Yea! It's here. At least in Pittsburgh it showed up on Wed. or Thurs.
because I picked it up yesterday and am already thoroughly enjoying it.

The chapter on Investiture is Excellent, and surprisingly comprehensive.
No doubt questions will continue to come up after everyone reads this
chapter, but I for one couldn't think of a one that this chapter doesn't
address in one form or another.

The section on the different gods and their religions takes up nearly half
of the book, and its pretty good stuff. It goes into some depth describing
the doctrinal differences between the different churches, as well as into
their history: who was first, who split from who and so forth. Look
especially for some interesting aspects of the worship of some of the
lesser-known gods and goddesses. I found the section on Nesirie especially
nice (but I also read that one most closely, since I'm playing a priest of
Nesirie), and the sections on Laerme and Ruornil have some interesting
tidbits in them as well, although I would have liked to see some more
about Ruornil's War against the Shadow. I suppose they're saving that
stuff for the Shadow World Supplement.

The Strategy and Tactics chapter is ok. Good for new players, but
experienced players will have figured out most of this stuff (I did,
anyway). It does give a little table on what level and kind of followers a
priest regent can expect to find among his clergy (divided into acolytes,
men-at-arms, and clergy categories) which was nice.

The last third of the book is new spells, particular new realm spells. We
finally get more than the six in the Rulebook. There is, for example, and
greatly de-powered kind of holy crusade spell (called "Holy War") which
basically just allows the regent to raise units without the
province-holder's permission. There are also unique Quest Spells for
Cerilia's pantheon, and new priestly battlemagic. I haven't read this
section too closely yet, but it looks like a pretty useful array of
spells. And it includes a realm spell describing how a high-level (16th)
priest can actually consecrate a relic to one of the gods, and instill it
with relic-level powers.

Some final words. In some ways, the best things about this book are little
incedental facts sprinkled judiciously through the prose. These often
complete or supply information that was previously lacking. For example,
we now know that the river that flows between Osoerde and Aerenwe is
called the Berendor River. And that there is a Bardic College called the
Greenhills Conservatory to be found in one of the Erebannien provinces of
Aerenwe.

The thing I least liked about the book was that it placed each of the
god's realms in the existing Placescape. For example, it says that Avani
has a realm called The Gleaming Spire on the plane of Mechanus, while
Haelyn's Honor's Glory domain can be found on Mount Celestia. I'd just as
soon keep Cerilia separated from all of the rest of the various TSR
planes. Nevertheless, this is a bit of information that is easily ignored
if you choose too, and there is too much excellent information in the book
to avoid buying it for that reason.

Now, if my DM will only allow me to cast Conversion on my next Domain
Turn...

Mark VanderMeulen
vander+@pitt.edu