Dark Vengeance by Ed Greenwood

Orivon Firefist was stolen from his home as a child, taken by the Dark Elves that live under the earth to be a slave. As time passed, he became a smith and forger, working for the Niflghar. Then, the Dark Elf city he worked in was wracked with rebellion and change, and he was caught up in it, along with the Nifl-she Taerune Evendoom, who eventually found herself outcaste from her home city, Talonnorn and clan when she was maimed, losing her hand. Since the Goddess who ruled the city, Olone, felt that Niflghar who were maimed were less than even the Hairy Ones (humans) who toiled as slaves, Taerune fled along with Orivon and found herself relying on this human who hated her for help in staying alive.

Eventually, Orivon made a new hand for her, a cup with a sword-blade attatched that helped them both stay alive on the run. She stayed below with a group of Niflghar ravagers, bandits that give allegiance to no city or goddess, while Orivon returned to the surface, trying to find a new life amongst the people he no longer knew. Meanwhile, in Talonnorn, Taerune's father has disappeared on a mission to the Wildlands, and her brother, Jalandral, has risen to the head of the house. He has plans to rule Talonnorn, but so far, they are just plans.

Above, Orivon found that his village was destroyed, and is rebuilding his life in another village, Orlkettle, where he has become the village blacksmith. When four children are abducted in a Niflghar raid, Orivon feels that he has failed them, despite the fact that he roused the town to the attack, and it is only because of his warning that they fought it off. He recognizes the few dead Niflghar as residents of Talonnorn and decides to bring the children back from the city as a repayment for letting them be taken in the first place.

But as the Underdark falls to war and chaos, other foes are gathering around Talonnorn, and they have just as great a reason to want Talonnorn dead and gone. Orivon, too, attracts attention in the Underdark, attention from those who would kill him, tame him or make him their tool. Can Orivon remain free and find the children he has sworn to retrieve, or will the nameless, countless monsters and terrors of the Underdark kill him before he can even return to the site of his long imprisonment and slavery? And if he can, will the childrem still remain alive for him to find?

This is another series by Ed Greenwood, the same writer who writes Elminster books and the "Swords of the High King" series. This particular series is based around the Norse sagas and the Norse worldview, with Midgar, the world of the Gods, and the Underworld, all linked and separated by Yggdrasil, the world tree.

The story itself is well-written and I had no problem reading it, but the character of Orivon just wasn't that interesting to me. He's ostensibly the main character, but I found his character to be the least interesting one in the story. The dark elves, the Niflghar, were more interesting characters to me, especially Aloun and Luelldar, two watchers in the service of Olone's fellow goddess, Ouvahlor. And when secondary characters are more interesting than the supposed hero of the book, you know there is something wrong. I just wish we could have seen more of them.

Perhaps the problem is that there is so much going on in the book with the war on Talonnorn coming from so many different directions that Orivon got pushed into a much smaller part in the book than he should have been, and his plot suffered by comparison. I'm not sure. But I do know I'm not going to run to seek out this series in the future, even if there is a future book. It just didn't entertain me very much.