Undead

Even after all this time, and again countless authors, universes, characters, once I start reading your work, I can not stop, you bring new light to your characters, at best Szass Tam was a forgettable villain and the Red Wizards of Thay, a mediocre grouping of wanna-be mages. A plaything to such characters as The Blackstaff, Storm Silverhand and Mystra's other Chosen, including the great Elminster.........

The second book of the Undead Land trilogy, fleshes out characters Aoth Fezim Captain of the Griffon legion, Bareris Anskuld one time bard, but becoming something else, the love of his life Tammith a vampire captain in Szass Tam's army, the other Zulkirs opposing Szass Tam, one by one plans, counterplans reach fruition, fail, all for each factions dreams on being the one on top!

Aside from that, this is the first time I'm reading who is supposed to win in a battle between the undead and demons/devils unfortunately, the conclusion left me hanging........drat and double drat!!!!!

If you want action, well you read the right book, comedy, we have that too, romance, oh wow!!!! A downtrodden bard and an angry vampire, a lovely pair......horror, undead, demons, devils.......check.......all in all truly a wonderful book!!!!!

Oh did I mention, it's written by Richard Lee Byers!!!!! Now to the last book...........Szass Tam wonder who's better????? You or Azalin??

Enjoyed it more than book 1, the 10 year time skip felt a little odd at first. The motivations of most of the characters were pretty unclear as well and a quite a few felt pretty flat.

Well now, I guess all the personalities and separate plot lines came together to bear fruit in book 2. I actually didn't realise that this book crosses the Year of the Blue Fire - the Realms-wide Spellplague event.

The conflict that started in book 1 was now 10 years ago, and Thay is a nation torn apart by civil war. You are still following the same characters and you see through their eyes, actions, and reflections on how the war has changed them and the land around them.

I'd say this was portrayed very well, and you start getting attached to these characters - even the zulkirs and their quirks. By far, Malark and Aoth got a lot more interesting, while Bareris got better (didn't quite like him in book 1) - although that bit with Tammith felt a bit odd and forced.

The descriptions of the war and the action was done well, and I found the pacing to be good.

Lore-wise, it was pretty good - portraying the after effects of the death of the goddess Mystra in a deadly, mysterious, and very much land-altering event.

Book 2 is definitely an intermediate book, as it's not enough to stand on its own. Definitely looking forward to book 3.