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Forgotten Realms: Lost Empires #2
Faces of Deception
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.
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.
320 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 1, 1998
8 people are currently reading
388 people want to read
About the author
Troy Denning
186 books664 followersAlso known as Richard Awlinson.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Den...
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Den...
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
February 22, 2021
I was a little disappointed in this story.
First, let me say that I typically like Troy Denning, so I was excited when I grabbed this book. The writing style, and even the story itself, was not bad per se. It just felt like the story wasn't really set within the Forgotten Realms setting. This may be due to the book being part of the "lost kingdoms" series, so we aren't supposed to be familiar with setting. But even so, I need more of an anchor to make it feel like a realms book.
The characters were well made. I felt like they all had some serious depth and real life to them. Once again, Denning's writing was not the issue.
Lastly, I gave the story 3 stars instead of 2 because of the somewhat of a surprise ending. At least it was very unique for a Forgotten Realms book. Some readers might not like this abrupt ending, but I enjoyed it.
First, let me say that I typically like Troy Denning, so I was excited when I grabbed this book. The writing style, and even the story itself, was not bad per se. It just felt like the story wasn't really set within the Forgotten Realms setting. This may be due to the book being part of the "lost kingdoms" series, so we aren't supposed to be familiar with setting. But even so, I need more of an anchor to make it feel like a realms book.
The characters were well made. I felt like they all had some serious depth and real life to them. Once again, Denning's writing was not the issue.
Lastly, I gave the story 3 stars instead of 2 because of the somewhat of a surprise ending. At least it was very unique for a Forgotten Realms book. Some readers might not like this abrupt ending, but I enjoyed it.
April 27, 2013
This book is set in the Utter East region of Faerun. It stars "Quasimodo" and his bodyguard, and along the way picks up a greedy rogue and a pacifist healer. It has all the ingredients for a great adventure - a goddess-given quest, a legendary location, and odd companions. Too bad it seems to fall short.
The plot and the writing isn't bad at all; it's just not very exciting for me. The protagonist is hard to relate to; he's torn between being selfish and being noble. But kiddos to Troy Denning to actually being able to work in combat scenes with a pacifist along.
The plot and the writing isn't bad at all; it's just not very exciting for me. The protagonist is hard to relate to; he's torn between being selfish and being noble. But kiddos to Troy Denning to actually being able to work in combat scenes with a pacifist along.
October 23, 2015
Reading the title before starting the book I didn't think much about it, nor during the read, now looking back maybe if I had I would have noticed deception as a main motif more than the whole "ugliness/beauty" theme. Of that latter there was too much and at times it felt a little too "young adult" kind of writing. Still, good book and a great description of a "lost empire" that isn't really an empire or so lost as much as hidden, and yet fits the description along with fantastical and ethereal.
April 26, 2020
This book could have been 4 stars if the ending had been good, well instead there is no ending. The book simply stops.
Most of the book takes place in the Utter East so there have fun bits about Maran culture. Yago, is one of the main character's companions. He is an ogre, so we also learn about the ogres of Rivenshield, Erlkazar.
There is a bit more sexual content than I have experienced so far from Forgotten Realms novels.
Anyways, I liked it and raced through it, but the lack of ending really leaves more to be desired.
Most of the book takes place in the Utter East so there have fun bits about Maran culture. Yago, is one of the main character's companions. He is an ogre, so we also learn about the ogres of Rivenshield, Erlkazar.
There is a bit more sexual content than I have experienced so far from Forgotten Realms novels.
Anyways, I liked it and raced through it, but the lack of ending really leaves more to be desired.
August 20, 2023
Yes!!! I finally found a Forgotten Realms novel that I really, really enjoyed all the way through. This one follows Atreus who has been cursed at birth with extreme ugliness. Atreus also happens to be a rich human noble raised by ogres and ironically, a devout follower of Sune Flamehair, the goddess of beauty. Together with his ogre bodyguard Yago he sets out to Faerun’s Utter East in search of Langdarma, because Sune told Atreus that he will find the cure for his curse of ugliness there in the magical waters of the Fountain of Infinite Grace…
What follows is not terribly original or unexpected. Of course, the journey is perilous and Atreus and Yago meet an interesting cast of characters, both friendly and terribly adversarial. At some point, Atreus ponders the question of whether Langdarma is an actual physical place or more a state of mind and in line with this if beauty and ugliness are objective values or only exist in the eye of the beholder. Denning treats these almost philosophical subjects in a way that suits the characters and in such a way that they do not distract from the story but actually add to it.
All this took me completely by surprise as I had expected this story to somehow turn out to be about Cyric, the god of Lies. Mild spoilers: despite the name of this book, Cyric is never ever referenced in this book. Not even indirectly. I was genuinely surprised by this story up to the last page. Sure, it’s not High Literature and I guessed the final titular deception a couple of pages before it actually happened but for a Forgotten Realms fantasy novel, I found this to be exceptionally well written.
There is however something problematic and you might have guessed it when I wrote that the story takes place in the ‘Utter East.’ Because descriptions of the world are not very detailed Denning gets away with not offending everyone and everything vaguely originating in Asia. However, his depiction of Atreus’ guide Richi leaves much to be desired. At first hand, I found the portrayal of Richi to match colonial racist stereotypes of Indians (basically untrustworthy and only motivated by greed). However, I did find that Denning convincingly described Atreus’ feeling of traveling in an unknown and far away land and not having a clue of which friendly face is actually friendly and which has ulterior motives. This uncertainty doesn’t make it right however to present a character in ways full of prejudices about ‘Eastern people.’ Halfway through the story, the stereotypes seemed to get a bit less and Atreus even criticizes himself for his prejudices as he learns to trust Richi more. All that eventually gets thrown out however and what seemed to be prejudices turns out to be actual characteristics of Richi’s character.
Having written this negative, let me end on a positive: The sudden ending. I’m used to Forgotten Realms novels ending in an epilogue either wrapping the story of the protagonist up with a bough or setting up feature stories. This however just ended. And as sudden as the ending was, it was the ending that the characters deserved.
All in all, I had a great time with this novel. I also read Denning’s Twilight Giants trilogy and The Sentinel (part of the Sundering series) but they never grabbed me like this book did. Despite its racist stereotyping of a major character and its being almost utterly unrelated to the rest of the wider Forgotten Realms chronology (what I’m actually looking for as a Dungeon Master reading a fantasy novel) I give it an honest recommendation.
What follows is not terribly original or unexpected. Of course, the journey is perilous and Atreus and Yago meet an interesting cast of characters, both friendly and terribly adversarial. At some point, Atreus ponders the question of whether Langdarma is an actual physical place or more a state of mind and in line with this if beauty and ugliness are objective values or only exist in the eye of the beholder. Denning treats these almost philosophical subjects in a way that suits the characters and in such a way that they do not distract from the story but actually add to it.
All this took me completely by surprise as I had expected this story to somehow turn out to be about Cyric, the god of Lies. Mild spoilers: despite the name of this book, Cyric is never ever referenced in this book. Not even indirectly. I was genuinely surprised by this story up to the last page. Sure, it’s not High Literature and I guessed the final titular deception a couple of pages before it actually happened but for a Forgotten Realms fantasy novel, I found this to be exceptionally well written.
There is however something problematic and you might have guessed it when I wrote that the story takes place in the ‘Utter East.’ Because descriptions of the world are not very detailed Denning gets away with not offending everyone and everything vaguely originating in Asia. However, his depiction of Atreus’ guide Richi leaves much to be desired. At first hand, I found the portrayal of Richi to match colonial racist stereotypes of Indians (basically untrustworthy and only motivated by greed). However, I did find that Denning convincingly described Atreus’ feeling of traveling in an unknown and far away land and not having a clue of which friendly face is actually friendly and which has ulterior motives. This uncertainty doesn’t make it right however to present a character in ways full of prejudices about ‘Eastern people.’ Halfway through the story, the stereotypes seemed to get a bit less and Atreus even criticizes himself for his prejudices as he learns to trust Richi more. All that eventually gets thrown out however and what seemed to be prejudices turns out to be actual characteristics of Richi’s character.
Having written this negative, let me end on a positive: The sudden ending. I’m used to Forgotten Realms novels ending in an epilogue either wrapping the story of the protagonist up with a bough or setting up feature stories. This however just ended. And as sudden as the ending was, it was the ending that the characters deserved.
All in all, I had a great time with this novel. I also read Denning’s Twilight Giants trilogy and The Sentinel (part of the Sundering series) but they never grabbed me like this book did. Despite its racist stereotyping of a major character and its being almost utterly unrelated to the rest of the wider Forgotten Realms chronology (what I’m actually looking for as a Dungeon Master reading a fantasy novel) I give it an honest recommendation.
January 8, 2019
There are better Forgotten Realms novels. This one went off the rails at 47% for me. Seema's version of pacifism was reckless and liable to cause more deaths. Plus, forcing others to follow her beliefs was senseless because of individual responsibility and free will.
There seemed to be a huge plothole at the beginning of the book. Atreus was turned into a baby ogre. So, he looked like an ogre. This means he insulted every ogre including Yago when he called himself ugly. But(and it's a big but), no one cared if ogres were ugly. This makes Atreus the problem. He is deceiving himself by chasing a shallow dream of beauty. So, no plothole just deception. This was quite cleverly done by the author. The ending was terrible & most of the book was boring. A philosophical treatise on beauty & deception is not what I look for in Forgotten Realms. Sorry, my grammar fell off a cliff. On to the Star of something.
There seemed to be a huge plothole at the beginning of the book. Atreus was turned into a baby ogre. So, he looked like an ogre. This means he insulted every ogre including Yago when he called himself ugly. But(and it's a big but), no one cared if ogres were ugly. This makes Atreus the problem. He is deceiving himself by chasing a shallow dream of beauty. So, no plothole just deception. This was quite cleverly done by the author. The ending was terrible & most of the book was boring. A philosophical treatise on beauty & deception is not what I look for in Forgotten Realms. Sorry, my grammar fell off a cliff. On to the Star of something.
December 28, 2018
With every top author, there comes one book, that while well thought out, leaves us disappointed. This was one of those. While a good effort and well written, the story is lame, the characters are pretty much one dimensional, and the ending blew dog, no matter how much the author thought this would be satisfactory to keep the “imaginary land” safe from evil intent in the endgame. I will still recommend this author to anyone who asks, just not this book. One of my nominations for worst of the year. Yeah, I understand the concept that these stories are “lost histories”, but it could have been better. Just as an example, could not Atrerus have saved one vial for Sune at the end? Let’s move on.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 22, 2020
I was unimpressed with the one-dimensional characters, and the storyline was rabbit-trailing all over the place and didn't have anything to do with the main quest most of the time. It had a few fun moments but it isn't anything memorable.
February 17, 2021
An Intriguing Adventure
There are several interesting scenes throughout the book. It is full of excitement and suspicion. I am happy that I got through the book and have a little more understanding of if the Forgotten realms goddess Sune. However, the ending has me full of unanswered questions. It has me question my perception of one of the major characters at the very last moment. It wasn't an ending I'd have expected, but I wouldn't say it's an ending I greatly disliked. The adventure and the characters make the story well worth it.
There are several interesting scenes throughout the book. It is full of excitement and suspicion. I am happy that I got through the book and have a little more understanding of if the Forgotten realms goddess Sune. However, the ending has me full of unanswered questions. It has me question my perception of one of the major characters at the very last moment. It wasn't an ending I'd have expected, but I wouldn't say it's an ending I greatly disliked. The adventure and the characters make the story well worth it.
November 17, 2019
The adventure is overall interesting however I didn’t care much for the story.
Based on the last paragraph of the first chapter I don’t even think his quest was actually given by his goddess.
The whole book is just one greedy human after another.
Least favourite of all the forgotten realms books I’ve read.
Based on the last paragraph of the first chapter I don’t even think his quest was actually given by his goddess.
The whole book is just one greedy human after another.
Least favourite of all the forgotten realms books I’ve read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 28, 2023
More than a little Orientalism in this one, which probably goes hand-in-hand with the setting. The characters are decently developed, but in general I enjoyed this book less than Denning's work in the Dark Sun setting.
July 29, 2017
"When people see ugly, they think of evil."
August 3, 2018
good book with unexpected characters
July 21, 2022
Oomf. This was tough. Kind of just gonna push through this quadrology of FR books. The characters were lame, some of the world building was decent wasnt a waste of my time but I wouldn't recommend
July 31, 2022
Another excellent book by Mr. Denning. I'm anxious to read the next book to find out what happens to Atreus. Rousing adventure, enjoyable read. Recommended.
February 27, 2014
For a Forgotten Realms novel, I thought this one was rather subpar. I wasn't a great fan of the first entry in the Lost Empires quartet, which I bought based on author recognition and great looking artwork, but now despair for.
Denning's entry is particularly weak. I find the protagonist (Atreus) to be unrelatable, and Denning's description of him, his feelings, and even his appearance to be disjointed and inconsistent throughout the novel. Additionally, the story just came off as dull, even though the setting (the Utter East) ought to have made it more interesting.
The characters seemed to do whatever would serve the plot in a particular situation, were not possessed of much depth whatsoever, and generally spent a lot of time doing nothing. For a book that actually seemed to be trying to create a lot of character development and focus on many little side tidbits other than the main storyline, Faces Of Deception accomplishes precious little.
I wouldn't say the book is "bad", merely poor to "O.K.", and I don't want to read material that's even "O.K.".
Denning's entry is particularly weak. I find the protagonist (Atreus) to be unrelatable, and Denning's description of him, his feelings, and even his appearance to be disjointed and inconsistent throughout the novel. Additionally, the story just came off as dull, even though the setting (the Utter East) ought to have made it more interesting.
The characters seemed to do whatever would serve the plot in a particular situation, were not possessed of much depth whatsoever, and generally spent a lot of time doing nothing. For a book that actually seemed to be trying to create a lot of character development and focus on many little side tidbits other than the main storyline, Faces Of Deception accomplishes precious little.
I wouldn't say the book is "bad", merely poor to "O.K.", and I don't want to read material that's even "O.K.".
July 24, 2016
A spectacularly ugly man goes looking for a cure for his deformity in order to have a normal life. Unfortunately, his whole quest is a fake set up by people who wanted to get rid of him. Anyway, his handicap is too socially debilitating for him to settle for any lesson about true beauty coming from within, but it would also be a cop-out for him to just become good-looking without growing as a person, especially since his quest is fake. The author sets up an interesting dilemma that... well, that he can't solve. (I actually have an idea for a better ending myself.)
sold
February 23, 2012Sold to Lewis White on eBay on 7-Jun-11:
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April 15, 2018
I felt it was a lot of work to get through and the ending left a lot to ask for, too abrupt. I am still a huge Troy Denning fan.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews