The Sword Never Sleeps

I recently finished reading The Sword Never Sleeps by Ed Greenwood. It is the third book of The Knights of Myth Drannor. It is about "the continuing adventures of some of his (Greenwood's) most celebrated characters".

I find the 'celebrated' part to be rather weird - I had never heard of these guys before this trilogy. But I guess they're up to some greatness in the future. These three books tell the start of their journey, and for a starting adventuring company, they manage to draw the attention of surprisingly many great powers of the Realms. In The Sword Never Sleeps, the Knights are trying to leave Cormyr and enter Shadowdale for whatever purpose.

The book holds a myriad amount of characters, and I had trouble following the motives of some of them. If Greenwood were a starting author trying to get his first book published, I think the number of appearing characters would be cut in half at least. While this genre certainly has the tendency for this, Ed Greenwood has a habit of making sure there are loads of actors in the show. And I always feel some are left bit too vague and/or not really needed. I never mind the delightful guest appearences of Elminster & Co., though.

Due to the number of characters and their more or less different motives and goals - and which cross the Knights and bend their path - the journey to Shadowdale isn't as easy as it could be. The party has to fight for their lives constantly - at some times the novel feels like a recorded D&D campaign. In the last fight, it seriously felt like Greenwood was pulling creatures out of the Monster Manual - quite cool.

Apart from the mentioned troubles, I found The Sword Never Sleeps to be an entertaining story - the reason I read FR novels. Ed Greenwood again masterfully captures the cozy feel of the Realms - he's telling of his second home after all.