Review: Forgotten Realms – The Jewel of Turmish by Mel Odom
This novel is a part of the “Cities” quartet and focuses on the city of Alaghôn which is located in the Vilhon Reach. This is significant because there isn’t much literature within the Forgotten Realms series that focuses on this region of Faerun.
The main character is a druid of mixed blood who is very isolated from civilization and a bit naive because of it. Yet he is a powerful man with a strict code of ethics who puts justice into terms of black and white contrasts regardless of the consequences. It’s a shame this is a one-off novel because there is a lot of potential in this character. In a way he’s Mel Odom’s Drizzt equivalent. A loner who happens to be a fantastic fighter of great skill who follows his own code of conduct. Sound familiar? Hopefully this region and this character will be explored in greater detail some day.
The story, is rather simplistic and almost feels tacked on a bit. It’s two hundred pages of character exploration and adventure, with another one hundred pages or so of “defeat the bad guy”. By the time your nearing the end of the novel you know that it must be wrapped up rather quickly because there isn’t enough pages left to tell a grand epic tale. That just leaves you wanting more from this character as it feels like he should have a sequel or a series. Having so much investment in the main character feels lopsided when you realize that such a great character has two or three chapters in which to sum things up and tie off loose ends, never to be heard from again.
Still, the story has many virtues including excellent supporting characters and well written action sequences. Mel Odom really knows how to write a good battle that comes easy to the mind’s eye and keeps you hooked from start to finish. Of all of the Forgotten Realms novels and characters, this represents the best use and writing of a druid I’ve read. Where many druids are pacifists or simple folk, this character represents the strong ranger class who prowls the countryside keeping order with sword and sorcery while living at one with nature.
Despite the fact that I strongly feel that the main character was underutilized, I enjoyed this novel anyway. Three hundred pages may not be big enough to contain such a fantastic main character but it’s all we got so enjoy it for what it is. Maybe someday we’ll hear from Haarn Brightoak again and everyone will have a chance to see just how great a character he is.
