Falconfar by Ed Greenwood

Rod Everlar is a writer of fantasy who created a fantasy world called Falconfar. Under his control, the world became beloved by fantasy fans and he wrote and created much of the world. Then, he got tired of his creation and sold his idea to the computer company that was going to release games based on Falconfar. Then, he didn't think any more about it.

Until the night Taeauna, one of the winged female warriors called Aumrarr that Rod created falls out of the roof of his house to tell him that the world he created is real, and that several powerful wizards known as "Dooms" have banded together to enslave Falconfar. She begs Rod to come with her and save what he has created, for he is known as the Archdoom, the Archwizard whose whim rules the world.

Apparently, although Rod was careful to destroy every foe that he created to menace his fictional(?) world, the company he sold his world to has made numerous foes for their upcoming games, and it has wreaked havoc on his world. The Aumrarr are being slaughtered, and Taeauna is attacked and dewinged. Only a few Aumrarr survive the destruction of their stronghold, and through Rod, the Dooms of Falconfar now know of the human world, and without magic to gainsay them, their will here can run rampant.

Unfortunately for Taeauna, Rod has no ability with magic and can't really affect the Dooms that much. But with the help of allies, he and Teauna have slain both Malraun and Arlaghaun, but Lorontar, another Doom, controls Malraun's body.

But as Rod and Taeauna are separated, Rod is chased across Falconfar and must give peace to a dead wizard and his animated skeletons by absorbing their memories, along with that comes some ability to recognize and use magic.

Meanwhile, the two remaining Aumrarr escort two thieves who might be heroes to use them in a scheme to bring less chaos to the land, while Lorontar abducts two with the talent to be magicians to become his apprentices and instill in them a great hunger for magic, and no fear of killing or looting corpses to obtain it. Meanwhile, the great families of the land have their own plans for Falconfar, and aren't above using swords or magic to make it come about.

But when two wizards slip onto Earth through the portal to his house, they discover that magics work weakly on Earth, but they *do* work- and are left free to roam and make mischief, while Rod himself works with Taeauna to bring peace to the land... which may be a feeble hope for right now.

I love Ed Greenwood's Forgotten Realms novels. Let's face it, Ed Greenwood is the one who developed the Realms, and he is its main "voice", and usually, I love that voice. But when it comes to Elminster, well, I wasn't expecting to encounter him again (in vocal form) in Falconfar.

Or to be precise, many Elminsters, because that same sort of voice (all men of less than aged years are "Lad" and all women are "lass", among other things, seemed to be coming from almost every good male character in this book that wasn't from Earth. And while one, or a few, Elminster-like talkers are fine, this series has made me annoyed to the point of distraction. I find it almost impossible to read.

Not helping that is the fact that I don't really care for the characters. Rod is more often played for the fool, because even though he's the one who created Falconfar, his information about it is way out of date, and he's not able to fight or do magic. He spends most of his time running, falling and not being able to do well, anything. Not exactly a thrilling hero.

And none of the other characters really make me want to root for them, either. All seem to be retreads of characters from the Realms, from Mirt the Moneylender to Storm Falconhand, so it reads like an inferior sort of Realms. If you haven't read any of the Forgotten Realms books, maybe this series makes better reading. But when I am reading it, all I can think of is what it isn't, instead of what it is. Not recommended.