Customer Reviews

The Chaos Curse (Forgotten Realms: The Cleric Quintet, Book 5)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Chaos curse is the final book in a 5 book series, all of which are great. Cadderly and friends must face an evil in which they never thought they would have to face. They must fight together, facing new enemies, as well as old. This is a great series, and some of these characters make an appearence in Salvatore's other books containing Drizzt. I recommend these books to anyone into fantasy, or if you are just a fan of Salvatore, this book, as well as the others in the series, are a must! The ending of this book is a little sad, so be forewarned, but if you read the later books containing Drizzt, everything comes out to be alright.

... there are some interesting elements here. As hinted at in some of the previous novels of the series, Cadderly has something a reformer attitude. He believes his order has strayed away from its tenets and that it is too consumed with ritual and dusty tomes rather than helping people etc... Cadderly's religious order is headed up by Dean Thobiscus who, in Cadderly's view, personifies the ritualistic and power politics that have corrupted the order. This conflict had potential to be developed more, but this did not happen.

There was one improvement over the previous book in the series. Cadderly finally faces a foe that he finds difficult to combat. Obviously, I don't want to reveal who this last villain is but it was reasonably done. There is also some genuine risk involved here as Cadderly's lover, Danica, is captured. Where is the setting for this confrontation? The Edificant Library which has been overcome by the forces of darkness. Also, he faces an important choice near the end; to follow the calling of his God completely or continue his relationship with Danica.

...

Now, I have read all of Salvatore's books and some series are better than others. While reading this series however I thought this was one of the better ones. That was before I read the Chaos Curse. After reading this book dozens of times it made me feel that the other four had only been written to set the scene for this masterpiece. Similar to the Demorwars-Ascendance line of events.

The Chaos Curse, Book Five in the Cleric Quintet - R. A. Salvatore
A Review

The entire series is pretty good, but this particular book I enjoyed the least. When finished the Fallen Fortress, one says to him/herself: "Well, it was pretty good. Happy ending, and all. Why is there another book in the series, though?" I do not know why. The Chaos Curse is wholly unnecessary. From the very beginning, I felt that the series had been stretched beyond it's limit, to an extent of mediocrity that Salvatore should be ashamed of. Perhaps not, though. In my opinion, this is the least enjoyable book in the series. Especially the ending, although I won't say anything of it.
Unlike the previous four books, which are about the fight against Castle Trinity and it's dastardly villians, this one is about a battle against Kierkan Rufo, Cadderly's unrealistic arch enemy, and his minions. There are many things to say on this book, but I shall start my complaints with this:

1. The back cover of the book is somewhat misleading. It is as simply as that. When reading the book, I felt that it was nothing like what I expected it to be, from what I had read on the back cover.

2. Character Development. In this, I am particularly angry: Robert was presented with an oppurtunity for character development within this book. He had the chance to elaborate on Dean Thobicus's, the dean of the Edificant Library, fall from grace. No elaboration is written of, though. I was expecting Cadderly to return and begin dealing with Thobicus, but it was not so. By the time Cadderly returned home to his library, the only remaining residents in the libary were vampires and zombies. And this occured all in a few days!! Without a doubt, I feel that the Dean Thobicus's behavior in this and the previous book is very unrational and completely unrealistic.

3. An acceleration of events. Yes, this is true. In only a couple days, the number of living occupants in the Edificant Library is reduced to pretty much no people whatsoever. All have either been killed or turned into vampires or zombies. When (name removed so that no spoilers are given) begins taking over the libary, the other priests in the library, I am confident, are completely blind!!! Do they not realize that their numbers are being drastically reduced? That the holiness that once was upon Castle Trinity is now gone? Of course they do not realize it. Or maybe they do. The reader does not know, though, because no action is taken until Cadderly and his ilk arrive to save the day.

Unexpectedly, though, Cadderly does not save the day. The Edificant Library has sunken to a level of corrupted decay that is unrepairable. After defeating all the vampires and baddies in the library, Cadderly destroys the library and begins the creation of a new one, wielding the power of his god, Denier.
And here is pretty much where the book ends. The ending, though, is completely surprising. Cadderly sacrifices his youth and strength all to build the construction of his library. He uses to magic to erect pillars from the very ground, that form the foundation of the library. As powerful as he is, though, this taxes Cadderly greatly, as it should. It makes him age much quicker, as well. For the creation of the library to be built so quickly, he must age quickly as well. Or something like that.
So, by the end of the book, Cadderly is an old guy and Danica is still young and pretty. Very sad, actually, because the two still love each other greatly, but one has much longer to live than the other. At least Salvatore did something profound with the series. Although supposed to be deep and meaningful, I was hardly affected in the least for this sad ending of the series.

I shall finally end my review of this book with an extremely profound statement: "I enjoyed the Baldur's Gate book series MORE than The Cleric Quinet." That may be hard to believe, considering the BG book series is written by Phillip Athans, and unexperienced writer, and Drew Karpyshyn (A Bioware worker, who also worked on the games). Anyway, a lot of people (Just check the review on Amazon.com!!) think that the BG books are totally worthless, but those books, upon finished the series, had something of an epiphany effect on me. Very good. I would suggest you read them. This series, however, had no such effect. The Cleric Quintet is possibly the most dissapointing fantasy series I have ever read, and without a doubt R. A. Salvatore's worst series he has written. It does not exhibit his skills as a profession writer. It does the opposite.

As a fan of Salvatores past work, I decided to bite onto this series. Unfortunately the series started on an odd foot, developed some interesting if not partally shallow characters and then proceeded to become more and more disapointing until, at last, the series ends with this.. um.. book. The book was better written then most of the pulp thats out there, but it left me with a bad taste in my proverbial mouth. I gave it extra credit for ending the story then and not dragging the series out for another book. Now I understand why Salvatore usually writes trilogies.

On my first read through this series, years ago, I felt that Salvatore fell into a common writer's trap of overpowering the main character, to near god-like status. In many respects, I still feel that way, even though I recognize that he did make attempts along the way to temper that power.

The book is the final installment in the Cleric Quintet, and if you have not read the prior 4 books, I recommend that you do so for this one to make more sense.

The book picks up from the end of the last book, Fallen Fortress. Cadderly, priest of Deneir, along with Pikel and Ivan Bouldershoulder (dwarven brothers, one of whom aspires to be a druid) set off to find a way through to the old red dragon Feyrenn's treasure. Danica, the warrior monk and Cadderly's fiancee, together with Dorigen, the repentant wizard, set straight off for the Edificant Library, home to priests of both deities Deneir and Oghma. Shayleigh, the woodland elf, goes with Danica and Dorigen most of the way to the Library, then parts ways to return to Shilmista, her home.

Unknown to any of them, Kierkan Rufo, a branded, cursed and fallen priest of Deneir, has returned to the Library before any of them, together with Druzil, the mischievous imp. Together they enter by way of the catacombs, seeking to liberate the Chaos Curse, held captive in a bowl of holy water by Cadderly's hand. Rather than liberating it, however, the bumbling Kierkan drinks the potion instead, then runs out, vomiting all the way, in the hopes that the priests of the Library might help him.

As Kierkan is in the process of dying, the corrupt Dean Thobicus, leader of the Library, invites Kierkan into the Library, so that the priests may try better to heal Kierkan. What Thobicus fails to realize is that while Kierkan is killed by the potion, he is also, through its power, returned to an undead state as a vampire, the most powerful of undead creatures, and Thobicus' invitation gives the vampire Kierkan free reign in the Library.

So it is that Kierkan and Druzil set about desecrating the Library, converting some priests to vampires, and turning others into zombies, in the hopes of unleashing this unholy army against Cadderly and his friends in this final confrontation.

In my eyes, the ending is tragic, even though it might be seen as noble, there is a loose thread left hanging concerning the dragon's horde, and a number of characters have glaring blonde moments. In all, though, the book is well written, suspenseful and difficult to put down (especially if you've read the prior 4 books and want to see how it all turns out). I am a little foggy on how Kierkan manages to gradually desecrate the Library, yet the all-powerful Cadderly is either too stupid to try re-consecrating it, or lacks the power to do so (even if it is on a piece-by-piece basis).

Nevertheless, I recommend the book, especially to those interested in clerics, druids and monks, classes which are often overlooked in fantasy literature.

Suspensful, gripping as usual, the type of book that is hard to put down when the alarm is set for 6 am it is already 2 am and you have been reading since 9:30 pm

So many bad reviews, I think the problem lies not with the book, but with the readers. This book is what it is, a closing to a 5 book series. The reader should know better then to jump into the story at book 5 and expect indepth character development and the logical development of a villain. This book is meant to end the story of Cadderly not begin a new one.

The Clerical Quintet is a series that overall bears a 5 star rating and is one of the best fantasy reads you can find. This book lacks in areas and is not as enthralling as the first 4 but it closes the story well regardless of whether people liked the ending or not. If you continue to read the Drizzt's series books that procede this book on the Forgotten Realms timeline you will run into Cadderly once again and find more information about what happened to him that might change your perspective on the story teller.

Salvatore is a master at painting a picture in everything he writes. If you purchase this book, purchase the entire Quintet and be prepared to be whisked away and immersed into the world of the Forgotten Realms by one of the best fantasy writers of our time...

Seriously, with this as the final volume, I think the Cleric Quintet would have been better as the Cleric Quartet. If you've read the rest of the series (which is excellent) you'll want to read this one just to know how it all wraps up. The series deserved a better ending though, one that wasn't so painful to read.

I pretty much enjoyed this series, as with all books of this genre, the pure escapism is the aspect the draws the most. I was, however, very disappointed with the ending - it was as well written as the rest of the series, just not what you would have hoped for the characters... That said, I would heartily recommend any of Salvatores work as a fun read, especially addicts of the Forgotten Realms AD&D setting and assoicated games (Baldurs Gate et al).