Right, after a good night's sleep I'm not feeling knackered like I was yesterday, so on with the review of the latest book I've finished. Shadow's Witness by Paul S. Kemp is a Forgotten Realms novel, and the second book in the Sembia series. The seven books of the series are standalone tales focusing on the wealthy Uskevren family from the Sembian city of Selgaunt. This particular book details the family's loyal butler Erevis Cale, a man with a dangerous past that is about to catch up to him.
Cale is a fascinating character, a man loyal to the family he serves and secretly in love with Thazienne Uskevren, the daughter of his lord Thamalon. He is however, also a spy, placed in the household to keep an eye on them and report on their doings, to the Night Knives thieves guild. His loyalties are divided though, as in the ten years in which he has served in his current role, he has come to admire and adore the family he serves, and it is clear from the novels outset which side he will favour when it comes time to choose.
That choice comes a lot sooner than he had hoped for, and in a most unexpected fashion. The guild he nominally serves is led by a figure known as The Righteous Man (a somewhat ridiculous title for a master thief but that's a minor quibble), who is a devout worshipper of the god Mask, lord of thieves and shadows. Having divined that his god is about to elevate someone to be his Chosen he acts to ensure that it will be him.
As a sidenote, I'll point out that in the Realms, a god's Chosen is a VERY powerful individual. Not many god's create such, and then again some have more than one (Mystra the goddess of magic has ten!). A Chosen's abilities and powers vary depending on which god they serve, but they are always tied to that god's portfolio, ie Fzoul Chembryl the Chosen of Bane (God of Tyranny) can compel obidience. And now back to the book...
With that in mind, he intends to summons a creature to serve him and command it to slaughter the rival thieves guilds in the city, thus ensuring that Mask's servants (he has converted a lot of his guild to the gods worship), dominate the entire of Selgaunt's underworld. He hopes that this feat will make him the clear choice to become Mask's Chosen. Things don't go according to plan, and the creature gets loose, slaughters the Righteous Man and begins its own reign of terror, which leads it to start attacking the city guilds, nobles, and other power groups.
In one of these attacks the creature (named Yrsillar) sends its servants (a couple of shadow demons it summons, as well as the Night Knives guild members which it corrupts into ghouls), to attack a ball being held at Stormweather Towers, the home of the Uskevren's. In the ensuing slaughter numerous party guests are killed, and Thazienne is greviously injured. Cale believes that the Righteous Man sent the attack, to punish him for turning away from the guild, and vows revenge.
He enlists the aid of his halfling friend Jak Fleet, and the pair of them launch an all out assault on the Night Knife guildhouse, which is slowly being warped by hellish gateways to Yrsillar's home dimension. The book is fast and furious, with almost the entire story baring the Prologue and Epilogue taking place over the course of two days. Mr Kemp's writing style is very addictive reading, with the fights being quite brutal and graphic. You can feel Cale's anger and Jak's uncertainty. Having said that, I think I would have screamed if either of them had said "Dark" again by the end of the book, an exclamation that was way overused. As though an assassin and a rogue didn't know any other oaths!
I'm going to give this book 4/5, it is a gripping read, but a few bits kinda niggled me about it. I am however looking forward to reading the Erevis Cale trilogy by the same author and featuring the same characters, which I'll be starting soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment