Ghostwalker: The Fighters ebook

This review is for the book `Ghostwalker' by Erik Scott de Bie, which is the second book of a series of stand-alone stories entitled `The Fighters'. This review is intended as a critique of the writing and flow of the book, not to reveal "spoolers". The other books within `The Fighters' series are Master of Chains by Jess Lebow, Son of Thunder by Murray J. D. Leeder and Bladesinger by Keith Francis Strohm.

This story takes place in the frontier town of Quaervarrk within the Moonwood region. Excluding the prelude and postlude, story takes place over a seven day period. Vengeance is in the air for a murder committed 15 years prior. Mixed in is a tale of mystery, political intrigue, lost opportunity and the struggle between love and honor.

I must admit, I purchased this book because of Amazon's buy 4-for-3 offer, with this as the 4th book since it had the highest rating of the Fighter series books. It then sat on my shelf, waiting while I read books from authors I already knew and enjoyed. Then, I had the pleasure of reading Mr. de Bie's short story within the Realms of the Elves anthology. I was so impressed that I chose to read `Ghostwalker' next, and I am glad I did.

Overall, I would have to say that this is one of the best Forgotten Realms books I have read. Even though the story only takes place over a period of 7 days, at no time did the story seem to be drawn out to fill the pages, nor did it feel as if too much was happening in within the short period which. The author is able to keep track of the multiple sub-plots, as well as keep the reader informed, so that when they all come together it seems natural. I do have one very minor criticism of the book, which is more likely due to this being Mr. de Bie's first novel, there are too many unneeded breaks within the chapters. Several breaks seem to take place right after the previous break, so why have a break. I consider this minor because the story flows naturally enough to ignore the unnecessary breaks.

A Note to Readers new to Forgotten Realms: Like many shared settings, especially those stemming from gaming or other media types, the Forgotten Realms books are written with the assumption that the reader has some familiarity with the Forgotten Realms gaming setting. This frees up the author to focus on his or her story, instead of having to explain the world in which the story takes place; the calendar, geography, common races/species, magical properties, etc. This is very important when the book length is normally confined to 300 - 350 pages. As a reader reads more books in the Forgotten Realms setting, they will become more familiar with the world of Faerun and its inhabitants, making the experience more pleasant. This book is excellent for readers new to the Forgotten Realms, since it doesn't require any prior knowledge of the Forgotten Realms setting.

I will have to go with the rest of the reviewers, this book is simply breathtaking.

The thing that diminishes almost everything else in this novel is De Bie's storytelling. His writing is beautiful, almost poetic at times, giving the little frontier town of Quervarr a breath of life. His battle scenes are so descriptive that you can almost hear the clash of weapons in your room. Brilliant writing, truly. The protagonists in the book are also very good. They all have believable motivations, emotions and histories. The antagonists are a piece of art. Not only are they memorable, but De Bie "gets in their heads" on a scale experienced only in Salvatore's FR novels. The plot is masterfully conceived, and it is personal and emotional, with a fair number of twists. No saving the world here. And the ending is truly fitting.

I do have a few complaints, but they fade in comparison to De Bie's storytelling. Walker, the main character, is at times too heroic to be believable, considering his past and emotional state. Besides that, there are too many unpredictable rescues from sword-tip for my liking.

But as I said, everything becomes irrelevant once you get lost in this story.

A Forgotten Realms masterpiece.

I will take some time to reflect on the "Fighters" series, as this is my last review from that particular series. Mathematically, they get an average score of 3.75, which is more than good considering that the books were written by four different authors. It features only one poor book (Bladesinger), and the rest range from good (Master of Chains and Son of Thunder) to brilliant (Ghostwalker). You should check out these books. And I almost forgot, the cover art is breathtaking on all of the books.

Really helped me figure out my Ghostwalker character for my weekly d&d sessions.

love this book