Mistress of the Night: The Priests [Mass Market Paperback]

Don Bassingthwaite (Author), Dave Gross (Author)

Book Description

Series: The Priests | Publication Date: September 1, 2004

Second in a series of stand-alone adventures about the clerics of the Forgotten Realms world.
Mistress of the Night is the second title in this Forgotten Realms novel series that focuses specifically on priests, the popular D&D iconic class also known as clerics. Each title chronicles priests loyal to a different deity in the Forgotten Realms pantheon. Like the preceding series The Rogues, each novel in The Priests series is written as a stand-alone adventure, allowing new readers an easy entry point into the Forgotten Realms world.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dave Gross is a magazine editor in Seattle, Washington. His most recent Forgotten Realms novel titles were Lord of Stormweather and Black Wolf from the Sembia series, in addition to contributing a short story to The Halls of Stormweather anthology.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Wizards of the Coast (September 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786933461
• ISBN-13: 978-0786933464
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 3.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #220,540 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Moments of Brilliance... and mediocrity, July 26, 2005

By 

Ben Wand "I used to be cool..." (Gresham, OR United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mistress of the Night: The Priests (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a tough book to peg. One good thing is it's unique enough of a story that it certainly wasn't bland.

Feena is a werewolf and priestess of Selune, who returns to the temple in yhuann where a Sharran cult is emerging. A local wizards' son is recruited to the Sharran cult, and is instrumental in their plans to recover an ancient artifact as well as in the ongoing conflict between Shar and Selune.

There are parts in the story where it drags a bit. There are also parts where it's exciting and intriguing. With a tad bit more polish, this probably could have been among the best FR books ever. Despite a 3 star rating, I would still recommend it, because it is unique enough that others may enjoy it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Good, February 10, 2007

By 

Neso (Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mistress of the Night: The Priests (Mass Market Paperback)

Gross and Bassingthwaite bring us a very entertaining story about eternal struggle between Selune and her dark sister Shar, this time taking root in Sembian city of Yhauun. Although the book was written by two authors, they complement each other masterfully, and you can't really tell which part was written by which author.

This book delivers a lot of details on Selune's and Shar's clergy rituals, rites and hierarchy. I expected much more of that in other "Priests" books, but only "Maiden of Pain" delivered, to some extent. The characters, and especially Keph (one of two main characters), are fairly interesting. I only wished for more insight into Feena's (the other main character) past. The plot is solid but nothing of breathtaking or truly memorable. The pace of the book is at a slower side, just the way I like novels to be, so the authors could delve into detail a bit deeper. The authors describe the setting beautifully, giving you a rich picture of Yhauun and its major landmarks. The writing styles, and especially dialogues, are fluid and rich.

I have no major complains about this novel. To put is in short, it is a combination of good characters and even better writing style standing on a solid plot. Make sure to read it.

As for the "Priests" series as a whole, I was very pleasantly surprised before I read "Lady of Poison". That book is so badly written that I can't believe it even got published. "Queen of Depths" is an average FR novel, classic Byers I would say. This book and "Maiden of Pain" are in my opinion true jewels of the series. The series got an average of 3.25 stars from me, which is above average. If only not for that "Lady of Poison"...

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting concept, August 14, 2005

By 

Andrew Gray "Beezer Review" (Minnesota) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mistress of the Night: The Priests (Mass Market Paperback)

This was a fun book for me to read. I don't want to post spoilers here, but there are some interesting twists involving the main characters that play a big part of the plot down the road.

The author does a very good job of moving this story along with the right mix of action, details and setting descriptions. Also, some of the things the author adds are rather unconventional and therefore makes the book very interesting. He tends to go against the grain in a couple of areas, and for that I applaud the author.

This is not the type of book that you see rehashed and rehashed over and over again, this is something new and interesting. Give it a shot if you are a fan of the Forgotten Realms.