Potentially a great novel, let down by narrator.

I was excited to listen to this book as many folk in the Forgotten Realms community spoke highly of it, often claiming the book deserved to be a trilogy.

Unfortunately the narration made it impossible to care about any of the characters, because none of them seemed to care about what was happening in the story. And so what potentially could have been a great story was somewhat ruined.

The narrator seemed to be trying to get through the book as quickly as possible, often not taking a breathe between sentences, even when two different characters were speaking. It made it difficult to follow what has happening at times, and as every character now has the same Texan accent, it was hard to know who was speaking sometimes too. You do eventually get used to the voice, but overall, not great.

None of the characters were portrayed with any emotion other than aloofness, which I don’t think was the author’s intent. I found myself often repeating sentences in my head with how I thought the character would be talking.

The story itself was quite interesting, and has given me some great ideas for my own D&D campaign. If you’re looking for something a little out of the box for your typical Forgotten Realms novel, this is a good option. It features many under-utilised races and a whole host of cool and exciting magical items - it actually feels somewhat like a D&D campaign, whereas other FR novels often feel like they could be any generic fantasy novel.

Overall I’d say the book is worth your time, but I’d look for the actual book/e-book if you have the time to read it.

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