Customer Reviews

Lady of Poison: The Priests

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I thought I knew where things were going. But I was wrong. The characters kept finding themselves in new places. I especially enjoyed it when they traveled through the ancient Imaskaran plane of mistakes on their way to Dun Tharos. Also, I really liked the story behind Marrec's parentage--I don't want to give it away here. I bet wou will like it, too!

I'll start with a question. Why is this book called Lady of Poison if Talona's clergy are given whole 20 pages of the novel? Queen of Forest would have been a more suiting title, and it would even go along with other names of this series.

This book is so badly written, to the point of unbelievable. I'm not a native English speaker, and I noticed literally tens of grammatical errors. Editing is nonexistent.

Dialogues are in a class of their own. An example: A: "The Rotting Man is an evil power." B: "Then, I have to stop him! Let's go!" Absolutely unrealistic and boring.

This book is loaded with Realmslore, but the way of presentation is a problem. Usually, one of the characters asks another character about something they encounter, and then that character holds a one page monologue about that something, so you have a feeling it was a copy/paste action from one of the Supplement Books such as Unapproachable East.

The plot and characters are equally terrible. To put it in the short way, I'm 100% certain that this was once someone's pretty dull D&D campaign. Two characters are on the quest, they meet another character with similar goals, they go to the next place, meet another character who joins them...

The book is supposed to be about a priest of Lurue, but his connection to his deity is represented only by his endless worrying about the deity's waning power. That's it.

[...]

The characters in this story are well developed and non-standard. I really enjoyed the back story of the main character, and his battle with his ideas about himself. As I read this book, I noticed some of the 3rd ed. rules being woven in, quite well I think. I never asked the question "how the heck are these people still alive?" as I often do with Ed Greenwood or R. Salvatore books.

The concept of exploring priests is fairly unique; I think this series will prove they are trove of ideas and concepts that are entertaining as well as readable. I am very much looking forward to the next segment of "the priests" and I hope it is well done.

I thought this book was great. I liked the fact that the main party was composed of various clerics and men/women of various faiths. The party is composed at different times of elves, humans, mages, and a mudusa... oh, and a demon from time to time. Everybody in the party is from far away places and exotic lifestyles that are very interesting and facinating in their each exotic way. It shows how strong a party can be if there are many different skills, even though this party struggles often enough.

Also, the realm of enviornment that the characters are exploring and adventuring in is plagued, rotting, and decayed forest area because of the nemesis - the Rotting Man. He has overtaken the power of one of the cleric's God and there the adventure begins. The creatures and enemies are unlike anything I've read in a Forgotten Realms book. They are creatures that have also been overtaken by the decay and rot of the Rotting Man. There are also great battles that include magic weapons, potions of destruction, musical instraments, and demonic forces.

It is hard to actually review this book because it is so different than the typical fantasy adventures that I've read, especially from the Forgotten Realms. I'm excited to see what the rest of the books in "the Priests" series has in store for us.

I also liked Bruce R. Cordell's writing style. It was fresh and well written. I hope he continues to write because he's good - real good.

Read this book, it is a good one. Well worth the time.

"Lady of Poison" begins well, and my hat is off to the author for a truly original idea. The Forgotten Realms seems a bit stale, but "Lady" *mostly* avoided the standard drow/dwarf/elf characters and associated plot progression.

About a third of the way through the book, I found myself struggling to continue. The main character is two-dimensional at best, with an unexpected-but-unexciting origin. The supporting characters were similarly undeveloped, and seemed to discover or reveal necessary skills at a remarkable rate - Deus Ex at it's best.

Villians were over-hyped compared to the ease with which they were dispatched, although the brief underground sojourn and introduction of the Demon Queen was interesting. Unfortunately, this character, too, degenerated into a convenient mechanism for the author to extricate the adventurers from mortal peril.

I originally bought this book because I hoped that it would be told from evil's perspective. The concept of the Rotting Man and power granted by Talona is refreshing enough to get me to browse the next book on the shelf - not sure if it will be worth buying.

All in all, a decent book -- it is awfully wordy, though, and the characters seem to go on forever. Not only in the character's words, but the author's. Many names and explanations are often thrown about when they don't yet need to be.

Also have to say I was so saddened by the heroes in the story -- I had read Maiden of Pain first, and I was looking forward to seeing an author try to make a Talonite a justifiable (anti)hero, like the author of Maiden of Pain did with a Loviatan. :( The follower of Talona is the bad guy here, if any other of you bad-guy lovers were hoping for another of the same. Still though, give it a read.

--

Okay, I lied. After playing a Talontar in a PnP game and delving deeper into the lore behind Talona, this book is not even deserving of one star. It is complete and utter fail on every single level.

I just finished reading this novel by Bruce Cordell.

Absolutely horrendous. Amateurish writing to say the least. It could have been written by a high school student. I was greatly relieved to see that he was not the author of any more of the Priests novels. And hopefully he'll never be allowed to write another one.

What could have been great characters and follow up novels, were poorly written and developed by Cordell. The way he had them act and the things he had them say would never be uttered by characters living in the world they live in. I felt embarassed for them at times. Save your time and money and skip this novel.

I was a little aprehensive about this series. I wasn't sure if clerics could carry books the way mages and fighters have traditionally done. Yet, on the heals of the Rogues series I decided to give this a shot.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a fun fast paced book. Granted, as others have said, the writing and editing wasn't the best - but I don't think editing mistakes is a reason to downgrade a book.

The main character has a very interesting story one the easily captivates the reader, the story is gradually told throughout the first half or so of the book. The supporting characters are just as interesting.

The author does a very good job of scene description and character development throughout the story. It's fairly easy to feel invested in this story.

Overall, I'd receommend this book to most people. If you enjoy Forgotten Realms books I think you will most likely like this one.

When I read the title, I thought the book would be solely about the Priests of Talona. Instead it turned out to be a very good adventure!! Recommend this to anyone who enjoys the happenings in the Realms.

I got this book from a friend, and didn't think I'd read it. But after I read the begining scene, I was hooked.

The book seemed a little slow starting out (after the great opener), but I stuck with it. As soon as the main characters get to the elf stronghold, things kick into high gear. One of the characters, a woman wizard, finds a way into an abandoned 'storage' dimension, which seems interesting enough for a whole book of its own. But they just use it just to get to Dun Tharows, where the main villain infests the forest.

A good ending, and I hope to see more from this author!