Plague of Spells by Bruce Cordell is the first novel in the Abolethic Sovereignty Trilogy. The second book is titled City of Torment and is scheduled for release in September, 2009, the third book in the trilogy is titled Key of Stars and is slated for release in August, 2010. Mr. Cordell currently has two other novels set in the Forgotten Realms; Stardeep and Darkvision. He has also penned a short story for the Realms of War anthology. Fans of the Forgotten Realms will be especially interested in this novel in relation to the Spell Plague and the new 4th Edition Rules. Most new Forgotten Realms books are picking up 100 years after the Spell Plague. Not so with this one. This novel has some of the initial Spell Plague and then picks up a mere 10 years later. I am pleased to find a book set during this time frame. Based on that aspect alone, I think this is almost a must read for most Forgotten Realms fans. Here are my thoughts on the novel as a whole.

The plot of this book is not your typical, linear plot. It is actually several plots, and perspectives, mixed together. This allows the story to take on a larger feel and cover more elements. There are three separate plots that are separate for some of the book before slowly being drawn together by a common theme. The first is that of Raidon Kane and his quest to find lost friends, a lost artifact, but more importantly finding himself. The second plotline focuses on an artifact being found by a Kuo-toa and just what powers it has, and if it is more than what it seems. The last major plot revolves around a small group of people who are drawn into the larger plot listed as number two in this list. Strictly speaking on the plot, I really enjoyed it. I like how the reader is given some background information on the Spell Plague and how it has effected, the people, lands, and other systems in the world. It flowed well and the pacing between each of the plots was well done. None of the different plot lines seemed to dominate the book at any time, conversely none of the various plot elements were lost either. There were a couple parts of the plot that felt slightly contrived and a little forced, such as how all three plot lines come together, but overall I enjoyed the plot quite a bit.

The characters in this book are a mix of new and old. Fans of the novel Stardeep will be pleased to know that Raidon Kane makes a return as does another character from Stardeep, but I will let readers find that one. Most of the characters are new, and most are rather interesting. Characters such as Anusha, Japheth, Thoster, Nogah, and Seren. Of all the characters in this book, I found Japheth to be the most interesting. There are multiple layers to who he is and why he does what he does. Unlike in Stardeep, Raidon was much more interesting in this novel. That could be because of the setting, and circumstances but either way I found myself interested in his plight and his calm quiet demeanor. There were two characters that I didn’t really care for however. Nogah and Anusha. Nogah primarily because I was simply never able to really connect with her on any level. To me her character felt more like a way to advance other characters and plots that really being her own entity. Anusha I didn’t care for because of a different reason. She experiences a great deal of, shall we say change during the novel. The issue I had with this is not so much the actual change, but the speed at which it happens and the ease at how she deals with the change. It just seemed unnatural and too easy. Aside from those two things I thought the characters were well done. The dialogue gave each character their own voice, especially Seren. For the most part all the characters were easy to connect with and understand, making the novel enjoyable and interesting.

A couple criticisms about the novel:

1 – As I mentioned above, the development of Anusha. It just seemed rushed and almost forced to make sure that the rest of the story happened as intended. I thought it was interesting, but I would have liked it to have taken longer than what it did. (I know that’s vague, but I don’t want to ruin anything for anyone)

2 – I would have liked for the ‘final battle’ to be longer and more engaging. As it is, it seems there is a great deal of build-up to it. A lot of apprehension from the characters and then the actual scene was a little disappointing to me.

Some things I liked about the novel:

1 – I loved that we are finally seeing glimpses of the much talked about Spell Plague and what the consequences are for it happening. I also like that this novel takes place 10 years after the Spell Plague and not the 100 years like most novels. While it doesn’t answer all the questions about the Spell Plague, it does give the reader a good idea at what things are like.

2 – Normally I tend not to like cliffhanger endings. However the ending of this book fit the novel perfectly. It finishes the book off, but it also leaves so much left to be decided in the next two novels.

3 – The prose in this novel was well done. It has a nice even flow to it, and the descriptions are near perfect. Visualization in novels is almost always a key component to the author really giving the reader his vision. Mr. Cordell succeeded in showing the reader his vision with this novel.

Some readers may remember my some what critical reviews of Mr. Cordell’s first two novels. However, I like to give credit where credit is do and this is one of those instances. While there were a couple things in the novel that didn’t really work for me, overall I enjoyed this novel quite a bit. In my eyes Mr. Cordell has improved quite a bit as an author. I am still under the impression that he would make a great Eberron author given his love of using gadgets and such, but is a very solid Forgotten Realms novel. Fans of the Forgotten realms should definitely read this book. Especially those who have been critical of the switch to 4th Edition just so they can see what those changes really entail. Readers looking at getting into the fantasy genre may be better served by getting other novels under their belt, if for no better reason so they can understand some of the things that occur in this novel. When all is said and done I can easily see myself recommending this novel to Realms fans. I certainly enjoyed it and am eagerly looking forward to the next installment.