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. (

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