“Welcome to a world where adventurers delve into the depths to win great treasures of old, heroes stave off the insidious plots of shadowborn fiends, undead necromancers vie for absolute mastery of life, and voracious dragons hunt. Welcome to a land whose magic-soaked bedrock has spawned millennia of eye-popping wonders and heart-stopping threats. Welcome…to the Forgotten Realms.” – Ed Greenwood (as a forward to the book)

This HC collects Dungeons & Dragons Forgotten Realms #1-5 from IDW.  It was written by Ed Greenwood, art by Lee Ferguson and Sal Buscema, and the cover was by Tyler Walpole.

I will start this review out by saying that I am not a “fantasy guy”. I have never really explored the many worlds of the fantasy genre, let alone the many realms of Dungeons & Dragons – even the forgotten ones. That said, it is starting to grow on me a bit. Don’t get me wrong, I have seen many fantasy movies and have even played a few fantasy card games, but I never fully immersed myself into the genre – and from what I can tell, it is one of those genres that people get immersed…

So, this relatively quick review is based on my very nascent knowledge of the genre and the content specific to Dungeons & Dragons.

Not knowing what to expect, as I finished reading, my first reaction (while discussing the book with someone) was, “There certainly were not nearly enough Dungeons, nor Dragons.” I said this half-joking, because I really thought this book, would have had at least one of each. I chalk this up to me being a fantasy “n00b”. I believe it was because of this, that it did take me a while to get into the story. The writing is very true to fantasy form, with what I would consider thick dialect and some difficult to pronounce family names. But that is the way it should be, right?

The dialog was not the only thing that distracted me… in fact, it was really the fact that the story progressed very slowly, with very little [interesting] action for over 50 pages.

Here is the official description from IDW:

Forgotten Realms creator Ed Greenwood opens the adventures of an unlikely new band of heroes who get into a bit more trouble than usual in the fabled port city of Waterdeep, but soon discover some of the seedier corners of the wider Realms—the hard way! Joined by artists Lee Ferguson and Sal Buscema, this new series kicks off a deadly tale with a kidnapping that is more—and less—than it seems…

It wasn’t until this “unlikely new band of heroes” traversed through the portal into another world that things started to get interesting for me. My favorite character in the book exists on the other side of that veil – the Direhelm. The concept of this character (and the one he serves) saved the story for me – well that and the art, which is fantastic. Until we meet these two, the plot was all too drama and not enough action (for my taste).

So, though there were nary a dungeon, nor a dragon, there were quite a few deaths, mysterious characters which resulted in a fairly decent fun ride through one world, to the next and back – even if it was following a band of [misfit] heroes. Then again, I imagine that is one of the best types of hero bands anyway…

For the record, if there was a story strictly set in the Ghost Holds about the King of Ghosts and his Direhelm, I would definitely be ready to become more of a fantasy geek.

3.5/5