I am not a huge fantasy reader; I would view myself more as a casual reader. I see something that looks interesting, and I may pick it up. At any rate, this trilogy seemed interesting, so I went ahead and picked it up at my local public library. I am glad I did. It was engaging from the start, and the first book gave me the desire to continue.

In the land of minotaurs, a bloody coup puts a new emperor on the throne. Hotak, the new ruler then proceeds to make an alliance with the ogres, who are the minotaur's historical enemies, so he can carry out his conquest ambitions. He is aided by his consort, who is the head priestess of a new cult and who has ghosts at her command. These ghosts aid her in finding dissidents and traitors. Meanwhile, a nephew of the deposed emperor manages to survive, and a rebel general strives to put up a revolt against Hotak. That is the plot of this book in very simple terms. There is a big price that Hotak has to pay for his alliance; it is not revealed until the end of this book. The author does a good job in that regard of keeping that small detail a secret.

Overall, I found the book appealing because in some ways it reads like some Roman Empire novel. There is the corrupt emperor (the deposed one in the book), the usurper (who by the way, may be a ruthless tyrant, but apparently can at least run the empire), his wife who is plotting behind his back, his children (some competent, some not). You get the idea. You get not only the action story but the plotting as well. I found this first book to be entertaining, and it was pretty fast paced. If you are a quick reader, you will probably get through it fast. If you like fantasy books, this may be a good choice for you. If like me, you have not read books in the Dragonlance series, this may be a good entry point. I think I may try out others. I am certainly reading the rest of the this trilogy. ( )

Quick and entertaining schlock. Delicious like cotton candy. I agree with the reviewers who were disappointed it was people with horns as opposed to minotaurs with their own culture, etc. But come on, it's a book about minotaurs from the Dragonlance world, how high can your expectations be? ( )