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The Dark Warrior Rising: A novel of Niflheim (2007) is written by Ed Greenwood, the creator of the Forgotten Realms. Most of the stories in the Forgotten Realm series are based on RPGs before the advent of computer game playing. Many of the the stories are interesting, but the worlds are very much the same.

This book is different from his other dark elves stories because it is centered around a different worship idea. In most of Forgotten Realms, the beliefs are centered around Odin and other Germanic folklore. In this book, the religious ideas are centered around Olone, a goddess of perfection and beauty. In this belief system the dark elves (or nifl) live their lives committed to beauty. They use slaves to take care of most of their work to keep themselves younger and beautiful. The worst sin a person can commit is to lose their beauty by becoming fat or even by losing a limb. They are either killed or thrown out into the Wild Dark, which is filled with terrible predators.

In other cities, the nifl refuse Olone and the matriarchal order. Plus they worship Ever-Ice, as the heart of Niflheim. The Ever-Ice is a magical construct making their magicians (male and female) very strong. Even the towns of Ever-Ice use slaves, mostly human.

In this story, Orivon was stolen from his village as he reached the cusp of manhood. He became a Firefist (blacksmith-forge) in the service of Evendoom. He is a slave of Taerune, a female purebred of Evenwood and also the daughter of the head of the house. Her favorite weapon is a whip that she uses on her slaves and other lower beings on the streets of her town. She is arrogant as most of the higher born Nifl.

Most of the story is about the plans to bring Evenwood down. Orivon has been waiting for a chance to escape for fifteen years. He is strong, pale, and larger than most Nifl. When the town is invaded, he escapes taking Taerune with him. Taerune by that time had lost an arm from the invaders. Her crones, the females that ran the house, tried to kill her.

Eventually Orvion makes it topside, but Taerune is left in the dark to the tender mercies of her brother.

The story was very exciting with some really good fight scenes. One problem I saw is that Orivon was not developed very much. You saw him as a youth and then full-grown... there was no progression. You knew more about his owner, Taerune, than him.

Otherwise it had some really good elements. If you like RPGs or Forgotten Realm stories, you will like this book.

Learn more about this author, Cyn Bagley.
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