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The Guardians is one of Lynn Abbey's Forgotten Realms novels, set in the Bloodstone Lands at the northeastern edge of the standard FR map. The plot follows a ranger called Dru and a younger paramilitary recruit she ends up mentoring as both get drawn into a conspiracy involving a buried artifact and a frontier town that knows too much.
Abbey's strength in shared-world fantasy is the careful character work she brings to settings that often get treated as mood lighting. Dru is a real person rather than a class entry. The frontier town has the texture of a working community rather than a quest hub. The action moves competently.
The book is uneven. Some of the conspiracy machinery feels routine. The closing chapters earn themselves.
Three stars. Recommended to longtime Forgotten Realms readers. A respectable shared-world entry, not a series entry point.
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