Before I begin this review, I'd like to state that I have had a very hit or miss pattern with Forgotten Realms. I've read a couple of [a:Ed Greenwood|20513|Ed Greenwood|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1248120586p2/20513.jpg]'s Elminster books and found them extremely boring. Then I read the War of the Spider Queen series and absolutely loved it. Then, on recommendation from my brother, I started the Drizz't series. That was just awful! Then I found the sequel to the War of the Spider Queen, The Lady Penitent trilogy and once again, loved it! Then I tried the Abolethic Sovereignty trilogy and couldn't finish it.

So I'm always leery when trying a Forgotten Realms book/series, as I just don't know what I'll end up with.

I'd heard of Erevis Cale somewhere or other and wanted to see if he was an interesting character, so I dug around and found this to be the first book with him in it. And then I found it was a bunch of short stories centering around the Uskevren family, of whom Erevis was the butler.

I enjoyed the stories, as they introduced me to the city Selgaunt and the area of Sembia [do you know how long it took me to figure out that Selgaunt and Sembia were actually two different places and not just different names for the same place?!?]. I also found that the short story format worked well with each character, as we get a snaphsot of them without the author of said short story showing all their weaknesses by trying to write a full blown novel about that character.

So I just sped through this book, loving it and looking forward to the next. Which I've finished and will be reviewing tomorrow. Man, when Forgotten Realms is good, it is GOOD! ( )

This is the place where people who are new to Forgotten Realms should start! The book is actually a collection of 7(if i remember correctly)short stories, writen by some of the best writers of Forgotten Realms, among them Ed Greenwood the "father" of Forgotten Realms.
After getting a first impression of the world of Faerun and the way the books are writen, you can follow up on your favorite authors from the seven featured in this book. You will discover an amazing world filled with magic and adventure, with amazing characters that will live forever in your imagination be it a mighty mage, or a sneeky thief, maybe a great and noble hunter or some wretched evil warrior.
The Realms spans over hundrets of books, some you will simply fall in love with, some you will not like, but if you are a fantasy fan i can guarantee you that you will defenetly fiind a few dozen books to your heart's desire. ( )