Child of prophecy? Harbinger of Doom
Zaltys is a girl like any other to grow up ranging thejungles of the Southern Lluirwood. She’s a crack shot with a bow and no stranger to the dangers that lurk beneath the deep forest canopy.
On expedition with her family to harvest the forbidden terazul flower, a powerful drug that has gathered many a dreamer into its narcotic embrace, Zaltys is about to unearth a truth long buried by the feculent loam of deception.
As the veil is lifted on the world Zaltys thought she knew, a pathway to the Underdark promises the answers her family never gave. Venturing forth in search of truth, Zaltys finds betrayal to be a much easier quarry. But it will take more than a lode of lies to quell the venom in her veins.
Venom in Her Veins: A Forgotten Realms Novel
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Browse our Bookshelf Favorites store for big savings on popular fiction, nonfiction, children's books, and more. |
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Tim Pratt, an editor for Locus Magazine, lives in Oakland, California, with his wife, Heather Shaw and their son River. His fiction and poetry have appeared in The Best American Short Stories: 2005, The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, Strange Horizons, Realms of Fantasy, Asimov's, Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, and Year's Best Fantasy, among many others.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? |
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Although the title of the book sounds like some sort of Grindhouse Movie, it's actually a pretty good D&D Adventure. It's about a hot chick in snakeskin pants shooting dwarves in the face with a bow... then there's her friend Glory, a seductive half devil woman with cleavage, horns, and the morals of an alley cat... You know, it actually would make a good Grindhouse Movie!
Story:
The story is just over 300 pages, so this adventure is pretty short. But it's fast paced and the characters and action are very entertaining. It begins with the birth of Zaltys, a Yuan-Ti. The Yuan-Ti are mutant snake-men who occasionally are born with some human body parts; some more than others. When Zaltys is born, aside from a patch of scales on her back, she looks like a human infant. Is this a child of prophecy or a delicious sacrifice for their evil god?
The Yuan-Ti decide to sacrifice her, but before they can throw her into the pit, their camp is overrun by Derro. Derro are insane dwarves from the Underdark who enslave the races from above. The Yuan-Ti settlement is wiped out, but they overlook Zaltys and leave her behind. Shortly after, she is discovered by a merchant caravan that deals in narcotic flowers. With no trace of the Yuan-Ti, they believe that Zaltys is a human baby. The leader of the caravan raises Zaltys as if she were her own daughter. The story skips ahead, to where Zaltys, unaware of her Yuan-Ti heritage, goes on an adventure and begins to discover secrets about her past.
World Building:
For a Forgotten Realms Novel, the world building is pretty light. It all takes place in the jungle and in labyrinthine caverns beneath the jungle. Many of the typical classes and enemies are represented.... Read more ›
Story:
The story is just over 300 pages, so this adventure is pretty short. But it's fast paced and the characters and action are very entertaining. It begins with the birth of Zaltys, a Yuan-Ti. The Yuan-Ti are mutant snake-men who occasionally are born with some human body parts; some more than others. When Zaltys is born, aside from a patch of scales on her back, she looks like a human infant. Is this a child of prophecy or a delicious sacrifice for their evil god?
The Yuan-Ti decide to sacrifice her, but before they can throw her into the pit, their camp is overrun by Derro. Derro are insane dwarves from the Underdark who enslave the races from above. The Yuan-Ti settlement is wiped out, but they overlook Zaltys and leave her behind. Shortly after, she is discovered by a merchant caravan that deals in narcotic flowers. With no trace of the Yuan-Ti, they believe that Zaltys is a human baby. The leader of the caravan raises Zaltys as if she were her own daughter. The story skips ahead, to where Zaltys, unaware of her Yuan-Ti heritage, goes on an adventure and begins to discover secrets about her past.
World Building:
For a Forgotten Realms Novel, the world building is pretty light. It all takes place in the jungle and in labyrinthine caverns beneath the jungle. Many of the typical classes and enemies are represented.... Read more ›
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Gary
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I'd read many Forgotten Realms novels and series back in the day, but I haven't bought any FR novels in years. I decided to try this one because I enjoy Tim Pratt's writing.
It was written in a different style to Tim's other books and really well done. It's a good role-playing adventure novel. It would be a nice module to play, although I haven't played AD&D in years.
The end was satisfying, with enough open threads that I'm hoping for a sequel.
It was written in a different style to Tim's other books and really well done. It's a good role-playing adventure novel. It would be a nice module to play, although I haven't played AD&D in years.
The end was satisfying, with enough open threads that I'm hoping for a sequel.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Ather Masood
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This work brought back fond memories of all things D&D related for me. Especially the Queen of the DeamonWeb Pits modules
Looking forward to see where Zaltys goes from here.
Looking forward to see where Zaltys goes from here.
By C. French
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Good book for an airplane or a day at the beach, but won't blow you socks off.
The narrative is decent and the writing is competent but this book is just not anything particularly excellent. Character motivations are varied and interesting.
Spoilers from here on out:
The whole "I'm from an inherently evil race but I am good and also super awesome" theme will be familiar to anyone who has read the more famous Forgotten Realms series. This is more of the same. I read it for the Yuan-ti, while trying to get my own ideas sorted out for a campaign I was running. In that regard it is a fun intro to an awful lot of the races and lore of the Forgotten Realms.
The narrative is decent and the writing is competent but this book is just not anything particularly excellent. Character motivations are varied and interesting.
Spoilers from here on out:
The whole "I'm from an inherently evil race but I am good and also super awesome" theme will be familiar to anyone who has read the more famous Forgotten Realms series. This is more of the same. I read it for the Yuan-ti, while trying to get my own ideas sorted out for a campaign I was running. In that regard it is a fun intro to an awful lot of the races and lore of the Forgotten Realms.
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I was excited to get this book due to its involvement of the Yuan-Ti, one of my favorites. The book starts off great, but then seems to weaken as it progresses. As a gamer with over 30 years of running games, I can speak with some authority that the problem with many fantasy books (and gaming campaigns) is the desire of the person creating the story to give it the "soap opera" treatement - meaning all these twists and layers and withheld information and layers and plots and schemes to try to make the reader go "oooh". For the premise of this novel, it just wasn't necessary.
The biggest issue I had was with one of the characters, a 15 year old boy with a sad crush on his slightly older teen cousin. Although not blood family, she is only referred to as 'family' and the kid has to try to justify in his head how he can get around the 'family' thing. It really got creepy. One reason I stopped reading certain authors related to DnD was the borderline child pornography. Ed Greenwood is the biggest offender, his sick fantasies have no place in fantasy novels. In more than one book he has teenage girls doing everything from running around naked, to having sex, to firing magical energy from their nipples. I'm serious. I was afraid this book was headed there too - but luckily the quash that at the end of the book.
A couple things were plain silly, like one guard peering into a hole and getting instantly killed by "dozens" of crossbow bolts, as if there were 40 or 50 enemies crammed into a small tunnel, all firing at once; as well a few other pretty flagrant errors. Still, the author did a good job explaining "game terms" innocently into the story, a touch I thought well done.... Read more ›
The biggest issue I had was with one of the characters, a 15 year old boy with a sad crush on his slightly older teen cousin. Although not blood family, she is only referred to as 'family' and the kid has to try to justify in his head how he can get around the 'family' thing. It really got creepy. One reason I stopped reading certain authors related to DnD was the borderline child pornography. Ed Greenwood is the biggest offender, his sick fantasies have no place in fantasy novels. In more than one book he has teenage girls doing everything from running around naked, to having sex, to firing magical energy from their nipples. I'm serious. I was afraid this book was headed there too - but luckily the quash that at the end of the book.
A couple things were plain silly, like one guard peering into a hole and getting instantly killed by "dozens" of crossbow bolts, as if there were 40 or 50 enemies crammed into a small tunnel, all firing at once; as well a few other pretty flagrant errors. Still, the author did a good job explaining "game terms" innocently into the story, a touch I thought well done.... Read more ›
By cornelius
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Not a bad story at all
It was a taste of some hero's
That mite make a mark on this world of fantasy
It was a taste of some hero's
That mite make a mark on this world of fantasy
Format:Mass Market Paperback
When I received Venom in her Veins, It was the first time I had spent with Mr. Pratt. I did look him up and given his track record (positive feedback from other novels), I was excited to try out something new.
I will spare going to deep in to the story as it can be read in the book description. The novel flows well, from setup, to character building, to building up to the climax, nothing was under or over written. The characters are fleshed out enough to understand, and to relate to. Zaltys and Co all have enough going for them, where I cared to see what was going to happen to each of them, none were "Expendable filler" (thrown in to die or to carry the story to another point - everyone had a purpose).
My only complaint is this book is a one shot, with Tim's writing style; I would love to see him to a trilogy. I was surprised to not find his name as frequent under my favorite RPG brands after reading through Venom in her veins. He definitely nailed the essence of the pen and paper gaming adventure with Venom in her Veins.
Overall, as a player / GM, this book would make a great module, be it any edition of our favorite RPG systems. As a non player, I felt this book flowed well enough to bring any one along for the ride, an enjoyable adventure. If I was not overworked, and juggling schedules for the kids, I would have easily killed this book in a night, unfortunately it took many months to go through, each time revisiting, I knew exactly where it was at without having to backtrack. It was definitely worth the price of admission. As a GM, It helped flesh out the Derro, and will change how I play them in my game.... Read more ›
I will spare going to deep in to the story as it can be read in the book description. The novel flows well, from setup, to character building, to building up to the climax, nothing was under or over written. The characters are fleshed out enough to understand, and to relate to. Zaltys and Co all have enough going for them, where I cared to see what was going to happen to each of them, none were "Expendable filler" (thrown in to die or to carry the story to another point - everyone had a purpose).
My only complaint is this book is a one shot, with Tim's writing style; I would love to see him to a trilogy. I was surprised to not find his name as frequent under my favorite RPG brands after reading through Venom in her veins. He definitely nailed the essence of the pen and paper gaming adventure with Venom in her Veins.
Overall, as a player / GM, this book would make a great module, be it any edition of our favorite RPG systems. As a non player, I felt this book flowed well enough to bring any one along for the ride, an enjoyable adventure. If I was not overworked, and juggling schedules for the kids, I would have easily killed this book in a night, unfortunately it took many months to go through, each time revisiting, I knew exactly where it was at without having to backtrack. It was definitely worth the price of admission. As a GM, It helped flesh out the Derro, and will change how I play them in my game.... Read more ›
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
I had often wondered how to incorporate a family structure into a D&D...
and this book is a good idea of how to do so.
As a starting point for some of my player characters, I had conceived of a clan-like agricultural and trade corporation... Read more
As a starting point for some of my player characters, I had conceived of a clan-like agricultural and trade corporation... Read more
Published 7 months ago by A Grey Haired Hacker
1.0 out of 5 stars
Grammatical disaster. One of the worst Forgotten Realms books.
I've been reading Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms books since the late 80s when everything was TSR. Read more
Published 9 months ago by RazorFish
4.0 out of 5 stars
Venom in Her Veins by Tim Pratt
Venom in Her Veins is a stand-alone novel set in the Forgotten Realms universe of Dungeons and Dragons tie-in novel line. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Travis Eisenbrandt
4.0 out of 5 stars
A fun story with an interesting setting and captivating lead...
Venon in Her Veins is a novel that's a little off the beaten path that is the Forgotten Realms. It takes place in the dense jungles near Delzimmer, a place that really hasn't seen... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Rob Ford
5.0 out of 5 stars
An enjoyable read
This novel had me initially concerned that it was written in the perspective of the Yuan-Ti culture. I pleasantly found out that not to be the case. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Nick V.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Surprisingly good story by an accomplished writer
I read a lot of Forgotten Realms novels, and I was a little worried when I picked up this one. First, it takes place in a relatively remote area in the far southeast corner of the... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Matthew J. Koch
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great read if you don't expect much
This is a difficult novel to review. When I read the novel I was glued to the pages, reading it in only a few hours. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Edward Pease
5.0 out of 5 stars
D&D tropes, yes, but good
While this novel had a LOT of D&D tropes... it was also a really nicely-written novel, with good characters, an interesting perspective, and an intricate and thoughtful plot. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Cissa
