James L Sutter is a brave man indeed. Not only does he venture into the Great Beyond itself with the story's hero, thus delving into matter that, in my opinion, requires a very skilled storyteller. He even goes so far as to discuss atheism in a world in which the existence of divine entities is fact. Is this bravery rewarded? Well, let's find out.

As mentioned, I think that the planes are very tricky places when it comes to storytelling. With their utter disdain for the laws of physics, the outer planes are larger-than-life places where everything's possible. Terrain changes on its own accord and cities of endless wonder are created by creatures powerful beyond the comprehension of mortal minds. As such, it seems to me that it takes quite a bit of storytelling to do these wondrous places justice. And Sutter delivers. In Death's Heretic, we're treated to a delightful tour of some of the planes in the Great Beyond, including the Boneyard, Axis, the Maelstrom, and the First World and Sutter makes those places come alive to the extent that they deserve. We get so see how insignificant mortals are in the grand scheme of things.

As an atheist myself, I've often wondered how atheism can exist in a world in which gods really do exist. I certainly have my own theories on the matter but Death's Heretic asks the same question through the story's main character - Salim Ghadafar. An atheist from Rahadoum, Salim is a somewhat reluctant pawn of the goddess Pharasma, acting as her inquisitor despite his own atheist beliefs. Of course, there's a good reason for this interesting master-servant relationship but I won't spoil the details. Suffice it to say that throughout this book, Salim's actions and glimpses into his past provide us with an excellent bit of insight into atheism in the world of Golarion. As with the planar material, Sutter makes it work and I finishes the book with a smile on my face as many of my ow questions on the topic of atheism had been answered.

The book itself is very well written and the locations and characters we encounter are, for the most part, well fleshed out. Sutter's description of the desert nation of Thuvia was very vivid and made this GM want to run a game set in the nation. While the story's laid out as a mystery, that's not really its main strengths, I think, as I guessed the identity of the story's villain very early in the story. The fact that the heroes' adventures throughout the planes kept me reading even though the mystery wasn't much of a mystery to me is what makes this book so great. Well, that and the fact that the main character wasn't a square-jawed Rambo. Salim had issues and made mistakes. In spite of his unique situation, he was someone I could relate to.

I have every novel from the first release, and I have begun to grow an ache in between the release of the next novel. Each one seems to improve and unfurl like a drink of water in a desert.
In this one I can feel the joy and excitement of the world setting. When I'm with a client in a doctor's office, I have a brief moment of bliss and wish I can pause my world to finish the book (which I finally did a week ago). I adore the plane-hopping, which got me fantasizing about my planescape days, and the tragic hero.
Each novel gets better, so now my impatience between novels will only get worse. Maybe there will be a lackluster novel someday, so then I'll not mind the wait.

This is my first Pathfinder novel, and I'm glad to have picked this one up first. I've ready many, many fantasy books and to me the setting, plot, characters, etc all take a back seat to the writing style of the author. For example, I love Terry Brooks' world of Shannara, but he tends to ramble for pages at times on a description of one action. Bernard Cornwell's many books of historical fiction are stellar and great reads, but his pace is quick and can jump around. Sutter's style is fantastic, and to have an author hitting all cylinders in the Pathfinder setting is a home run. The only drawback to the book is the price..it's your average sized paperback just under 400 pages, which most of this type go for $6 or so. I gladly support Paizo because I use their products, but it's my hope the novels come down in price to get other readers into seeing what Paizo/Pathfinder is all about and maybe winning them over as gamers too.

Back to the positives: this can be read in a few sittings and it leaves you wanting more from him. I'm so glad to have found these novels to look to when I don't have time to play the game. I just hope the other books are as good as this one.

OK, this is gonna be a rant review. TL;DR version - it's great, go buy it.

But if you're still here, allow me to amuse you with my musings. Here we go!

I hate shared world fiction, I really do. With a passion.

I have a very limited reading time. Between my job as a researcher and teacher, I get to read a lot. A big lot. Whatever time is left after reading articles and student's papers is devoted to RPGs, mostly. RPG sourcebooks are a great read, you know? So easy to extract the necessary information and ignore whatever you don't need for tonight's game.

Shared world fiction is much worse. You have to eat it all, digest and burp out whatever is relevant for your games. It's half bad if you aren't an obsessive-compulsive completionist, but I don't have that luxury. I gotta know it all. I feel strange if there's a campaign setting sourcebook that I don't have and I haven't given it at least a skim.

Fiction adds a layer of reading that's just too much for me. I maintain my hopeless crusade against inclusion of fiction in the APs and I've groaned when PF Fiction line kicked off.

It got worse. I saw James Sutter as a scheduled author. See, Mistah Suttuh got my attention with the City of Strangers sourcebook. It was an amazing good read and James' writing style caught my attention.

So I was torn. Barely placated by the knowledge on Distant Worlds, also by Sutter, coming out soon afterwards. Knowing that James took his valuable time to write some fiction instead of a gaming book! MUAARGHBLLZE! It took two of my posts removed on Paizo forums to calm down my nerdrage.

Then I read the prequel short story made available on Paizo blog. I loved it, I loved Salim. I've decided to give it a try. I bought a shared world fiction book. I felt dirty.

Now I've read the book. I won't spoil it for you folks. It's amazing. It's so easy to read, yet detailed. So much Golarion-sey, yet I'm sure you could digest it without having a sliver of an idea what a Runelord is. It's so mature, yet light-hearted.

I've spend great 10 bucks here. And I love the irony of the fact, that the fiction line editor writes better stories than established, famous authors he edits.

Kudos James, if you hit it so high at such early point in your career, I shudder to think where you will be in a couple years.

I have to hand it to James Sutter, this is one of the best Pathfinder books yet. Not only is the story compeling, and the characters deep, but James paints a rich picture of the multiverse as the characters travel through it. The last two Pathfinder books were so bad I stopped reading them half way through, but this one was excelent. I would be happy to buy a sequel! I would easily put this on par with Elaine Cunningham.

Sutter breathes life into both the characters and their world of Golarion, in a well paced and better spun tale of swords, sorcery, betrayal, and mystery.

I've been following the Pathfinder Tales line on and off since they began, and I have to say, of all the Tales I have read so far, Death's Heretic is easily my favorite.

James Sutter does an amazing job with pacing, keeping the story from bogging down and making me want to continue turning the page. I'll avoid spoilers for the story, so I'll give these reasons for why I rated this book a five: The characters, the setting, everything written is believable (for a fantasy novel), well described, and engaging. I feel like Mr. Sutter wrote the story knowing his audience, and never dumbs anything down.

In the end, the story is excellent, and I hope someday we get to see more of the characters introduced, though I'd be just as happy knowing Mr Sutter was writing more stories for the Pathfinder Tales!

James Sutter's entry into the PF Tales book collection is a hit. I was pulled into Salim's story from the start!
Interesting characters, the type you find yourself thinking about after you read the book. Fantastic locations, across the multiverse.
A race against time, filled with compelling stories and vivid descriptions.
Can't wait to read more from him.

This is a great detective story. One of the best undead killers in the world is ask to find a missing soul. It is a great set up. How could it happen? You get to travel some of the most interesting places in the pathfinder world. or worlds. How can a man that does not believe in the gods serve one? And be one of her best servants. This book does a great job making you feel there. From the Harlots brothel to AXIS. It would be hard for some writer's to cover something that diffident with out making you feel like it is just special effects. But when something happens it always just feels like part of the story.

I’ve stayed away from Paizo’s Pathfinder Tales line of releases until recently and – for better or worse – there’s been a fortunate mix-up when I ordered my first such book (Master of Devils) from Paizo: they accidentally shipped the wrong book and I unpacked Death’s Heretic instead. To Paizo’s credit they didn’t hesitate to gift it to me on-the-house and have included the book I actually ordered in the very next shipment. I’ve thus received my very own personal Christmas gift from Paizo! Huzzah!

In return, I decided, the least I could do was write-up a review of Death’s Heretic:

Salim, the protagonist, is a very unusual man. He is Rahadoumi and shares the atheist views of his people – but he also serves the goddess of death, Pharasma. Nominally he hunts the lesser and greater undead in Pharasmas name, but in Death’s Heretic Salim is called to an unusual task. He must uncover a mystery in which a soul has been stolen from the Boneyard of the death goddess herself. He is accompanied by the aristocratic daughter of the victim and their search takes them from the deserts of Thuvia across the multiverse through a variety of strange locations.

The author, James L. Sutter, is obviously intimately acquainted with the setting that Paizo have created for themselves, and it is a joy to explore the exotic locales that James paints. I was particularly enamored with the descriptions of the city of Axis and the First World, both of which carve a vivid image in the reader’s mind. Where the story does come short is in its omissions, some chapters introduce vibrantly crafted characters – such as the Jackal and the Harlot – only to let them fade to obscurity once they have served their primary function. Perhaps weaving them into the continuing story would have required prohibitive page real-estate, given how the story marches onward through diverse planes and locations, but a curt nod would have been appreciated.

The narrative flows smoothly and, given the many-planar premise of the story, it mercifully keeps to the protagonist Salim throughout its course. The questions that are raised in the course of the reading are answered in a manner that evolves naturally from the story. There is a refreshing lightness to the novel when compared to the far-reaching complexity of some other works, such as The Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson; and I mean this in more than just the scope of pages. The universe around Golarion – the campaign setting Paizo has created – is centered on a certain degree of staticness – you will not find grand sweeping tales that change the face of the world, as the world is the semi-constant stage on which numerous tales get spun. Instead heroes are of the caliber that we expect from the Pathfinder RPG: powerful and yet human in both their potency and impotency.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed Death’s Heretic, it’s easy to digest and sets the stage for a promising character, Salim Ghadafar, in future books. It does not, by itself, create the kind of literary legacy that is spoken about in hushed or emphatic tones, but perhaps it is a prologue to such a masterwork.