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Anyone with an interest in Nidal must pick up this book. Merciel does such a great job describing the shadow-cursed nation and the protagonist's upbringing there (in a Hogwart's of the damned) that I wish the story had stayed there. As a bildungsroman, it's an unqualified success.
The move to the Chelish frontier and the conflict with the strix, in comparison, wasn't as gripping as the first half (or so) of the book. I'm having a hard time putting a finger on it, but it just seemed ... out of focus. After grappling with so much complexity in the first half, the more traditional moral dilemmas in the latter half lacked oomph. Still, it's a bit like eating a bacon-wrapped filet mignon and then complaining that a ribeye is just ho-hum. (Apologies to the vegans). Not enough to knock off a star.
Looking forward to Merciel's next entry in the line.

I'll second Mairkurion's comment. Gross again proves himself to be the master of Pathfinder fiction. The short and sweet of it: What's better than Radovan and Varian? Radovan, Varian and a Calistrian inquisitor! Although I've been on the fence w/ Kyonin - barring the great Winter Council stuff in Second Darkness, my impression of it has verged on cliched and generic - Gross gave the country some depth.
I could have done without the repeated descriptions of rangers with a capital R, and the party's path didn't seem to have anything to do with the map, but those are minor nitpicks. Gross does a great job of capturing the distinct voices of Radovan and Varian and I appreciated the incorporation of bits of Golarion lore like the Bleaching and the various minor demons from The Book of the Damned. Highly recommend and can't wait for the next installment.

Another very well done entry in the Tales line that aspires (and succeeds!) to be more than simple shared world fiction. Pratt does an excellent job drawing interesting, complex characters while playing in and expanding the Golarion sandbox.
He also deserves massive kudos for introducing an unapologetic gay character who just happens to be a menacing, unapologetic rogue. The lovelorn, haplessly heterosexual protagonist Alaeron is well-done, as is the more-than-damsel-in-distress Jaya.
The story expands considerably on Numeria, the Mwangi expanse and the lost civilization of the Shori. I particularly liked the handling of Numerian artifacts. Can't wait for another by this author, whether involving these characters or others. Bring on the Skiver sequel.

I struggled with whether to give this one 3 stars or 4, but decided to be generous because it was an entertaining read. Then I wrote my review and went back and changed it to a 3. But it's a high 3.
Likes: A fast and entertaining read. A couple of the characters (Skanderbrog the troll, Chirk the serpent necklace) are great.
Problems: Despite ultimately dealing with one of Golarion's core mysteries, the book suffered from feeling too generic, and only tangentially tied to established Pathfinder lore. I had the feeling that it was a story Hughes (or Matthews, as it were) had at least partially written, then plunked into Druma (an area as yet undeveloped in Golarion lore) after being tapped by Paizo to write a novel. The inclusion of the (spoiler ommitted) at the end felt strange as a result, not to mention something we've seen before in a series of stories about a certain exiled Pathfinder (not to mention, an entire Adventure Path...)
The tone, too, feels off. It's a little too goofy, a little too fable-ish, at times.
Krunzle, the protagonist, is unlikable and lacking in any sort of redeeming quality. Gyllana, likewise, is lame (a slutty, shrewish nobleman's daughter, how original) and I don't care enough to look up the name of the generic dwarf prince (he's bald!) they meet up with later. Still, the book provided enough entertainment that I didn't resent spending $6-7 and a couple of evening's reading it. How's that for a rousing endorsement?

I'd rank this among the top two or three entries in the Pathfinder Tales line to date.
Sutter manages the tricky feat of writing a shared-world novel that a) meshes perfectly in that shared world and b) could stand on its own as high-quality fantasy. The protagonist, Salim, is an interesting take on the cursed/unwilling hero archetype, and I really enjoyed the expansion of Golarion lore regarding the church of Pharasma, Thuvia and Rahadoum.

The planar excursions and the interactions with the fey and the First World also were well-executed - Planescape fans should definitely pick this one up. Looking forward to more Salim tales in the future.

Of all the Pathfinder Tales authors, Dave Gross (in my opinion) "gets" Golarion best. That said, Master of Devils has less Pathfinder feel and more of an Asian folklore vibe as he adopts a very different cultural and literary tone. While that works for this story, Tian Xia ends up feeling a little more real world than I had hoped.
Having Radovan and Varian separated again for (almost) an entire novel felt a little tired after Prince of Wolves. But I like the addition of Arnisant as a character in his (its?) own right and there was some good character development for both Radovan and Varian.
Gross also does an exemplary job of knitting "game logic" into the story without being too obvious.
All told, I think it's the weakest of Gross's Radovan/Jeggare novels, but still highly recommended.

(I ripped into another book in the line and so thought I ought to share my positive thoughts on other Tales entries).

I liked this one much more than I thought I would. Yes, it's essentially the story of an adventuring band going to get the MacGuffin, but it's well-done and quite a bit better than I expect from game fiction.

Stelan's lands (in Taldor, per the map) felt only tangentially grounded in established Golarian lore, but ties to Galt were stronger. While Galt easily can fall into unimaginative "fantasy France" territory, I thought Jones did a nice job adding some depth to the Grey Gardeners. I also liked his handling of the Shadow Plane (and want to know more about these shadow mages) which oddly reminded me of several Jirel of Joiry stories from "Black God's Kiss." Hopefully his additions will be incorporated in future products.

Elyana was a little too obviously a Ranger with a capital 'R,' and I don't envy any author trying to write about a D&D-style bard [Opera-Man]"Making magic with song!"[/Opera-Man]. Elyana read a little a too human - I know, she's Forlorn, but I expected something a little more alien about her outlook. I really liked both Drelm and Arcil and wished both had more screen-time. The flashback interludes worked, and I'd eagerly buy a prequel story of the gang's old adventuring days ... or the survivors continuing escapades.

(I ripped into another book in the line and so thought I ought to share my positive thoughts on other Tales entries).

Another good entry in the line, this book set (and maintained) a nice pace, with well-drawn characters (some more than others) and an interesting-enough twist on the "Go save the princess" quest. Declan the reluctant wizard was a little on the bland side, but Ellasif was very well done and Skywing was fun without going full-on Jar-Jar. The prologue is some of the most engaging fantasy writing I've read in a while and later scenes at the cannibal tent in the woods were especially vivid.

I'm a little torn on the novel's "grounding" in the Pathfinder world. At times it felt a little like a story from "generic Viking land" plugged into Golarion, but that may be simply because we haven't had much in the way of detail about Irrisen and the Lands of the Linnorm Kings so far (something I hope changes sooner than later - I really like both settings). On the other hand, I thought the novel did a fine job fleshing out the the Varisians, Nolanders and Linnorm villagers.

I've not read much of Elaine's work in the past (putting a drow on the cover is a good way to get me to pass) but I'd definitely pick up anything she does for Pathfinder in the future.

(I ripped into another book in the line and so thought I ought to share my positive thoughts on other Tales entries).

This easily is my favorite Pathfinder Tales book so far. Varian and Radovan and almost all the supporting characters are richly drawn. The author has a firm grasp on the setting - Gross seems to "get" Ustalav, adeptly and respectfully building on the canon information. Of all the fiction authors, I think he has the best understanding of the Pathfinder world.

Alternating viewpoints between Varian and Radovan works well, as did the gradual "filling in the gaps" nature of Varian's stay at the manor - it could have come off as a contrived murder-mystery if not for such adept handling.

I also was impressed by the way Gross managed to create a story in which the underlying game mechanics were both subtle and transparent. Prince of Wolves is quite obviously RPG-inspired (and RPG-consistent) but doesn't feel like it was based on a home game or constrained by game rules. That's tough to do, but Gross makes it look easy.

I received my copy of The Worldwound Gambit a few weeks ago but haven't read it. I'm not going to.

Reading today's blog, I noticed a short story involving some of the same characters.

It was written in present tense.

Groaning, I thought to myself, 'Surely they wouldn't let him get away with that for a whole novel.'" I went to check. Alas, it was so, and The Worldwound Gambit was banished, unread, to the nether regions of my bookshelf.

As someone who makes a living writing, I'll put it simply: present tense in a work of (long) fiction is lame. It's cheap and self-indulgent. More importantly, it's distracting and annoying -- two of the last things an author (or publisher) should be inflicting on a reader who gave them money to be entertained.

This is not high "literature" (and I don't mean to imply that's a bad thing, at all). There is absolutely no excuse; the only explanation I can think of is the author turned in a manuscript and it seemed too much work to go back and correct every fifth word in the thing. I don't care if Gary Gygax wrote it from beyond the grave - send it back and tell him to write in the past tense or not bother.

(As a sidenote - the page I flipped to happened to include the verb "deking." Really, Canadian hockey slang seemed appropriate in a fantasy novel? Are we going to have elves "hanging ten" or "Googling for a spell in my book," too?)

Am I making a mountain out of a mole hill? Maybe, but I suspect I'm not the only subscriber annoyed by this. I've been very happy with everything in the Pathfinder Tales line to date (and own 90 percent of everything Paizo's published) but I'd wager this will be the worst-selling novel in the line to date. And if another Tales book in the present tense is published I will cancel my subscription. It's a deal-breaker for me and I don't want to see the line suffer as a result of similar poor editorial choices.

(Edit: Looking back I see that "Plague of Light" in Serpent's Skull also was written in present tense. The difference is that story was written in first-person, making the present tense use much less jarring - and far more palatable considering its a short story rather than a novel.)