Oath of Nerull

A Dungeons & Dragons Novel

By: T. H. Lain

Narrated by: Dolph Amick

The third Dungeons & Dragons novel based on the new edition of the D&D game. Featuring iconic characters that appear throughout the latest edition of the D&D game, this series will attract new players and readers to the various worlds featured in the Wizards of the Coast, Inc. book publishing line. The familiar characters and D&D-related content will also make this series very approachable for current players. The wizard or sorcerer who wins the well-known Duel Arcane will be awarded the Golden Wand, a magical device that holds incredible power. Magic users come from far and wide to compete in the contest. Some are drawn to glory, others to the competition. Still more come for other, darker reasons, driven by an oath to a merciless death god. And some oaths cannot be broken.©2002 Wizards of the Coast LLC (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Great story! The final battle is awesome!

Berek is a dwarf to be remembered and an well described cleric.
And what to say about the duel arcane? Although fought by low level casters it's still thrilling.
Finally a good description and characterization of the monks in Dungeons and Dragons world.
I truly recommend it!

A firm strike but lacking in finesse...

I thought this was a pretty standard Dungeons and Dragons fantasy novel; simply written, well read by the narrator (though gosh do I dislike small races having the highest voices - it just feels very weird) and solid in it's execution.

I feel like more time could be given to the characters of Brek, Nebin and Hennet. It's clear that Ember was the focus of the story, which was fine, but a bit more detail to these other characters would made them feel a little more substantial. I also thought the choice to have the kind of undead in the story they did interesting, especially when those creatures are typically very powerful in the narrative of the game. I wanted more death cult as well - more undead, more fell rituals and dark castings of magic.

I also feel like a return to the tournament in the middle of the action against the death cult was strange. It felt bizarre to have this very serious, terrible thing and then back to some goofy and oddly written spell duels. The romance between two characters was also unnecessary, I felt, since it distracted from their focus on the mission of overcoming the death cult but that's a personal preference.