Book Review: Dark Warrior Rising by Ed Greenwood Review Written by: SeramiNefera No copyright infringement intended in this review.

The book Dark Warrior Rising was written by Ed Greenwood and is the first book of his Niflheim series. It focuses around two main characters: Orivon and Taerune. Orivon is a human man that was kidnapped as a child by the Nifl as a child and brought to the city Talonnorn. In this city he was made into a slave and served Taerune Evendoom. Orivon served in the forges; making weapons and other objects for his Nifl masters. However, when another city chose to attack Talonnorn and specifically the House Evendoom, Orivon took the opportunity to make an escape from his enslavement. Taerune was the third eldest child of Lord Evendoom. She was the master of Orivon and was known to be inappropriately attached to her slave according to other Nifl. In the attack upon Talonnorn, she fought valiantly for her House and City. In the fighting, she lost her arm and was maimed in the conflict. According to the religious beliefs of the Nifl in Talonnorn, she was an abomination now and a shame that courted disfavor with their goddess Olone. Instead of the injuries acquired during her protection of the city being healed, a rival who had risen to power chose to make her Nameless. She was left alone to suicide in order to restore the honor of her House, and Orivon intervened. Orivon convinced Taerune to seek to escape Talonnorn with him. He sought to return to his home in the blindingbright (as the Nifl call the place) and she could, if she chose, remain with the Rampants (disgraced, forsaken, outcast Nifl). She chose to live and went with him to help him escape. However, in the attempt to get her magical Orb so she could help fight if needed, Orivon killed three of her sisters. Now her father has ordered her elder brother, Jalandral, to seek her out and slay her, accompanying him is Shoan Maulstryke the son of a rival House who seeks to ensure that the deed is done and avenges the City Talonnorn. My critique of the book is that the names of the characters are difficult to remember. The names tend to be long and the spelling is difficult to recall without directly going back and referencing the book. However, the characters are well thought out by the writer and are memorable; not just the main characters. Orivon is a powerful human who despite his brawns is also quite intelligent. He is aware early on that he will only have one chance to escape and, if he fails, he will be slain. As such, he bides his time and grabs the best opportunity for escape. In the story he shows great strength in arms and good fighting skills. He is, befittingly, very bitter towards those who had kidnapped and enslaved him. However, he also shows a surprising hint of potential fondness for his former master, Taerune. This seems to allude, but is not proven in the book, that both Taerune and Orivon may come to be extreamly close friends or even lovers in the future. Taerune is depicted as being a bit cruel, as she was raised up to be. She is depicted as having whiped Orivon cruelly often in the past... going so far as to put salt or other materials into his wounds so to inflict the most pain and to leave scars on his body. However, as the book progresses you come to see that she is indeed fond of Orivon. In fact, she could have been striving all along to protect him in some manner. In one scene of the book she says Oh, Goddesss, what will become of you now, my Dark Warrior? Are you even still alive? (pp.132) Then the book describes her as trying to 'fight back fresh tears'. She is throughout the book, depicted as a fierce and courageous character. She enters into battle even when, according to the tale, the other females of her people would have sought safety and left the fighting to the males. When her arm is cut off she has a spellrobe (magic user) sear the stump of

the arm so she can keep fighting. Jalandral is also fleshed out a bit in the tale as Taerune's elder brother and the eldest child. He is depicted as a ne'er do well who is a bit too flippant and lazy. He is described as being devastatingly handsome and tends to lounge about and laze rather then doing what his family considers his duty. However, when fighting comes to Talonnorn, he is depicted as being a fierce warrior. He rejoices in the battle, laughs and exchanges banter as he fights, and shows the ability to be a good war-leader. He is described as being fond of his sister Taerune and enjoyed needling her playfully. He also made her exasperated, but there was true brotherly-sisterly affection depicted between the two siblings. Another character I considered pretty well fleshed out was Ravandarr, who is intelligent but a coward. He is the second-born child to Lord Evendoom and is Taerune's elder brother too. He is often depicted as hovering near to Jalandral often, and seems to be an advisor of sorts to his brother. However, he is not respected by his father and the others of his family. Maharla is another character in the tale as well and seems to be one of the antagonists of the story. She is depicted as having killed her predecessor and taken her spot when the fighting broke out in Talonnorn. She does not like Jaladral or Taerune in the story and seeks to destroy them. She ceases the chance with Taerune when the girl gets her arm severed off in battle. She declares Taerune to be a displeasure to Olone and decrees that she is Nameless: an outcast who must be slain, by others or by her own hand in order to pacify Olone. She is depicted to be seeking to become a tyrant in her House, and seeking to do away with those who she dislikes. Taerune felt that next she would be attempting to do something to kill Jaladral. Many of the other characters were not well fleshed out: like the character called Shoan or Lord Evendoom. The mother to Jalandral and Taerune does not seem to make an appearance in the tale. The three sisters of Taerune are named after they died, however they are not described very clearly. All they come off as is being selfish, greedy, and cowards. Taerune assumes they hid in some safe place when the fighting broke out and after Taerune was declared Nameless they broke into her old room and sought to plunder it for gowns. Orivon slew them when he sought Taerune's Orb. Stars 1 My rating system The story had a lot of spelling, grammar, and writing errors. The plot was confused and did not seem to be going anywhere. The story was not interesting to me and reading the book was a trial to me. The story had some writing errors in it. The plot was understandable but not too imaginative and did not really catch my interest. The characters were two dimensional and did not seem real to me (either being too black and white with little shades of grey). The story had some writing errors, not many. The plot was understandable and it was interesting to read. However, it did not really surprise me when I was reading it and the characters I was a bit indifferent too. The characters, main characters, seemed two dimensional and not too realistic in the world the author had written. The story may have some writing errors or none. The plot was understandable and engaging. I was often not surprised by what occurred however, it was an interesting reading. The characters were likeable and sympathetic to me. The story may have some writing errors or none. The plot was understandable, engaging, and thought-provoking. I was often surprised by what happened in the book or it was so well written that I could not put it down because I wanted to know more about what was going to happen in the story. The characters were mostly interesting, well fleshed out, sympathetic, and believable according to the world the author had written.

I would rate this book as a 3.5 star. I was a bit indifferent to the reading because I was not too surprised by the theme. The author, as the creator of the Forgotten Realms, has depicted Dark Elves before and the Nifl remind me strongly of those characters. While the Nifl are no longer described as truly evil... they still remind me basically of the original concept he had for the Drow. However, his characters are interesting and likeable. As the tale wore on into the middle towards the end I found I was a bit more interested in the tale. However, the first half of the book bored me a bit and, if it was not for the fact that I knew he was setting the world up for the story, I might have stopped reading the book. As the book stands, if someone asked me if they should pick it up to read it themselves I would say yes. It is interesting if you like the Forgotten Realms, however it may be best to check if your library has the book if you are not a fan of the Forgotten Realms or of fantasy because it may be one that you will not find interesting. Personally, I will keep the book but I do not see it being one that I will reread often. However, I may go back at times to periodically read the story again due to being a fantasy lover and personally liking Elves.