Star of Erengrad

Rating:
Summary: A book of two parts
Review: It's a story about a group of adventurers (main character Stefan Kumansky) escorting a princess to the Kislevite city of Erengrad where she is to be wed to a prince. The namesake of the novel (the Star of Erengrad) is this relic that plays an important role in the tale (a role I will not mention here so as not to give away important plot elements).

The first part of the novel (roughly, the first 100 pages or so) is pretty good. We are introduced to the characters, the adventure begins in haste, and things are off to a good start. Until the time arrives to introduce to the reader to the characters on the side of "Chaos". At this point, the novel shifts back and forth between good guys and bad guys, and the pace slows terribly, the characters on the chaos side aren't that interesting, and main character (Stefan Kumansky) literally drops off the radar screen. He becomes so unimportant in the development of the story that his sudden appearance near the end begs the question of where he's been the whole time. The ending itself, though a good ending for the novel, was a bit too sappy for my tastes.

So, it's a book of two parts: one good, one bad, but overall it's a bit unbalanced.