Customer Reviews

Tantras (Forgotten Realms: Avatar Trilogy, Book 2)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a classic Forgotten Realms trilogy, and reading it is pretty necessary if you want to make sense of a lot of the goings-on in the Realms. This is especially the case if you care a whit about the FR pantheon, since a lot of the material comes from these books. I have to admit, this was really the only reason I picked them up, and I went ahead and got all three at once.

After reading Shadowdale, I seriously regretted it. Frankly, I couldn't (and still can't) believe that book is the start of a classic anything- let alone a FR trilogy. Compared to any of Salvatore, Denning, or Cunningham's novels, it is utterly pathetic. The characters are flat, and the book reads like a transcript from some Dungeon Master's game (and not a very good DM, at that). Despite the fact that I already had the other two, I was somewhat reluctant to continue.

Fans of the Realms, take heart. This book is good enough that I've forgotten most of the unpleasantries of Shadowdale. I'm pleased to say that Tantras is a huge improvement over its predecessor. It is supposedly written by the same author, Scott Ciencin (a.k.a. Richard Awlinson) and if this really is the same author's work, then he has seriously improved. It's true that the characters are still a bit undeveloped, but at least they don't act like cranky, somewhat deranged children anymore. I'm still not quite sure why Adon is even present, but he does at least do something useful in this book. Additionally, some of the perplexing, seemingly random events that took place in Shadowdale are given at least a partial explanation. For example, the haunted woods that appeared out of nowhere to waylay our heroes was just nature gone bad. Oh.

The villains here are largely what they were before, plus one that you can probably figure out if you've read the FR Campaign Setting. More or less, Midnight, Kelemvor, Adon, and a few extras in red shirts (who die just as quickly as you would expect) are done mucking around and fighting the good fight for people that would rather just hang them. Now they're getting down to business- namely, securing the Tablets of Fate and stopping all the madness. The heroes journey to exotic new places, meet exciting new people, and of course kill them. It's not a very deep or thought-provoking plot, but it is engrossing and fun. In the meantime, ham-fisted but heavily-armed Bane and his ugly sidekick Myrkul are up to their usual no-good, and you can expect to see great deals of violence and slaughter that would seem to indicate that the God of the Dead is the only one winning this whole show... but that's to be decided.

For those that suffered through Shadowdale and thought it to be drivel, it would be a shame to not read Tantras. This is your reward for putting up with the heroes in the first book, and it does satisfy. While still not up to par with some of the other 'non-classic' Forgotten Realms novels, this one is at least enjoyable enough to recommend.

The Gods of the Forgotten Realms still wander among the mortals, since the Tablets of Fate have not been returned to the Gods' overlord, Lord Ao. The assault by Bane's Zhentish forces on Shadowdale has been repulsed, but Elminster has gone missing during the battle and is presumed destroyed. The Dalesman put Midnight and Adon on trial for Elminster's murder. But Cyric kills several guards and succeeds in freeing Midnight and Adon, and together the three flee down the River Ashaba and away from Shadowdale. Kelemvor and a force of Dalesmen are sent in pursuit. The chase leads to the occupied city of Scardale, then across the water to the city of Tantras, which will witness a titanic struggle between Bane and Torm, God of Duty and Honor. Along the way, loyalties shift and alliances fracture. By the end of "Tantras," the characters of Midnight, Adon, Kelemvor, and Cyric will be remarkably different than they were at the end of "Shadowdale."

Another reviewer said that this book doesn't work well as a bridge between the lst ("Shadowdale") and 3rd ("Waterdeep") books of the series. I disagree.

This book does not stand on equal footing with the other two books. That being said, "Tantras" is just as good as the others. "Well, wait a minute," you're saying. "Didn't you just say it wasn't as good?" No, that's not what I said. I said it doesn't stand on equal footing. That's because it's a different kind of book. The only reason this book was written, in my opinion, was to set the stage for "Waterdeep" by exploring the different characters and their different motivations in depth. The best part of the book is the journey down the river, because it allows the reader to get insider Cyric's, Midnight's, and Kelemvor's heads and understand what makes them tick. Since Adon is still catatonic for that part of the journey, his motivations don't get the same in-depth treatment.

If you've read "Shadowdale," buy this book. If you haven't, read "Shadowdale" first, because the changes that take place in the main characters will be more profound with the background of "Shadowdale."

OK. So here we have the second installment in a series in which I didn't have much faith after finishing the first book SHADOWDALE (Refer to my review for it.) The first thing I found annoying was the whole trial ordeal. With very little development, and alot of circumstancial evidence, the authors (remember, Richard Awlinson is a pseudonym for various authors) want us to believe that the heroes of the story, after putting their lives on the line to save Shadowdale with the whole town as witness, are accused of killing the sage Elminster because A: Elminster was nowhere to be found, only his hat and bits of his robe were found, and B: the ranger Silver... something, was very angry. Honest. That's how it was presented. It's believable that the townspeople might see things that way if the reader was told they were fearful of outsiders (we weren't), but to have the reader believe that the Lord of the town would also accuse them without giving them the benefit of the doubt after they SAVED HIS TOWN, makes for poor characterization, and a Lord or Reagent that is laughable.
Well, in this book, the characters start to show signs of a more developed personality (whether by design of the authors or just the fact that I know the characters from the first book is hard to tell.) The authors make some headway in telling us more about what drives the characters, and start being more descriptive about the surroundings and events the heroes are faced with (Something that was sorely absent in the 1st book). I recognize that this was probably the first attempt to write a novel by both authors (Or whomever else collaborated). I noticed in reading the 1st and 2nd books of this trilogy that the authors were struggling with motivations and personality traits for their main characters. What a character is feeling, thinking, and what drives him/her, are essential (in my humble opinion) to making people care enough about a story to read/buy it. When they showed it, it seemed forced, maybe because they were told it was missing. It felt they were more worried about the action in the story (Which is a mistake, the action doesn't make the story, it helps shape and define it).
In the end, it had small improvements among many gaping flaws. The end battle between Torm and Bane was boring and written like a description of a Ray Harryhausen Claymation movie, just not as entertaining. I hope the third fares better. Overall 2.5 rating

Read the Elven Nations Trilogy, its very good stuff.

"Tantras", second in the epic Realms shattering Avatar Trilogy, continues where "Shadowdale" left off. We continue to follow the pawns of deific machinations toward their fated end, watching, as the entire world seems to collapse around them. Will it, or will they succeed in their fated quest to right what the gods themselves put wrong? Read the book.

In my estimation, as I've read the series twice, "Tantras" functions not as much as a bridge between "Shadowdale" and "Waterdeep" but as an integral portion of the tale as a whole. Yes, while the distances traveled and questions asked and answered in the previous and subsequent novels may prove larger, and in more numbers, this title serves as the story of Cyric. Other reviewers, here as in other locales, have claimed the change in Cyric's allegiance too swift and without build up. I have to disagree, while they may not overtly flag the signs of his inner workings, enough is put forth in the first title, as well as throughout this title to validate any character developments. It has also been proposed that the characters within these titles are flat and without development. I again disagree; I felt that by the end of the novels I knew the characters, especially Kelemvor and Cyric. I have to admit that the catatonic state in which Adon spent most of the first book sat poorly with me the first time I read it; however, as I grew in understanding of the mindset within the Sunite clergy, it grew to make perfect sense. I recommend this title, as well as the others in the avatar series:

"Shadowdale" & "Waterdeep" by Richard Awlinson, The Shadows of the Avatar Series by Ed Greenwood, "Prince of Lies" by James Lowder, and "Crucible: Trial of Cyric the Mad" by Troy Denning.

This book totally failed to impress me. It's the first book I've ever read that really strikes me as bad. Not that Shadowdale was a stellar book, but this....

It feels like the author suddenly realized he had to make Cyric evil (MUAHAHAHAHA style...) and just changed his personality instantly from one book to the next. And like someone else said, he's now totally one dimensional. In fact, the plot in general seems forced and predicatable.

All in all, the book didn't draw me in.

I doubt you'll feel any different.

For those of you that don't know, this book is a continuation of the trilogy that began in the book Shadowdale by the same author. I have to say this one was a huge improvement over the initial entry of this trilogy. There was no blatant, unexplained magical happenings that just out of pure coincidence helped the heroes of the story (and that is how they are constantly referred as - the heroes) like there was in the first one. Ciencin did a much better job of developing the plot twists of this one.

Character development was pretty good in this one though, that is for the characters that were developed. A couple of the main characters are pretty much left the same, but for the rest there are some major changes. Changes that are very well thought out and subtle in their unveiling.

I am anticipating starting the third part of the trilogy (though the story does continue on in two additional books) mainly because there is an author change, a change to a very good one. Everything has been set up for a very good finish and some very dramatic events.

This story is very interesting. I think it has some of the best charecters i've ever read. Its cool that they put the gods into the story. Without the gods the story would be pretty boring. The main person in this story is Midnight a female mage who is Mystras chosen. She doesn't really do much in this story. They should of made Adon the main charecter because not many storys have a cool cleric in them.

This books is a major improvement over Shadowdale. I got into this book alot faster than it took me to get into Shadowdale. I think most people who had gripes with the previous novel in the series would agree. The author has definatly improved since then.

My only gripe in this novel is how Cyrics attitude change is so sudden. It should have been a gradual thing but it it not.

Heres some info on the book

**Spoilers if you have not read SHADOWDALE!**

At the end of Shadowdale Mystra was destroyed. Lord Banes Avatar was blow into a bloody pulp, and Elminster was sucked into a rift and killed.

Now Midnight and Adon are on trial for the Murder of Shadowdales sage. Kelemvor who we have found is cursed to turn into a Panther if he tries to do anything that is not in his own best interest cannot do anything. Cyric has changed drastically, he thinks himself better than all in the group.

Bane takes a new avatar and with the help of Myrkul continues his quest to regain the Tablets of Fate.

The Time of Troubles continues!

This is necessary reading if you are a fan of the Forgotten Realms simply because this is the actual explanation of what happens to cause the Time of Troubles. The execution of that explanation, though, isn't all that great. It actually seems that there is TOO much time spent on "developing" the characters...even after we already know them pretty intimately. The plot seemed to drag (it was fairly fast paced, but in numerous bursts), and it felt like there were parts that were stuffed in there to make the thing take longer. Also, I found the characters frustrating...let's just say that you should only let a guy stab you in the back once, twice in a book, before you see it coming. Read it if you are a fan of the Forgotten Realms, otherwise don't bother.

I remember reading this back in my grade school days right after it came out. At that time I read all three books in quick succesion and loved them. Thinking about all the fond memories I had about the books, I decided to reread the series and see how they fared on a second perusal.

Tantras is easily the worst book in the series. Unlike the first book, Shadowdale, it does not go to any lengths to develop the chracters; instead it uses the setup provided in the first book and does not deviate from it.

I was very annoyed at a trial that occured early in the book. I felt that the characters acted very inconsistently and that there was some pretty poor writing there.

The character of Cyric, who was quite interesting in the first book, becomes little more than a sound bite here. He becomes one dimensional, and doesn't get any better as the books move on.

I would suggest that you slog through this one only so that you can read Waterdeep, which is a good book. My might just want to stop at Shadowdale, though, because that was the best book in the series.