'Forgotten Realms' is a collaborative work spread through
several volumes and times. In this instalment of the
medieval dark fantasy series, battle must be joined once
more. A woman going into labour is having difficulties,
when she is whisked through time to seventy years in her
future, where the child is saved at the expense of the
mother, but only a midwife prevents the baby from being
killed by superstitious people as they believe a shadow
will hang over him.
THE GODBORN then takes up the story as vicious winged
beings called devils or fiends attack Riven and Magadon,
two friends who haven't seen each other in a long time.
Riven knows the truth about the shadowed baby, who is now
thirty. But they fight for their lives, and this is only
the start, as the ominous stirrings of war are creeping
over their lands. Soon farm people are fleeing peril and
soldiers are patrolling the dangerous plains. Gerak, a
former soldier, straps on his sword and longbow to hunt for
food for his beloved wife Elle, soon to give birth.
Minstrels, wandering friars and pedlars used to come by his
house, but nobody has travelled the roads in months.
As with any story involving devouring demons and evil
forces, there is violence and nastiness to overcome, and a
new reader may be hampered by not knowing the names and
histories of the long-lived characters and lands. However
the jump ahead in time does give some kind of fresh start
and many characters are new. The demons may be of varieties
with names like veserab and malebranche, and Riven fears
that they are being summoned by the man who has come
forward through time; if you don't like nasty battles you
should look for a lighter fantasy.
Despite people having siphoned off powers and abilities
from the gods, and all the serried ranks of demons, there
is a lot of normal humanity in this story, which keeps us
reading. Fans of the 'Forgotten Realms' series will enjoy
THE GODBORN by Paul S Kemp and The Companions by RA
Salvatore, another new release in the series.
In the 2nd book of the multi-author Sundering series
launched by New York Times best-selling author R.A.
Salvatore, the shadow legacy of Erevis Cale lives on even as
his old foe Mephistopheles seeks to stamp it out at any
cost. Cale’s son Vasen—unmoored in time by the god Mask—has
thus far been shielded from the archdevil’s dark schemes,
alone among the servants of the Lord of Light who have
raised him since birth.
Living in a remote abbey nestled among the Thunder Peaks of
Sembia, Vasen is haunted by dreams of his father, trapped in
the frozen hell of Cania. He knows the day will come when he
must assume his role in the divine drama unfolding across
Faerûn. But Vasen knows not what that role should be . . .
or whether he is ready to take it on. He only knows what his
father tells him in dreams—that he must not fail.
Enter Drasek Riven, a former compatriot of Erevis Cale, now
near divine and haunted by dreams of his own—he too knows
the time to act is near. Shar, the great goddess of
darkness, looks to cast her shadow on the world forever.
Riven has glimpsed the cycle of night she hopes to complete,
and he knows she must be stopped.
At the crossroads of divine intrigue and mortal destiny,
unlikely heroes unite to thwart the powers of shadow and
hell, and the sundering of worlds is set on its course.