I recently travelled to the States and had the chance to get myself a copy of the novelization of BG2. I have not read BG 1, but I must say I was a bit dissapointed when I finished reading Shadows of Amn, since I think it didn't quite catch the magic of the computer game.
To start with, the race and profession of the protagonist was not that original- a human fighter at the size of Conan the barbarian is a bit boring, isn't it? I was hoping the son of Bhaal would be something more than muscles, hacking and slashing... Why not an elf or a half-elf or a sorcerer for instance?
I was also hoping that more NPCs from the game would be included, the most interesting ones such as Edwin, Jan, Aerie or Viconia. And speaking of NPCs, wasn't Minsc a dissapointment the way he was presented in the book? OK, he may be dumb but he's not a red-haired madman, is he! Not to mention that he was not given a role of signifacance to play, apart from cleaning up the mess in the Copper Coronet.
Same thing with Yoshimo, his motives were not clear. Was he a friend or a traitor after all, and why did he die helping the man he betrayed? I don't think these points were clear at all.
The romance between Abdel and Bodhi was very interesting but I wouldn't say the same thing for Imoen and Phaere. It didn't help the plot in any way and seemed a bit like sexploitation to me (lesbians and drow are
fetish, after all). And Imoen is just not the character who would become intimate with a female drow, in my book at least.
And Jaheira didn't have the will and guts as in the game. I'm no politically-correct feminist but I didn't like how easily she forgave the protagonist cheating on her with Bodhi. Didn't look like Jaheira at all!
I don't mean to say that the book sucked and I'm no critic of literature but I was left with a slight feeling of dissapointment when I read it and I just wanted to share it with you.
If you feel like posting some comments on this I'de be happy to read them.
