Under Fallen Stars

The Threat from the Sea #2

by Mel Odom

The sea war rages up and down the Sword Coast, leaving the busy harbor of Baldur's Gate in flames. Following his mad quest, the evil Iakhovas has found a gateway into the protected waters of the Sea of Fallen Stars, and now no coast is safe from his marauding armies of the deep.

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

344 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

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

[Dirk Grobbelaar · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s certainly nothing subtle about the Forgotten Realms. This is a setting that is unashamedly and overtly fantastical. This kitchen sink approach is arguably its greatest strength or its greatest weakness, depending on who you ask.

Of the many sentient cultures and races to be found on Faerun, a good few are aquatic (or at least amphibian). I can’t offhand think of many (if any) story arcs, in Forgotten Realms or Fantasy in general, that focus on aquatic races. As such, the Threat From The Sea trilogy does, at the very least, have some novelty value going for it. This entry follows Rising Tide.

[He] sat on an outcropping of rock overlooking the sea elf city of Faenasuor. [He] gave no thought to the two hundred feet of ocean above him, nor to the bluish hue it seemed all the world had taken on. The folk of Seros called all depths between one hundred fifty feet and three hundred feet the Gloom. The Sea of Fallen Stars itself served to stratify civilizations and undersea worlds.
A few tall towers, mute testimony to the hubris of the elves of the ancient empire, stood up from the sea floor, rising over the other recovered structures and the new dwellings that had been built. The city sprawled unevenly across the irregular seabed the elves called the Hmur Plateau.

The underwater peoples of Faerun feature heavily, as you may imagine: Merfolk, Sahuagin, Sea Elves, Tritons, Morkoths et al. While the previous book dealt with events in the Sea of Swords, this one introduces the Sea of Fallen Stars as an important location. This makes for a fascinating dynamic (it’s landlocked).

There are some very cool locales, such as the Sharksbane Wall that keeps the Seros Sahuagin effectively imprisoned in the southeastern arm of the Inner Sea. Often with Forgotten Realms I enjoy the portions of the story dealing with the world at large more than I do the character driven sequences.

Before he knew it, he'd started a new song weave. The notes from the struck crystals cut through the water like a knife, pouring out into the sea.

As with the previous novel music plays an important part in the story. In keeping with this, the prophecy of the taleweaver and the taker is expanded on.

Live, that you may serve.

It looks like a foregone conclusion that Jherek Wolf’s-Get is becoming a Paladin. To be honest, I wasn’t too enamored with the whole thread of “Jherek the chosen hero boy” that runs throughout the story. This is, I suppose, par for the course, but it is also where things come undone a bit. It is laid on too thick, and he is remarkably whiny (and has a knack for self-pity).

Speaking of characters: Iakhovas is growing on me a lot, even though he is the antagonist (the Taker).

For the most part I’m still enjoying the trilogy. This is the second, or bridging, novel and should be taken as such. It’s a story filled with all kinds of craziness and some spectacular fighting sequences. Possessed pirates with red-eyes come standard. 3.5 stars.

"He's here. The Taker has arrived in the Sea of Fallen Stars!"

[Jesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series is turning out to be much better than I expected. I knew it was popular, but did not put much stock in it. However, Odom has done a great job building his underwater world within the Forgotten Realms.

The characters are great, and continue to develop. We have two protagonists, with one being the anti-hero. It is very fun to see how the both work to stop the other, and are only starting to realize that there are opposing forces working directly against them.

The plot moves from Waterdeep to Baulders Gate, and then on to the Sea of Fallen Stars. Odom spares no detail in showing us the cultures and atmosphere of the worlds below the waves. Truly impressive for this level of fantasy.

I'm looking forward to the next installment!

[Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

(I am playing catch up here with my reviews.) Again, I got this in the omnibook format which is an absolute steal for the price. This book gets much more in depth (bad pun I know) with the setting of the series. What pushes this to 3 from 4 stars to me is how much Odom sets the underwater world of the Realms. He doesn't just leave things set at the sea, but takes us deep under it as well. Far beyond the sea-devils any of us may have fought in DnD campaigns, but to great cities still standing. The setting descriptions he gives are by far the best part of the novel. The plot advances well, although some of it seems a bit drawn out without adding anymore to the anticipation. The side stories and lore added really set up expectations for the third novel. Again, I would recommend the entire series for any Realms fan.

[S.C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Review for this series is on the threat from the sea book that combines all three into one book. If you want to read my review add me as a friend and look at my read shelves. In short I love these books!

[Zuany · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was hard to finish this book.

It seems that a lot happens, but not really. The romance is lacking, and that kinda throws me off. Also, is like I'm reading two books in order to prepare myself for the real plot. I think i would've chosen not to read these books.

[Thingolo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I know that some intrepid adventurers have set a goal to read all the Forgotten Realms books. Some even try to read them in chronological order. Unfortunately, I can't tread in their footsteps, as I'm not supposed to live as long as an elf or a gold dragon. Nevertheless, I would rather read those book series which take place in the locations that are of interest to me. In particular, this is the great city of Baldur’s Gate (if you think this is because of the games, then you are almost right <_<).
The first half of the book actually takes place in Baldur’s Gate and even provides vivid descriptions of some famous taverns and neighborhoods. All this is accompanied by interesting ideas of the author and well-written battle scenes. The characters do not seem like scarecrows and have different motivations and personalities. Some of them even deserve sympathy and gradually develop as the plot progresses.
The major weak point of the book is that it partly repeats the ideas from the first novel. Instead of underwater creatures attacking another major city, the author could, for example, concentrate more on complicated relations between Sahuagin tribes. I'm pretty sure that such evil genius as Iakhovas could have subdued the tribes of these creatures not only by winning fights against their leaders. For some reason, Mel Odom believes that the upper reaches of the River Chionthar are a wild land without any large cities, where various orc tribes are constantly at odds with each other. Perhaps this is a prophecy, where he predicts the events of Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus where Elturel disappears :) But what happened to the city of Scornubel?
Nevertheless, I highly recommend that you read the book. It is clearly not one of the worst novels set in the Forgotten Realms.

[Jake Morrissey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great continuation from the first book. I like the characters who have been introduced but I wish they would be more involved with each other. I'm surprised certain characters still haven't met. This book and series does it better than most other forgotten realms books but still falls short of being what you might expect of a DND novel. "never split the party" is a phrase that comes to mind. I'd also wish that with such a big world to explore they'd stop going back to the same cities from the other books. Going somewhere alien and unfamiliar is surprisingly not in this seafaring novel. That being said it is a unique adventure set in the forgotten realms and the main villain and his followers are some of the best I've seen in these books. There are more good things I want to say but won't for spoiler reasons.

[Stuart Schneider · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was as well written and as fast paced as the first book. The characters introduced in this episode are just interesting enough to enjoy without too many stereotypes and the main characters are expanded somewhat that their continued development are believable. The traveling portion of this book through the volcano thing is what I spent most of my time trying to figure out how the author would get from one sea to the other and the solution was wierd for a race from the sea. There had to be more creative ways to get them from one place to the other without traveling literally through fire. Other than that the book was good.

[Ward G · Rating 3 out of 5]

As things escalate.

We are introduced to new races and characters.
The war between the surface and the sea, increasing.

Good amount of action and suspense.
As the characters move to try and stem the tide of attacks and death from the sea.

One thing that was a drawback for me.
One of the new characters, just seems to vanish.
Having part in the beginning. He is given to a dark fate.
Can he be saved?

No idea, he just is gone. Seemed to maybe be setting him up as a main character.
Then just nothing.
Maybe more volume three.

Still in all, keeps you turning pages and wanting to keep moving along.

[Danny B · Rating 2 out of 5]

Following up my review from the first book, by trying to shoehorn in a romance for the boring wet toast main character the pacing of this book is thrown off. Think back to the romance that nobody wanted in the Hobbit Trilogy. It's that horrible. Everytime they interact I can't help but cringe.

[Kagan Oztarakci · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Every day is a beginning of some kind for everyone"
"...believing is different than knowing. Once I know, how can I believe? Knowledge isn't faith."

[Michael Beyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is part of a D&D series that fascinates me. Second time I read it. Still very good.

[Liam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun middle part to this aquatic adventure. This one takes us from Baldur’s Gate inward, to the Sea of Fallen Stars.

[Jeff Jellets · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately, treading water …

Author Mel Odom writes great action scenes, but even copious amounts of clever swordplay can’t quite make up for the feeling that the middle act of The Threat From the Sea trilogy feels rather padded and, ultimately, repetitive. The great, opening battle for the city of Baldur’s Gate seems almost a replay of the first book’s battle for Waterdeep (right down to the villain Iakhovas using the whole assault as a beard for his search for a few missing magic items). Meanwhile, ole’ Iakhovas himself jumps into gladiatorial combat every 100 pages or so for control of the sahuagin kingdom which, after the first bout anyway, is pretty much bereft of any real drama because it seems pretty unlikely that the big bad guy is going to lose control of his armies before he can trot them to the battlefront in book three.

The other challenge is that all four main characters show little development for a least 75 percent of the book. High priestess Laaqueel frets about her faith, Pacys the bard frets about song-writing, and hero Jherek frets about his luck, his destiny, his parentage, his love life, his worthiness as hero … and he blushes and flushes … a lot. Amazingly, Jherek can be cleaving heads from bodies on one page, but when his cheeks accidentally brush the boobs of topless waitress, he’s all a flutter. Fortunately, we have the ship’s mage Sabyna (who – outside of hitching her wagon to the indecisive Jherek – kind of has her stuff together) and Sir Glawinn, a rather well-written paladin.

Then there are the bad guys. I understand keeping a direct confrontation between Iakhovas and Jherk on the sidelines for the final book, but not only does number two baddie Bloody Falkane also stay mostly off camera, but the protagonists never even get a shot at the third tier bad guy, another-pirate-named-Vurgrom. Come on! Not even an undercard bout to climax this book? And the sahuagin? Cannibalistic sea monsters from the deep should be scary, but the more time we seem to spend in sahuagin society (and we spend a lot of time there) the less imposing the beasts become and the more like rather dull-witted, thuggish, underwater barbarians. Sahuagin should be alien and evil; familiarity unfortunately weakens the monsters’ horrific charm.

I’ll be plowing on into the final book of this series, but I feel like I could have skipped this one.

P.S. Everyone will be excited that morkoth make an appearance in the prologue of this book, squaring off against a few tritons. What's that? You don’t remember the morkoth? Well … I’ll bet pretty much nobody does … so let me direct you to Jonathan Wojcik's excellent blog post on the creature and more weirdly, it’s real-life inspiration – the “Jenny Haniver" ...

… or more accurately, "a mutilated and dehydrated stingray." The origins of the craft are lost to time, but sailors once fashioned these at sea, brought them home and passed them off as dead sea monsters. The eerie, empty "eyes" are really nostrils, and the tentacle-like limbs are formed by slicing the fins in several places. Comparing the two, it seems pretty obvious now that the Morkoth was inspired by one of these grisly trinkets … (Wojcik, n.d.)

There’s a photo of the "Jenny Haniver" on Wojcik’s website at http://www.bogleech.com/dnd/morkoth.html

It’ll give you nightmares.

[David Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Under Fallen Stars (Forgotten Realms: The Threat from the Sea, #2)

I finished this book January 6th, 2018. The second in a trilogy (with a forth anthology book that really belongs between book 2 & 3 makes up this series.
In this novel the sea war continues to escalate up and down the Sword Coast. I liked the fact that Baldur's Gate is a central location of the novel. (I really liked the Baldur's Gate series). Our main villain, Iakhovas is advancing the war to the Sea of Fallen Stars, another great Forgotten Realms location. There are some interesting characters in this series that kept the book moving along well . Pacys, the minstrel, Sabyna Truesail, Laaqueel, and even our tormented hero, Jherek. Iakhovas, central to the overall story continues to hide his true goals, but he is definitely a unique character in the Forgotten Realms world. I look forward to finding out who and what he really is.
I gave this book a 4 out of 5. Book three is officially the next book, but as mentioned above the Realms Anthology #7: Realms of the Deep is really required reading first to get the whole picture and start book 3 on the right path.
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[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has both good and bad sides. The book's events happen in rarely explored areas of the FR universe, the Sea of the Fallen Stars and the sea elf community, which is rather interesting. The side characters are also excellent; I especially liked the minstrel, Pacys. His wish to create a famous song is very understandable. Villains are also good, and Odom has created a complicated and detailed culture for the sahuaqin. Laaqueel and her motives are, like those of Pacys, very understandable. I sympathized with Laaqueel even though she is a villain. The plot is good, and the events proceed at a good speed, neither too slow nor too fast.

However, next to the bad sides. One: treatment of women. Both critical women in the story get mistreated in different ways. The villain, Laaqueel, gets harassed so severely that she changes her dressing style. The ally, Sabyna Truesail, gets patronized. She is a ship's mage with a terrifying familiar, and it should be obvious she can take care of herself. Yet, for some reason, it isn't evident to the characters of this book who behave as they should protect her. It's especially irritating because she is older than the main character Jherek.

Second bad side: Jherek. I understand that Odom intended him to be a tormented person with secrets and low self-esteem. Instead, he comes out as a whiner who refuses to accept obvious things and isn't even thankful for the unknown god who protects him. I think that the good sides outdo the bad ones and intend to read the last part of the series someday, but I hope it doesn't make as irritating a read as this part - and that Jherek finally becomes sensible.

[Trenton Holmquist · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid sequel to the first book, with a bunch of new characters thrown into the mix. The introduction of those new party members and villains are all pretty solid additions.

The character development is going a bit too slow for my liking, especially considering it’s heading into the final book and our protagonist is still constantly feeling sorry for himself.

[Kurt Vosper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good second book in the series. Mel Odom understands the work and the medium (Forgotten Realms). Very interesting take on the game and a very interesting setting, on and under the seas.

Give it a read!

[Ken]

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

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

[dVicko · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read long time ago. Wasn't very good...