I'm not exactly sure how I feel about this book.As part of an ongoing attempt to read all of the Forgotten realms books, I was excited to get to this series. Many of the stories that take place in this world are hardly worth the time, but I told myself I would do it, and I keep trying.Troy Denning is one of the first authors I ever read (that's a little bit sad, I know, but I was young). So, as I mentioned, I was excited to see what this series (one of his first, I believe) was like.So far, I'm not overly impressed. I get the feeling that he was still really green at this stage of his career and the wholes in the plot seem to really shine. I have to admit, after reading fantasy at a completely different and much higher level, I can't really say it was that bad. I think I'm just used to some stuff that is better. However, I did read this book really quickly and jumped right into the second book in the series. So, I'm at least that intrigued.The main character, Tavis, is a giant-kin called a firbolg. He's in love with a super strong princess (she must have giant blood, right?) who gets kidnapped by ogres. So, her family has a bunch of giant henchmen that serve as the honor guard (there is a pact between the royal family and the giants in the area), but the king won't send them out to resue her. Why? Tavis ignores the king's demands and takes off with a little human orphan thief, and a runecaster verbeeg (another kind of giant-kin). You'd think that this motley crue would be able to take out some ogres and be on their way, but WAIT! They ogres have a shamen who is bad ass and messes every attempt that Tavis and his gang take to save the princess. Needless to say, eventually, the good guys win. But the plot suggestivly thickens in the last chapter and you want to read more...which I am.
