Farthest Reach

This book continues the Last Mythal Trilogy with just as interesting of a story and just as fast paced. There are 3 story arcs in this book as in the other one. The first is the continued war Lord Miritar of Evermeet on Dlardrageths in their new home, Myth Drannor. The second is the powerful wizard Araevin and his continued quest for ancient high magic lore. The third is that of the Dlardrageths themselves along with the allies/enemies they make. This trilogy is just as epic as Return of the Archwizards in my opinion. It is comparable in many ways including the fact that they introduce a high evil magical race called the Nilshai just like Return of the Archwizards introduced the Phaerimm. All the characters are very powerful and you see some pretty heavy duty magic being used. Plenty of action, the author also does an excellent job of detailing the settings the characters are in. Araevin's party crosses a VAST amount of Faerun on their question so far so you might want to get a map of Faerun handy with a Google search and have run to refer to as it puts their journey into perspective. If you loved the first book you will love this one too. I can't wait to read the 3rd book in this trilogy

"Farthest Reach" continues right where the first book, "Forsaken House," left off. I give this book five stars because it is one of the best Forgotten Realms books in recent time. It was energetic, exciting, fast-paced, and placed in a rich area of the fantasy world. I believe the book will be enjoyable for both fantasy lovers and dungeons and dragons lovers. The two main paths follow D & D adventures as if Baker was a real Dungeon Master and there were real players playing his adventure. One of the storylines is a campaign of battle and wars, with intrigue between political leaders. The second main plotline follows a group of adventurers following through dungeons, caves, and towns. Most of the main characters are fairly high-level characters with many impressive high level spells. The battles they are engaged in are exciting and just barely winnable. While reading I could keep imagining the D & D players thinking to themselves, "Wow, this might be the end. How am I going to get out of this one?" The good thing is that unlike other recent FR novels there is no random magic that saves the day - just a little craftiness, and a lot of luck (two things that every D & D player needs in a good session. I also like how the wizards and mages must memorize spells and spend time doing so at night while resting, just like in D & D sessions. These characteristics of the "The Last Mythal" trilogy make the adventure and characters more believable. Many books recently have been to convenient and easily handled by the main characters. There is lots of information and lore that enriches the general Forgotten Realms land. I eagerly await the final installment of this series (as well as the newly announced anthology, "Realms of Elves"). This book will not disappoint fans of D & D, the Forgotten Realms, and even general fantasy fans. Make sure to pick up "Forsaken House" first, though.

This story is made up of two distinctly different threads often found in a fantasy book, and they both are of the highest quality. The book has a great high-strategy, large army battles thread as it's A story. At the same time the B story is an excellent adventure / dungeon crawl with powerful high-level characters. Both sides of the story are filled with characters with real personalities. These stories intersect a few times through this book and seem to be leading towards a joined conclusion that really makes you long for the final book of the trilogy. Well done!

In my opinion, this is the best new Forgottem Realms trilogy (though the third one isn't out yet). The Last Mythal is an easy but by no means pedestrian read. A classic Good vs. Evil conflict, the story is simply a continuation of the glorified pitched battles between the Elves of Evermeet and the devils and demonspawn of House Dlardrageth. The reader is shuffled from one huge battle to another, with heroes and villains alike pausing to catch their breath in between. The setting revolves around the ruins of Myth Drannor. If someone has even a passing knowledge of Forgotten Realms, chances are he/she knows of this legendary city. Overall, an incredibly entertaining and satisfying read. Pick this up, there's no way it disappoints.

This is the second installment of The Last Mythal trilogy. I must say when I first opened the first book of this trilogy I was a little aprehensive. 20 pages into I was amazed and that amazement carried over tot he second book as well. Baker does a fantastic job yet again with this book. The thing I really enjoy about this book is the elves seem like elves. They are more concerned with themselves than what is happening to the humans. This book does a great job of touching on the political aspect of the elven societies. There are countless other things I enjoyed in this book, but if I listed them here I'm afraid I'd post spoilers and I don't want to do that. This is a very good read and I'm looking forward to the final book of this trilogy.