beorn_101's review against another edition
3.0
This book is one that I loved in High School, Salvatore's writing is fast paced and often has angsty characters that really appealed to me as a teen. I distinctly remember loving the Cleric Quintet, because while they still had many features of Salvatore's writing, they were Drittz free, which was big!
Recently I reread Canticle, I wanted to see if it held up. Overall, for game fiction, I think it is enjoyable. It is unusual to have a protagonist be a Cleric, so this was a refreshing change of pace. Cadderly isn't an all powerful character, he is naïve, seemingly can't really cast spells, and despite being brilliant, gets himself into trouble frequently. It works well for the book, creating fun moments that don't always rely on our hero slicing and dicing his way through.
The supporting cast of characters is interesting, with my particular favorites being the dwarf brothers Ivan and Pikel, who have some pretty solid slap stick humor moments.
The villain and his plot is solid, if not really anything to special, but the scheming Imp is a solid feature.
All that said, the writing here is pretty rough a times. This feels very much so like game fiction, characters (other then maybe Cadderly) don't really have any personal growth, enemies have pretty minimal perceivable motivations and all feel a little mustache twirly. The descriptions are serviceable, but nothing special.
This book is in the vein of Arnold Schwarzenegger's Conan the Barbarian, fast action, some great moments, and a lot of fun, but really not a great movie (even if I rewatch it often). Canticle is that, quick fun and shallow, but enjoyable moments, but at it's core this isn't an amazing book. If you are expecting Brandon Sanderson, probably best to avoid, but if you don't mind a quick and enjoyable read, worth giving a try.
Recently I reread Canticle, I wanted to see if it held up. Overall, for game fiction, I think it is enjoyable. It is unusual to have a protagonist be a Cleric, so this was a refreshing change of pace. Cadderly isn't an all powerful character, he is naïve, seemingly can't really cast spells, and despite being brilliant, gets himself into trouble frequently. It works well for the book, creating fun moments that don't always rely on our hero slicing and dicing his way through.
The supporting cast of characters is interesting, with my particular favorites being the dwarf brothers Ivan and Pikel, who have some pretty solid slap stick humor moments.
The villain and his plot is solid, if not really anything to special, but the scheming Imp is a solid feature.
All that said, the writing here is pretty rough a times. This feels very much so like game fiction, characters (other then maybe Cadderly) don't really have any personal growth, enemies have pretty minimal perceivable motivations and all feel a little mustache twirly. The descriptions are serviceable, but nothing special.
This book is in the vein of Arnold Schwarzenegger's Conan the Barbarian, fast action, some great moments, and a lot of fun, but really not a great movie (even if I rewatch it often). Canticle is that, quick fun and shallow, but enjoyable moments, but at it's core this isn't an amazing book. If you are expecting Brandon Sanderson, probably best to avoid, but if you don't mind a quick and enjoyable read, worth giving a try.
emiann2023's review against another edition
4.0
Cadderly is an interesting character, and this was a decent read, but it was slow.
zav3nd's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
It starts pretty slow, starts to pick up about halfway through. Then turns into a lot of runaround. It's alright and has it's moments.
Seems to fit in after siege of darkness, but 4 more books before getting back to Drizzt might be too much.
Seems to fit in after siege of darkness, but 4 more books before getting back to Drizzt might be too much.
tamzy6's review against another edition
3.0
I'm new to Salvatore and this book is a fairly pleasant read, along with very well written battle scenes. The pace picked up considerably towards the end, leading to a climactic battle in the catacombs. As what a few of his fans have noticed, his writing style for The Cleric Quintet is a lot more YA than his usual works (but I'll discover that for myself in due time).
jay_sy's review against another edition
3.0
I found Canticle to be a fairly entertaining read, though it seems to be geared towards a younger audience. The setting in the library was fairly interesting, with glimpses into the different kinds of people and religion in the region, and the characters were mostly likeable though the comic relief dwarves were a little too much for me. On top of that, because of certain things that happened later in the story, the stakes tended to feel very low.
It was otherwise a quick read, and might be enjoyed by younger people looking to get into fantasy or with an interest in D&D.
It was otherwise a quick read, and might be enjoyed by younger people looking to get into fantasy or with an interest in D&D.
ferrisscottr's review against another edition
4.0
This was a really good book and a nice way to start a series.
First book in a five book series (The Cleric Quintet) set in the Forgotten Realms.
The book revolves around two things.
The first is Cadderly, our hero, a 20 year old cleric who has grown up at the Edificant Library. He's joined by a wonderful cast of characters - Danica, Ivan and Pikel Bouldershoulder and of course my favorite character - Percival (yes he's a squirrel).
The second is the quest to unleash the Chaos Curse by a bunch of the bad guys at Trinity Castle.
And now we've got an R.A. Salvatore book - amazing characters, good guys vs. bad guys, amazing fight sequences.
You know what you're getting when you pick up a Salvatore book and this one does not disappoint. Looking forward to continuing on the journey with Cadderly and his friends.
First book in a five book series (The Cleric Quintet) set in the Forgotten Realms.
The book revolves around two things.
The first is Cadderly, our hero, a 20 year old cleric who has grown up at the Edificant Library. He's joined by a wonderful cast of characters - Danica, Ivan and Pikel Bouldershoulder and of course my favorite character - Percival (yes he's a squirrel).
The second is the quest to unleash the Chaos Curse by a bunch of the bad guys at Trinity Castle.
And now we've got an R.A. Salvatore book - amazing characters, good guys vs. bad guys, amazing fight sequences.
You know what you're getting when you pick up a Salvatore book and this one does not disappoint. Looking forward to continuing on the journey with Cadderly and his friends.
chadkoh's review against another edition
3.0
I never read this series as a kid, but I know that the characters are dear to the hearts of many fans. Although the writing can be heavy-handed, Bob sure can create compelling, quirky and interesting characters. They are not very deep, but fun to get to know. Also, he is good at writing action scenes that are unique, but you can still tell what is going on. This book is also fun since it is basically a low level DnD character on his first adventure, a nice break from the god-like shenanigans of Drizzt et alia. Pretty good FR material, this book.
tkat's review against another edition
4.0
I finally got a chance to pick up a Realms classic, the Cleric Quintet by R.A. Salvatore and I loved it. I actually came into Realms with Salvatore's Drizz't series, but only just now read the Quintet in order to catch up to Ghost King.
I didn't realize until now just how much I missed the original Realms books before D&D turned everything on its head and tossed half of the cannon out the window along with a lot of major gods.
This is one story that last through five books about a young scholar named Cadderly who finds the love of a god with his friends by his side. Young Cadderly was abandoned at the Edificant Library, a place of magic and learning for all goodly races and home of the brother gods Deneir and Oghma. Cadderly becomes the Chosen of Deneir after defending the Library against one threat and breaking out from his naive shell and going forth into the world to defeat another threat before returning to shell of his former home and rebuilding it for future generations.
Cadderly's friends make his journeys to and fro bearable for the young priest. The dwarven brothers Ivan and Pikel Bouldershoulder were cooks to the library before they followed Cadderly on his quests. They provide much needed and welcome comic relief, what with no-nonsense axe weilding Ivan trying to keep his club wielding brother with druidic (or doo-dad) intention in line and Cadderly safe.
Danica Mausipont is the love of Cadderly's life and a highly trained monk who was sudying at the Library where she and Cadderly met. Deadly with nothing more than her own hands and fists, Danica is often the one who gives Cadderly the strength to continue on his chosen path when he feels as though he has nothing left to give.
Shayleigh is a beautiful elf maiden that the four Library companions meet within the second book and joins them on their journeys through the third to fifth. She rounds out the party as being the lightfooted archer and doesn't really play pivitol roles as far as I can tell throughout the series.
These along with a few other key characters make for a wonderfully absorbing series worthy of the name of Salvatore. No Spell Plague, no murdered Mistress of Magic, but the Realms as they were in the begining and as they were always meant to be. Loved every second of it.
I didn't realize until now just how much I missed the original Realms books before D&D turned everything on its head and tossed half of the cannon out the window along with a lot of major gods.
This is one story that last through five books about a young scholar named Cadderly who finds the love of a god with his friends by his side. Young Cadderly was abandoned at the Edificant Library, a place of magic and learning for all goodly races and home of the brother gods Deneir and Oghma. Cadderly becomes the Chosen of Deneir after defending the Library against one threat and breaking out from his naive shell and going forth into the world to defeat another threat before returning to shell of his former home and rebuilding it for future generations.
Cadderly's friends make his journeys to and fro bearable for the young priest. The dwarven brothers Ivan and Pikel Bouldershoulder were cooks to the library before they followed Cadderly on his quests. They provide much needed and welcome comic relief, what with no-nonsense axe weilding Ivan trying to keep his club wielding brother with druidic (or doo-dad) intention in line and Cadderly safe.
Danica Mausipont is the love of Cadderly's life and a highly trained monk who was sudying at the Library where she and Cadderly met. Deadly with nothing more than her own hands and fists, Danica is often the one who gives Cadderly the strength to continue on his chosen path when he feels as though he has nothing left to give.
Shayleigh is a beautiful elf maiden that the four Library companions meet within the second book and joins them on their journeys through the third to fifth. She rounds out the party as being the lightfooted archer and doesn't really play pivitol roles as far as I can tell throughout the series.
These along with a few other key characters make for a wonderfully absorbing series worthy of the name of Salvatore. No Spell Plague, no murdered Mistress of Magic, but the Realms as they were in the begining and as they were always meant to be. Loved every second of it.
ghostmuppet's review against another edition
4.0
I read this series when it first came out and enjoyed it then, but not as much as some of the other material i was reading at the time (which included Drizzt books, Dragonlance and David Eddings).
This is a light fun book, following a talented young priest in a library. The library is the target of a Chaos Curse, and the priests start to do weird things. Our hero, along with a couple of Dwarven brothers, a druid and a monk, help to save the day.
This is a pure D&D book, with some well known spells from the second edition being used (warp wood, healing etc). The characters are classic D&D as well, as well as the bad guys (imps, necromancers, skeletons etc).
All in all, this was a fun and still holds up today.
This is a light fun book, following a talented young priest in a library. The library is the target of a Chaos Curse, and the priests start to do weird things. Our hero, along with a couple of Dwarven brothers, a druid and a monk, help to save the day.
This is a pure D&D book, with some well known spells from the second edition being used (warp wood, healing etc). The characters are classic D&D as well, as well as the bad guys (imps, necromancers, skeletons etc).
All in all, this was a fun and still holds up today.