The Shattered Land

The second book was much better than the first, [b:The City of Towers 85874 The Fall of the Towers Samuel R. Delany http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171062770s/85874.jpg 2324692]. It doesn't feel like watching a D&D play session anymore.In terms of plot and continuity, well, the why of Daine and his group going to Xen'drik felt like a plot hook that you'd get from an off-the-shelf adventure module. The story pretty much stands on its own - like an episode of an ongoing TV series. There's good pacing of action in this book; makes you want to keep reading. Not to mention the juicy bits of lore of that continent.Note that there's a cliffhanger at the end with a lot of unanswered questions. I prefer good closures, but since I bought book 3 already, I can just continue.As for the protagonists, they're getting developed more - possibly a bit too much. Every single one of them seems to have a powerful destiny or hidden background just teasing to be revealed. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I hope they make sense in book 3. The new villains though, are very intriguing; I hope book 3 keeps that up.On the whole, this adventure was an enjoyable read. Time to pull out book 3.