Prince of Lies Review -- January 14, 2004

By Glenn Dean, Staff Reviewer

Available at Amazon.com for $6.99.

Initiative Round
Prince of Lies, a FORGOTTEN REALMS ® novel written by James Lowder and published by Wizards of the Coast, is the fourth volume in the Avatar Series. Originally published in 1993 (four years after the Avatar Trilogy, which it continues), Prince of Lies was reprinted in 2003 with an updated cover and artwork. The 376-page novel carries a $6.99 cover price.

Prince of Lies takes place ten years after the end of the Time of Troubles and focuses on Cyric - now god of Strife, Murder, and Death - and Midnight, who has taken the name Mystra as the new goddess of magic. Cyric has succeeded in destroying another goddess and taking over her portfolio, but still struggles to consolidate his power base among the worshippers of the gods he replaced - Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul. His goal is to create a great magical book, the Cyrinishad, which will cause anyone who reads it to become a devoted worshipper of Cyric, ensuring that he will be able to gain in power over the other gods. As the same time, he sows strife and discontent among the gods, in part due to his mistreatment of souls within the Realm of the Dead.

Midnight (Mystra) works in secret with several other gods to oppose Cyric. She succeeds for a time at cutting Cyric off from magic, but Cyric's schemes soon threaten the entire pantheon with destruction, while he simultaneously searches for the lost soul of Kelemvor, Midnight's former lover, to use as a weapon against her. The struggle between the gods is waged covertly in the planes, and ultimately in the open as Cyric's capital of Zhentil Keep is besieged and the Realm of the Dead revolts.

The book wraps up most of its threads by the end, and can be read as a stand-alone work. Knowledge of the previous books in the Avatar Series is helpful, but not necessary, for reading this book. There are a few loose threads at the end that lead to the fifth book in the series, Crucible.

Critical Hit
The plot of Prince of Lies is a bit better constructed than its predecessors, as it lacks the host of random events and bizarre situations driven by rules changes that were present in the first three books in the series. There are enough intrigues and mystery to keep the plot moving to conclusion, and while they aren't terribly complex they are sufficient to hold one's interest. Enough of the loose ends from the previous books in the series are wrapped up here that it's good to gain some closure on a few characters - we finally know what happened to Adon and Kelemvor after the events of Waterdeep.

The views presented of the various planes of existence - particularly the land of the dead - as well as the insight the author tries to provide into the viewpoints of the gods, who are in some ways more limited than mere mortals, provide some thought-provoking ideas that would make interesting translation into gaming elements. Some of the ideas would be quite useful, for example, for a game involving epic characters and divine intervention, or for a visit to the city of the dead.

Critical Fumble
Though the plot is a bit smoother, there are still a few missing, or at least oddly handled, pieces. The death of Leira, goddess of intrigue, at the hand of Cyric is alluded to or discussed at several points in the book, but takes place off stage - an odd choice for that significant an event (though I suspect it may be an element of a different Realms novel with which I'm not familiar).

The characters are a bit more stable in this novel, but they are much flatter - no real interesting character journeys or revelations here. The characters are all relatively flat, excepting perhaps Cyric's gradual descent into madness. Read this one for the plot, not the deep, intense characters.

Coup de Grace
Prince of Lies is an average work of Forgotten Realms fiction. It has a few interesting elements - the treatment of the gods and their homes on the planes - and it is a worthy enough successor to the previous books in the series.

The Critic's Grade: C+