Amazon.com Review

In the glittering Advanced Dungeons & Dragons firmament, the star power of Ed Greenwood twinkles somewhere between the bright glow of E. Gary Gygax and the somewhat dimmer shine of Zeb Cook. As creator and Dungeon Master-in-chief of the enormously popular Forgotten Realms setting, Greenwood has secured his status as a legend of gaming--doubly so by inventing the Realms' most illustrious citizen (well, except for Drizzt Do'Urden, of course), Elminster of Shadowdale.

With Kingless Land, Greenwood breaks free of the Realms with a mainstream fantasy novel, the first title in his Band of Four series. But faster than you can say "melee round," you'll suss out that Greenwood's Band looks a heck of a lot like your classic dungeon-faring party: a thief (Craer, the "procurer"), a fighter (Hawkril, a "thick-headed sword-swinger" by Craer's estimation), a wizard (a hot babe whose baron-dad wants to turn her into a castle--neat!), and a cleric (the healer Sarasper, who also gets to be a shapeshifter, presumably to make up for the fact that clerics suck). So, predictably, Kingless Land doesn't cover much more ground than Greenwood's AD&D novels, which were always hit (Cormyr, with Jeff Grubb) or miss (Spellfire--ouch!) at best. But if you can get past the indulgently italicized fantasy bluster ("Sargh and bebolt it!"), Kingless Land certainly proves equal to the best of Greenwood's previous genre work, not unlike a night spent listening to the effortless spin of an expert DM. --Paul Hughes

From Library Journal

A ruthless baron rules the kingless land of Aglirta, protected by his sorcerers' spells and his cruel armies. The baron's daughter, herself a wizard doomed by her father to become bound into his castle's defenses, flees for her life in the company of a trio of adventurers marked by destiny to search for the Sleeping King. The creator of TSR's Forgotten Realms novels and role-playing scenarios now turns his talents to a new world of magic and bold deeds, crafting a graceful tale of high fantasy. For most fantasy collections.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly

Best known as the creator of Forgotten Realms, the Dungeons & Dragons-based heroic fantasy series, Greenwood continues to give his audience exactly what they want stereotypical heroes and villains caught up in predictably dirty schemes full of violence, magic and PG-13 humor in this sequel to 2000's The Kingless Land. The Four gruff warrior Hawkril, sly thief Craer, grumpy healer Sarasper and beautiful sorceress Lady Embra Silvertree assisted Kelgrael Snowsar to assume the throne as the rightful "Risen King" of Aglirta, yet there are still plenty of lords who'd rather see someone else in his place. To quiet their complaints, Snowsar decrees that he will hold a "recoronation" at the start of the new year, after everyone has decided which side to take, for or against him. Meanwhile the king sends his faithful Four off to recover the missing fourth Dwaer-stone, a magical gem that, when added to the three they already possess, will give the king and his allies the power to defeat any enemy. Of course the Four immediately become the target of every bad guy in the realm, even as Snowsar busies himself with avoiding assassins at every turn. A choppy, haphazardly constructed story speeds along from one unnecessary side trip to another. While new readers looking for an undemanding, fast, furious read may find this book a reasonable way to kill an hour or two, they're unlikely to come back for more.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

The sequel to The Kingless Land (2000) establishes that the troubles of that land, Aglirta, are by no means over. The Dwaerindim Stones have lifted the curse of the Sleeping King, but the feudal magnates, long accustomed to having their own way in the matter of private wars and armies, also have abundant resources and few scruples about using them to preserve their position. Some of those resources are magical and threaten to provoke a situation beside which the curse is petty. Hawkril the warrior, Craer the thief, Sarasper the healer, and Embra Silvertree the Lady of Jewels have to match wits and weapons against the ruthless feudality and to seek out a powerful magical secret whose possession confers the rule of Aglirta--or worse. Greenwood's background in game-related fiction shows again, but so does his singular sense of humor, and his world-building skills compensate for occasional slow pacing. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From Publishers Weekly

The creator of the Dungeons & Dragons based Forgotten Realms series (Elminster, etc.) offers conventional heroic fantasy fare in this third and probably final volume in the Band of Four series. The warrior Hawkril, the thief Craer, the healer-wizard Sarasper and the sorceress Lady Embra Silvertree continue to entertain as well-drawn, if sometimes slightly tongue-in-cheek, archetypes. They have their work cut out for them when they discover that giving the kingless land of Aglirta a "Risen King" has not quashed ambitious barons who desire the throne for themselves, enemies who want vengeance on the Four personally, or the scheming, literally scaly priests who wish to bring back the Serpent and rule or ruin the world. As the stakes rise, the Four rapidly lose their sense of humor and the action becomes genuinely gripping, as well as fast and bloody. The cast of characters at the back is essential to avoid confusion, even if one has read the two previous books, The Kingless Land (2000) and The Vacant Throne (2001). After the fall of Flowfoam Castle and the confrontation between the Dragon and the Serpent, not everybody the reader has come to care for is left standing, while the role of the shape-changing Koglaur as deus ex machina remains a puzzle. Game-oriented fantasy fans and new converts to the genre through the film The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring should be satisfied, but those hoping to find another Terry Pratchett would do best to seek elsewhere. (Mar.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The title of the third volume of the Band of Four saga refers to the advance and near-triumph of the servants of the Serpent. In addition to those, the formerly kingless land of Aglirta now faces usurpation and tyranny at the hands of a powerful warlord, whose challenge divides resistance to the minions of the Serpent at the worst possible time. Enter the Band of Four--Hawkril the warrior, Craer the thief, Sarasper the healer, and Lady Embra Silvertree the sorceress--to oppose Serpent and warlord, highly if not unexpectedly successfully. Yet the end of this book leaves room for further volumes by Greenwood, whose previous work has included plenty of game-related fiction. The originality and wit he displayed in that work is even more evident in this saga, and indeed there is little that is generic about any aspect of either this book or the series of which it is a part. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From Publishers Weekly

Forgotten Realms creator Greenwood's fourth Band of Four book (after 2002's A Dragon's Ascension), with its gory and repetitive battle scenes, will please the faithful, many of them role-playing gamers, but fans of gentler fantasy had best stay away. Now in the position of Overdukes, sorceress Embra Silvertree, warrior Hawkril Anharu, thief Craer Delnbone, sorceress Tshamarra Talasorn and ex-regent Ezendor Blackgult must battle the priests and sundry servants of the Serpent, the wizard Ambelter and various barons in an effort to bring peace to the realm of Aglirta and keep the king on the throne. The scheming of the priests centers on a wine-induced blood plague, which compels people to spontaneously kill others before dying or to change into mythical beasts that remain under the priests' control. The action is fast and furious as the Band of Four, wielding the Dwaer (stones that amplify magical power and intensify spell-casting), contend with their double-crossing enemies as well as spontaneous attacks of the blood plague. Given the many new characters and others from previous volumes, the Dramatis Personae section at the back is particularly useful, but only if discovered beforehand.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Inevitably, a tale called the Band of Four has four volumes. Every bit as good as its predecessors--The Kingless Land (2000), The Vacant Throne (2001), and A Dragon's Ascension (2001)--this book brings things to a satisfactory conclusion. The Four--Embra, Craer, Blackgult, and Hawkril--have been joined as overdukes of Aglirta by Tshamarra the sorcereress. They are all high-ranking troubleshooters, and trouble frequently shoots back, for the dissident nobles led by the Bowdragon clan and the Servants of the Serpent are as unruly and treacherous as ever. Another part of the opposition, however, consists of ordinary folk who don't see that putting Raulin Castlecloaks, the boy king, on the throne has really solved all that many problems. As the opposing sides seek the Dragon and the Serpent, respectively, and magical and material weapons are unleashed, the pacing turns brisk and the story acquires a slight Perils-of-Pauline quality. The book's many conflicts and their resolutions are never simple-minded, and altogether this is a most respectable wrap-up to a highly readable saga. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

A solid, well-researched account of the years Anthony Spilotro was the Chicago Outfit's enforcer in Las Vegas. -- Sunrise View, May 16, 2006[HTML_REMOVED][HTML_REMOVED]Dennis N. Griffin uses all of his investigative and interviewing skills to bring this fascinating story to his readers. -- Rome Sentinel, July 22, 2006[HTML_REMOVED][HTML_REMOVED]If you want to know about Las Vegas in the mob days, this book says it all. A great read. -- Tru Hawkins, KDWN Radio, April 2, 2006[HTML_REMOVED][HTML_REMOVED]No punches are pulled in this hard-hitting account of some of the most vicious men to ever walk the earth. --Salem-News.com, August 13, 2006

Product Description

From the 1970s through the mid-1980s, the Chicago Outfit dominated organized crime in Las Vegas. Unreported revenue, known as the "skim," from Outfit-controlled casinos made its way out of Vegas by the bagful, ending up in the coffers of the Windy City crime bosses and their confederates around the Midwest. To ensure the smooth flow of cash, the gangsters installed a front man with no criminal background, Allen R. Glick, as the casino owner of record, Frank "Lefty" Rosenthaal as the real boss of casino operations, and Tony Spilotro as the ultimate enforcer, who'd do whatever it took to protect their interests. It wasn't long before Spilotoro, also in charge of Vegas street crime, was known as the "King of the Strip." Federal and local law enforcement, recognizing the need to rid the casinos of the mob and shut down Spilotro's rackets, declared war on organized crime. The Battle for Las Vegas relates the story of the fight between the tough buys on both sides, told in large part by the agents and detectives who knew they had to win.