Historic Towns in Essex: An Archaeological Survey of Saxon & Mediaeval Towns, with Guidance for Their Future Planning Book

Soooo....
I read that the author, Lynn Abbey, feels that character development is the most important aspect of a book. I would usually agree that it is a huge factor, but it seems lame to sacrifice a good plot when there is only so many pages.

Anywho, this is the story of a strange sorta family in the Grey Peak Mountains. It starts with two 'brothers', a hansome yet untalented wizard's son named Galimer and the adopted aprentice who is much more gifted in the arcane arts but sore on the eyes named Druhallen. Now, these two are chaperoned by the drunken and lustful wizardess mother of Galimer, who inbetween bouts of ale induced sexual rompts is training the two in the ways of magic.
Then she is killed by a group of raiding Red Wizards who leave behind a freezing cold metal disc. Dru and Galimer take it apon themselves to train as hard as they can and avenge their mother.
We cut to years later and now Galimer has a sword-weilding shorthaired wife named Rozt'a. Here's were some of that character develovpment is a bit overblown. We're told that Roz only had eyes for Dru, but he didn't get it. So eventually, Galimer stepped in and she has been wholly faithful to him ever since. But through the whole book there is this weird tension between the three of them; and while I sposs this makes for more interesting characters, there is never any closure or real reason for it within the plot of the story.
Next there is another adoptee by the name Tiep. He belongs to Roz and Galimer, but they didn't aquire him until he was a young teenager. He is the token theif and trouble maker.
Another interesting aspect of this story is that this group is sorta portrayed a loosers. 15 years passes between the first and second chapters and the brothers are caravan gaurds with worries about having enough money to stay at the inn until they get another contract. As I said, its interesting, but not exactly good or inspiring.
So...Dru is asked by some big Zhentarim guy to go look for an artifact in the Grey Peaks. But Dru says no 'cause he thinks that once you start working for the Zhents you can never get away from them.
On his way back to the inn in Parnast, he rescues a young goblin who is being tortured by Zhent agents in a back ally. We're told that lots of goblins have been coming to this small farming town to beg for food 'cause something strange is happening in the mountains.
He gets to his room and a knock on the door reveals a really well dressed goblin who says that he wants to reward Dru for his kindness and has aranged a meeting with his mistress, Lady Mantis of the Weathercote woods. The goblins name is Sheemzher.
Eventually they agree to meet her and follow the goblin, who is not only well dressed, but seems rather intelligent for his race. There is a magical path through the woods lit by expensive peices of amber on the trees. Tiep, being the theiving troublmaker that he is, kills a pretty bug that gaurds a piece of amber and steals it from its nook in the tree. Sheemzher sees it, but Tiep calls him a rude name and tells him to fuck off. Here begins the 300 page problem with Tiep and Sheemzher (and kinda the whole goblin race).
An aside: the coolest thing about this book is the concept of a goblin who is more than what people give his race credit for. Sheemzher is by far the coolest character, and he is with the party through the whole book. If you like that concept, check out a short, but truly better story by RA Salvatore called "Dark Mirror".
So the meeting between Lady Mantis, a truly powerful druidlike sorceress of Weathercote, goes bad cause Sheemzher tells her that Tiep killed a bug. She then steals Galimer and puts him in a magical comma inside a waterfall. Lady Mantis tells them that if they want their friend back they have to go get the very artifact that the Zhents are looking for and bring it back to her (she can't leave the woods), Sheemzher is to be their guide. She wants the Nether Scroll (Bu bu bu baaaahhhh).
She stocks their horses and sends them on their way.
Tiep feels all bad and stuff, Roz is all pissed and stuff, and Dru is this like moody guy who doesn't like Tiep cause he's always causeing problems, feels uncomfortable around Roz cause he didn't get it that she wanted his body back in the day, and doesn't trust the goblin. On top of that, he's super worried that the Zhents are gonna cut them off and kill them (this is mentioned over and over again through out the course of the book, then it never happens and you feel ripped off even though it was shameless foreshadowing).
Okay, so here's another cool part. The author, Abbey, describes the Grey Peak Mountains as trecherous rocky peaks and weird bowl-like valley bogs. Now the cool part is that the bogs are actually lakes that have floating islands that shift around and stuff. I thought that was creative and a cool catch for an adventure.
The characters are attacked by weird mutated humanoids (called demons by Sheemzher) along the way.
Tiep takes Sheemzher away from the camp and beats him up one night while everyone is sleeping, then they are attacked by a shambling crap monster (Abbey's words, not mine) who is then eaten by a tenticled monster in the lake. I hate it when the foes are too tough and have to be defeated by a random miraculous tenticle...but I digress...
We find out that Sheemzher was married to the cheiftan of the Decanter goblin's daughter and they had a bunch of kids, but they are all dead now...hmmm, the plot thickens.
When they get to the Decanter mines, there are a tribe of dirty goblins that are all whoopin and hollerin and the characters give them a horse to eat as a gift. This horse feast is turned into a drunken (or mushroom eating) festival where the cheiftan will decide if the goblins will help the party or not.
I sorta forget the chain of events, but I think that while all this is happening the party goes into the caves and looks around. They fight some more mutants, but these ones are taller and tougher and have swords. I think they are sposs to kinda look like bug faced, long armed, humans. They come to a big chamber with a brine pool in it. This gives Dru the idea that they are up against a Mind Flayer cause he knows about elder brains living in brine pools...but mind flayers live in colonies....hmmmm
They find another chamber with a machine in it (its got a name, the machine, but I can't remember what it is) and the Nether scroll is attached to it. When Sheemzher climbs up to get it, he is blasted across he room and Roz and Tiep are seperated from Dru in a cavein or something.
Eventually we see Tiep (I forgot to mention that he has some natual talent to thwart magics, this also pissed of Dru) and Roz in the brine chamber when a mind flayer comes in with a new bug face and has a little ceremony with a bunch of other bug faces, bathing the new bug face in the brine.
They escape, barely cause Roz is pulled by the flayer's will, and meet up with Sheem and Dru outside the cave.
Tiep explains what he saw and Dru puts it all together. The mind Flayer is actually an undead Alhoon (a mind flayer lich) who is using the Nether scroll to power his machine which he uses to combine goblins and Lady Mantis bugs (like the pretty one that Tiep killed) to make his weird servents. The goblins call him the beastlord and they kinda worship him and fear him at the same time. Sbeemzher is crushed and stuff cause he realizes that his wife and kids were turned into mutants and that the Mantis Lady really only cares about her bugs and not him or his goblins....bummer
They get the goblins to come back into the caves with them and Dru makes some magical gauntlets that can hold the scroll with out blasting them.
They all get caught by the Alhoon and he actually has his tentacles up Dru's nose when Sheem saves the day somehow and they all escape with the scroll.
They take it back to Lady Mantis and she gives them back Galimer. Sheemzher decieds to stay with the Mantis in the end and the rest of them move out of the area.
Wow....
So, after the climax we find out that Tiep is working for the Zhents (Manshoon to be presise, who he pickpoceted and got caught), but he regrets it and tells his makshift parents, who are all pissed and stuff but nothing comes of it.
Also, the freezing disc that Dru carries around through the whole story, this supossed netherese artifact that he recovered from the Thayan wizards, the reason the Zhents contacted him in the first place, the subtle driving force of the book, is totally blown tot the wayside....

I was pretty excited to read this story, and I was kinda let down yet again. I knew that there was a whole new race of goblins that are sposs to only be in Forgotten Realms called Decanter Goblins, and I knew that they were created by a Alhoon in the Decanter caves. I thought I was gonna be privy to reading about the creation of those cool goblins....but this book didn't even get into that. I mean I suposs I can figure it out with the info that is given here, but it wasn't what I was looking for. Whatever...I can make up my own story now I guess...