THE NIGHT PARADE (Forgotten Realms Fantasy Adventure) [Mass Market Paperback]

Scott Ciencin (Author)

Book Description

Series: Forgotten Realms Fantasy Adventure | Publication Date: June 2, 1992

When a war against the Night Parade proves too much for her, Myrmeen Lhal, the ruler of Arabel, enlists the aid of the Harpers to win her battle against this group of creatures who gain sustenance from human fear. Original.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 31 pages
• Publisher: Wizards of the Coast (June 2, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 156076323X
• ISBN-13: 978-1560763239
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #707,229 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing and original, if gory, March 3, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Leeds, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: THE NIGHT PARADE (Forgotten Realms Fantasy Adventure) (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a most unusual Realms book. It's a kind of cross between fantasy and horror, but not the gothic horror of the Ravenloft books. Rather, it's like what would result if Lovecraft, King, or Barker wrote a Realms story. No orcs here! The monsters of the Night Parade are disgusting, twisted blobs of flesh with tentacles and sharp teeth, and insect-like humanoids, who feed on human beings and dwell in the shadows. The characters are well-constructed, though Ciencin seems to take a bit too much delight in killing several of them off horribly! My advice is not to get too attached to them, because a few don't last very long! Some scenes are quite gory and repulsively descriptive, but that helps set the goulish mood that is supposed to be there. And the ending is genuinely touching, like waking up from a bad dream. Overall, not my favorite Harper's book, but definitely worth a read.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Night Parade: The Evil Awaits, December 15, 2004

By 

J. Edwards "Jay" (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: THE NIGHT PARADE (Forgotten Realms Fantasy Adventure) (Mass Market Paperback)

If Amazon had a "-5/Gouge Your Eyes out before reading" rating, I would have used it. Unfortunately, I'm compelled by the system to give it a "1" -- which is a far higher rating than this book deserves.

I keep this book for two reasons. It's nice to have a benchmark for "most horrible book". Other than a college statistics textbook, it's the only written material in my bathroom thus ensuring that people flee as soon as possible. If I had to use one word besides "horrible" to describe this book, I would use "wooden". The plot could have been interesting, however the characterization, dialog, plot transitions, writing, and literary devices are so pathetic that any potential the storyline had is crushed.

I'm very familiar with the Forgotten Realms series. I'm not expecting top-notch writing. I'm expecting an easy, entertaining read, though. I don't expect to end up with a book that I'm embarrassed to own.

"Lord Sixx" -- the evil genius in the book -- has a supposedly horrific appearance primarily focused on the number of human eyes embedded in his body. (Something that Laurell Hamilton managed to pull off -- if not well -- at least better in Obsidian Butterfly). Mr. Ciencin makes a reference to the supposed-to-be-horrifying "Eyes of Domination" in Lord Sixx's chest. You can tell that the author has some horrifying soundtrack from a Stephen King movie playing in his mind. He manages to convey nothing but sheer cheese.

I have been tempted to quote from the book to provide graphic illustrations of everything I've pointed out as a flaw in this book. Randomly flipping pages, I've started typing only to realize that I can't find a place to stop. The book is so terrible that if I started to provide an example of things done wrong, I would have to continue typing until the entire book was included in my review -- the horror of reading Night Parade increases continually -- the sheer awefullness of the writing builds page after page until you will beg forgiveness for ever having bought, borrowed or read this book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, Forget This Realms book, March 18, 2008

By 

Shaun Skelton (Indiana, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: THE NIGHT PARADE (Forgotten Realms Fantasy Adventure) (Mass Market Paperback)

This book, as should be obvious, is another of the standalone novels of The Harpers series.

As a longtime fan of the Forgotten Realms novels, this book is quite possibly my least favorite Forgotten Realms novel. Some of the books are cliched, some are poorly written, and some are just bad. This is heavy on the last issue.

As several reviews have pointed out, it was apparently too much effort for the author to use a Harper as the main character. So, with a weak tie-in they bring some supporting characters on board.

The book also fails me in that it doesn't feel like a Forgotten Realms book. At all.

Overall, this is easily my least favorite of The Harpers series, and arguably the worst Forgotten Realms book I've read. Skip it. There's plenty of other options out there.