Review: Mistress of the Night by Don Bassingthwaite and Dave Gross

 This is a great novel in two ways: First it is a well written, standalone novel set in the Forgotten Realms, particularly in Sembia which gets little attention in lore as a setting. Second, it fits into one of the most beloved Realms series: The Sembia and Erevis Cale books. This book works perfectly as a sequel to Dave Gross' Black Wolf from the Sembia series, and doubles as a prequel to The Twilight War Trilogy by Paul S. Kemp. 

Watch the video version of this review here.

Mistress of the Night is a 2004 novel by Don Bassingthwaite and Dave Gross. It is part of The Priests series, book two, but those are all standalones focusing on different faiths. This story puts it on Shar and her twinly opposite, Selune. The stage for this dark rivalry is Yhaunn, a port east of the capital Ordulin. The place much of the story will take place is Moon Shadow Hall. 

We are quickly introduced to two opposing forces, Variance, a Shade of Thultanthar, who we will actually see very little of; and Dahanna, aged high priestess of Selune.

Feena is a character those who have read Black Wolf may recognize. She is a priestess of Selune, she is also a werewolf. For those unaware, she is a good aligned werewolf, as a evil aligned were creature would likely follow Malar, the Beast Lord. She has recently lived in the Arch Wood but returns to Yhaunn at the behest of Dahanna whom seems at the end of her life.

Keph is another character, he is a scion of a house in Yhaunn. His house is made of entirely of mages besides young Keph. This causes him to be resentful and to fall into dark ways, particularly when it comes to Shar and her cult. This will devolve into acquistion of a certain artifact called the Leaves of One Night.

This is a dark novel, like many have been that are set in Sembia. We explore faith and deception, and are led down a well paced and exciting plot. This is overall a fun and worthwhile excursion into the Forgotten Realms, one you could even say is Exceptional when compared to some others I have read recently. 

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