The plot is all over the place, but somehow it works amazingly well. Other deities are involved, as well as mortals and the dead. Now, Cyric, new god of strife, murder, and the dead (and maybe illusion also at the time of the story?), plots to usurp even more power, opposed most directly by the new goddess of magic, Mystra-formerly-known-as-Midnight. Prince of Lies takes place ten years after the events of the Avatar trilogy, which detailed how changes in the pantheon of gods of Faerun took place, with the mortal protagonists ultimately taking on godhood. Presumably he has a more experienced editor working on his own books. In the introduction to Prince of Lies, Lowder reveals that he was a first-time editor for the Avatar trilogy, which goes some way to explain how terrible those books were. James Lowder has proven himself capable of spinning an entertaining yarn in his prior Forgotten Realms novels. Even more fortunately, it was not written by either of the authors who wrote the truly awful original Avatar trilogy ( Scott Ciencin and Troy Denning under the pen name of Richard Awlinson).

With all of that added effort and expense, I am surprised that it was not advertised in the back of their other books published shortly prior maybe their publishing schedule changed too quickly for this.įortunately, the content was of sufficient quality to support this effort. TSR went all out for this sequel to the Avatar trilogy, loading it with several firsts: a full-color cardstock map, interior illustrations, and about 60 more pages than any of the paperback Forgotten Realms novels published up to that point (roughly 20,000 words longer). In the media, he is a regular contributor to the Milwaukee Public Radio show 'Lake Effect,' provided werewolf lore on the TV show Weird or What?, and served as a puppeteer on the indie film Misfit Heights. He's helmed twenty anthologies, several of them not about zombies.

As an editor, he's directed lines or series for TSR, Chaosium, Green Knight Publishing, and CDS Books. His book and film reviews, feature articles, and role-playing game design work can be found in such diverse publications as Amazing Stories, Milwaukee Magazine, and The New England Journal of History. He's penned comic book scripts for several companies and the city of Boston. He's authored several best-selling dark fantasy novels, including Prince of Lies and Knight of the Black Rose, and has had short fiction appear in such anthologies as Shadows Over Baker Street and Genius Loci. James Lowder has worked extensively in fantasy and horror fiction on both sides of the editorial blotter.

Prince of lies by lucy lennox