Brian Thomsen
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By: Wizards of the Coast
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13
Average rating: 2.0 of 5
This is a FUN book, read it as such 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.
I suppose it would be inevitable given the nature of the Realms and some of its writers that an attempt would be made at such a parody. The Forgotten Realms has more than its share of jokers compared to Greyhawk, only recently "lightened up" by Paul Kidd, or Dragonlance (okay, you can't take kenders seriously, but they aren't really funny if they weren't kenders, if you know what I mean.) From Danilo Thann by Elaine Cunningham, to Giogi Wyvernspur & Olive Ruskettle created by Kate Novak and Jeff Grubb, to the various cast of the short-lived comic series - crew of the Realm Master, centaur heroes of Waterdeep and of course, Maskar Wands, the Forgotten Realms has somehow a strong element Wodehouse humour which fitted right in amidst the Elminsters, the Zhentarims and Cyrics.It was only a matter of time before someone in TSR thought of "Around the world in 80 days" and the realms was the perfect setting for it; since it had the undisputable candidate who was just perfect for the job: Volothamp Geddarm, author of Lonely Planet of Toril. The fact there was already published an Atlas for the Forgotten Realms was probably an added bonus.
It must have been a difficult choice of places and people to include, but I suppose the author must have done all right not to get killed by other authors for not including their respective pet characters - no, I'm not mentioning who were left out.
Anyway, the story needed a premise, or to put it another way, the author needed a good reason to send Volo around the world. In the absence of the Reform Club in the realms (I suppose the Stalwart Club would do too, but they did not really have a readily recognisable character with such inclinations), the author had Volo goaded into the challenge by Khelben.
Of course, a Passpout had to be included, and since the name was so recognisable, Brian Thomsen didn't bother to play around with it very much. Together, the intrepid travellers, or at least, one intrepid traveller and his reluctant sidekick (notice Passpout didn't change very much), sought to cover the world ASAP. Which was not soon enough for Volo when he discovered the pact he made somehow interfered with his magical abilities.
Always the veteran traveller, Volo though sought out every opportunity to hasten his journey, always on the look out for alternative modes of transport.
Along the way, besides picking up a couple of fellow travellers, they encounter a variety of characters from the realms (such as Drizzt) and out of the realms; i.e., characters from other fictions reprising their cameo roles. What was fun for people who read widely was spotting these characters, like spotting "Where's Wally?". Read it and see if you can find characters from Les Miserables (Victor Hugo), Count of Monte Cristor (Alexander Dumas), Around the world in 80 days (Jules Verne if course, gotta pay a tribute to him who inspired this book), and others.
Oh, of course, like the journey of Phileas Fogg, there is something *sinister* involved as well, you know, just to add a little more fun into it.
Editorial Review:
On a dare, Volothamp Geddarm pledges to circumnavigate the globe without the aid of his magic and becomes an unwitting pawn in a devious plan that threatens the realm of Faerun. Original. 75,000 first printing.
