Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
Publishing Date: June 2015
ISBN: 9780786965717
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 3.2/5
Publisher Description: Rumors race around Cormyr regarding the mythical Lost Spell, a powerful enchantment designed centuries ago by the presumed dead god of spells—a spell long thought lost to the ages. Found by some magic-less merchant, rumor has it the Lost Spell is to be auctioned off to the highest bidder.
Review: This is “Dungeons and Dragons” hooked up with “Clue” and had a love child called Spellstorm. Every Arch Mage is dying only everyone is guessing at the killer(s) identity and method. It all takes place in a creepy crumbling castle with wandering ghosts and fragile gates into other worlds.
Evil Arch Mages have made it through the spellstorm which surrounds Castle Oldspires in order to wrest away the Lost Spell from Lord Halaunt. The Wizards begin to better the odds by killing the competition by various means.
I was delightfully surprised with the writing and the creative story line. Characters were rendered wonderfully and scenes were built to move the characters around in a static environment. I liked that the Spellstorm and the Weave were there to mitigate magic use as it would have rendered a dismal story line otherwise. The only downsides were some word and phrase crutches here and there like “growled” and “said dryly” etc. Although it runs a bit longer than it should, get this. It’s a solid read.