Author: Ed Greenwood
Cover Artist: John Foster
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
Binding: Paperback
Publication Date: 1999
Silverfall is a novel set in the Faerun setting of the Forgotten Realms line written by the creator of the setting Ed Greenwood. Not including the prologue, Silverfall is segmented into seven sections each dedicated to a member of one of the most famous families in Forgotten Realms. Both to fans and in terms of their notoriety in Faerun , the Seven Sisters, Dove Falconhand, Storm Silverhand (the Bard of Shadowdale), Qilue Veladorn (who is also a Drow) Laeral Silverhand Arunsun (the Lady of Waterdeep), Alustriel (the Lady of Silverymoon) Sylune (the Witch of Shadowale, who is also a ghost), and Alassra Silverhand (the Witch Queen of Aglarond), also known as The Simbul , all Chosen of Mystra, need no introduction to fan of Realms.
I picked up Silverfall recently as it was my desire to read a novel pertaining to the Chosen, and this one seemingly appeared to be a good choice. First, even though it is separated into seven sections, and although each of these sections focuses on one of the individual Seven Sisters, in truth it really is just one story, and not seven separate novellas, The storylines directly pick up after each previous segment in Silverfall, as one by one the sisters investigate a wide range of suspicious activity, by various usually unrelated groups, all tied into a far reaching plot. Which really is where my problem with Silverfall stems from…Plot. After reading Silverfall, no less than twice in 3 days, I simply haven’t been able to discern anything from my reading that remotely resembles a reasonable or satisfying plot. I have a tremendous respect for Mr. Greenwood, as one of the great creators in the shared-world genre and his often over looked contributions (I speak in particular of readers that tend to favor some of the works I do) to the industry of fantasy, however I must admit laboring on finding anything I liked about Silverfall. A brief run down by each “novella” may illustrate better my thoughts on the novel. The first segment, and the beginning of this story centers around Dove, who is approached by the Mirt and told of unusual activity in Scornubel, more specifically a Drow infestation, Drow posing and taking the guise of the residence of the city. A simple enough story, Dove, investigates, in doing so going through a rather long battle scene, one of many I suppose are in homage of the Chosen in he novel, as Dove basically out classes all the attackers, of which only one of them is a name given to for the reader to identify with. At this point, I was still under the impression each “novella” was a separate story so I was not displeased yet, until the end Dove’s arc where after absolutely routing the Drow, she notices a magic dead knife imbedded in one of the slain Drow, and suddenly at this point, the situation is to much for her to handle and she enlists the aid of her sister Qilue, who being a Drow herself, I suppose naturally was a good choice, thus begins the second ‘novella”, in which Qilue does exactly the same thing Dove did, disguise herself and investigate, which led like in the last segment lead to an exhibition of the power of the Chosen, in which she laid waste to some more Drow, and her investigations led her to Water Deep where conveniently another of the sisters makes their abode. Qilue found in her investigation that the happenings that was first found in Scornubuel led her to the some affluent members of Water Deep. After Qilue explains her findings to her sister Laeral they of course both decide to continue the investigation, where yet another display of Chosen power is exhibited again ambushed by Drow. After again routing their attackers, Laeral continues the investigation alone, as suddenly Qilue must leave her reasoning simply being, and I quote:
“Sister I must simply get back to my own work.”
Thanks a lot Sis! Now that Laeral is own her own, she continues the trend of disguising herself to investigate further, which at the end of which leads her to be ambushed in her own spell chambers by a spell trap and is thus eliminated from the investigation waiting for her husband Khelben to shape her a body, thus she calls on her sister Alustriel of Silverymoon. Alustriel is investigating the murder of a merchant in Silveymoon, when she is contacted by Lareal, who fills her in on her investigation thus far, and it just so happens one of the men last seen with victim of the murder in Silverymoon shares the name with one of the men Lareal was looking for. Allustriel confronts the man, Auvran Labaster, only to find herself in a battle with a group of Red Wizards, where, yes you guessed it another exhibition of the power of the Chosen is shown…noticing a trend yet? The stories are just recycled over and over, and the only one that really woke me up from my doze was the sixth story involving the Simbul, the only “novella”, that although offering the same as the other installments, actually was entertaining in regards to the depiction of the mage duels. I can’t even begin to explain what the conclusion of Silverfall implies, as I truly am at a personal loss myself.
Positives? Well there are a lot of popular characters sprinkled throughout Silverfall, excluding the Seven Sisters, Forgotten Realms fans will see appearances of the likes of Elminister, Halaster, Khelben, Elaith Craulnober and many more. However these characters are rushed in and out, seemingly almost just to be included in the novel. The nature of their appearances didn’t strike me during my reading as welcomed appearances of characters I know, but rather seemed unnecessary and forced. At only one time in my reading did I encounter anything that resembled a relationship between the sisters in their conversation that would seem normal of sisters who do not often see one another as told in the text, which occurred between Laeral and Qilue when they were discussing a play and Qilue found out Laeral was actually a reviewer she reads, under the alias of One-Eyed Jack. If Lareal were reviewing Silverfall she would be appalled.
In ending the only people I could possibly recommend Silverfall to are the most loyal of fans of ‘Forgotten Realms’ or of Mr. Greenwoods. I greatly enjoyed my last reading in ‘Forgotten Realms’ by Paul S. Kemp (Ervis Cale trilogy), but Silverfall simply didn’t deliver for me on any level, especially considering it’s penned by Mr. Greenwood. Silverfall seems nothing more than a platform to display examples of the Seven Sisters, glorifying them in battle, giving little thought for those of us that require a plot in our reading. simply left a lot to be desired for me personally, in regards to plot, pacing, the blandness in characterization and dialogue, and a deliberate, almost seemingly incessant desire to write about the Chosen either in scant apparel or none at all (which is not a problem for me in principle, but occurred so much without purpose it’s impossible not to mention in review). Silverfall is just simply awful. I look forward to Mr. Greenwood’s next work, a project in collaboration with Elaine Cunningham, however until than Silverfall was simply not an enjoyable read for me at all, and at times unreadable my final rating for Silverfall is a 2 – and I fear I still could be blamed for overating it.
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