A young, disabled boy, abused by the local youths in this war-torn time, is begrudgingly fostered by a group of monks.  Here, in his dungeon like room, Bran perseveres in his duties of chamber-pot-emptier by reliving his brief exposure to a book of mystic wisdom of the Jhesta Tu peoples.  Memories of this book's teachings, along with a gemstone stolen from the monks, slowly allow Bran to control his bodily parts and for brief periods of time, to wonder among his fellow man unnoticed.

As the years pass, resentment of the war is growing among the common people.  The men have all been sent to war, many older children too.  Now the ones left behind, mainly women and young children, are being pushed to starvation as all available food and funds are being sent to the "front".  Suddenly, a hero appears.  A masked man, efficient with a sword and wit, who charms the necklaces off rich women and the purses from their husbands and then distributes the proceeds to the needy.  Who is this "Highwayman" as he calls himself, and how long will he evade Laird Prydae's (the local head honcho) wrath?

Author Salvatore spins a largely uninspired, dry, slow moving, predictable yarn, populated by unmoving characters, slogging around in uninteresting situations.  Heck, isn't heroic fantasy supposed to have at least sympathetic good guys and despicable bad guys?  Someone for us to cheer and others for us to revile?  At numerous time I had to fight myself just to pick the book back up to finish it because it was so blasé.

I am not really familiar with the author's other works, but judging by his apparent popularity, I must assume this is an "off" effort for him.