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The Brazen Gambit is Lynn Abbey's first novel in the Dark Sun setting, the TSR shared world built around a desert planet where psionics replaced wizardry and water is the most valuable substance in existence. Abbey is well suited to the setting. Her shared-world experience with Thieves' World gave her a feel for ensembles operating in dangerous cities, and the city of Urik provides plenty.
The plot involves a young war-orphan named Pavek, a corrupt templar, and a series of escalating political moves against a sorcerer-king. The Dark Sun setting is genuinely unusual (the high temperatures and the social brutality come through clearly), and Abbey commits to the harshness of the world rather than softening it.
Three stars. Recommended to fans of the Dark Sun setting and to readers who like 90s D&D-tradition fantasy. Not the entry point if you have never read Abbey before.
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If you liked The Brazen Gambit
Cinnabar Shadows
by Lynn Abbey
The second Dark Sun: Chronicles of Athas novel. Lynn Abbey deepening the world and earning a real second act.
The Rise and Fall of a Dragonking
by Lynn Abbey
Lynn Abbey wrapping up the Dark Sun: Chronicles of Athas. The series ending the setting deserved.
Jerlayne
by Lynn Abbey
Lynn Abbey writing solo fantasy about an elf-woman caught between cultures. Quieter than her better-known shared-world stuff.
The Nether Scroll
by Lynn Abbey
A late Lynn Abbey Forgotten Realms novel, working with a particularly chewy chunk of FR cosmology. For Realms completists.
Catwoman : Tiger Hunt
by Lynn Abbey
Lynn Abbey writing a 90s Catwoman tie-in novel. Better than tie-ins have any right to be and exactly as fun as you would hope.
The Guardians
by Lynn Abbey
A Forgotten Realms novel by Lynn Abbey. Bloodstone Lands, ranger protagonist, and the kind of competent shared-world fantasy the era produced in volume.
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