Song of the Beast by Carol Berg
Aidan MacAllister has been in Mazadine prison for seventeen years where he was lashed and had his fingers broken everytime he made a sound. Now after he has been silent for seven years he has been released and is wondering why he who was the greatest musician of his age favoured of the gods cousin of the king was locked up and tortured. On his quest to find out the reason he will find out the truth of the gods and the dragons that are key to the power of the civilised nations.

I quite liked this book but it is nowhere near the quality of the Rai-Kirah series. Aidan often infuriated my with how clueless he was the book would have been half as long if he had used an iota of intelligence. But it made an interesting read and I am always in new perspectives of dragons.

Unclean (Forgotten Realms: Haunted Lands Book 1) By Richard Lee ByersThe Realm of Thay has long been ruled by the council of eight Zulkirs self-obsessed archmages of Red Wizards. But now the oldest and most powerful of the Zulkirs who has long been ruler of Thay in all but name has decided it is time he was acknowledged as ruler of Thay. Can anyone stand against the might and genius of the Lich Szass Tam Zulkier of Necromancy. The fate of Thay could fall to the hands of a bard trying to rescue his love from slavery.

I really enjoyed this book Szass Tam has long been one of my favourite character in the forgotten realms. And I don’t give a damn if he is supposed to be the villain “All hail Szass Tam King of Thay”. Recently there have been a few forgotten realms novels written in a darker tone (I think influenced by the success of Paul Kemp’s novels) and this is one of the best. Thinking back over the book there are only to characters that you could even consider as good and virtually nothing that could be considered as the heroes succeeding. This is more like what I was expecting from the war of the spider queen series. With the “evil” wizards fighting over who shall hold the power in the realm with now concern for others except for how they can be of benefit to them. I just hope the trilogy ends with Szass Tam slaughtering his enemies and betrayers and leading Thay to conquest of the realms.

Daughter of Ancients (Bridge of D'Arnath Book 4) By Carol Berg
When a young Woman called D’Sanya walks of the Wastes claiming to be the Daughter of D'Arnath the Dar’Nethi fall over themselves to make her the Heir. But Ven’Dar is sure something is not right and calls on the Dying Karon and Gerick to investigate whether she is what she claims. When the Zhid start attacking again after five years is it caused by a corrupted D’Sanya of is Gerick becoming Dieste the Destroyer again.

I liked the book but not as much as the previous book in the series. I really disliked the character of D’Sanya she seemed a complete nutjob from start to finish. On the other had I really liked Jen as she had a sarcastic view of everyone that matched my own.

The Soul Weaver (The Bridge of D'Arnath Book 3) by Carol Berg

Gerick living in the mundane world after his escape from Zhev’Na has been tormented with nightmares. When Seri called to a meeting with King Evard they find out about mysterious monstrous looking creatures kidnapping Cripples and Seri is asked to look into it. But Karon’s secrets have been getting leaked to the Lords and he starts to suspect that Gerick is still one of the Lords and when Seri is stabbed and Gerick found holding the knife he sets out to kill him. Gerick flees with the strange creatures and Paulo to try and prove his innocence.

This is my favourite book in the series so far I really loved the chapters in the bounded especially after Princess Roxanne is freed and starts making Gericks life a living nightmare.

Guardians of the Keep (Bridge of D'Arnath Book 2) By Carol Berg

With the Bridge of D'Arnath Seri has gone to Comigor to tell Tomas’s son and wife how he died and his last words. But as the wife is incapable of running the estate and the son too young Seri is persuaded to run the estate and try to help her nephew Gerick who is remote and secretive with bouts of fear. When Gerick disappears just as Seri finds out his secret she and her friends must find him before he is used to destroy the bridge and bring chaos to the worlds.

I liked the book over all but started to dread the chapters from Gerick’s point of view, as he was just so pathetic and such an idiot that I would have liked to smash his head in. But the Seri and Karon point of view’s were really interesting especially there time in Zhev’Na as they try to rescue Gerick.

Son of Avonar (Bridge of D'Arnath Book 1) by Carol Berg

Lady Seriana Marguerite, Duchess-daughter of Comigor is living in self-imposed exile after her husband was burned as a sorcerer. One day while gathering plants in the forest when she is assaulted by a naked man being chased by the kings soldiers. Due to her curiosity and hatred of the king she shelters the man from the soldiers. As he recovers from his ordeal she discovers that although he appears to be a warrior without pear he cannot speak and has no memory of who he is. As she tries to help him recover his memory she finds she has been drawn back into the world of sorcery and that the on the survival of the mysterious man the fate of two worlds rest.

I enjoyed the book but felt it was spoilt a bit by the constant jumping of the time line as this made it hard to settle into the story. Another problem was that at times the characters were so slow to pick up on traitors that it was painful to read. But these where not major problems and the story maintained my interest and I really liked Seri’s character even though she had some blind spots that were annoying.

To Ride Hell's Chasm by Janny WurtsThe Princess Anja has disappeared on the eve of her betrothal to the High Prince of Devall. As she is known for pranks the search is half hearted at first but as she is missing for longer the Captain of the City Guard Mykkael is called in. Mykkael has to battle the distrust of the nobles of the city as he tries to find out what has happened to the princess. All the while he has the fear that the kingdom of Sessalie come to the attention of a sorcerer against who he maybe the only chance of survive for the kingdom.

I really enjoyed the first half of this book but it seemed to lose its way in the second half. The part of the book where Anja and Mykkael are going through Hell's Chasm seemed to drag on, the fight scenes seemed a bit confused and was annoying. The ending of the book seemed to be a bit rushed almost perfunctory I think the book would have been better if the Journey through Hell's Chasm was shorter and the dealing with the sorcerer and the aftermath had more depth to it. But the first half of the book was enjoyable and I really liked the characters of Mykkael and Taskin.

The Darkest Road (Fionavar Tapestry Book 3) by Guy Gavriel Kay

Kim is on the quest to find and rescue the Paraiko. Jennifer is waiting at Lisen’s Tower for the Prydwen to return Dave is with the army of light as they march to war with Rakoth Maugrim. And the most important event as Darien must decide if he will side with the light or the dark.

I really enjoyed this book and thought it was probably the best of the Trilogy. It still had the problem of being predictable. (Except for the fight with Uathach I did not expect it to end as it did) but the story was intriguing. These books are nowhere near being ranked among the best I have read but are not among the worst. They were a good read but will not b among my first choices to reread.

The Wandering Fire (Fionavar Tapestry Book 2) by Guy Gavriel Kay

Kim, Kevin, Jennifer, Dave and Paul are now back in Toronto after the rescuing Jennifer from Rakoth Maugrim. They are desperate to find a way back to Fionavar to get revenge for Jennifer and there only way back is through Kim's powers. When Kim finds the way back she also finds she has a task to perform first which she finds horrific. She is to summon the Warrior a king who was cursed for all eternity to repeat tragic events. On Fionavar ready to make his move Rakoth Maugrim has started his war by causing an unending winter. Can the five aid the Fionavarians in ending the winter and defeating Rakoth Maugrim?

I enjoyed the book but found that the points of the story that were supposed to be unexpected were easy to predict, as the story is mostly adapted from famous myths or classic fantasy books. (i.e.. Lord of the Rings, Narnia etc.) I would probably say the book is enjoyable but formulaic. I must say that after the first book is was pleased that people who died tended to stay dead as opposed being returned to life.

Sacrifice of the Widow (Forgotten Realms: Lady Penitent Book 1) By Lisa Smedman

The War of the Spider Queen is over, Lolth has returned and has plans. It is time that the Drow only had one god and top of Lolth's list of gods to remove is Eilistraee. Eilistraee’s faithful are besieged on all sides by the worshipers of Selvetarm and Vhaeraun. A prophesy of Eilistraee’s reveals that House Melarn will be key in the struggle “House Melarn will aid me yet and House Melarn will betray me” Who will aid and who will Betray Halistra Melarn or Q’arlynd Melarn?

I really enjoyed this book it was much better then any of the books in The War of the Spider Queen. Lisa Smedman is becoming one of my favourite Forgotten Realms authors and is one of the best of the new authors. This book is great for the entire book you are left in the dark about the intentions of the key characters (except the priestess’s of Eilistraee). I had been unsure of this book because the War of the Spider Queen books were not particularly interesting but love this book and after the first few chapters could not put it down.

Depths of Madness (Forgotten Realms Novel: The Dungeons Book 1) By Eric Scott De Bie

When Twilight shadowdances away from the slaughter of her band of adventurers she wakes up to find herself in a cell. She escapes freeing the other prisoners and they try to find the way out of the dungeon that they find themselves trapped in. Twilight is elected leader of the band and must try to hold the contentious groups together long enough to escape the dungeons.

This was a pretty average Forgotten Realms book it is not a stand out story. The story actually irritated me because the whole thing seemed pointless. Even at the end I could see no reason why anyone would want to live in and control the dungeon just to watch adventurers fight through it.

Midnight Tides (Malazan Book of the Fallen Book 5) Steven Erikson

The Tiste Edur people are being manipulated by a god not there own. The separate Edur tribes have been made into a nation and they respond to aggression from the Letherii Empire with invasion to carve out there own empire. The leaders of the invasion are the Sengar family for whom the new god’s interference has brought only misery.

I was disappointed when I opened the book and saw no Malazan’s in the character list. A disappointment that only depend with the realisation that the book was going to be the story of Trull Sengar (Which I had absolutely no interest in). The redeeming features of this book were the chapters on Tehol Beddict (And associated character) and later on Iron Bars and his Crimson Guard. There were not enough of these chapters surrounded with lots of boring chapters about the Tiste Edur and the Letherii (Slaves, Politicians, Seren Pedac, etc.) On the whole a big disappointment after the great book that was House of Chains.