book, and it really only served as a means to highlight a few monster fights and allow the bad guy to hook up with the drunk.

I'm letting this book squeak by with 3 stars, mostly because of the monsters, and the two characters I actually liked. However, I will not be reading more by this author.

[Jason Folkens · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second book written by Bruce R. Cordell that I have read, the first one being Darkvision. It turned out to be a satisfying sequel.

Bruce writes using a technique that requires a level of concentration that is higher than most other books in the genre. The vocabulary level is quite high, and because of the books structure, the reader must rely upon context quite frequently to determine which character is being alluded to in each chapter.

Overall, that's both a good thing and a bad thing, but I expect that probably leaves most readers with a love'em or hate'em attitude toward Bruce. People who are looking for a book to relax and not get too involved with would probalby be better off reading something with fewer polysyllabic words.

Abstracted from the author's style, this book gets better at holding the readers attention the further into the book you get. While reading the first few chapters, I was tempted to put the book down and find another because every new chapter heralded a new slew of characters that needed to be introduced, dispite the fact that this book is a sequel. However, Bruce is a good enough storyteller that once the reader becomes acquainted with the characters, it becomes hard to put the book down.

Ultimately I think it's a book worth reading, but a few characters spill over from Darkvision, so I encourage you to read its prequel before you proceed with this book. The main protagonist shows a different side of herself in this Stardeep than in Darkvision.

[Pierre van Rooden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Might have liked this one better, had I not read the novels that came after it. Bruce has a style where people of various complex backgrounds, with no relation to each other, are brought together by fate to fight some (generall abberant) greater evil.
That style (found also in Darkvision and Plague of spells) at some point starts to garet a bit. It means that I enjoyed the book less than I could have, even if the style fits this particularly story (slightly) better than the others.
I DID like the foreboding in this story to things to come, and am curious on what it portents for Key of Stars.
But Bruce, please try a new approach for the next storyline.

[Rodel Cuenca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book at the Goodwill for $0.99. I only bought it because it is a Forgotten Realms book, it had a cool looking cover, and the writer's last name sounded like my first and it struck me as funny that if he were my dad my name would be Rodel Cordell.
I was pleasantly surprised! It is a short book but it is a very fun read and the characters are memorable. Too bad it isn't part of a larger series. Also, the books that Bruce R. Cordell wrote after this are pretty bad and should be skipped.

[Silas]

Best understood as a prelude to the Empyrian Oddysey, it was fairly compelling, though the author seemed to want to impress with his vocabulary, which is rarely a good idea. Still, a pretty good page turner.

[Balazs Badics · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many would disagree with me, but I feel this is one of the best FR books. Maybe not as excellent as many Salvatore or Troy Denning books, but definitely worth reading. It is unconventional, the eerie atmosphere, the plot of an unknown, very powerful enemy makes it similar to Lovecraft books.