Book Review – Unclean

Author: Richard Lee Byers
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
Binding: Paperback
Publication Date: >April 2007

The Forgotten Realms is the most well known shared world in Fantasy and we get to talk about one of the most secretive areas of the Realms by venturing into Thay for this story. I am really happy to be able to step back in to somewhere I find familiar and intriguing at the same time, as the Forgotten Realms has been a reading home of mine for some time now. The Realms have an abundance of history, and while Thay is referenced time and time again, it is nice to fully visit this area and take a look at the inner working of betrayal and politics that are so common place. Why do they all wear red robes again though, can someone answer this question for me?

Byers gives us a few storylines at the beginning of the book, but the overall theme we have is Szass Tam and his overall plans to take over Thay and then all of the Forgotten Realms. By the end of the book, we see some of the story lines intersect and we know that all of the players introduced are part of a larger game. Bareris the bard, and his love interest, Tammith, give us our required save the damsel part of the story with a nice, interesting twist. Tammith’s story is far from over, and even though her part played in book one was small, I believe she is part of the greater story. We have Aoth, who is a battle mage griffon rider. That seems a little out of place in the backstabbing politics being played, but she does give the reader an insight into the army fighting the undead from the Thay standpoint. We then have all the Zulkirs and Burning Braziers – with Milsantos and Nymia (Tharchions) commanding the army – trying to fight the undead menace. There is some nice interaction from some of the background characters, including Samas Kul; who is Master of the Guild of Foreign Trade, Iphegor Nath; High Flamelord of the Church of Kossuth; and others. Back to Szass Tam, this lich is a force to be reckoned with as master of magic. Though, we hear from others who are too awestruck to even make moves against the Zulkir of Necromancy. “I’m a Red Wizard of Illusion, and I have no idea how one would go about managing that.” Okay, so if people who have a lifetime of study in an area of magic are in awe of the power of Szass Tam when performing magic that isn’t in his sphere of magic, we have a villain that is no push over. Don’t worry about all these characters, at the end of the story there is a list of people under the title Personages of Thay. This really helps you keep track of everyone and the part they play in Thay, and I am very glad it was included.

Ah…one of the greatest things about a shared world, cross referencing – also one of the worst. The dilemma is that you have tons of back history and other plots and going ons in the world at large. This makes you feel you are in a breathing world that you know a lot about and isn’t just about one set of people pigeon holed in a world building exercise where you meet less then .01 percent of the population. The bad part as an author must be to integrate this in a way that if the user didn’t read one of those previous series you know what is going on. Byers does this in his referring the Rage of Dragons, “The Great Rage of Dragons two years ago was but one manifestation of a sort of universal ferment likely to continue for a while.” I have read the Rage of Dragons and the reference is known to me, but even if not you still get the general meaning. It is also cross promotional as maybe you will now want to read more about what is going on in the world. A fine balance is necessary and Byers does that well.

Another strong point in the beginning to this series is the betrayal and political machinations that are going on as everyone tries to scramble for more power, as well as trying to stay alive. Thay always seemed to be teetering on some sort of political see saw where it could all implode upon itself or take over the rest of the realm at the same time, and this story line is no different. I like Thay as there is such an uneasy balance of power, not unlike the Drow, except that because of the human lifespan things seem to happen more often in Thay.

I am a huge fan of stories where magic is abundant, magic weapons, the supernatural around every corner, and large scale battles where wizards, priest, and warriors all play a big part of the strategy of the battle. From battle mages flying griffons to demons a lich commanding an undead army, you have it all: necromancers, gnolls, orcs and bards also included in the package. The Forgotten Realms is a true Monty Haul campaign and I enjoy every minute of it.

The Forgotten Realms have seemed to grow up recently by introducing more and more mature stories for the seasoned speculative fiction reader. This publisher does not only cater to the YA crowd or novice fantasy reader anymore. Byers writing is well formed and I enjoyed the flow of the story with only a few lines that seemed forced from the characters. A very strong start to “The Haunted Lands” and I am very eager to read more and how this touches the world at large. Richard Lee Byers should be well known to anyone who frequents “The Realms” and his writing is placing him in the top echelon of writers that Wizards of the Coast enjoys. You can feel safe in placing him in the same category as Salvatore and Kemp when we talk about fast paced, magic infused, sword and sorcery fantasy.

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