I was somewhat skeptical at first, but this won me over after a bit. The half (over half, really) of the book focuses on a brief overlook at the state of the northern portion of Faerun in the 5e timeline. While I do wish there was more here, it's still a breezy and interesting read. It bounces between several sections with different narrators—and it works! The second half is devoted to additional class options for the game: racial options, class archetypes, backgrounds, a handful of new spells, and so on. I was fairly neutral on this section at first glance, but after reading it in full, there's lots of good stuff here. The new class options are, for the most part, really fun. Even the ones that at first blush seem underpowered are still flavorful and a nice alternative to the usual glut of character specifics people pick (personal favorites are the two rogue options, swashbuckler and mastermind, and the bladesinger wizard focus).

I feel like I'm one of the few who actually like that Wizards isn't vomiting out sourcebook after sourcebook, but I do hope we see more of this sort of thing down the road. ( )

A well put together guide to D&D's Sword Coast (Forgotten Realms) ( )