Spiderlight

It started out kind of like a typical questing party, following a prophecy to be able to defeat the dark lord. You have your warrior, wizard, priestess, thief, and archer, all seeming like your typical character. But then, thrown into the mix is a spider turned mostly human by Penthos (the wizard with lots of power but quick socially awkward) and things get muddled pretty fast. I really liked Nth. Both when he was fully a spider and as he traversed with the group to guide them to the dark lord. There are funny bits (mostly with Nth and his strength and spider ways in a human body) but then it does get quite serious with the various members of the group and how they feel and deal with Nth as well as Nth's struggle to reconcile his spider self and newly made human side and how he will never be fully one thing or another again. I will admit I yelled at some of the characters (mostly Dion and Harathes and especially when they traveled to Armes' city where all the other clergy dwell) for their unwillingness to see things as more than black and white. So, yeah, there is prejudice and hate mixed in with the humor (I love how Nth takes care of the doomsayers that cross paths with!) Besides Nth, I enjoyed the bits with Lief (reformed thief, mostly) because of how he treated Nth and the other party members going through crises of their own (like Cyrene dealing with how people treat female warriors in thinking they are easy). And Penthos who sometimes lives in a world different from everyone else in terms of what might be right or wrong just because it is possible to do with magic. The ending had a twist I have seen before but it worked well and I liked it, despite how it was a bit sad. I do really like Nth's part in it cause he deserved it for all that he went through on the journey to the dark lord's lands. This was an interesting world to visit and I did enjoy it. The author did a good job in writing it and in narrating the audiobook.