Undead (The Haunted Lands #2) (Forgotten Realms)

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Title: Undead
Series: The Haunted Lands
Author: Richard Byers
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: 352
Format: Kindle digital edition

Synopsis:

The battle for Thay continues. Tsazz Tam obviously has some ulterior motive in taking over Thay, but we the readers aren't privy to it.
With cunning and treachery, Tsazz Tam takes out the other rulers even as they flee.
The story is told from the losing side though, so it is quite interesting.

My Thoughts:

In many ways, Tam is a sympathetic character even while being the antagonist. It makes reading this trilogy just a tiny bit different and I like that.

The 2 other main characters are now entwined and so they're not nearly so different as in the previous book. The vampire girlfriend is much more interesting than she was just as a maiden in distress. The revenge ridden mercenary just exudes mindless hatred and the griphon rider has definitely developed as a leader.

The battles were awesome with huge amounts of magic getting thrown around. Tsazz makes a deal with a god and pledges his soul in the bargain. Once again, he knows something we don't and he hints that he's got the better of the deal. At the same time that all of this is going on Mystra is killed by Shar and the other god previously mentioned [I forget his name to be honest] and the plague of blue fire starts running across Faerun. Magic is wonky, in a land filled with undead. It was more than zombies and vampires and Byers does a great job of coming up with imaginative ideas.

Good times!