The Fall of Highwatch: Chosen of Nendawen, Book I

The Fall of Highwatch by Mark Sehestedt- This is the first book in the Chosen of Nendawen trilogy, the second being Hand of the Hunter (due out in December 2010) and the third being Cry of the Ghost Wolf (due out December of 2011), all set in the Forgotten Realm universe. Mark Sehestedt is the author of two other Forgotten Realms novels and a Eberron novel. The Eberron novel is Tales of the Last War and the two Forgotten Realms novels are Frostfell, part of The Wizards series of stand-alone novels, and Sentinelspire, part of The Citadels series of stand-alone novels. A character from Frostfell reappear in this novel. The story is about a young woman named Hwielan, the granddaughter of the High Warden of the fortress Highwatch. Her grandmother is making Hwielan leave for a year to a city in Damara to, hopefully, meet a young noble to marry. Hwielan doesn't like this idea and asks her mother her opinion, which, surprising to her, her mother agrees with her grandmothers thought. Before she can go, while at her father's grave, Highwatch gets attacked from the inside and everything she knows is lost. While being pursued, Hwielan finds her friend and teacher, Scith, who tries to figure out what happen to Highwatch, but never returns. Hwielan decides to go after him and finds him near death and tortured, and she gets caught, but it rescued by an elf named Lendri (from Frostfell) he tells her to follow him to safety. But things don't go as planned. Between being relentlessly chased by an unholy being in the form of her uncle, being captured by eladrin elf named Menduarthis and taken to the Feywild, and finding out that she is something much more, it looks like Hwielan doesn't have much chance to escape. Negatives: 1) Descriptions. Before I really say anything, they were just wonderful. It was amazing how much Mark Sehestedt described the landscape and everything in between. You really can picture everything described. However, there is a slight, slight problem. Every once and a while, the descriptions slow down the story. For example, when Hwielan is going to met the Queen while she is in the Feywild, the palace's description got in the way more than it should. It just became a little distracting. 2) Cliffhanger. It just had to stop at a cliffhanger. And I have to wait a good ten months till I can read the next one. It just isn't fair. I really never wanted the story to end. Positives: 1) Characters. The characters were just plain wonderful. They really made the story as a whole interesting and engaging. Hwielan was a wonderful main character. She brought a lot of helplessness and confusion to the story. Basically, she just was a normal girl thrown into something very abnormal and it really shows with everything she does. It's amazing how she adapts and grows while the story progresses. Menduarthis was great for many reasons. His, at times, cold attitude towards Hwielan and Lendri makes him out to be more of a villain than one of the heroes. But a

Forgotten Realms: Chosen of Nendawen #1: The Fall of Highwatch, by Mark Sehestedt "The Fall of Highwatch" is a Forgotten Realms novel set in the 4th Edition D & D world, but don't let that stop you from reading this excellent book. Let me start by saying that I don't play D & D, but I have read many FR novels and rather enjoy them. The fortress of Highwatch sits in the Giantspire Mountains, in the frozen regions of Narfell. The citadel has stood strong for over a century, as the landscape around it has made it virtually impregnable. Indeed, Highwatch only falls because of inside treachery, when the captain of the guard betrays everyone for a second chance with his deceased love. Hweilan, the granddaughter of the Warden of Highwatch, survives the massacre, and is thrust into a wild journey through the wilds of Narfell and even a jaunt into the Feywild. On the run from a dangerous vampire-like demon, she meets Lendri, an elf who claims to be bloodkin and oathsworn, and Menduarthis, a strange male who takes her into the Feywild because he's "bored." Even after losing everything she knows - her family, her home - Hweilan is still a strong character, and more stubborn than a donkey. Sehestedt sets up an intriguing plot, and I can't wait for the other two books of this trilogy; I'm frustrated that I'll have to wait a year for the next installment - especially since the book ends on quite a cliffhanger. Just enough is revealed that you want to know more, and I kept reading long after I meant to go to sleep. The action is very very fast, and will at times leave you wondering just how Hweilan could have the energy to continue running and fighting after enduring so much, but adrenaline and the will to live make sense. Sometimes things were too predictable, but not often enough to really detract. Lastly, I have to say I absolutely love the cover design of this book - it's very different, as it's horizontal art instead of vertical. The theme is continued inside, and looks very nice overall. It's eye-catching. 4/5.

The Fall of Highwatch (TFoH) is the first book in a new trilogy by Mark Sehestedt called Chosen of Nendawen. The second book Hand of the Hunter is scheduled to be released in December 2010 and the Third, Cry of the Ghost Wolf, in December 2011. Those who have read Frostfell in the Wizards series will be able to read more about one of the characters from there as well as some background that bleeds over into this one. TFoH is fast paced right from the start. It takes a few pages to get the reader set up with a short background of the people and the land, introduces some characters, and then the mayhem begins and doesn't let up until the middle. With such a frantic pace, there may be some readers who may feel that they miss a point or key information in all the action. I, however, did not feel that way. The novel has some good transitions and flows nicely. The plot has many elements and so the main plot really doesn't come in until towards the end. It begins with a character being given a quest to find Nendawen's chosen since he didn't bring a sacrifice when he entered his lands. Then there is the battle that brings down the ruling family and all loyal to Highwatch except one, Hweilan, who escapes and later becomes hunted. Also during this there is Gulric who has allied himself with a spellscarred person, Argalath, who is to help Gulric revive his dead wife. Other characters appear when Hweilan is taken to the Feywild and meets the queen there to decide her fate. She also meets Menduarthis who is more than he seems. There are many sub plots such as the reason Hweilan is wanted, the deeper ambitions of Argalath, and others that may lead to spoilers. Of all the characters, I liked Menduarthis the most. I was able to connect with most of the characters. The one that I had the hardest time connecting with was Lendri. His character seemed bland and just didn't add much flavor to his scenes. All the rest were easier, even the villains were easy to connect with. As for character development, there really wasn't much in this book. I have a feeling that now with the story and characters set up, there will be much more development in the subsequent books. A couple criticisms: 1. Like I mentioned previously, I couldn't connect with Lendri's character. It has been a long time since I read Frostfell so I may be missing something with this character, but he just didn't seem to make me care about him that much. 2. I have read previous reviews claiming that Mr. Sehestedt did not give good descriptions of the cold wastes in Frostfell and I believe he listened because even though the descriptions are a lot better in this one, later after all the fighting and chasing he seemed to describe everything and the story really slowed down there. I felt like I was being told every minute detail. This was good for getting the author's vision across, but after the speed of the first half of the book, this sudden "Slow School Zone" pace felt too slow. 3. For those who