After finishing the Forgotten Realms trilogy, The Return of the Archwizards , by Troy Denning I was left with a pretty good taste for his work. This series of books is categorized by me as very high fantasy (meaning lots of magic/mythical creatures and such) so if you are a fan of other fantasy that leans more toward less magic, then this series is not for you. The whole tale revolves around an elf Tomb Guard named Galaeron Nihmedu who while on a scouting mission to some tombs near his elven home of Evereska stumbles upon and ultimately release an evil magic loose on the world. Galaeron also discovers and deals with his “shadow self” throughout the tale. Not easy to contain or control yet enabling him to wield powerful magic from the Shadow Weave, a lot of the story surrounds Galaeron’s struggle with this “shadow self”.Many times it is as much a handy weapon as it is a curse. Galaeron meets some interesting friends and a plethora of powerful enemies along the way. Malik the rogue, who is cursed by his chosen god of only being able to speak the truth, was one of my favorite characters in the tale( although I often didn’t agree with his ambitions) along with a stone giant named Aris who’s heart is soft as mud was another interesting addition. The tale is full of battles between magic wielding wizards and sorcerers and those enemies trying to destroy the elves and their homeland, namely the wicked phaerimm. These phaerimm are evil creature who wield mind bending magic and can control subjects to their desires. With many plots, twist and characters to like and hate, if you are a fan of rich fantasy, particularly magic based, then this tale is for you…\m/ \m/