The Halls of Stormweather

Forgotten Realms: Sembia, Book 1

By: Philip Athans

Narrated by: Jeremy Arthur

Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

The Halls of Stormweather, a novel in seven parts, is the first book in a series that explores the mean streets of a city where everything has its price and even the wealthiest families will do anything to survive! Ed Greenwood - the creator of the Forgotten Realms begins the tale with the capable but embattled patriarch of the Uskevren family. Clayton Emery - the heir to the family fortune is brought to life by the author of Star of Cursrah and the Netheril Trilogy. Lisa Smedman - a veteran science fiction and fantasy author shows us a young woman who's more than just a maid. Dave Gross - the author of An Opportunity for Profit tells the story of the youngest son who carries a horrifying curse. Voronica Whitney-Robinson - the story of the willful daughter Thazienne is told by the co-author of Spectre of the Black Rose. Richard Lee Byers - the author of Dark Kingdoms tells a tale of a wife with a past as long as it is dark. Paul Kemp - a talented newcomer creates a servant with more secrets than his master could ever guess.

©2000 Wizards of the Coast LLC (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

A great start to many adventures

The quality and performance of the narrator is fantastic. The story itself is a compilation of 7 individuals within one household. All were very engaging and enjoyable, touching on various genres that I think will reach and entertain a variety of audiences. The setting is in Sembia, far east of the sword coast if you're looking for stories particular to that setting.

Great book!

I always wanted to read this series as a young man. Now I get a new chance to experience it all over again.

A good collection of connected stories

The technical first book in the Sembia series, The Halls of Stormweather follows the Uskevren family and their servants as they navigate the city of Selgaunt. The characters themselves are very three dimensional and have layers to them. While some of the stories were more compelling than others, I am glad I heard them all. Jeremy Arthur was a good narrator and I thought he did a good job. I recommend this to start before you begin the others.

Good for an anthology

I wish they wouldn't have started this series with an anthology. I like anthologies most of the time; you get to read a bunch of different stories from a bunch of different authors. Sometimes, the anthology will have some vague link, like birthdays, or monsters, or the genre. This was all about the same family. Some of the stories were great! Some... fine I guess. Most were just okay. And when you are learning about a family, that also happens to be in a fantasy world, but you don't maintain a constant story...
It's just... not good. Or maybe I should say that it's very just okay.

If a book like this had come along as the third or fourth book in the series, totally different story! I likely would have raved over the guys to do something like this. But they obviously were trying to introduce everyone in the family, and give you crazy information about each one. And that's exactly what they did. But doing it as an anthology was just... I don't know... it felt lazy to me, I guess.

I own all the rest of the books in the series, but I'm questioning reading them. Guess I'll let it breathe. Maybe my opinion will shift.

Enjoyable book

This book went by so fast because I was paying close attention. A lot going on and was fun to follow it all and the array of characters

Couldn't connect...

I gave it five hours and somehow I just didn't connect to this one. Bummer.