The Crimson Gold

I would've given it 2 stars if it wasn't D&D. As a D&D book, it's bad. This isn't the first book the author has written for D&D so it's not just ignorance. And the editor must be blind as well.

The Crimson Gold? It's a sad excuse for a title. The metal in question can be replaced with whatever you wish and it wouldn't change a thing, given how minor and unimportant it was to the plot.

Thazienne the protagonist? This series is about Rogues. But our heroine is a rogue, warrior, military strategist, and general all rolled into one. Not to forget being very smart, fearless, tough, lucky, athletic, beautiful, charismatic, and commanding.

The infamous Red Wizards of Thay? They're portrayed as selfish, stupid, and endlessly bickering politicians, who also happen to be weak-willed, possess little to no magical prowess, and pretty much useless. It was incredibly insulting to the work done on Red Wizards and Thay by TSR and Wizards of the Coast.

D&D? If you're gonna slap on D&D, at least read up on the subject material and get things right. It's sad to see them misrepresented and misused.

On the whole? Lots of plot holes and contradictions, and villains telling the heroes their schemes. For light reading (and ignoring D&D), it's easy to overlook. The build-up was actually decent, but the finale was quite horrid. Even I know that volcanoes and lava flows don't work the way the author described. Blocking lava flows with corpses? How does that work?! Maybe it was meant for a younger audience but somehow, someone decided to force-fit this into the Rogue series.