Elminster: The Making of a Mage

I miss the days of playing Dungeons & Dragons. I haven't played in a very long time because, as it too often does, life gets in the way. From time to time then, as a sort of surrogate for the actual experience of playing, I'll read a Dungeons & Dragons novel. Elminster: The Making of a Mage, by Ed Greenwood, is a particularly good read. The novel takes place in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting and there is some D&D-specific flavor, such as mentions of Beholders and Mind Flayers, and some of the spells various wizards and mages cast, while not named, seem as though they are taken directly from a D&D manual. Although this is a D&D novel containing D&D elements, a knowledge of the game or of the Forgotten Realms is not necessary to enjoy the story. Elminster is the tale of the titular character's rise from shepherd to a spellcaster of great power and import. What I would normally expect from a tale of this type is that the youth in question would have always wanted to be a wizard, would study long and hard, poring over massive ironbound tomes in drafty ancient towers and so on. And I certainly enjoy those types of tales. But what we get in Elminster is something quite different: he starts out absolutely hating magic and mages (and with good reason) but, in his quest to right a great wrong, after spending time in other professions (character classes) such as swordsman, thief, and priest, Elminster realizes that he needs to fight magic with magic, and his power grows. I like this take on how Elminster became a mage; how many of us in our own lives end up being something completely different from what we thought we'd be? Elminster: The Making of a Mage is deftly written. I was particularly impressed with the skill author Greenwood shows in describing battles, particularly magical ones. These scenes are excitingly fast-paced and paint a vivid picture in the mind's eye of weird magics, sorcerous beams and rays, and arcane energies flying about. For me, many of these magic battles were kind of like reading a prose description of some of the wonderfully weird panels in Doctor Strange comics. Greenwood's writing overall is very enjoyable throughout the entire novel. His characters, the dialogue he gives them, the settings from city to pasture to castle to woodland, and the overall plot are all compellingly written. The book for me really didn't have any slow or dry passages; it was fun and good from beginning to end. There are other books about Elminster; based on how much I enjoyed this one, I intend to read those as well.