For a novel that has so much going for it...

For a novel that has so much going for it, this is disappointing. I have loved reading Forgotten Realms for years. The universe has a rich landscape and history, giving the author a lot to work with and includes stories by some of my favorite authors including R A Salvatore and Elaine Cunningham. However I have been constantly disappointed by the poor standard of narration ruining novels I loved, when I come to listen to the Audio books. So after finding that this was narrated by Rupert Degas (who did such a wonderful job on the King Killer Chronicles) and listening to the sample, which centered around an intriguing female character for a change, I immediately purchased the book.

Unfortunately, the only thing that did not let me down was Degas' performance and I hope he works on some of the other novels in this universe.The heroine whom I liked, is banished for hours at a time, being replaced by a hero who is wooden and I found myself completely unable to connect with. Most characters felt like less well written copies of characters I had read in other books. Truthfully I struggled to finish this and am unlikely to read the sequel or re-read this.

Shadowbane is most likely to be of interest to Forgotten Realms fans, who want to listen to something by a brilliant narrator, like their macho knight hero stories and want something new after having already read and enjoyed the better stories in this universe.