The cover of Tangled Webs. On the left, a dark elf has a ball of light floating above her hands. On the right, a mind flayer (which has breasts for some reason) is shooting lightning at the ball of light.

Tangled Webs

“I wish more of these novels would bother depicting relationships where love is something you have to work at and build, not something that just magically happens when two people are near each other for long enough.”

The cover of Murder in Cormyr. Two men are examining a body on a table in a basement. One is a young man holding a torch and a sword; the other is a fat older man holding a staff.

Murder in Cormyr

“It’s been a long time since I read a Realms novel that I found myself looking forward to picking up again each time I put it down.”

The cover of Escape from Undermountain. A burly black-haired swordsman strikes a dramatic pose in the foreground. In the background, a huge headless statue shoots lightning from its fingertips.

Escape from Undermountain

“If stripped of all the padding and reduced to only scenes which further the bare “escape from Undermountain, remove curse, get revenge on our betrayer” plot, Escape from Undermountain would be a rather short novella.”

The cover of Realms of Magic. On the left is Khelben Arunsun, a black-haired, black-bearded man holding a black staff. In the middle is Elminster, a white-bearded old man in red robes and a big red hat. On the right is some young man carrying a bunch of scrolls and a book.

Realms of Magic

“Another year, another anthology! This year’s theme is ‘wizards and magic,’ and it must be quite the well of inspiration indeed, because there are no fewer than seventeen stories this time around plus a prologue and epilogue.”

The cover of War in Tethyr. A black-haired swordswoman dressed in blue is cutting down a bunch of random bandit-looking guys. The bandits look unhappy about the situation. The trees in the background don't care.

War in Tethyr

War in Tethyr starts off as a potentially interesting story, but devolves into a polemic where the author uses this mass-market paperback fantasy novel as a soapbox for espousing his political convictions.”

The cover of All Shadows Fled. A man with an eyepatch tentatively reaches out to touch a floating hand that's holding some sort of cylindrical object, a scroll or rod or something. The background is a swirl of random blue stuff. None of this has anything to do with the contents of the book.

All Shadows Fled

“It’s basically Malaugrym spring break — unwise youngsters on their own without supervision for the first time, making bad decisions and getting into trouble — which is the worst way to sell them as impressive villains.”

The cover of The Titan of Twilight. A chubby-cheeked giant wearing a crown is ripping a tower off of a castle. Inside the tower is a cloaked woman with an expression of dull surprise.

The Titan of Twilight

“If I were to rank every baby in fiction by how sympathetically they’re portrayed, Kaedlaw would rank just ever so slightly above the keening fetus-beast from Eraserhead.”