Bhaal era un dios colérico que se regocijaba con los actos sanguinarios y violentos. Cada vez que sus seguidores mataban invocando su nombre, él se sentía más y más fuerte, más y más satisfecho. Era el terrible dios de la Muerte. Su dominio se extendía por el llano de Gehenna, un reino desolado y opresivo, construido sobre una vasta e interminable ladera de montaña. Chorros de vapor surgían de la vertiente y ríos de lava la recorrían, chisporroteando en grandes cataratas, y se depositaban en borboteantes charcas.

Well, here we have another Dungeons and Dragons book that was written pretty much as a sequel even though no sequel was really required though this product of the (then) TSR book factory was probably always on the cards. I guess that is the nature of such book factories: to keep churning out books that are written by somebody who knows how to write, but really has little meaning and depth, and is really only an excuse to give lovers of fantasy novels another book to read. In a way these books are pretty much like any other franchise that simply churns out books to fuel people's addictions.
I did read a lot of fantasy when I was a kid however the problem was that I ended up limiting myself to the narrow genres that I liked. I did not read much science-fiction beyond the Doctor Who books and I certainly did not read much fantasy beyond the narrow provinces of the Dungeons and Dragons books. In a way they were settings that I was familiar with and, at the time, they were set in worlds that I knew, were familiar with, and also enjoyed. It was a way of being able to satisfy my Dungeons and Dragons' addiction between the weekly (or even twice weekly) games that I was involved in.
This book continues on from Darkwalker on Moonshae. Once again the peaceful Celtic-like people known as the Ffolk are under threat from an evil and powerful force, and it comes up to the two heroes from the first book to confront this evil. It does in a way follow on from the book, in that where in the first book it seemed like that they had defeated the bad guy and saved the Moonshaes, only to discover in the second book that they were little more than the henchmen of this more powerful and evil force. It is a little like Chuck (the TV series) in that when he defeated one organisation, we quickly discover that this organisation was only the appendage of a larger organisation, and when that one is defeated, we stumble onto an even more powerful organisation that was manipulating this one. While at first it keeps you interested, you end up becoming jaded with the fact that there just seems to be no end, and that there is one ultimate badguy that, when defeated, brings the world into paradise.
I guess the style that attracts me more these days is to throw out the concept of the one big bad guy that must be defeated, and simply have an ongoing history that tosses between major events and minor events, and while there may be some overarching villain, his defeat does not necessarily bring in a brave new world, but rather creates a power vacuum that must be filled. Consider World War II, where we were all fighting this vicious evil that was the German Nazi party, and as we fought we always had our eyes on that new world of peace and prosperity that Keanes had envisioned before the war. However that world never arose because within a few years the Nazi's had been replaced with the Russians, and while the hot war was over a new the cold war had begun. Even with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the brave new world of the 90s never eventuated, especially for me, and twelve years after the fall of the Berlin Wall (ignoring the Serbian bloodbath in between) we find that world shattered once again when two planes slammed into the World Trade Centre. ( )

A good follow-on to the first book, Darkwalker on Moonshae. Niles does an excellent job of describing the people of the Moonshae isles and their leaders. He also makes the conflict between the evil wizards and the druids a fascinating one. Great AD&D fiction. This is a good book for 1st Edition D&D fans. It isn't the greatest fantasy otherwise, its a little clunky at times, but it was fun to read. ( )

MOONSHAE TRILOGY