Customer Reviews

Forgotten Realms Canticle (Forgotten Realms Novel: Cleric Quintet)

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Going into Canticle, I had incredibly low expectations. I had been happily going along reading Salvatore's books about Drizzt, and occasionally checking online to see what book was next, when suddenly, there, between Siege of Darkness and Passage to Dawn I see the Cleric Quintet listed. So I was like "Oh great. Now I have to read five books about some stupid cleric. Yay."

How very wrong I was. Canticle was actually quite good. It certainly rivals many of the Drizzt books, and surpasses fair amount of them as well.

Cadderly (the Quintet's hero) is a nice change from Drizzt. Cadderly comes across as a legitimately good guy (without the hypocrisy that acompanies many fantasy heroes), and his relationship with Danica is refreshing. Unlike most romances in fantasy, there's no angsting over whether or not they love each other, they just do. Period.

The villains are somewhat stereotypical, with the whole "Let us release chaos on the world because our goddess Talona (who we don't even really seem to worship) says so", but they're still amusing, and there's a nice twist at the end.

I imagine that most of the people reading this will have read some of the Drizzt books, and are now questioning whether or not they want to read the Cleric Quintet. My suggestion is to do so. You may find yourself pleasantly surprised.

ever since I read "Homeland" I have been hooked to Salvtore's unique sense of writing. He is, in my opinion, among, if not the best, fantasy writer ever. I have been extremely pleased with his Dark Elf series (Although Passage To Dawn was a bit of a letdown, which was not his fault, as he was forced to write it in six months!). Canticle is another masterpiece of fantasy, and should not be overlooked. I first learned about Cadderly from "Passage To Dawn" and I bought and read the book in as quick as possible. This is a must-read. I have also been told by Salvatore that there will be another Drizzt novel, and he will have no time limit to write it in. I am extremely excited about this, and look forward to seeing an excerpt from it in his sequel to "The demon Awakens."

When I think of a fantasy setting, whether it be in the tradition of Tolkien's, "Lord of the Rings," (see my reviews of this excellent novel), Arthurian legend or a Dungeon's & Dragons (D&D) game, I think of underground catacombs, caves and other such places. The unexpected setting for this novel is a library, with a priest (cleric) as its protagonist.

I have played D&D for some time and I enjoy the interactive story-telling aspect of it. I was unsure how this element of the game would translate into a novel. While there was one or two plot devices in this novel that I didn't particularly like, I enjoyed it overall. This novel forms the first part of a five-part series. The main character, Cadderly, is a cleric of Deneir (god of knowledge and beauty) was abandoned as an orphan to live in the Edificant Library. He subsequently develops into an accomplished scholar (Salvatore never lets you forget it; he constantly refers to Cadderly as "the young scholar") at the Library.

While I recognized some of the plot right away, it was nonetheless an interesting. I'm reading this novel as part of the 1000 page "Cleric Quintet, Collector's Edition." The author's foreword is interesting; he discusses the meetings he had prior to writing to the book and of one interesting letter he received from a reader. The reader is a born-again Christian who congratulated Salvatore on his portrayal of Cadderly; the reader says that Cadderly's stuggle with religious duty and with doubt paralleled that of his one life.

As I continue to read through the series, the inner turmoil that affects Cadderly slowly becomes more apparent. He begins his life as a scholar who rarely ventured beyond the walls of the Library and slowly changes into an adventurer.

Before I read this novel, I asked some of more well read what sort of fantasy novels or authors they could recommend (while I have some familiarity with science fiction, history, religion and philosophy, the fantasy genre remains new to me), they mentioned Salvatore. This author is most famous for his "Dark Elf" trilogy, but I decided to read this somewhat lesser known work first.

This book is the start to one of the best series that Salvatore has ever written. Memorable characters great story line and great laughs. A must read for Bob Salvatore fans and those who havn't started reading him yet.

In all honesty, I came to this series with a bit of trepidation. I was happily working my way through the Dark Elf series, having just finished "The Sellswords" trilogy and was greatly looking forward to starting up the "Transitions" trilogy while waiting on "The Ghost King" to be released this October. Several months ago, I had seen that "The Cleric Quintet" was being re-released and had dutifully purchased them and planned to read them after "The Ghost King." That plan of course, fell to the wayside a month or so before "The Ghost King" was released when I noticed on the covers of the "Quintet" novels that they were being labeled the prequel to "The Ghost King!"

Having read of Cadderly and his entourage of characters in several Drizz't novels, I waded into "Canticle" feeling as though I knew this character quite well. What I found though was a very young Cadderly Bonaduce that wasn't the confident, established character that I thought I knew.

In "Canticle," we're treated to the introductory account of Cadderly Bonaduce, a young priest in apprenticeship at the Edificant Library. Danica Maupoissant, a monk in training at the library and Cadderly's love interest. This is also where we're treated to the introduction of the dwarf brothers Ivan and Pikel Bouldershoulder, two extremely pivotal characters in this series and of the later Drizz't novels. These two provide some of the best comedic relief available in fantasy fiction.

The Premise:

A young Cadderly, who has lived his whole life in study at the Edificant Library suddenly, finds himself embroiled in a great mystery as his friends and colleagues start behaving quite strangely. Unbeknownst to him, the library is under attack. Not affected himself by whatever is causing the strange behavior, he and his two dwarven friends, Ivan and Pikel Bouldershoulder, who are not so greatly affected by magic, being dwarves, must find a way to end the attack and save the library and it's inhabitants...

What ensues is the introductory tale of some of R.A. Salvatore's best characters. This story would've garnered five stars but for the first fourteen or so chapters being the introduction of many characters and the author's pacing was somewhat slow. After the story gets rolling though, you're treated to R.A. Salvatore's usual page turning story telling.

I highly recommend this novel and series to any fan of the fantasy fiction genre. Whether you've read any of the author's novels or not a single one, you'll find yourself highly intrigued by his writing style and storytelling, finding yourself hooked like myself and many others. A note of disappointment to the publisher though, why is this novel not available on Kindle while the fourth and fifth books of the series are? {ssintrepid}

The Cleric Quintet is a masterpiece of Salvatores, in my opinion far outdoing Any of Salvatores oither works. The series contains many believable characters, stunning action sequences, and a realistic Romance between Cadderly and Danica. At points in the seond, third, fourth, and fifth books, I laughed, I cried, and I clapped. That said, let me move on to Canticle. Canticle was just plain horrid. It reads as a cutesy, yet dark, childrens novel, with emphasis based on the "silly" aspects of thew characters, rather than the realistic. All the characters but Cadderly, Danica, and Druzil read like cheesy soap opera characters. Thus, the book itself garners a one star rweview from me, but the potential greatness earns it two more.

"Canticle" begins yet another series by Salvatore that simply draws the reader on, willing or not. Cadderly is so much a non-hero that it is easy to actually identify realistically with him. But he uses his intelligence and his courage to go after every problem he encounters. This novel will draw you along with its great characterizations and inventive plot. Salvatore does use much of the general ingredients, but he mixes in his own special blend of descriptive and colorful spice. Read it for sure, but be ready to be addicted to the series!

This book is a good read, but rather different from Salvatore's Drizzt novels. The characters were engaging, as was the story. One can't help but love Cadderly for his innocence or the dwarven brothers for their comedic interactions. My only true unhappiness with the book was the repeated use of the word 'evil' to describe things. A thesaurus can be a wonderful friend at times.

This was a well done book to start the series with. The premise of the story took me a little time to follow, but I enjoyed reading about Cadderly and the other great characters around him; Ivan and Pikel are the kind of dwarves I love. The Chaos Curse wasn't exactly something I understood, but the climax of the story and how it affects the main character was unique.

Some would consider this a mediocre book; bland, boring, or slow. But I thought it was refreshing to read and just follow an adventure, uncertain of whether the main character had the strength to get out of situations or not. Since the main character differed from most others I read about, it was very exciting to watch him progress.

The evil characters were well sculpted too. I'll be interested to see how they change over the next books, especially a certain imp.

I give it 4 stars, simply because it was a good book; not a great and spellbinding literary piece; just a good book.

I have enjoyed alot of R.A Salvatore's books. This one is no exception. The characters are very different from his usual mix. Which is good and bad. Some of his characters are good and strong and interesting and others like the love interest and the headmaster are rather shallow. The plot is fun and the villains are well thought out, especially the Imp. If you enjoy the forgotten realms line of books then give this one a read.