The race is on to free Lord Stelan from the grip of a wasting curse, and only Elyana, his old elven adventuring companion and former lover, has the wisdom and reflexes to save him. When the villain turns out to be another of their former companions, Elyana and a band of ragtag adventurers must set out on a perilous race across the revolution-wracked nation of Galt and the treacherous Five Kings Mountains, bound for the mysterious Vale of Shadows. But even if they can succeed in locating the key to Stelan’s salvation in a lost valley of weird magic and nightmare beasts, the danger isn't over. For Elyana's companions may not all be what they seem.
From sword and sorcery icon Howard Andrew Jones comes a fantastic new adventure set in the award-winning world of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.
I really loved this novel. This is what I have been wanting see in Pathfinder Tales. I love the writing style and the characters and how it felt very much like an OGL story to me. I read game themed novels because I want to see the game elements in them and live in the game world for just a little while. I hope to see more like this book and more from this author.
This is my favorite book of the Pathfinder Tales so far. It earns a solid PG under the MPAA rating system. This book was a fun quest. As I read it, I felt like I was running through an adventure. There are some mature themes in it (racism, love/loss, violence, death, quest for power), but nothing that you wouldn't find in any novel read in a Jr High/High School English class. This book has a very strong female lead. I would rate this as a Teen+ book, highly enjoyable to all ages above 13.
Reading this novels feels like reading a report of an adventure someone played, which does not have to be bad... but somehow this was too boring and foreseeable. Compared to the other books this one is written more in the tradition of the "classic fantasy pulp novel" so it's pretty naive and full of cliches. Might be a nice read for kids, though ;)
This is another Pathfinder novel, the main character is Elyana a elven adventure. Most of her former adventurer friends are now dead, she stayed and lived near her friend Stelan who become a Lord. When her friend becomes ill with a shadow plague magical disease brought on by one of their former friend a shadow wizard named Acril. She goes on a quest to find a cure and eventually ends up searching for the Crown of Shadows. She travels with Stelan's son, Renar, Drelm a half orc loyal to the Lord, Kellius a Wizard, and Vallyn a bard that use to travel with Stelan and Elyana.
It starts with them trying to track down Acril and force him to remove the plague. Eventually they are forced to seek out the Crown of Shadows. While Acril is indeed a villain he is a very interesting character and far from the only villain in the story. In fact all the characters are well done and interesting. I don't want to give away any spoilers for the book. But the book has a little of everything that makes a fantasy book a good fantasy book. There is a dragon, wizards, evil cults, monsters, a epic quest, travel to another plane of existence in this case the shadow plane. There is enough twists and turns to keep you from knowing what's going to happen at the end and keep you involved in the story looking forward to what is going to happen next. If you are a fan of fantasy books it is worth checking out, if you are a Pathfinder fan then I strong recommend the book, to date I think it is the best of the new pathfinder novel line.
