Book of the Week: Darkwalker on Moonshae by Douglas Niles

This here book is the first one ever to be written under the Forgotten Realms title. This reprinted beauty has an introduction by R. A. Salvatore, and being that I'm a fan of his, I thought to give this one a try. I'm glad I did. Although it starts out a little slow (I even put it down after about 75 pages for a while), the second act picks up pace and slams it home with an action packed 300 pages. I can see how this book inspired Salvatore as both the action and character structures are very similiar. The land of the ffolk is being threatened when the balance of power shifts to the dark side and a great demon is released from the Darkwell. The Goddess must rouse her champions to fight it or risk domination. The demon takes the form of the Iron King and sends his northmen into war against the peaceful ffolk. Only the champions of good, led by an unwieldly hero carrying an ancient sword of heroes and his band defenders can save the land from destruction. Alot more happens in this book, but at the expense of time and space, that's the gist of it. A really good action yarn and I can't wait to get the second in the trilogy. I give it **** out of *****.