Customer Reviews

Night Masks (Forgotten Realms: The Cleric Quintet, Book 3)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book launches the Cleric Quintet characters even further than the second book did. This is where Cadderly's major character change occurs. In the previous books, Cadderly was a struggling self-doubting and inexperienced boy. He thought himself useless to his friends, and in Sylvan Shadows, he leaves Danica because he was afraid (he admits this in the book). Now, though, Cadderly finds a new purpose for himself and rekindles his relationship with Danica and his friends. He survives against gigantic odds and political intrigue. The entire time, he has no idea how many people are looking to kill him, and yet he manages to escape and fight back.

R.A. Salvatore is successful in weaving a complex and suspenseful story, with amazing characters and interesting subplots. Ghost is a remarkable character. For those familiar with the Drizzt novels, just imagine what would happen if Ghost happened to meet the dark elf. Could Drizzt shield himself from the Ghearufu? Ghost and the Night Mask assassins present themselves as a tremendously evil force, and I often wondered if Cadderly and his friends could withstand them. At times, the story may seem like it drags, but I believe it was necessary to describe what Cadderly goes through in the Dragon's Codpiece. His ascension towards Deneir is quite a dramatic change in this series; Cadderly now has unfathomable powers that will only keep growing.

If you enjoyed the previous books in this series, or even if you didn't but want to know what happens after Sylvan Shadows, I recommend reading this book. It is the turn of the tide in the Cleric Quintet series, and the last few chapters of the book are quite spectacular.

I don't know how he does it. He just does. This book is everything a reader could ask for. There is conspiricy (in my not so humble opinion), suspence, action, and if you like that sort of thing, romane (luckily, not too much.) This book, book 3 in the Cleric Quintet, is a turning point for the main charactor and the plot. Each book is a story in itself, yet the whole series is like a humongo book, too large to be print entirely, so broken in 5 parts. I think it is a great book-and that is an understatement!

I, like many others, am enamored with the writings of R.A. Salvatore, everything from the Demonwars series to the classic Drizzt Novels, but the Cadderly Series, and this book in particular, has something that none of his other books have. Maturity. The Depth of Evil that the Ghearfu is, and its master, Ghost, contains, is truly horrifying, and the new characters are fully fleshed out. In addition, Salvatore pulls no punches when it comes to main characters, he doesn't hold back when their death is needed for plot developement. The magic in this book is also descibed as it never has been before, making the arcane arts and divinity so much more impressive. However, the quality of this book that I am most impressed by was the love between Cadderly and Danica. I admit, as a semi-hopeless Romantic I'm a sucker for this sort of thing, but the way the romance and resulting actions were described was so perfect, that I was deeply moved. In short, many of Salvatore's works, while good, are easily forgettable. This book will remain with me throughout my life. I urge those of you who are on the brink of buying this book, and this whole series, to do so. It is a magnificent work of modern fiction, and the best That Salvatore has ever written.

Night Masks, Book 3 of the Cleric Quintet - R. A. Salvatore
A Review

Hmmm. I shall make my feelings on the Cleric Quintet known right now: it is a strictly mediocre fantasy series. Nothing special. Salvatore is a very good writer, though. He wrote the Demon series, (As I write this review, I am currently reading the first book in the series, The Demon Awakens, and it is exceptional. Very promising. I shall soon write a review on that book as well.), the Crimson Shadows series (I haven't read any of those books), and the Icewind Dale Trilogy and Dark Elf Trilogy of the Forgotten Realms line of role-playing fantasy books. The Cleric Quintet is also part of the Forgotten Realms. This series, however, would never have been published as a stand-alone series, though. It introduces nothing new to the reader, the characters are dull and uninspired (even immature, to some extent), and is written in the typical R. A. Salvatore format that I have grown to dislike.
About this book, though, the third novel in the series, I read this one with considerably more enjoyment that the other two. It featured an interesting, challenging villian, and a plot more unique that the other books in the series. In addition to that, the two main characters' (Cadderly and Danica) relationship blooms into maturity. (In other words, they end up "doing it!" For those rigid, unmoving readers out there, though, don't worry: no actual eroticism in this book. Or the entire series, for that matter.) Like all the other novels in the Cleric Quintet, there is no interesting or even significant character development.
I think I'll cut this review short, because my opinion on the series is (or should be, if you're reading this) obvious by now, and no one wants to read why I think this series is such a mediocre waste of time. What about Salvatore's writing style, though? There is nothing unique about that, nothing that could even be called sophisticated.
If you've read my other two reviews on the previous two books, you'll know what to expect with the series, but, despite all my determined ranting, it is still pretty good to read, with exciting battles, and unexpected occurences. That, perhaps, is why this series isn't half bad. One does not know what to expect when reading it. That, though, perhaps, might be because no one cares enough to bother anticipating what will occur next in the book. . .

I bought this book through Amazon for my 14 year old son - he loved the first two books in the series and is enjoying "The Night Mask".

At first I thought this series would not measure up to the one's of the past, but man was I wrong. This is a great read.

Night Masks picks up from the end of the last one in the series, In Sylvan Shadows, and refers to a ruthless band of assassins. The Night Masks have been tasked with killing Cadderly, a priest of Deneir...ironically hired to do so by Allabaster, an evil mage who, unbeknownst to Cadderly, is Cadderly's father.

Cadderly, meanwhile, has gone to Carradoon, fleeing the violence left behind in the elven woods of Shilmista, and his friends who have no qualms about killing monsters. The friends are, namely, Danica (a human warrior monk who is Cadderly's lover), and the Bouldershoulder Brothers (Pikel and Ivan, two hardy and fearless dwarves).

For his efforts against the evil Castle Trinity, Cadderly has been marked for death. The Night Masks are led by a cruel, dangerous and ruthless man, known only by the name of Ghost. Through the use of a powerful artifact, Ghost has the ability of being able to trade bodies with others (usually against their will), which makes killing others incredibly easy. Of course, he's never tried killing a powerful priest before.

Cadderly struggles at first with his guilt over his role in killing others, and questions his faith in Deneir. Yet as he reads more of Deneir's holy book, he comes to recognize his budding powers, and accept that he has become a vessel for his deity.

While Salvatore does well, as usual, pacing the story and filling the book with memorable characters, helping us understand Cadderly's inner struggles and introducing us to powerful clerical magic, one aspect of the series does perturb me, somewhat. At one point, Cadderly is told "You are not invincible. You are not all-powerful. You are not a god." Yet despite this warning, and I feel it is Salvatore speaking directly to the reader at that point, Cadderly becomes very god-like. His ascension is meteoric, and he is soon wielding powers which high priests would be hard pressed to duplicate. In short, I believe he fell into the writer's trap of making Cadderly too powerful too quickly. The reader is then left wondering, with 2 books in the series to go, how can Cadderly progress/develop further, given his current god-like powers?

For all that, it is an excellent book, which I highly recommend.

Oo Oi! as Pikel would say. This is a great book. A lot of the loose ends are tied up leaving just one hanging, but enough of one apparently to continue on with the series. Less full of action than the second book, but it goes into great detail about Cadderly and his gaining power. His doubt as to what is happening to him, his doubts about his god. This series has been phenomenal so far, and I truly look forward to reading the rest of it. Once again the Battle scenes are spectacular (do you expect anything less of Salvatore?) but this time its Cadderly's turn to excel, the way Salvatore discribes his magic is just sensational. This series has gotten better and better with every book. Don't miss this one.

Salvatore beats himself in delightful full of action book.
For the fans of Drizzt, Cadderly proves to be another love caracter

This book is the third in the "Cleric Quintet" series by R.A. Salvatore. I liked this book more than the previous one in the series. Cadderly, the protagonist, starts to develop more than before. After fleeing from a battle in the previous novel, he moves to a nearby city instead of going back to the place where he has lived most of his life; the Edificant Library. It is here that Cadderly's religious struggles start to manifest themselves. Cadderly's continued struggle with violence (and a consequent trepidation with battle) slowly starts to resolve itself.

Cadderly starts to have mystical experiences with his a holy book and eventually learns how to control it. The introduction of the "Night Masks" a feared group of assassins is somewhat interesting. It is certainly a change from the constant battles against goblins, giants and the like that filled the second novel in this series. In particular, the villain of this work is original and indeed truly evil. My only criticism with the villains of this series is that they often seem to be a little flat; they are simply evil. There is little ambiguity to make the reader think.

The most original aspect to this series, which mentioned in my review of "Canticle" (the first novel of the series), is in putting a priest on center stage instead of the more traditional fighters. The inclusion of a monk and two dwarves mean that the novel still retains a traditional amount of firepower. One might even say that the heroes of the novel defeat their villains a little to easily, but that is too be expected.

In response to some of the other reviewers here, I think some are to quick to praise the series, frequently giving it a 5 star rating. I think that is too generous, while at the same time, I think it is unfair to label this work as trash. It is a reasonably good series, but I don't know if it is worth buying. If you want to read the classic fantasy novel, there is no question. The novel you want is, "The Lord of the Rings." It launched the modern fantasy genre and, for many people, remains the standard against which all other fantasy novels are too be measured.