Customer Reviews

The Fallen Fortress (Forgotten Realms: the Cleric Quintet)

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

 

 

I should first say that I grew up on Salvatore's books and have always considered him as a master of fantasy writing... until I read this one. Having enjoyed Canticle, been ok with In Sylvan Shadows, and absolutely loved the concept of the Ghearufu in Night Masks - The Fallen Fortress, as title suggests, fell flat on its face.

Suddenly, Cadderly's steady growth as a character ground to a flat halt. In Fallen Fortress, he is omniscient, all-powerful, etc, etc. He can do anything; nothing affects him. The rendition of his emotional turmoil in this book is flat and hard to sympathize with. This makes for very boring reading. Maturity of characters? I don't think so - everyone here is predictable and does not grow.

Plotwise, there is nothing interesting - there is nothing to match the invention of Cadderly's yo-yo or crossbow in the earlier books, or the originality of the evil artifact mentioned above. Instead, potential plotlines are disappointingly dashed aside. Eg. I was intrigued when a certain villain "came back" - that would have made perfect material for advancing the plot. But instead, the book kills him off unceremoniously, without exploiting his potental (to the plot) - what a waste.

Considering that this is my first Cleric Quintet book that I have read (let alone the first experience with R.A. Salvatore's work), I found this little gem entertaining. The Fallen Fortress falls in line with the genre of RPG novels, but Mr. Salvatore's flair for comic relief (a green bearded dwarf named "Pikel") has forced me to put the book down a few times - from laughing.

I was slightly disappointed by the length of the book, only because the literature was so enjoyable, I wanted more! But hey, there's a lot more where that came from. R.A. Salvatore is reknown for his numerous quality works.

4 Stars. I'd probably give it 5 if was a wee bit longer.

This, the fourth book, in Salvatore's "Cleric's Quintet," is probably the worst novel in the five book series. There were a few promising ideas that could have been developed more but alas, no such luck. This book is meant to be the climax of the story, which resolves around the plans of Castle Trinity to conquer part of the Realms.

Cadderly, the lead character, becomes more and more powerful with each passing page. His development seems to have been arrested and I found him less interesting than in the previous books. In "Canticle" (which I've reviewed), Cadderly was inexperienced and he depended on his friends to help him. He also had several internal struggles that gave him some depth. However, here, Cadderly seems to be able to overcome any obstacle with little trouble.

The story development leaves something to be desired as well. Salvatore brings back one of the interesting villains from a previous book ("Nightmasks") and then dispatches him without so much as the villain facing off against Cadderly. Other reviewers have mentioned this and I have to find myself agreeing with them. Cadderly's incredible and frequent use of magic becomes something of deus ex machina. There are supposed to be limits on what magic (i.e. power) can accomplish and it seems something of the balance was lost here. It is a pitfall that every fantasy author must always attempt to steer clear off.

There is one development in this book that hints at what will happen to the Edificant Library (a bastion of priests and good gods) in the following novel. I don't want to say anymore on that note for fear of spoiling the plot.

Please refer to my review of all the other novels in this series.

I will give this book all my 5 stars and highest compliments, I hope any of you who have followed the series enough so far didn't get off course with the horrible reivews people have put in, this book is by far one of the greatest in this series, the series is great the characters are well developed and they do continue to develop unlike what other people have been saying, this book is basically the climax to everything in Castle Trinity and it couldn't have been done better, yes it's hack and slash but it's good hack and slash and the climax was worth the fun reading, you are perhaps expecting a Luke Skywalker thing with Cadderly and Aballister but I will tell you now that the father and son rival thing was done well by salvatore and the ending to this book was great, this book is my second favorite book in my favorite series by Salvatore and I know that if you give the book a chance you will find that there are more exciting things to Salvatore then Dark Elves! I give this book and series 5 stars because it deserves it and I will gladly defend the book in anyway if an argument comes up, read this book my friends and I promise the people who have found this series fun so far that this climax will not disappoint you.

I am a huge fan of all of R.A. Salvatore's series, and the Clerics Quintet is one of my favorites. This fourth book in the series is no let down for any avid readers of the first three. The plot is exciting, engaging, and leaves you on the edge of your seat. The characters, as always, are beautifuly portrayed and very deep. I would defenately recomend this book to anyone who is a Salvatore fan, or who would like a taste of him for the first time. Enjoy!

Writing this kind of stuff must get boring:
visualizing all those head splitting and such
and then figuring out how to bridge into the next sequel
after the current villains heads are split?
What got me as I finished this was that the wizard
Cadderly thought of a way to destroy the whole castle without
having to risk battle afterwards...not that it would
work by his god's rules of magic.
We have dragon battles and a lot of giants, goblins and other beasties
that his traveling troop fight.
So the adventure martial arts descriptions go on and on:
makes one miss the writers who don't take themselves
so seriously? I'm going to call this kind of stuff B fantasy
as a category, because this just isn't A quality writing?

Salvatore brings us the 4th in the Cleric Quintet, delving into the world of Cadderly (the main character, a cleric of Deneir), Danica (a warrior monk, Cadderly's lover), and Ivan and Pikel Bouldershoulder (dwarven brothers, one of whom wishes, impossibly, to become a druid).

Cadderly has at last come to trust in his deity, drawing strength from his faith, and is growing stronger in his clerical powers. Yet he knows, after the attack of the dreaded Night Masks in the prior novel, that the threat posed by the evil Castle Trinity is far from over. He reaches the conclusion that he must attempt to destroy Castle Trinity, unwittingly drawing him ever closer to an inevitable confrontation with the leader of the evil group, who Cadderly does not realize is his father.

My only sore point with the series is Cadderly's rise to power, turning into some near-invincible demi-god. True, he does get into some dangerous battles, yet you never get the impression that he's ever in any danger of being killed, that Deneir will always save him. Still, I did enjoy Salvatore's explanation of priestly magic, and answer the question of how a battle between a cleric and a wizard would go!

On the whole, it was enjoyable, and I recommend the book. Salvatore brings to life engaging characters, details well the fight scenes, and laces the story with enough intrigue to keep you turning the pages at a fair clip.

While I enjoyed the premise, improved villians, and character development during the first 3 novels in this series, I found myself unable finish the 4th, as Cadderly has grown from a talented but sorely inexperienced initiate of Deneir to a virtual demigod.

The attaction of Cadderly to me was the idea of a heroic character who survived as much on wits, intelligence, and able teamwork as overpowering force. And while this often held true through the initial books in this series, Cadderly is a one man wreaking crew here, his otherwise potent companions often serving as little more than conversation pieces and humour devices. Ancient red dragons, interplanar beings, arch magicians, the outcome of any encounter is never in doubt. Honestly, the only apparent way to defeat Cadderly is to gag him. While others may appreciate a seemingly omnipotent hero, I was gradually left without any feeling of suspense, and ultimately a lack of any interest to continue reading.

Salvatore continues his story of the gallant Cadderly and the beautiful Danica. This book takes the fight to Castle Trinity. A great feeling sweeps through you as you read the book, as the group lays waste to the evil minions of Castle Trinity, you find yourself wanting to cheer out for Cadderly and crew to "Kick their arses." This book is classic Salvatore, absorbing and exciting, you never want to put it down even though it is 5:19 in the morning and you have to be to work in 11 minutes.

I found one small problem with this book. Cadderly suddenly gains this superior confidence and believes what he says is right and everyone else is wrong, what ever happened to the Cadderly who weighed his options well. The expanations did not sit well with me but they by no means distracted from the book. The highlight: Ivan on his Magic Dragon Ride. If you pass this up you are missing out on the vengence book of the series. Enjoy!

While Salvatore might say that he enjoyed writing this series more, I have to say that this series is a horrid disappointment. Although Salvatore had some great characters in his other series, this one falls flat in every respect. The characters are shallow, interesting twists of characters and their amazing and heroic returns are uncerimoniously killed off without reason. There could have been so much more, but Salvatore seems to left his creative efforts elsewhere. ...