Customer Reviews

Cleric Quintet Collector's Edition (Forgotten Realms: the Cleric Quintet)

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I read this set of books about 3 times, that is how good they are. I also read them before i had ever heard of Drizzt, and i loved them everytime i read them. Now all of the 5 wonderful books are in a convenient collectors edition. There is a wonderful set of hero's in these books, all of them with their strengths or weaknesses. Cadderly, the main hero, must face his weaknesses just like all the others. Salvatore does a good job portraying the characters, proving that they are not "godlike characters". They must face powers in these books that they can never hope to defeat? or can they? These books are filled with fun and excitement all the way through. Two dwarven brothers, a beautiful monk woman, and a chattering squirrel make up the cast of good heros through most of the books. All of the books are uniquely different, throwing different bad guys against the heros until the final books when they must face an ultimate evil. These books are definately some of Salvatore's best. I highly recommend them if you are a fan of Drizzt, or Salvatore. You might recognize some of the characters in these books if you have read the later books in the Drizzt series.

Having never before read a book categorized within this genre I came upon R.A. Salvatore's The Cleric Quintet as I became engrossed in a Computer RPG named Baldurs Gate. Baldurs Gate introduced me into the world of the Forgotten Realms and when I happened upon The Cleric Quintet at my local book store I felt a want to know more about the stories and characters that have been developed around The Forgotten Realms. What I found within the Cleric Quintet were five books that offered very deep character development, fascinating plot and story lines centering around friendship, loyalty, love and conflicts from many an angle whose resolutions for the most part were far from predictable. Though not for every one ( I don't think my 70 yr old father-in-law would enjoy it), I would have to recommend The Cleric Quintet to anyone that would like to escape the day to day nuisances of real world events and pressures and absorb themselves into a world of heroes, magic and fantasy. As I read The Cleric Quintet I found myself so absorbed in Mr. Salvatore's narrative that the world around me became one of priests, dwares, elves, fortresses and forests while I read. I could not give this book 5 stars however because at times I felt that some of battle sequences were unnecessarily elongated in some places and too redundant in others as if the author was writing to fill pages. But on the whole I felt that The Cleric Quintet was certainly worth my time. I have indeed become an R.A. Salvatore fan and have ordered The Icewind Dale and Dark Elf triolgies as I write this. My favorite of the books was Night Masks as I found the concept around which the plot was built to be brillantly conceived and and brilliantly resolved. My favorite of the charaters was amazingly enough not the main character Cadderly, but his loyal "weapons" the Bouldershoulder brothers, two dwarves that anyone would want to take home with them. I was so "enchanted" with their exploits that during my many commuter bus rides while reading I found it very difficult to not laugh out loud, and just sat in my seat with a HUGE smile on my face. Besides its humorous elements though, The Cleric Quintet does take you on many an emotional roller coaster and in the end I found myself wanting more. In the end The Cleric Quintet is far from "Tuanta Quiro Miancay". An excellent read.

The first thing I read from Salvatore's pen was the Dark Elf Trilogy. I was stunned, and deeply in love after the first few pages. I had allready played AD&D for some time, so I knew about Drizzt, but getting to know him like this was fantastic. No book could ever match this, or so I thought. The Cleric Quintet does it! I have found myself reading at 5 o'clock in the morning in spite of the alarm ringing at 8. The relation between the Bouldershoulder brothers is great, the love between Danica and Cadderly grips you, the battle scenes astonishes you, but most of all, it is the magic. When cadderly reached deep into the song of Deneir and felt as if he was one with his God, shivers went down my back. Even larger shivers than when Elminster met Mystra (in making of a mage). To all the fans of Salvatore: Do yourself a favour, read it and get to know, and love even more of salvatores great charcters!

I came to this collection rather eagerly after having read Salvatore's Icewind Dale Trilogy, Dark Elf Trilogy and Legacy of the Drow quartet. I did not find it met the heights of the latter two collections and was on par with the earlier Icewind Dale trilogy. The Cleric Quintet is not a bad collection, it is just firmly average.

The fact that we have the 5 books collected together is a plus for me at least in a monetary sense. Cadderly is a likeable enough character and is given a decent amount of depth in his religious doubts and the fact he does some possibly objectionable things to further his deity's agenda. The supporting cast both good and evil are alright, and Ghost in particular I liked.

On the downside the portrayal of the supporting cast is not so great, and the plots don't have the vibrancy I expected. Salvatore's introduction states he wanted to write a book about monks and was told he couldn't as monks were not part of AD&D 2nd edition rules. He did put in Danica as a supporting cast member monk though and seemed to possibly care more for her than for Cadderly. The plots aren't too bad, some neat things but they seem to move slightly woodenly from point to point. Not poorly, but in the fashion of a car that needs servicing. You are taken to the destination but arrive with the feeling that the ride should have been superior to what it was.

I personally feel that a major opportunity was overlooked with the portrayal of the bouldershoulder brothers as straight comic relief. The dwarf wanting to be a druid was a marvelous opportunity for character development. Here we have someone who is forbidden from taking up the druidic calling because of race but believes so strongly in it that he restricts himself to druidic weapons. This is really something that could have been presented as total faith and sacrifice and when he does get some druidic powers more should have been made of it. I think Pikel Bouldershoulder was the true icon of faith in the novels, not Cadderly and it is a shame he was presented as somewhat dim-witted.

I don't feel many people familiar with Salvatore's work will be disappointed with this, and it does give a nice look at the clerical part of the Forgotten Realms which is not shown anywhere else to my limited knowledge. However those purchasing this won't find it to be as great as some of Salvatore's other works.

I have written before,in various reviews,that in my opinion that half of the value of a book can be guessed by how much of it you read the first time you pick it up..
Well,I had a 4 day off from work,and I finished it.I didnt get much sleep,these 4 days,and I stopped only for the most basic needs..My gf went nuclear on the 3d day,but then she read it too and understood :-)
This is the story of Cadderly,a cleric who appears also in another book,aiding Drizzt Do'Urden.It is a fabulous story of the chaos curse,a curse that twists and magnifies the hidden-subconscious passions of humans so that they are turned to beasts.The characters are amazing.(The Bouldershoulder brothers are absolutely hilarious!).Though in the beginning ,the elf prince is a bit..tight ...anyway..this quintet is a must read for fans.The story builds and builds and builds and the reader never gets this oh-hell-what-is-this-now?are-we-filling-up-pages-with-nonsense? ..nossir! I think that most fantasy fans have already read it ,but if not,go on..

R.A. Salvatore has always done a good job of creating memorable characters. Cadderly and Danica and the Bouldershoulders are all fun characters to read about and their adventures entertaining to anyone who is a fantasy fiction fan. These books aren't challenging by any means-- they're purely an entertaining quick read, good for when you're taking a break from heavy college textbooks and feel like immersing yourself in a world of fantasy!

Im one of those people who would probably not read a book, and just see the movie. But this book truly opened my eyes to reading. First of all, you probably would not pick this book up, just because there are so many other good looking books next to it. But it is like, awesome.

The characters are unique. The hero is a cleric, who develops incredibly. At first he cannot really do anything, but he soon learns to cast powerful magic. Unlike other books where they just say "He put his hand out and a fireball erupted", this book truly explains how he casts magic, by giving in-depth detail. There is a monk, who is like his girlfriend, who is 10 times stronger then him, and 2 dwarfs. The dwarfs are perceived as just some guys to create humor, but they are true friends. The way Salvatore writes these books, he explains everything so easily, and it makes reading seem simple. Every battle scene was descriped so that you knew exactly what was happening. The series also ends perfectly. Everything is wraped up, and it seems some people reach perfect harmony, while others turn evil. I cried at the end of the series just because it was so sad yet joyous. Please pick this book up and you will not be dissapointed.

Forget what your friends tell you about the greatness of Drizzt, what you have here is the perfect combination of action, comedy, suspense and wonder that make any reader come back for more. This is Salvatore's best work to date and a book that you can not only enjoy but also keep around to read to your children. If you want to test the waters of the fantasy genre, do it with this series.

When I first read these books, I must've cried and laughed and bit my nails in each one...R.A. Salvatore is a master at developing believable yet larger-than-life characters, and thinking of twists and turns galore. I especially loved the idea of such a powerful warrior in Danica. Hooray for the ladies!!! :o)

The Cleris Quintet is a nice off-shoot of Salvatores Realms collections this time focusing on Caderly, Danica and the Bouldershoulder brothers. Thoroughly enjoyable! This particular Collectors Edition contains all 5 books rolled into one. The price is exceptional but it is very, very heavy to hold and read. I think I tore my rotator ;)