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Not great but not bad. The evil wizards are truly evil. One is even a sado/nymphomaniac. Any parts with them were my highlights of this book. Hobarth the cleric is pretty bad ass. The zombie/druid battle for the grove is worthy too. Worth a read if only to see how the Forgotten Realms mythos is starting to open up wide. Planes of existence and the vastness of the continent of Faerun are hinted at. Kazgaroth was actually a minion of Bhaal(The God of the act of death) who lives on the plane of Gehenna. The EarthMother is an aspect of Chauntea(Goddess of agriculture and growth). The black wizards Cyndre and Alexei were trained in Thay. The assassins of Calimshan. It will be interesting to read the subsequent changes to the Realms as the series transitions from v2 to v3. The sahuagin here worship Bhaal. By the time of Mel Odom's Threat from the Sea they all worship Sekolah.
Monsters aplenty! We have a half orc, duergar, zombies, skeletons, ogres, sahuagin, the invisible servant and earth elementals. There's a wood sprite too. Really? Re-really(annoying).
My only real complaint is some of the setup in the book is way too forced or just doesn't make much sense. For example, when the Prince and Daryth lose their weapons at sea only to have them magically returned in Caer Allisynn I face palmed at the lameness of it all. Pontswain was there too btw. Why couldn't he get his weapon back? Then there was "Robin Hood" O'Roarke. Really now? Tavish the bard better be in book 3 or I'll be double ticked.
FINAL THOUGHTS
"The nuts felt warm against her skin." page 192.