Faces of Deception
The Lost Empires
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2.5 • 4 Ratings
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
Guided by the goddess of beauty, an ugly nobleman ventures to the Utter East in search of a cure for his facial deformities
Atreus of Erlkazar has always been hidden from his powerful family's enemies, concealed behind the hideous mask of his own face. The result of a wayward spell that distorted his features, Atreus’ ugliness is a curse he has borne since he was just a child—and one he has spent his entire life trying to break. He is driven to find a way past his own flesh, into a soul torn between destiny and love.
In an ironic twist of fate, he becomes an acolyte of Sune, the goddess of beauty. Under her command, he embarks on an impossible mission to the mysterious country of Langdarma, where the magical waters of the Fountain of Infinite Grace await him. Deep in these ancient valleys of the enigmatic Utter East, Atreus will finally look into . . . the faces of deception.
Customer Reviews
Not Worth the High Price: But Not Horrible
This book is seriously flawed, but it has its moments. I liked the characters despite the issues I had with them (from a writing perspective, see later). The story had a decent, but maybe a little too slow, of a pace. The plot is actually compelling enough. It reads like these are actually rolled characters with bad ability scores (i.e., charisma of 5) and class restrictions (no spoilers, you’ll have to read it to see what I mean). That part was particularly fun!
Still, the author was out of his depth. He attempts to describe complicated combat scenarios or descriptions of navigating terrain and it’s just horrible: the writing jumps around and can be very difficult to track what is supposed to be described. I feel like, at times, the story would just skip or something like a sentence or whole paragraph was left out. The combat fires on foot far too long, pages and pages: I don’t like reading about quidditch matches, maybe you do?
The story is also very trope heavy. Some of this is expected, others do not age well. For example, the singularly focused on greed “foreigner” as a foil for our hero is very dated and bordering on, if not outright, racist. I feel like it was written in the 70’s (“de plane, de plane!”).
Warning: The ending is a massive letdown!
Still, I’m not mad I read it. Gives some great gaming ideas. If it was half the price, I’d give it 4 stars instead of three (maybe 2?).
Enjoy!
Shame…
Great story, strong characters and crappy ending……. Not like the other from Mr Denning.