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In the realm of Thay, while
visiting the town of Pyrados, Thazienne "Tazi" Uskevren takes
some time to relax in a tavern with a glass of ale. Catching the eye of
Naglatha, a member of the Red Wizards, the magic user evolves a plan to
capture the ale-drinking woman sitting at the table. After getting into
a fight with one of Naglatha's servants, Tazi is hauled off to jail,
sentenced, and turned into a slave. She shares her cell with a
gray-skinned dwarf, a duergar, named Justikar Stoneblood, who has little
use for the woman. When Tazi is put on the auction block and sold to
Naglatha, she convinces the wizard to also purchase the duergar.
Naglatha's plan is to kill, Ythazz Buvaar, the new leader of the Red
Wizards, so she can step into his shoes. For this, she needs the skills
she believes Tazi might have. Tazi must steal a book with dark spells
that Naglatha will use to open the gates of hell and bring forth a demon
that willsweep Ythazz away. Tazi strikes a bargain that if she
accomplishes this task with Justikar by her side, Naglatha will let them
be free once again. Thus, a bargain is struck and the adventure begins.
The Crimson Gold by
Voronica Whitney-Robinson is the third book in The Rogues Series. It is
a fantasy tale in the Forgotten Realms world. Each book is written by a
different author. Each novel in this series is a stand-alone story, but
the overall setting for the titles will be the Old Empires, an area of
the Forgotten Realms never before explored in the novels.
At first, I though the main
character was going to be a dwarf. This was an exciting concept for me,
as I had never read a book with dwarf as the main focus of a story. Then
he gets killed in the first chapter. Tazi is introduced and I really
liked her. Then she becomes a slave. Another dwarf is soon introduced
and they sort of team up. This was not what I had expected, but I like
the unexpected. The Crimson Gold is an interesting tale about a
young female fighter that gets tangled up in another person's war. She
has no choice but to be the pawn of the evil wizard. She must not only
use her wits to escape the situation, but to also save her new friend.
This story moves along at a good pace, but did not have enough action to
suit me. When the story focused on Ythazz, I always felt a little lost
and looked forward to it returning to Tazi. Still, it is a good story
that does not require you reading the first two books in the series.
Overall, The The Crimson Gold
by Voronica Whitney-Robinson is a nice addition to the Forgotten Realms
world of books.
I rated this book a 7 out of
10. |
