Mistshore by Jaleigh Johnson

Icelin is a mage with perfect memory who watches over a small alley in Waterdeep's South Ward, keeping the innocent who work there safe from the monsters and people who might prey on them. The alley is located behind her granduncle's home (and hers as well), and she is known among some as the Witch of Blaklock Alley.

Despite her perfect memory and facility with magic, the spells she casts are only minor ones because each spell she casts causes her pain. But it is her other ability, the ability to appraise precious objects, that causes her to leave her home for a job, and throws her entire life into chaos.

Icelin is hired by Kredaron to assist him in selling his store of magicked jewelry to an elf named Cerest, who buys and sells the sorts of magical trinkets so beloved by people with money, and with the advent of the Spellplague years ago, people now trust magicked objects more than magic cast by people.

The transaction is successfully concluded, and afterwards, on her walk home, Icelin saves Cerest from being trampled by a runaway horse. Unfortunately, he recognizes her, and sends a message to the guards accusing her of theft, saying that she has robbed him of the magical trinkets he purchased. At the same time, he also sends some of his men out after her, with orders to bring her back to him.

They catch up with her as she enters the shop of a local butcher, Sull. When he realizes that Icelin needs help, he helps her out with the men, and lets her leave through the back. She hurries back to the shop run by her uncle, but he is dead, and she only has time to retrieve a gold box hidden in his shop before she must run for her life. But she won't be alone, because Sull comes with her.

He won't tell her why he's decided to protect her, but the ante is upped when one of Cerest's men is found slain, and Cerest accuses Icelin of murder as well. A guardsman who is her friend tells her of the charges against her, but he knows she is innocent, and could do nothing like what she is being accused of. He gives her a pawn belonging to an odd thief, telling her to take it to Ruen and trade the favor to have him hide her until he, and the guard, can find out the truth of the situation.

Icelin must travel to Mistshore, the poorest, most desperate part of Waterdeep, and also the one hardest hit by the Spellplague, as well as plagues of other kinds. Cerest claims to have known her parents, which she cannot remember despite her otherwise perfect memory. But in the dirt and squalor of Mistshore, Icelin must struggle to find her missing memories, and master the infirmity that could otherwise kill her. But why does Sull wish to help her, and what about Ruen?

And for that matter, why does Cerest want her so badly, that he's willing to lie and destroy her life to get her? The answers lie hidden in the memories she can no longer recall, but will finding those memories end up destroying her?

This was a fairly enjoyable novel, but through it, I found out about the drastic changes that the Powers That Be made when moving from 3rd edition Dungeons and Dragons to 4th edition Dungeons and Dragons, and to be honest, the changes they made really annoyed me- so much so that it was a good thing that I only found out about them after I finished reading the novel.

All that aside, I did enjoy the book. The story was interesting, even if I had no idea what the whole "spellplague" that they were talking about was until long after I'd finished reading the book. I found the characters interesting, but I also thought that the feeling of this book taking place in the Forgotten Realms, was somehow missing- and there is a very good reason for that- because for 4th edition, they have literally gutted the Forgotten Realms. It's is not know the place that it was, and I felt its lack in the book most strongly.

So in the end, for me, this book was one of the very much less successful Forgotten Realms novels. It may be exactly a perfect indication of the Realms the way they are in the 4th edition, and if that's so, I don't know if I will be buying any more novels set in this world except for the prequels written by Ed Greenwood. It's no longer the setting that attracted me, and it's not really anywhere I want to be anymore. And I'm certainly not the only one who feels that way. Avoid this novel if you like the Forgotten Realms the way they were. It just doesn't feel the same.