In the year 2000, Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, the novel by Philip Athans, was released. While the first novel was released half a year after the first game, this one released with the second game. Listen to my review here.
Like in the first novel, our protagonist is Abdel Adrian. Characters such as Jaheira reappear, while Minsc and Yoshiro are new to the novel story but familiar to game players. My favorite new character was the vampire elf, formerly of Suldanessellar, Bodhi. She presents as a human though. Imoen is a young woman that gets pulled along with Abdel because of her parentage too. Her arc involves some homoeroticism, particularly where some drow are concerned.
Bhaal, Lord of Murder, is dead. His followers want to bring him back, so naturally his mortal children become targets of these machinations. We know Abdel is a surviving Bhaalspawn, and thus the story has its call to adventure.
The story begins with a nightmare where Abdel is a prisoner in a dungeon. It’s a nice set up, though we get a flashback explaining how he got there. He’s treated how heroes often are in life, torturously and in the dark.
Shadow thieves and vampires play a part, and of course Amn, a nation south of Baldur’s Gate and Candlekeep. We get a good look at Athkatla in particular.
Abdel is still an angry but capable warrior, though he starts this story naked, in a place for rebirth of sorts.
The plot itself is more interesting than the first. It does grey deeds well, being close to bad and good. The action is fast and bloody, like last time. But the plot is more interesting and not as ridiculous as the first. What fans of the game think of it, I’m not sure, since my exposure to its plot is limited. Overall, it is an Acceptable novel though.
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