Archwizard by Ed Greenwood

Rod Everlar, a writer, created the world of Falconfar, a fantasy universe. His books became bestsellers, and his characters, especially the winged female warriors called the Aumrarr, fan favorites. But he sold his creation to the Computer Game Company Holdoncorp, who continued to develop his world as a background for their computer games.

They made changes Rod never would, and brought chaos and evil to the world he had created. Created? Maybe not, because one night, an Aumrarr named Taeauna came to him in his sleep, begging for his help. That was the night that Rod discovered that Falconfar was real, and when the people at Holdoncorp had created their games, they brought uncounted evil to Falconfar.

The first were the Dooms, wizards who had the power to destroy large swathes of the land. Luckily, each despises the others, and uses their power to bring plots and magic to bear on the others. But a greater Doom, the dead wizard Lorontar, the first Archwizard of Falconfar, stirs in his deathly sleep. Once he had the same power as Rod to reshape the land with but his will, but his death meant the land was at peace. Now, he has returned, and wants the power of creation and destruction that Rod wields once again.

Rod was separated from Taeauna, now a Aumrarr no longer, her wings destroyed and their remains cleaved from her back. She has been taken by the wizard Malraun and ensorcelled by him to be his devoted lover and companion. But unbeknownst to her, she carries the spirit of Lorontar deep within her, just waiting for the chance to do more mischief and bring down the Dooms who are his closest rivals.

But the Aumrarr have their own plans to deal with the Dooms, and they have retrieved the Mindcrystal, a crystal that steals the memories and spells of any wizard who comes near it, with the hope of using it against the Dooms. To do this, they required the aid of two sneakthieves and conmen, Garfist Gulkoun and his female partner Iskarra Taeravund. The Aumrarr hope that the mind crystal will give this knowledge to Rod Everlar and allow him to save Falconfar.

Meanwhile, Rod's use of magic items stolen from one of the Dooms strands him in the Raurklor, the largest forest in Falconfar. But as he tries to make his way back to Taeauna, he is co-opted by the lords of Ironthorn to bring doom on each other. They have already been at work doing just this, and aided by some of the Dooms against each other with magic.

Lord Hammerhand has allied with a priestess of the Forest Mother against the other Lords and against the Dooms, but he realizes that without magic, if the other two Lordly houses have it, means the death of his own. Little does he realize that the priest, Cauldreth Jaklar, has his eyes on the Lordship of Hammerhand, and as all Hammerhand's sons are dead, he has only a daughter, Amteira, to follow him. But when Jacklar kills Lord Hammerhand, Amteira vows to see him dead. Little does she know that when she gives herself to the Forest Mother for revenge, it will separate her from the house she once loved, and will give herself over only to concern for the forest and its cares.

Forced into the Castle of Malraun by a traitor who once worked for Lord Hammerhand, Rod must survive the traps that have claimed many bold warriors and skilled thieves. But when Lorontar arrives and takes over Malraun's wits-blasted body, can Rod survive his vengeance and have any chance of surviving Lorontar's magic or fell beasts?

I read the first book in this series, Dark Lord, last year, and it was... okay. Ed Greenwood's writing style takes a while for me to get into so it can flow properly, and I didn't feel like I was really into it until almost half-way through the book. I did get a chuckle out of the comments of the characters on Earth in Holdoncorp in the list of characters at the end where (This is a fictional character) was amended on to every earth-based character. I guess he didn't want to put a "This is a work of fiction, Any character's resemblance to anyone, living or dead, is just a coincidence) type disclaimer in the front of the book.

But then again, the main character in the book, Rod Everlar, does invite comparisons with the writer, Ed Greenwood. After all, Ed created the Dungeons and Dragons setting of the Forgotten Realms, and has written many articles for Dragon Magazine where his most famous character from that setting, Elminster the Wizard, came to his house to visit him and reveal details of magic, people and other things from the Realms itself. A case of art imitating "life"? Who knows, but it lent a delicious subtext to the reading of this book.

Rod, being just a human, spends most of the book being ineffective and powerless, sent hither and yon by people better at killing, or more powerful than he is. But he seems to be gifted with an innate luck that allows him to survive when others do not. Or perhaps he has magic after all, but he cannot use it.

It's an interesting novel, an interesting conceit, but even so, I didn't find Rod's struggles as interesting as the other characters in the novel, which is why I find it only so-so at entertaining me. Rod only has power because of his ability to create, but as a character, he's rather... bland. The other characters, by contrast, are part of the world he created (?) and have a much more interesting history with it. If I read the last novel, it won't be for Rod's story, but for everyone else.