Completed Series: The Legacy of the Drow by R.A. Salvatore

 The Legacy of the Drow is a four book series by author RA Salvatore. It is the third series comprising the Legend of Drizzt, and as such follows the adventures of The Companions of the Hall: Drizzt, Bruenor, Wulfgar, Cattie-Brie, Regis, and Guenhwyvar. Focusing in large part on Drizzt Do'Urden and his origins in the dark elf city of Menzoberranzan fans of the Dark Elf Trilogy would enjoy the mechanizations of the chaotic and evil drow society.

This is the last of the series that I had already started before starting on my quest to read every novel in the Forgotten Realms. I read the first book in March of 2019, and the follow up with the second a few months later. In April of this year I read the third book (review here), and I finished the fourth and last book in August.

the modern covers

The Legacy (1992) - Acceptable

Starless Night (1993) - Acceptable

Siege of Darkness (1994) - Good

Passage to Dawn (1996) - Mediocre

The Legacy of the Drow (TLD) is a conundrum for me. If you have read my previous reviews of Salvatore's Drizzt books you will know I generally find them overrated and often a little infuriating. Salvatore writes fight-scenes well, but his characters and plots are nothing praiseworthy. Overall TLD is a decent foray into the fun ride that can be the Forgotten Realms, it is not where I would start though, nor where I would end.

I readily admit it has been some time since I read the first two books in this series so I ask you take my opinions with a grain of salt for those two. I will try to keep the them as simple as possible.

The Legacy is okay. It is a story of Drizzt's past coming back to haunt him, for the evil worshippers of Lolth are not yet down with him. He is taken to Menzoberranzan. Wulfgar acts unlike himself in this book, his character arc being a little odd. Entreri is one of the most dull villains ever and I'm waiting for the day that Salvatore actually kills him, because it should have happened back in The Hafling's Gem.

Starless Night is basically the same as The Legacy. The Companions go back to Menzoberranzan. Entreri still is not dead.

Siege of Darkness was ironically the highlight of TLD. It focuses on greater cosmology of the Forgotten Realms with the Time of Troubles. The fated assault on Mithral Hall finally comes to pass and it has plenty of interesting combat. Interesting events happen in this book that I enjoyed reading. Overall it is a good book. Again, here is a more complete review.

Passage to Dawn is an odd book. I have a large amount to say since I just finished it at the time of this writing. The book starts off tremendously entertaining. Cattie-Brie and Drizzt are really the main focuses to begin with. This book does not involve the Drow at all, for which I am grateful. It is more of a proper sequel to Errtu's hatred of Drizzt and a proper sequel to The Crystal Shard. It is the first book to take place partially in Icewind Dale since The Crystal Shard (ironically the only book in The Icewind Dale Trilogy to take place in the Dale) and so deals with Crenshinibon, the Crystal Shard.

The beginning of the story is of adventures with Captain Deudermont of Waterdeep on his ship, the Sea Sprite. It is fun and exciting. The general endless fighting of Drizzt books is noticeably and pleasantly absent from the first half. 

Moving on the book changes and I will now get into more spoilers.

The companions eventually reunite in Icewind Dale. A seer on the mystical island of Caerwich tells a riddle of one held captive, someone important to both Drizzt and Cattie-Brie. The prologue of the book shows that Errtu has someone, but it does not reveal who. It was insanely obvious to me that this was Wulfgar. It makes sense, that is someone who was killed by a demon and is important to both Cattie-Brie and Drizzt. But no, Salvatore is so bad at subtlety and he makes the characters think it is Zaknafein; which does not make much sense if this prisoner is suppose to be relatable to Cattie-Brie. The entire book Wulfgar is hardly mentioned, and never as a potential prisoner of Errtu when it is obvious from page 1. 

At about the half-way point, I was thinking Salvatore was trying to come full circle with The Crystal Shard and the Companions of the Hall; his original story. Wulfgar is returned (though with the most lackluster reunion I have ever read, he doesn't even say anything for pages and when he does speak it is a smattering of a couple lines), and Crenshinibon is well in hand. I was hoping this would be end of the story for the Crystal Shard so I could study up on The D&D Next adventure The Legacy of the Crystal Shard before the release of Rime of the Frostmaiden in September. Sadly it is not so.

Salvatore shows great immaturities as a writer, the first half is littered with sentences ending in exclamation marks that sound like the author himself and not the characters. These could and should have been caught by an editor. Cryshal-Tirith, present in previous books, is supposedly the elvish word for "Crystal Tower". Considering the t in crystal was just changed to an h and Tirith was pulled from Tolkien's Minas Tirith, it seems rather juvenile. Also Khazid'hea's sentience seems mostly forgotten, with a few lines thrown in near the end. And apparently Salvatore forgot that Drizzt's scimitar is called Icingdeath (the companion to Twinkle). Salvatore also insists on repeating silly statements like "Creatures venturing out onto the open plain of Icewind Dale who were not careful did not survive for long." with little change.

Overall Passage to Dawn is a long road of going down and maybe should be called Passage Down instead. Thank Tymora Entreri does not appear in the book.

The Legacy of the Drow has it's ups and it's downs. The series does finish on a solid endnote, and I feel anyone could be satisfied finishing Drizzt's story here. Salvatore shows that he can consistently write Dungeons & Dragons novels but the quality is questionable. Sadly the series has more low points than high ones, and though I am surely biased and mayhap even ranting I would say that the series is Acceptable.

From here on out the reviews should be more balanced with each book getting equal representation. 

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Review: The Great Hunt by Elaine Cunningham

While I am currently reading trying to finish the last books in the series' I had already started when I made a commitment to read every Forgotten Realms novel I thought I would give you this short review of a short story from Elaine Cunningham. At the time of this writing I have only read her novel EverQuest: The Blood Red Harp. Since the tale is so short my summary will have spoilers.

Cover art by Michael Sutfin

The Great Hunt is located from pages 62-68 in the April 1998 issue. It follows primarily a half-orc youth named Drom somewhere in The North. He and his two companions are Talons of Malar. These servants of the Beastlord had massacred the citizens of an elven village and are now hunting the two survivors.

We learn that these elves are actually the half-elf Arilyn Moonblade and the Moon elf Elaith Craulnober. These are both characters from Cunningham's Song & Swords series which I have not yet gotten too. Arilyn who is injured can not outrun the hunting party, and so they devise a plan to best their adversaries. The build a cairn and make it seem that Arilyn has bled out and was buried and that Elaith continued on alone.

A mysterious wolf seems to confirm this for Talons of Malar by digging into the cairn and eating something so its face comes away bloody. They are then surprised when they meat Arilyn alone in a field later on. Arilyn fights briefly with Drom's companions, Badger and Grimlish, dispatching both, with the aid of a thrown knife from Elaith who was the mysterious snowy wolf. They had buried a doe in the cairn, successfully tricking the hunters. Outsmarted, Drom is at their mercy and Elaith maims him, though Arilyn leaves a suture kit so Drom can sew himself up.

Story art by Stephen Schwartz

The story ends with Drom deciding to change, as he howls to the Snow Wolf, seemingly turning his back on Malar and returning to the spirit he worshipped since his childhood.

Since it is such a short story I am not leaving a rating, but I will say that I find fiction like this very much to my liking. I only have a few copies of Dragon magazine issues but I love finding stories from fiction and adventures in them, especially about the Forgotten Realms. For those that don't know, Ed Greenwood (the creator of the Forgotten Realms) started putting tidbits about the Forgotten Realms in Dragon back in 1979. In 1986 when TSR was looking for any setting to expand into beyond Greyhawk with Gary Gygax's departure in '85, everything about The Realms in Dragon were retroactively made canon before the release of the first official supplement, the Grey Box, in 1987. An example would be the reference to deities from the Forgotten Realms in June of '86's issue #110 adventure "The House in the Frozen Lands" by James Adams.

Have you read any good fiction or ran any adventures from the old magazines? If so let me know, I'd love to experience them for myself.

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You can track my current progress here.

Review: Ravenloft - Vampire of the Mists

Vampire of the Mists is the first Ravenloft novel, but one with connections to the Forgotten Realms, hence why it is here. It was released in 1991 and is written by Christie Golden. The story is of a Gold Elf turned vampire, Jander Sunstar. Some of you may recognize this name if you have played a certain recent adventure for Fifth Edition. I decided to do this bonus review since I was itching for some gothic horror, and Vampire of the Mists did not disappoint. It took me only a few days to finish. This review will be rather spoiler heavy.

The prologue takes place either before the von Zarovich’s rule, or right at its start. Noticeably this Most High Priest of Barovia does not worship the Morninglord Lathander.

1072 DR Jander meets Anna at an insane asylum in Waterdeep. He continues to visit her every night for several decades until her death.

The Village of Barovia, overseen by Burgomaster Boris Federovich Kartov, is the scene Jander enters seeking his revenge. Strahd’s wolves terrorize the villagers. Though this is combated by Janders own power over wolves, he can even take the form of one, apparently a vampiric trait.

We encounter Maruschka, who has the sight, and is basically younger Madame Eva, though she is present as well. Her brother is Petya, who Jander saves early on from the Burgomasters intended hanging though he’s innocent. He was messing around with his daughter, Anastasia.

At this point Jander has been undead for 5 centuries while apparently Strahd is “barely past [his] first”. 

Melancholy is always present for the once happy creature turned into an evil and tormented vampire. Jander is extremely easy to pity, especially near the end when you know more of his background.

Jander is in Barovia for about 25 years. It’s during this time that the only survivor of a group of travelers from Toril, a boy named Martyn Pelkar, starts a church of Lathander in the Village of Barovia. He thinks Jander is the Morninglord because of his gold skin and because he stopped Strahd and his servants from killing him. I would not be surprised if this is where the worship of Lathander gets introduced into Barovia.

The original Ravenloft module.

Throughout the story we learn a little of Janders past. That he was slave to the vampire that turned him, that he was part of adventuring group called the Silver Six apparently slayed a dragon in Merrydale(the old name of Daggerdale). A vampire started making spawn of the towns people and his party, during which scores of people are lost and they even ironically split the party. Before forming the Silver Six, Gideon and Jander were even Hellriders, which is something that may sound familiar if you've played Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus.

“Cults come and go. Lathander will die with his cleric. You, Count Strahd, are certain to outlast any daylight deity.”

This book's main enemy is Strahd, and Golden displays his madness beautifully. He is truly a maniac, and some of the later chapters are from his point of view. His tragic love and torture of Tatyana, and his plotting to always have her. Honestly there was one thing with Katrina, one of Strahd's pets, that actually fooled me, and I was shocked I did not see it coming beforehand.

The 5e retelling of the original adventure of Ravenloft.

This is a must read novel in my opinion for fans of Curse of Strahd, I6 Ravenloft, or even 3e's Expedition to Castle Ravenloft.

Heavy spoilers: we learn that Jander’s love, Anna, was a fragmented piece of Tatyana’s soul. That piece lived on while Tatyana died, and her reincarnated being Marina was missing that piece, as well as Olya who died simultaneously with Anna. Tatyana died in 351 (Barovia calendar), while Ireena Kolyana is Tatyana reincarnated during Curse of Strahd/i6 Ravenloft in 735. Apparently another reincarnation of her is Queen Kristiana von Zarovich in the Prime Material version of Barovia (from Roots of Evil adventure which takes place in 740 BC).

This is a little confusing, because if everything matches up then when Curse of Strahd takes place it would be 1354 DR, which would probably fit for I6 Ravenloft but is hard to place for 5e, unless things repeated more precisely than normal in the 1480s/1490s DR.

Another oddity is Madame Eva is dead by the end of the book. Supposedly she is the half-sister of Strahd so she is probably reincarnated also because of his curse.

The beautiful, assumed death of Jander at the end is sadly not so. I cannot believe for a second that Golden had Jander doing anything else but dying, for he was denying Strahd and the Dark Powers; but he was in Barovia where the powers (Wizards of the Coast) have ultimate power, sadly. Jander apparently later rejoined the Hellriders and invaded Avernus with Zariel. He's a tortured soul you can encounter in Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus, and this makes him easily the most pitiable character I have encounted from Dungeons & Dragons. I beg any of you, please do what you can to free his soul if you play DIA.

End Spoilers

The main character Jander Sunstar is a tragic and ironic character. By being a vampire he is denied his name, the Sun, and the joy of basking in it as a gold elf. He keeps some of his old alignment, and refrains from his chaotic, vampiric nature for the most part. He is a character unlike most in all the novels I have read for Dungeons & Dragons, and his story is heartbreaking, redemptive, horrific, and triumphant. Vampire of the Mists is easily Amazing.

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You can track my current progress here.

Completed Series: Lost Empires

Lost Empires is a series of four standalone novels set in the Forgotten Realms. There is no overlap with the books like there is in Sembia, these novels are truly standalone united by a common theme of some remnant of a lost or legendary locale.


I started with the first book in early March before getting to the fourth at the very end of April. I did not finish until mid July.

Forgotten Realms: Lost Empires series

The Lost Library of Cormanthyr by Mel Odom (1998) - Acceptable

Faces of Deception by Troy Denning (1998) - Bad

Star of Cursrah by Clayton Emery (1999) - Good

The Nether Scroll by Lynn Abbey (2000) - Mediocre

Overall I did enjoy Lost Empires. I have always been fascinated with history and each story has world building associated heavily with the past.

The Lost Library of Cormanthyr was fun, quick and easy. While the main character, Baylee, never has a problem (he is a typical Mary Sue) he is still enjoyable to read about. There are so many places visited, LLoC acts as a tour through the Realms of sorts. We see Cormyr, Waterdeep, Candlekeep, the Dalelands, Cormanthor, the Moonshaes and even the bottom of the ocean.

It is basically Indiana Jones in the Forgotten Realms. I may bring my party to Selarrnym someday to potentially rediscover some of what was left behind by the ancient elves.

Faces of Deception is easily the most disappointing book I have read in my quest to read every Forgotten Realms novel so far. It's not the writing, I have read a handful of books by Troy Denning and is writing is easy to digest. The story goes somewhere, but it was honestly surprising that it did. Sadly it has the biggest non-ending I've ever read. It's not a cliffhanger, it's an impenetrable wall. The characters don't progress, and the story is left dangling with no wrap up. It was so interesting at times, the traveling and countries of the Far East of Faerûn. Promising, but fails.

Star of Cursrah is the shining point of Lost Empires. It is a dual story, something I have never actually read before. The are a group of three friends in 1369 DR and another three in -6048 DR. The one in the past tells the fate of the ancient desert city while the group of friends rediscover it's location and story. Don't be deceived by the cover, it doesn't depict anything from the story really. The biggest fault in the story are the characters themselves, they are all unintelligent, with one exception. This is not too surprising as they are all kids, but it is a little annoying at times. Overall it is a fun tromp.

The Nether Scroll took my three months to finish. For those looking for a story driven Forgotten Realms novel, this is it. The only problem is that the plot suffers. Oddly Forgotten Realms novels are almost always about 300 pages long. If this story had been longer I feel it would have been way better. It took me until about page 120 for me to feel invested in the story, and it's never taken me that long for such a short book. 

It is somewhat redeemed by the interesting character dynamics including a young man with bad habits, a tough wizard, a nicely dressed goblin, and a fierce warrior woman. The ending was also a nice, not-cliffhanger.

The verdict for Lost Empires is you should read what sounds interesting to you since it is such a diverse set of books. Hopefully my review helps those interested in more than Drizzt and Erevis Cale find something for them. Overall I would say Lose Empires is Acceptable. Feel free to leave me your comments and questions.

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You can track my current progress here.

Review: Siege of Darkness by RA Salvatore

Siege of Darkness is a turning point in the Legend if Drizzt. The attack on Mithral Hall from the drow coalition of Menzoberranzan finally comes to fruition. The build up to the siege itself is really laid out well, and the power struggle between some of the leading Houses is done expertly well, especiially with the fact that the Time is Troubles comes out of nowhere. For the ignorant reader, the Time of Troubles takes place in1358 DR when the Tablets of Fate are stolen and the Overgod Ao forces the lesser deities into mortal, Avatar form. This really messes with magic, divine and other kinds.

Large Scale combat is present for a good chunk of the book, this means there are less skirmishes comprising Drizzt than has been present in the previous 8 books. I found this refreshing, but the other side of that same coin means we actually see less of Drizzt during the book as the chapters balance POV between Jarlaxle, Errtu, Matron Baenre, Cattie-brie and so forth. This makes it seem less like a Drizzt book and one more focused on the exploits of the Drow, which is fitting since the series is in-fact the Legacy if the Drow.

The interludes that divide the book into parts have been a staple of the series. We get a first person look inside Drizzt’s head, as it it seems he is recall in a journal or maybe even reciting the events of his life. I have often enjoyed these bits, though it’s love/hate and some I have particularly disliked. The ones in Siege of Darkness range from good to great though. They were refreshing and deep. Often they come off as pseudo-philosophical, but not so for #9 of the Legend of Drizzt.

Personally I really enjoyed Cattie-Brie’s character development the most. Drizzt has very little in ways of personality, spirituality and physically. The ways of the drow are starting to feel familiar and less annoying, and some of the flaws of their society are showcased with drastic effect.

Heavy spoiler, near end of the book spoiler for this next paragraph. Matron Baenre was really a character that felt eternal. Her death was quick but done well. I particularly enjoyed that Bruenor was the one to do it, and that two of her daughters were also killed by Gundulag and Drizzt. We will see but Triel will now probably become the Matron of the first house of Menzoberranzan.

Overall it’s a decent book, I will admit that I may be biased towards Salvatore books. Before ever reading any of his work I heard he was the best and so far I would disagree. We’ll see if I change my mind, I’ve barely put a dent into his Forgotten Realms novels. For the sake of this review though, Siege of Darkness is Good.

Remember the Giveaway for the Avatar Trilogy I’m running, you have until the end of the month to enter!

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You can track my current progress here.

GIVEAWAY: The Avatar Trilogy

I recently had a birthday, and I made a mistake, one that benefits you!
For those that do not know this blog is my written experience as I attempt to read everyone of the three hundred Forgotten Realms novels. I post reviews, hauls, and observations from the reading here for others to join in on the conversation. I also like to collect the books and so for my birthday I asked for The Avatar Trilogy by Richard Awlinson. I then turned around and bought the entire trilogy because I forgot I asked for it. A few weeks went by and when my birthday actually rolled around, surprise, I was gifted with the Avatar Trilogy!
This giveaway is timely as I just reached the point in The Legend of Drizzt when the Time of Troubles begins in Siege of Darkness. And surprisingly I don't need two copies of a series, so I am giving away a copy of the trilogy. More entries means more chances of winning. The winner will be drawn randomly at the end of the month. Just enter below.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Avatar Trilogy focuses on a group of adventurers during the onset of the Time of Troubles, when the gods have been forced to walk among mortals in avatar form. It is a time when lots of deities will die and mortals rise to godhood.

For fun facts, the Avatar Trilogy was later expanded into a series of five books. The Original books were released in 1989 and they were Shadowdale, Tantras, and Waterdeep, with Prince of Lies and The Trial of Cyric the Mad being added in 1993 and 1998 respectively. While the original trilogy were published under the name Richard Awlinson, this is actually a pen name. The first two were written by Scott Ciencin and the third by Troy Denning. When the books were printed in 2003 they received revamped covers and the pen name was dropped altogether.

The books themselves are used. The first and third have the original cover while the second book is a reprint. I would say the first is in acceptable condition while the other two are in good condition. I will send them promptly after the winner has been chosen.

Thanks for reading, and good luck!

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You can track my current progress here.

Completed Series: Sembia: Gateway to the Realms

Sembia: Gateway to the Realms is a large series, and the largest to date that I've read. There are seven books, including an anthology and then six novels written by five different authors. Each novel focuses on a different character, though they all deal with House Uskevren; either members of the family or house servants. While technically being standalone novels (and they even jump around a little) I would recommend reading them in order. Each book is exciting in its own right, and Sembia is a highly enjoyable series, a hallmark of the Forgotten Realms.

I started the series in early March with the second book, and in the middle of the month I went and read the rest in order, finishing in early April.

These are the reprints done a couple years after the initial releases.

The Halls of Stormweather by various authors and edited by Philip Athans (2000) - Acceptable
Shadow's Witness by Paul S. Kemp (2000) - Exceptional
The Shattered Mask by Richard Lee Byers (2001) - Acceptable
Black Wolf by Dave Gross (2001) - Good
Heirs of Prophecy by Lisa Smedman (2002) - Exceptional
Sands of the Soul by Voronica Whitney-Robinson (2002) - Mediocre
Lord of Stormweather by Dave Gross (2003) - Exceptional

Sembia: Gateway to the Realms is apparently what WotC wanted as an introduction to those interested in the Forgotten Realms. From the blurb on the back of the first book reads: “This anthology of seven stories introduces not just one realm of good and evil, not just one family of troubled heroes, but the whole of the remarkable Forgotten Realms world. Their adventure, and yours, begins here.” Each of these stories acts essentially as a prologue to the succeeding six novels. Each story also has really good foreshadowing for things revealed in the following stories. 

The vast majority of the stories spend most of their time in Selgaunt, a port city in Sembia, but we do get to see the Yhaunn, Ordulin, the Arch Wood, and places outside of Sembia like the Dalelands, Cormanthyr, and even far off Calimshan, and other planes.

Now, let's start at the top.

The Halls of Stormweather  is an anthology, one of eighteen in the Forgotten Realms, and the first I have read. I have only ever read one other anthology before, and I'm still a fan of more fleshed-out novels. There are eight stories in the particular anthology, so lets go over them in order.

The Patriarch: The Burning Chalice by Ed Greenwood 

This story is about Thamalon Uskevren, the Lord of Stormweather Towers. It Goes back in time to explain how Thamalon inherited his families leadership, seeing as he is not the oldest son of his father. The story starts in a scene where a pretender is trying to say he is Perivel, Thamalon’s older brother. The story jumps around quite a bit from the present situation to flashbacks of Thamalon's youth. The story ended differently than I expected, but nonetheless satisfying and the story makes a lot more sense after a few of the books are under your belt. 

The Matriarch: Song of Chaos by Richard Lee Byers.

The second story in the anthology is about Shamur Uskevren, the Lady of Stormweather Towers. This story also jumps around a lot but for different reasons. With her daughter, Tazi, Shamur is trapped in a theater hall with a foul opera causing all sorts of chaos to erupt around the place. Part of this magic initially causes Shamur to be spat back in time a few minutes. Odd, disturbingly freakish events happen as the magic of the Hellish opera progresses. For the sake of the potential reader, I will say I didn't immediately remember a gorgon is a bull in D&D and not the traditional mythic creature, though it can still petrify(but not with its sight). The jumping also has Shamur reliving pivotal moments of his past (and the future?), which are fun to read and digest.

The Heir: Night School by Clayton Emery

About Tamlin Uskevren and a secret business deal his father has sent him on. Tamlin is incompetent and it is quite amusing as he blunders along, though the story is not that interesting besides.

The Daughter: The Price by Voronica Whitney-Robinson 

About Thazienne “Tazi” Uskevren. She lives a double life as a pampered noble with suitors at her heel, and a more hushed and cloaked life at night. Tazi reveals herself to be quite young and naïve. I felt this was not the last we’d see of these characters at the end.

The Second Son: Thirty Days by Dave Gross about Talbot Uskevren. An awry hunting trip sets young Tal on a ride he hardly expected to experience. That's about it, don't want to spoil it. I will say that Mistress Quickly (noted on of page 226) is oddly similar to the Wife of  Bathgap by having a gap in her teeth and five husbands. To this point in the anthology I found Talbot the most likable from such a short story.

The Butler: Resurrection by Paul S. Kemp

Introduction to the much loved Erevis Cale, Butler to the Uskevrens and trained killer and rogue. He finds himself in a pickle of loyalty; protecting the Uskevren’s and keeping the ruse of spying on them is about to get a lot tougher, and bloodier. Great intro to a favorite Realms character.

The Maid: Skin Deep by Lisa Smedman

About Larajin. The story is about discovery as Larajin finds out more about herself. Lots of revelations here, and they were satisfactorily foreshadowed. Though not my favorite character form the Anthology she really grew on me during the novels focused on her.

Shadow's Witness is the second book in the Sembia series and is actually the first book I read. It takes place during the month of Hammer, The Year of the Unstrung Harp (1371 DR) for any interested in the timeline.

At times it was quite Disturbing, dark and awesome. Quick faith seemed a little quick but not too unrealistic, though we were only told he was godless not shown it. Jak makes a great companion. The demons make really disturbing foes. Cale’s thirst for vengeance and justice is what propels the fast flowing progression of Shadow’s Witness. Kemp does a fantastic job of showing a man not particularly proud of his younger self and his dark past, which reminds me a bit of Dalinar Kholin from the Stormlight Archive.

The Shattered Mask Takes place in late Hammer, The Year of Wild Magic (1372DR), a whole year after the previous book. This book focuses on Shamur Uskevren. Byers utilizes lots and lots of uncommon vocabulary in place of standard words, every couple of pages even. Words like palfrey and destrier, passé, tercet, mufti, ambuscade, egress, timorous, fracas, attenuate, taverner, scrofulous, venery, lickerish, somnolent, clangor, staid and so on. It’s a little excessive, I had to stop often and my vocabulary is rather decent to begin with. 

It feels very much like a Realms novels, overflowing with characters, are often scene to character death; swifly and mercilessly so. The main characters seem a little overpowered and lucky. While focus is on Shamur, a multitude of POV are present.

Exciting, with a pleasant conclusion.

Black Wolf by Dave Gross focuses on Talbot Uskevren. It starts in Hammer 1371, ends Mirtul 1371. Very dark and nocturnally focused; I would have loved it as a teenager. Werewolves and aquatic vampires (apparently a thing) abound. An important notes is that there are two main characters, Darrow and Tal. Darrow is the sad and pitiful counterpart to Tal's relatively good fortune. I really enjoyed Darrow as a character, and I found Gross to be a good worldbuilder and storyteller.

Heirs of Prophecy by Lisa Smedman is set in1372 DR.

As Larajin strives to understand the elven part of her, we gain a plethora of insights on elven culture, especially that of the Forest Elves of the Tangled Trees. At this point this book was Easily the biggest tale and the one that spends the most time outside of Selgaunt, and the only one going outside of Sembia. I’m a little partial to the story because it prominently involves twins. To creatures I appreciate appear too, a tressym which is a winged cat, and an avariel which is a rare, winged elf 

It’s main hindrances are length, I felt it could have been considerably longer. The second is how everything goes almost always perfectly for Larajin’s. She tries and succeeds even though she’s never done the things before, it turns in her favor.

The villain of Drakkar is well done though I think he could get more spotlight, though he is present in the last book of the series, he is not present enough.

I would love to see a sequel of this, I think Larajin and her brothers would make a great adventuring party

Sands of the Soul by Voronica Whitney-Robinson takes place in Marpenoth 1372 DR

Thazienne goes on a quest, and how the previous entry travelled out of Sembia to the lands just north, here the adventures goes far to the south and west to the desert kingdom of Calimshan. In Calimpprt about 15 years after the Companions of the Hall. Most of this time is spent underground in the Muzad, which is kind of one of the upper layers of the Underdark ,sort of like Downshadow for Waterdeep.

The first chapter is homage to Jak’s escapade at the start of Shadow’s Witness and I appreciated it. I will complain about the strong crude innuendo present near the start. I found it more unsettling than funny. Also the characters' incompetence for the obvious and competence for unobvious is laughable. Not what I was expecting from Tazi, who otherwise seems extremely capable. This book actually slowed by reading so exponetially, it was not all that fun like I hoped it would be.

Lord of Stormweather by Dave Gross (and for some reason not Clayton Emery, who wrote Tamlin’s story •The Heir” in THoS). It takes place in Alturiak 1373 DR which is the Year of Rogue Dragons. I laughed out loud at Tamlin’s beginning parts a handful of times. The story grows more serious and we have POV's from Erevis, Thamalon, Tamlin, and Chaney Foxmantle. The story is super fun and a great conclusion and sequel to the dull sixth book. The characters showcased are phenemonal and Gross really shows how good an author he is. Radu Malveen, from Black Wolf,  is a more interesting and compelling assassin than Artemis Entreri. Feel free to debate that though, I am only on Siege of Darkness.

Overall, I really enjoyed Sembia: Gateway to the Realms, and I'm glad an acquaintance recommended it to me. Though there are many authors involved in the series, the batch really is a cohesive whole and I would recommend reading all of the books and in order, though it is not necessary. I hope some other novels take place in the nation of Sembia, for I certainly am not done exploring it. Sembia: Gateway to the Realms is Good. The books ebb and flow in quality, but overall keep a positive position in my mind.

“Long live the Lord of Stormweather!”

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You can track my current progress here.