Join me as I review Into the Void by Nigel Findley, live! Share your thoughts on this second novel in Spelljammer The Cloakmaster Cycle. You can pick up Into the Void here: https://www.amazon.com/Into-Void-Spelljammer-Cloakmaster-Cycle/dp/1560761547/ref=sr_1_1?crid=271PT1SLD6T6Y&keywords=into+the+void+spelljammer&qid=1646421044&sprefix=into+the+void+spelljammer%252Caps%252C96&sr=8-1&_encoding=UTF8&tag=reverendcampb-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=86e75a0a58d7154c88a1bcdfbb9efbaa&camp=1789&creative=9325
About Into the Void
Into the Void picks up the action shortly after Teldin Moore leaves Krynn (the Dragonlance fantasy world) but then moves out of Krynnspace, through the Phlogiston, into Realmspace and onto Toril (the Forgotten Realms fantasy world), so is a crossover novel mixing elements of both Forgotten Realms and Spelljammer.
Review
Intro
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. It is Misham, Brookgreen the 10th, my name is Adam and today I am going to give you my Spoiler review of Into the Void by Nigel Findley. I will be spoiling the story, so if you don’t want to know it, stop watching now! I would like to take a moment and thank the members of this YouTube channel, and invite you to consider becoming a member by visiting the link in the description below. You can even pick up Dragonlance gaming materials using my affiliate link. This is my perspective only, and if you have any thoughts or disagree with mine, I invite you to share them in YouTube chat.
We pick up with Teldin Moore of Kalaman aboard the Gnomes Dreadnaught, The Unquenchable when he’s approached by the gnome Horvath, who makes friends with him quickly. Horvath tells Teldin that they are headed to Devis in a sphere called Pathspace, when he is called by Captain Wydore. The captain wants him to inspect the Unquenchable so Horvath takes a longboat out with Teldin and three gnomes, Dana, Miggins, and Saliman. Suddenly three Wasps appear, they are pirates and begin attacking the Unquenchable, which angles away to engage them. The longboat is abandoned in space.
One of the Wasps is damaged and leaves the fight only to engage the longboat. Teldin is forced to attack with a crossbow and is aided by his cloak with calm and precision. The Wasp ship is eventually fought off by an incoming Hammership called the Probe. One gnome was wounded in the battle with the Wasp, and the Unquenchable is nowhere to be seen, so they are helped aboard by a human named Aelfred Silverhorn of Toril. He is the Probe’s first mate.Teldin asks about the captain and an Illithid named Estriss meets him, freaking Teldin out. It communicates in his mind and vocally, and quickly calms Teldin. It turns out Estriss is a historian searching for artifacts and information about a lost civilization called the Juna.
The Probe is on its way to Toril to a town called Rauthaven for an auction that may contain some artifacts of the Juna. It turns out that an ancient species of Thri-Kreen traveled the universe millennia before the Illithids or Humans, and they spoke of an even older society called the Juna. The ship is attacked by a black space-shark called a Void Scavver, which kills one man, wounds another and Teldin steps in, calmed by his cloak and slices it, getting wounded in the process, but ultimately defeating the creature. Everyone is amazed, including Estriss who believes the cloak is connected in some way to the Juna.
The ship then leaves Krynnspace and they enter the Phlogiston, or the Flow. Also known as the Rainbow Ocean, as it appears you flow through it in a multicolored bubble. The ship sets schedules for all aboard and for a time, things seem to be normal. As normal as they can be on a ship floating through space! Aelfred even begins teaching Teldin how to fight with a short sword in their spare time. Then the Void Reaper, a Neogi Deathspide ship begins to approach. The battle for survival for Probe is an intense one. The Neogi send their umberhulks and slaves to fight, and they kill and wound man of the Probe’s seamen and women. Teldin finds himself fighting for his life and the cloak once again comes to his aid, exploding out against his adversary. Those who witness it believe him to be a warrior/mage here on out. Aelfred is confused how Teldin fought so well and was able to use magic, with Estriss suggesting that Teldin tell Aelfred everything.
After the battle Teldin sleeps for twenty-four hours and wakes to have a long talk and experiment with the cloak’s magic with Estriss. Teldin learns to change his features and body, shapeshifting into other people he has met. The process takes less and less of his energy and he is slowly unlocking the cloak’s secrets. They finally enter Realmspace and Teldin is growing more fond of space in general. They see a ship spinning out of control, and more to intercept and investigate. They find a woman on board named Rianna Wyvernsbane. She is a messenger who barely survived an assault and was doomed if it weren’t for the Probe.
All of the males on board are smitten with her, and Estriss and Aelfred convince Teldin to change his features and name, just in case Rianna isn’t who she claims to be. After a month traveling to Rauthaven, Teldin and Rianna become affectionately close. She takes him out to a local pub once they dock, and spend the night together, after Teldin finally admits the truth about himself, and apologizes to her for the deception. They return to the Probe, hoping that Estriss has information about the Arcane, so Teldin can get him to remove the cloak, and move on with his life. He is finding himself more and more wary about abandoning this new life he has discovered. Teldin ends up contacting the Arcane’s representative and lying his way into a meeting with T’k’Pek, the Arcane.
Taking Estriss in disguise and Aelfred with him, Teldin also disguised, is transported to the Arcane’s ship and he meets with the tall blue alien. He claims the cloak was made by the Arcane and even offers to buy it for an incredible sum of gold, but Teldin doesn’t trust him, sensing something is off, and leaves the ship, content in knowing that he could always contact the Arcane again if he wanted to get rid of it. Assuming the Arcane can unclasp the cloak. We also discover that one of the slaves from the Neogi ship that was taken aboard the Probe is spying on them, sending information to his masters.
Estriss, Aelfred, Rianna and Teldin attend the auction, where the Arcane, T’k’Pek buys the dagger Estriss wanted for an obscene amount of gold. Estriss stays with Aelfred to watch for other items, as Barrab approached Teldin after T’k’Pek left, saying the Arcane wants to see him about the cloak. New information has come to light. Teldin and Rianna leave with him, and are led to a trap in the alley where a bunch of sellswords are waiting to kill them and take the cloak. Barrab had been fired from the Arcane and sold his services and knowledge to the mind flayers of Falx. Teldin barely escapes with Rianna’s aid, and they split up, hiding in the streets. They eventually meet up at the docks after Teldin was told by a wizard elf from the Probe that the cloak is actually elven and he should seek out the elves for information on it. At this point, Eldin doesn’t know who to trust.
Once back with Rianna and some of her own sellswords, they arrive at the eProbe, pleading with Aelfred for help. Teldin now things Estriss is with the Falx group looking for the cloak, and convinces Aelfred to help. They take the ship, against Estriss’ wishes to the Arcane’s ship, only to discover the Arcane is dead, Rianna is working with the Neogi luring Teldin to the ship and her sellswords are all working with her to get the cloak. Estriss attacks the neogi, Teldin uses the cloak to blast the room with some light force, and it throws Estress and the Neogi out of the ship. He fights Rianna and eventually defeats her though she is killed by Aelfred, and now between the Neogu, the Falx, the Arcane and the Elves, Teldin has no idea what to do or who to trust. Aelfred offers him the first mate position aboard the Probe and they sail off into the void.
This was a great second novel, though it would be nice to have it give some verifiable information about the cloak. We are right back to where we started at the end of the first novel, so that is a bit frustrating. I had a lot of fun with the friendship dynamic of Aelfred and Teldin. I really enjoyed the supposed relationship between Teldin and Rianna, though I feel like he is becoming much like Captain Kirk, each novel, a new love interest…. I also don’t feel like I learned anything about Forgotten Realms. The first novel was very Dragonlance in tone and location. This was only in Forgotten Realms in the third act… So it fell flat. I am curious where it will go next, and I do want to keep reading.
Outro
And that’s it for my review of Into the Void by Nigel Findley. What do you think about the Spelljammer campaign world? Does this novel feel true to the Forgotten Realms as the first novel did for Dragonlance? You can email me at info@dlsaga.com or comment below.
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This channel is all about celebrating the wonderful world of the Dragonlance Saga, and I hope you will join me in the celebration. Thank you for watching, this has been Adam with DragonLance Saga and until next time Slàinte mhath (slan-ge-var).
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