Customer Reviews
Does not stand up to Rogue Dragons 
2008-07-27
To begin, this book is not for the particularly young or squeamish. Not going to spoil the story, but there is some badness in this book. Whereas the Rogue Dragon story arc was a good hearty "good vs. evil" story, Unclean is more of a "bad vs. worse" plot. Most of the "protagonists" are deeply flawed, so know that going in. If you're ok with Elric, then this book will be fine.
Not very good 
2008-04-16
Major spoilers abound in here, so be warned.
Disjointed and with really over-used plot themes, this Realms novel isn't very good. The "heroic" bard Braeris, returning home to rescue his sweetheart from poverty, manages to keep flubbing up and missing her. Eventually he abandons her (temporarily, but still) to the big bad evil guys. She is taken and transformed into a vampire of sorts, and we get the wet dream of emo girls everywhere: "I used to love him, but now my world is dark and I must fend for myself, even by causing others pain as a vampire". Her paramour Braeris remains just incompetent enough to keep losing, yet somehow manages to save himself or land fortunate circumstances such that every stupid decision he makes (e.g. solo-attacking a caravan with Red Wizard protection, or diving head first and solo into the home base of the evil guys) is easily escaped.
We also have a secondary plot with griffon rider / mage Aoth, who semi-suffers from a "never really made it as a Red Wizard" complex, and is largely rather plodding and simple until the plot requires that he point out something so incredibly obvious that it seems smart.
Thing is, although the background of Thay is fairly interesting and the interplay of the zulkirs (archamage-leaders) and the tharchions (secular leaders, like dukes or duchesses) is somewhat compelling - none of the proponents are interesting or fun to read about. Braeris continually makes dumb choices, tragic things keep happening to his girlfriend, Aoth and his crew are beyond dull. Yet the plot advances.
The second book, Undead, starts in the year 1385 (years after the 1st book, Unclean, ends), and we find that the civil war is still plodding along. It only becomes mildly interesting as a "Realms Historical Event" when Mystra (goddess of magic) is killed off-panel by Cyric and Shar and the characters live through that. Not much is really revealed about the actual murder of the goddess, as these books still concentrate on Braeris, Aoth, and the forces of Szass Tam. So if you're looking for more details about Mystra or a big picture on how it affects the Realms in a larger sense, you won't find it here (at least, not in the first two books). Mostly, it's Szass Tam grumbling about re-learning magic, Aoth dealing with a new (in the 4th Edition D&D game, "spellscar", I imagine) special ability, and Braeris the bard making a minor complaint about his magic being impacted but "not as bad as wizards".
Not a great read, overall. I wouldn't recommend it.
I can't wait for the rest of the series! 
2008-02-27
Richard Lee Byers is an excellent author. In my opinion, he is the one of the best authors to write a forgotten realms book, second only to Salvatore, but obviously out to challenge him. His writing style is high in action, and full of vivid description. Not once in this book did I want to put it down, and I found that I couldn't read it when I went to bed or I wouldn't get any sleep.
The book is set in the country of Thay on Faerun. Thay is ruled by a council of mages called Zulkirs, each Zulkir being the leader of his form of magic. Slavery is a common practice everywhere in Thay and the zulkirs themselves view everyone else as mere pawns at best. The book begins with the murder of one of the zulkirs and a failed attempt to invade a neighboring country by an army of Thay. These two events set up a general feeling of turmoil that sets the tone of the situation in the country.
The two heroes of the book are Bareris, and Aoth. Bareris is a skilled Bard just arriving home after six years of adventuring abroad, and Aoth is a wizard member of the Griffin Legion, doing his duty and nothing more, except what happens in the privacy of the tavern. We find out about Bareris's love selling herself into slavery only two tendays before and Aoth develops a love during the course of the book. The situation between Bareris and Tammith, his childhood love drives Bareris to discover one part of the mystery behind this book. Aoth on the other hand discovers a force of undead on a rampage and becomes part of the army to fight against them.
Eventually we are introduced to Malark, a monk. Malark is not motivated in the same way as Aoth and Bareris, but I won't reveal anything about him except to say that he becomes a more important character as the book progresses. Finally, Bareris is introduced to Mirror, a ghost that is thousands of years old, and our four heroes are united in the civil war that is brewing in Thay.
Byers is an amazing writer using a great combination of known creatures and original creatures in this book. He also uses organizations familiar to those of us that know about the realms. For example, the monks of the long death. In this book, we see an excellent use of a well known character of the realms when Byers uses Szass Tam. Szass Tam is as ultra powerful, polite, and evil as ever in this book. If you aren't familiar with these people, creatures, or organizations, a little `wiki' research will fill you in on such things.
This book is excellent, and everything about it makes me want to read the rest of the series. I seriously recommend this book to anyone that likes fantasy horror, or is a realms fan. Unclean is just the beginning and I want to read the whole series.
Unlcean- good story 2007-11-27
I had a bad attitude about this novel after reading the reviews but I bought it to get supersaver shipping on some other books. I really like the characters (no "good guys") and story. If you are bored with the typical fantasy plots, try this. Looking forward to future novels in the series.
The return of the really GOOD AD&D novel. 
2007-09-17
Richard Lee Byers, Unclean (Wizards of the Coast, 2007)
I have to admit that with a very few exceptions, Advanced Dungeons and Dragons books since the first six Dragonlance books have been a guilty pleasure at best; unless one of the best of TSR's (now WOTC's) stable of writers-- Bob Salvatore, Ed Greenwood, Weis and Hickman-- was at the helm, I knew I could expect all the trappings of genre writing without any real strong points to distinguish the book in question. Even some "name" writers, on their way up (Laurell K. Hamilton) or on their way down (Gene DeWeese, who wrote the wonderful Something Answered way back when) turned in substandard AD&D books. It got to the point where I stopped following AD&D series altogether. All of them. Then, through some agency I no longer recall, I started hearing the name Richard Lee Byers, and how he was going to be the guy who put AD&D novels back on the map. I heard it enough that when I found out he had a new Forgotten Realms trilogy starting, I decided to pick up the first one and see if there was any substance behind the smoke.
Boy oh boy, is there. I grant you, this is still very much genre writing, but it's good genre writing. Byers manages to integrate game mechanics into his story without it being annoying, something a lot of writers over the years who wrote for TSR/WOTC never managed to do (and, perhaps more annoyingly, many others simply tossed the rules out the window and went their own way). But that is far from the only thing about Unclean that impresses.
The story centers on Thay, the mysterious home of the Red Wizards, and the lives of a number of disparate personages therein. For those unfamiliar with the Forgotten Realms, a quick overview: Thay is ruled by the eight most powerful Red Wizards, known as Zulkirs. The book opens with one of them, Druxus Rhym, getting killed after an attacker slips into his heavily-fortified house. This, understandably, worries the other zulkirs. Szass Tam, the ageless zulkir of Necromancy and first among equals, orders an investigation into the death. Meanwhile, he's also discovered an unsanctioned raid into neighboring Mulhorand, saved the Thayan troops (who got ambushed), and concocted a story with their leaders to put a good spin on what would have otherwise gotten them executed. As if that's not bad enough, throngs of undead bent on overtaking the country are marching out of the Sunrise mountains to the west. What's an omnipotent zulkir to do?
And I've only touched on the tip of the iceberg. There are also subplots about a bard coming home to marry his childhood sweetheart only to find she's sold herself into slavery, intrigue in the Flame Temple of Kossuth, a spy who may be older than Szass Tam himself, a demonic fetus (yes, you read that right), and much, much more. Byers has a lot of balls in the air here, and while it would be overstating the case by a long, long way to say that this is as good as Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen, Byers certainly shows himself capable of juggling an entire fakebook full of plots and keeping them all consistent and easy to follow, in the Erikson tradition. Since I seem to have trapped myself into comparing Byers and Erikson, I'll continue on: while Erikson's characters are much deeper and better-rounded, each of his books is also at least twice the size of Unclean. Not to forgive Byers for shallowness, but Erikson's characters are rare commodities in any fiction, much less genre fiction. Compared to the last handful of AD&D novels I've read, Byers' characters could have stepped out of an Orson Welles movie. And, as seems to be written into every WOTC contract, the action is thick and fast, which generally leaves no time at all for character development; Byers handles this task better than most (certainly better than any AD&D novel I've read since Weis and Hickman's legendary Dragons trilogy back in the mid-eighties). A very promising start to the series. *** ½
Very not bad 2007-06-26
It is good to be in Thay again. It gave me a real bite of something I just tasted in "Red Wizards". It was a fun read that had some scope to its story. I also liked the original take on some of the classic classes. Looking forward to the next one. Well done author.
Hard to Get Immersed 2007-05-24
The premise of Unclean is very interesting. Mr. Byers was given the surefire hit of shedding light on the previously untapped yet innately riveting Forgotten Realms setting of Thay. Unfortunately, the finished product can be a dull read at times.
The plot revolves around two protagonists, Aoth and Bareris, in the magic-rich land of Thay. Aoth is an honorable Griffon legionnaire of Thay and Bareris is a resilient bard in search of his kidnapped lover. When two zulkirs (ruling wizards of Thay) are murdered, Thay degenerates into civil war and the paths of Aoth and Bareris become entwined.
Byers gives little attention to character development -- Bareris is on a seemingly mindless quest to find his lover who has been kidnapped by Thay wizards. No background is given on this couple and I felt zero empathy for Bareris's noble quest. Aoth is a duty bound soldier who comes off as quite bland.
A couple other criticisms include lack of suspense (summarized by the disembodied feeling of being bored half the time) and some battle sequences being generic and lacking detail.
The saving grace is surely the overall plot arc of Thayan civil war between Szass Tam, the mightiest zulkir in Thay, and the 6 remaining zulkirs. There are truly grandiose events brewing, in turn heightening the anticipation for the rest of the trilogy.
This is average Realms fare bolstered by the strength of the legendary setting, the popularity of its existing characters, and the eagar expectation of exciting developments yet to come.
Solid Realms fare, but less than it could have been 2007-05-07
Unclean by Richard Lee Byers is the first book in The Haunted Lands trilogy. This book marks the second trilogy penned by Mr. Byers in the Forgotten Realms universe. The first trilogy, Year of the Rogue Dragons, finished up in 2006 with The Ruin. This novel focuses on one of the more intriguing areas of the Forgetting Realms landscape, Thay. There have been countless novels with bits and pieces about Thay, yet rarely do books focus exclusively on Thay and the subterfuge that is Thay.
The plot of this book, at times, is hard to follow and a little disjointed. The reason for that seems to be that there are many story lines and sub plots that Mr. Byers needs to get started, since this is part of a trilogy. At times, these extra sub plots take away from the main plot. There were a couple of times where I found myself just starting to get going with the main plot only to be jerked away by a sub plot. The main plot centers on what appears to be the beginnings of a civil war within Thay. Two of the sub plots are romantic in nature, which both seem artificial to me and thrown in just because there needed to be a romantic element to this story. I believe this novel would have been better off focusing on the main storyline and cutting back, what I see, as some unnecessary sub plots.
The characters in this book are the redeeming quality, to a point. Long has Szass Tam been a popular figure in Forgetten Realms lore, fans of his are finally given a book with him as a prominent character. A few other characters will be familiar to perceptive readers as well. Mr. Byers does a pretty good job at mixing the established characters in with some new ones and weaving them throughout the story. Two memorable characters are Aoth and Bareis, both are solid characters and should take this trilogy far. However, during the course of this book - there is really little to no character development with them. In the end of the novel both characters are essentially the same and haven't grown (or regressed) in any way. One would think, that given this is the first book of a trilogy the characters would have some development, but that's not the case with this one. If this was a stand alone novel, I could maybe excuse the lack of character development. However, being that it is part of a trilogy it leaves me disappointed.
My main criticisms of this novel are the forced romantic sub plots that just seemed really out of place with the overall feel of this novel. The complete lack of character development, and the many sub plots which take away from the main story arc.
I did like that this novel focuses exclusively on Thay and finally gives the fans of the Forgotten Realms a little peak into that world. I also liked the main story line seems to have good things in store. There are quite a few possibilities that Mr. Byers could use and that is exciting.
Overall, I think things balance out and this is a good to solid Realms novel. Fans who are interested in Thay will no doubt enjoy this book. I also think that fans of the fantasy genre, particularly the horror genre will enjoy this as well. If, however, you are looking for a book with a great deal of character development, then this book may not be for you. When all is said and done, I think this will advance the Forgotten Realms lore and leave many readers clamoring for more.
A little bit of everything...for the most part. 2007-05-03
What happens when a young bard returns home to find the lover he left gone? What would you do if you saw your entire regiment slaughtered by the undead? If an undead lich made a grab for control of your country, even if that country is the notoriously self-serving Thay?
It is these questions that Richard Lee Byers' new Forgotten Realms book, Unclean: The Haunted Lands Book 1, attempts to answer. Byers continues to show his writing prowess in the shared world arena, by tackling a difficult topic in the Forgotten Realms world, the undead. Traditionally seen as evil through and through, represented usually as vampires or zombies, skeletons, ghosts and ghouls, Byers has developed the character of these, added to their ranks new creatures and moved beyond the hack/slash utility of the traditional monsters.
The story follows two characters. Braeris is a bard of Thay, just returned from making his fortune, only to find his true love has sold herself as a slave to pay her father's debts. Aoth is a griffon rider with magical ability serving in the army of one of the tharchions of Thay. He is the sole survivor of the first attack of the army of undead that appears out of the Sunrise Mountains. The story moves between these two characters as they pursue separate quests that will eventually lead them to each other. Braeris seeks his lost love, whose haunting words can be found on the blurb on the back cover, and Aoth seeks to serve his tharchion (a selfish and stupid person) while also attempting to destroy the army of undead. Meanwhile, Szass Tam, lich and zulkir of Thay, seeks to use the events to his own advantage.
The story is an excellent sword and sorcery romp. Byers is one of the better authors in the Forgotten Realms and his experience in writing horror fiction for other publishers serves him well here. Who better to delve into the intricacies of the minds of the undead than a horror writer? The plot is fast-paced and rarely sits still. There is an excellent build-up of events that lead to a climax that, while expected, doesn't fail to excite. This is the first book in a trilogy so the ending, while good, doesn't complete the story, and the reader will anticipate the future books eagerly.
Byers does have one major flaw in his writing. He lacks the ability to make the love story subplots truly empathetic. What I mean is the love plots in the book that concern both Braeris and Aoth seem tacked on. Although the love interests do play important roles in the story, especially for Braeris, the reader will find himself unable to truly feel that the character finds it important. While it might move the plot along for a time, the love stories simply lack any real emotion, and at least one of the characters about face in emotion seems a little unreal, although perhaps explicable in context (which I won't give here for fear of ruining the plot.)
Ultimately, if you are a Forgotten Realms fan, you will enjoy this book. If you are a fan of the recent trend in vampire and undead novels in the fantasy mainstream, you will enjoy the book. If you are looking for a quick sword and sorcery romp for a little escapism, this would be a good book for you. If you are looking for any depth, shy away from this one. But hey, who doesn't need a good sword and sorcery romp now and again? I know I do, and this is a good place for it.
