Written by James
Lowder
Published by TSR, Cambridge, 2993
ISBN: 1-56076-626-3
The Prince of Lies is the fourth entry to the Avatar Trilogy, making it more of a series now than a trilogy. As with the three previous stories, this entire series acts as a prequel to the Baldur’s Gate games. This fourth entry tells the story of Cyric’s downfall. After seeing him get rewarded with Godhood after betraying his friends at the end of the Waterdeep novel, reading about his downfall is satisfying.
The story of Prince of Lies starts ten years after the end
of the original Avatar trilogy. The Time of Troubles is slowly becoming history
in the minds of the mortals of Faerûn. The Dead Three, Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul
have been defeated. Cyric, the treacherous thief from the last trilogy has
taken his place as God of the Dead while Midnight has taken both the name and
role of Mystra, Goddess of Magic. Of course, Cyric, being as power-hungry and
evil as he is, has also been plotting the downfall of the other Gods. His been
driven to the brink of insanity from his time holding onto the magic sword,
Godsbane, that he acquired during the Time of Troubles. In his mad mind he sees
Midnight, Adon, and Kelemvor as having betrayed him during their quest to
recover the Tablets of Fate. His revenge has been hindered because he’s been
unable to find the soul of Kelemvor. Mystra is also looking for Kelemvor’s
soul, so she can be reunited with her lover. This mystery of where Kelemvor’s
soul is, drives a lot of the plot, and I think it’s a pretty good reveal when
we do find out. It’s one I was able to guess early on, but that didn’t stop it
from feeling satisfying. I’m looking forward to finishing this series and
seeing what becomes of the characters I’ve grown attached to.
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| Jergal, passing judgement on one of the souls of the recently deceased. |
My one complaint about this story is how little it used Adon.
He's now the chosen warrior of the new Mystra, but he doesn’t really do
anything. He’s only in two chapters of the entire book. I feel like author James
Lowder could have replaced the role that Gwydion the Quick filled in this story
with Adon and it would have improved things. We would have had an existing connection
to the character, making what happens to him throughout the story instantly
more engaging. When the two characters have such a similar struggle with their
faith, it just feels like a wasted opportunity. Instead of Gwydion struggling
with his faith in Torm, why did we not get Adon struggling with his loss of
faith in Sune? This would have been such a natural continuation of Adon’s story.
But instead, Adon is just pushed to the sidelines and that’s a shame.
Unlike the previous three stories from the Avatar series,
this one is told much more from the perspective of the Gods of Faerûn. I really
enjoyed this. While we get a lot of fantastic stories set within the Forgotten
Realms, the majority of them are told from the perspective of mortals. This
makes sense, it creates more tension when characters are at risk of dying. It’s
also more relatable as the reader will, most likely, be a mortal human
themselves. This novel being from the perspective of the Gods allows it to
stand out from the crowd. We do have a few characters within this story, such
as Gwydion or Rinda, who are mortal, but they are very much secondary
characters. Even then, with a lot of this story taking place in the Realm of
the Dead, the death of these characters isn’t necessarily the end of their stories.
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| One of Cyric's Inquisitor's confronting a mortal within Zhentil Keep |
I think the biggest problem with this novel is just how much existing knowledge you need to be able to enjoy it to its fullest. This is the fourth novel in a series that already required an understanding of how the Forgotten Realms work. What this means is, that if you’ve not read the D&D Player’s handbook and the Dungeon Master’s guide, as well as the previous three novels, then you’ll have a hard time following a lot of the story.
On the flip side of this, if you are a fan of the Baldur’s
Gate games and want more lore and history around the God’s and characters you
meet during your time within all three of the games, then this really is the
series for you. The first Baldur’s Gate game acts as a direct sequel to this
series, to be precise it’s a sequel to the next and final book in the Avatar
series, Crucible: The Trial of Cyric the Mad. That’s not to say that this novel
doesn’t have some interesting connections to the Baldur’s Gate games itself,
because it does. Most notably I found the conversation your playable character
has with Cyric during Baldur’s Gate 2’s expansion made a lot more sense after
reading this novel. I also noticed the magical armour that Cyric uses in this
novel, known as his Inquisitors, share a lot in common with Baldur’s Gate 3’s
Iron Watchers. I think if you read this novel then you will notice quite a lot
of interesting connections between the Baldur’s Gate games and this novel.
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| Cyric on his throne within Bone Castle |
I want to mention the beautiful illustrations within this
novel. While they’re not necessary, they do bring the story to life in a way
that feels refreshing and engaging. I wish I knew who the artist was because I
love their style! The use of simple black and white linework is outstanding!
Ultimately, I think that this is a fantastic read for the
right person. Fans of the Forgotten Realms or the Baldur’s Gate games will love
The Prince of Lies. Unfortunately, due to the amount you need to know to
understand this story, it’s really not for everyone and that does hold it back.
Still, for nerds like me who are obsessed with the Forgotten Realms, this is an
essential read!
⭐⭐⭐⭐✰
