Maiden of Pain: The Priests

First, an unbelievable fact. This is the FIRST novel by Kameron Franklin. If it wasn't written on the cover, I would never have guessed. Surely the best first novel by any author ever to explore the fascinating realms of Faerun. I hope Franklin will be given more space by the Wizards to claim his rightful place alongside Bob Salvatore and Paul S. Kemp as a FR great. Now, more on the novel. It is a story about Ythnel, a young cleric of Loviatar from Thay sent to tutor a girl in Luthcheq, a city-state ruled by mad Karanok dynasty. She gets falsely accused of being a wizard (which is punishable by death in Luthechq), and a beautiful story about prejudice, revenge and devotion starts. The story, and the way it's told is simply brilliant. I have nothing more to say on that matter. The main character is an unorthodox protagonist, and the villains (the whole Karanok family, plus one or two other characters) are well described and believable. The supporting characters are a bit crude, and fall a bit short from the overall quality of the book, but it doesn't make them bad but average. What this book has, and most of the others don't have, however, are those little details that separate a good book from a great book. The novel gives an excellent insight in clergy of Loviatar, making them more than leather bound S-M dominatrixes, as they were often described earlier. I love books where it is not so easy to distinguish good and evil, and that is unfortunately a rare thing in FR novels. There is not much bad to say about this book, except maybe the unnecessary connection between one of Thay's Zulkirs and the events in this book. But again, maybe it is just a little sneak-peak into things to come. I hope it is. This is a must-read. Alongside "Road of the Patriarch" and Erevis Cale trilogy, maybe the best book to come out of Wizards publishing in the last couple of years. Bravo.

As a die-hard fan of the Forgotten Realms storyline, I've found this to be one of my favorite books. Being the player of usually Lawful Evil characters, it's refreshing to see the main character of this book not Elminster, Drizzt, or a Harper, but one of the bad guys themselves; a decidedly Lawful Evil Loviatan cleric. Though the writing is not to the level of the more well known authors in the FR fiction line, it is quite entertaining, dipping into one of the more hilarious storylines in the source books (That being the Church of Entropy, a bunch of idiots who worship a Sphere of Annihilation). Seen along the way are Were-crocodiles. That's never a bad thing!

I loved this book. 75th fr book that I've read. I don't think it was as dark a book as everyone has been saying. Regardless of main character's Loviatan religion, she obviously seemed like a good person, even if she wasn't exactly "nice." Being a nice person and being a good person are two comepletely different things. This book was definitely about growing up and discovering the harsh realities of the realms and overcoming those realities. The "good guys" in this book were not very powerful characters, and no, they weren't very smart because they were not very battle tested. They were very courageous however, despite being imperiled by nature and enemies that were more powerful than they were. They bided there time, fled when necessary, and prayed when they could do nothing else, and received Tymora's blessing when they absolutely needed it. There really wasn't any danger to all Faerun. The story really just concerned Chessenta, particullary just concerned the ruling family of Luthcheq and some minor political and economic implications of Thay. The book fairly fast-paced. It's almost like the main character was thrown into a maelstrom from the very being, and the question became whether she could gain her composure and take control of the situation. This book teaches valuable lessons on the importance of discipline, perserverance, and self-improvement, and I highly recommend it.

This a very well written book. The Author really knows how to paint a picture with words. Bravo!!