Written by Scott Ciencin under the pen-name Richard Awlinson
Published by TSR, 1989
ISBN: 0-88038-748-3
Tantras is the second book in the Avatar series. This story is a prequel to the Baldur’s Gate games. If you’ve heard any characters mention ‘the Time of Troubles’ then their referring to these 3 books.
During the first book we learned that the Tablets of Fate have been stolen from lord AO by the Dead Three. Bhaal, god of murder, Bane, god of tyranny and Myrkul, god of the dead. All the gods under Lord AO have been banished from their divine realms and trapped within Faerûn.
Book 1 in this series saw Mystra, killed at the hands of the god of guardians, Helm. Our heroes, Midnight, Adon, Kelemvor, and Cyric were then given the mission to recover the Tablets of Fate by a dying Mystra. Since then, magic has been unstable and highly dangerous. Their quest led them to the town of Shadowdale where they met up with the great wizard Elminster. Fans of the Baldur’s Gate games will recognise this wise old wizard. He is seemingly killed fighting Bane, god of Tyranny during the Battle of Shadowdale. Tantras, the second book in the series, picks up right where the first one ended.
The battle of Shadowdale has been won, the forces of Bane defeated but at a great cost. Elminster is missing, supposed dead. The residents of the town suspect our heroes, Midnight, and Adon, of having murdered him. They were the only ones known to be with the wizard when he vanished and so naturally suspicion falls upon them. After a kangaroo trail they are found guilty and sentenced to execution. The thief Cyric breaks them out of prison, killing most the prison guards while doing so. The trio then make their way to the town of Scardale. Kelemvor is presented with the death left in Cyric’s wake and agrees to track down his former companions. This leads him towards the town of Scardale as well. Meanwhile Bane and his nightmarish assassins are tracking the heroes as well. By the time that our heroes arrive in the town it’s under siege by Bane and what remains of his forces.
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| Map of the Dalelands with the route our heroes take highlighted in red |
This is only the start of this story, and allegiances switch constantly throughout this narrative. For example, the group of heroes that arrive at Scardale is different to the group that left Shadowdale. All our heroes, as well as Bane and his Zhentish forces are racing towards the city of Tantras as this is where the first of the two Tablets of Fate are hidden. I do think a little too much is spent on what feels like padding but ultimately, I did enjoy reading this novel. The Forgotten Realms is an amazing setting and being able to spend more time in it is almost always a blessing!
What this story does best is character growth. Let’s start by looking at the fighter Kelemvor. He’s dealing with the love he feels towards Midnight and the stress of his curse. He carries with him a family curse that means he can’t perform any non-selfish deed without payment of some kind. If he does, then he transforms into a murderous panther. He can only turn back when he has taken a life. He’s fallen in love with the mage Midnight and wants to help prove her innocence or even break her out of prison, but he can’t because of the curse. We see him struggle with this as he’s a good man at heart but is forced to act as a selfish mercenary.
Meanwhile Midnight also loves Kelemvor but since he failed to speak up during her trial, help her escape prison, or follow her onto the road, she’s beginning to question his devotion for her. On top of this, she’s a mage and a magic user and is struggling to deal with the fact that her strength has been turned into an unreliable weakness. As magic is unpredictable at best, and dangerous at worst, her skills, abilities, and therefore usefulness have been greatly diminished. What good is a mage without magic, after all?
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| Midnight the Mage |
Then we have poor tragic Adon. During the first part of this adventure, he was a cleric of Sune, goddess of light and beauty. This devotion to his goddess led to him being a very beautiful but vain man. Unfortunately, his face was horribly scarred during the journey to Shadowdale. Due to his injury, he feels as if his goddess has abandoned him or that he isn’t worthy of her. As the journey continued, this sadness turned into a bitter anger. By the time the heroes leave Shadowdale this anger has collapsed into an overwhelming depression that sees Adon barely able to feed himself.
Lastly, we have Cyric. This thief has seen, first hand, how weak the gods have become in their mortal forms. His only ambition during this crisis is to amass as much power as possible. He will ally himself with whoever he needs too to achieve this goal. To this end he’s playing each of the characters off against each other. Trying to manipulate them into getting him closer to obtaining the Tablet of Fate within Tantras. Watching him lose the last of any compassion he had for his old friends as his power hungry ambition consumes him is amazing. By the time our heroes arrive at Scardale he’s become a fantastic villain. I love reading about his plotting and deception that not even the gods are immune to. My only problem with Cyric is the slightly antisemitic tone that author Richard Awlinson uses when talking about him. This deceitful, selfish, power-hungry man who would betray his own mother for a position of leadership is often described as having a “hawked-nose’. This feels like it has a lot in common with anti-Jewish imagery from over the years. I’m not sure if this is intentional or not, but it’s without a doubt, problematic.
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| Bane as depicted in the 1991 'Pools of Darkness' game |
Ultimately, I think that Tantras is a better story than Shadowdale but it’s not perfect. The personal journeys our heroes all embark on are fantastic. I love how much each character grows and changes as this quest takes its toll on them. Then you have the amazing lore and world building. As a fan of the Forgotten Realms, this is perfect. But I also can’t help but feel that a good 150 pages could be removed from this story without any impact. On top of that we have the gross antisemitic vibes I got from the descriptions of Cyric. Thankfully these are far from frequent. But they do go some way towards tarnishing the overall quality.
If you want more background to the lore of the Baldur’s Gate games or the Forgotten Realms in general, then these books are an essential read. Tantras improves on the flaws of its predecessor but is still ultimately flawed itself.
⭐⭐⭐☆☆
