Marked for Death: The Lost Mark, Book 1

This book was a good read from start to finish. Well defined characters, a good mix between action and dialog, numerous different fantasy creatures in the mix and a plot that kept you involved throughout. Add in a few unexpected twists, and it was everything you will want from a fantasy novel.

To be honest, I didn't like Eberron at all since I heard of its inception. I just didn't like campaign settings that I didn't create. However, I read the "prequel" to this novel in Dragon magazine and I immediately went out to purchase this book. What really did it for me was Burch. He seems to literally breathe on the page. The characters are all done very well. I even liked how the Warforged of the Mournland rose from hiding very undead-like in their first encounter...wonderful.

Okay. First of all I want to say that a lot of the reviews that have been given so far have been quite unfair. This is by no means a bad novel, in fact it is quite the opposite. I had no previous knowledge as to what this book was going to be about, and as I am not an expert on Eberron I was not even sure what Dragonmarks really represented. So going into this I was open minded, and ready to be educated. Before Marked for Death, there had only been one other Eberron novel which was Keith Bakers 'City of Towers' which many people raved about. But I found it to be inferior compared to Matt Forbecks novel. Now Keith Baker was a first time novelist, so I am ready to give him another chance it the future. Matt is a great visual storyteller. All the way through the book I was right there in the moment, in every scene. From the moment I started reading about the frontier town on Mardakine, to the final sequences on the moving Warforged City I was gripped. I really enjoyed the characters of this novel, especially Kandler. He is a character with quite a bit of history, but I still think that he will evolve farther over the course of the series. One of the things people have complained the most about is Espre, and it is something that I mentioned a couple of times too. Espre gets captured and released, and captured again frequently through the novel. If anyone has ever watched the TV show '24' then it is quite like watching Kim Bauer getting herself into bad sitautions. But I still love watching '24' and I will certainly keep reading more of Matts novels.

This is a great book, revealing more about the people, places and magic of Eberron. The first book in this series is very exciting, fast paced and a joy to read. I love this new world of Eberron and can't wait to get my hands on more of these books. Highly recommended to anyone who loves Eberron, who wants to learn more about it and who loves, fast, high paced action with lots of twists and turns!

This is a great beginning to a great D & D setting. the book really gives you a feel for eberron. It reminds a lot of Crystal Shard from forgotten realms in that the story is very character driven and all the settings in the book are fleshed out enough that you get the jist of where they are and what its like without the story becoming all about the place rather than the characters . By the end of this book you feel real connected to the plight of Kandler the main character and his friend Burch, Sallah, and Xalt. Who in there own ways remind me so very much of Drizzt, Bruennor, Catti-brie and Wulfgar. All and all this books rocks!! if you are an avid D & D player/dm who likes to read the novels that tie in to the Campaign or your just a lover of all things fantasy than you will dig this book big time.