Shadowstorm

Forgotten Realms: The Twilight War #2

by Paul S. Kemp

The invasion of the arch-wizards is on!

The archwizards of Shade Enclave have come out of the desert with a message of peace, and an act of war. Split by petty disputes and causeless feuds, the merchant realm of Sembia is wide open for invasion, and with no shortage of Sembians more than happy to sell out to the Shadovar, can only one man--even if that man is Erevis Cale--do anything to stop it?

Genres: Forgotten Realms, Fantasy, Fiction, Dungeons and Dragons, Science Fiction Fantasy, Ebooks, High Fantasy

352 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 28, 2007

About the author

Bestselling speculative fiction author, creator of Egil and Nix, Erevis Cale, drinker of scotch, smoker of cigars, amiable dude. :-)

Reviews

[D · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the heels of what I thought was a decent opening to the trilogy in Shadowbred, and a series that takes the first step into a major change in The Forgotten Realms setting, this book impressed me.

I've reviewed quite a number of Paul's books, including the Erevis Cale trilogy, and I've said throughout that he's got an excellent grasp on characterization. He writes well-rounded characters and surrounds them with efficient (not flowery) prose which keeps the story moving (and the reader interested).

Unlike the first book, Paul's kept the political rambling and machinations to a minimum here, choosing to focus more on moving the story forward - which earned this book another star in and of itself - and immersing the reader (and the Realms fans out there) with a good dose of Realmslore, including dealing with a variety of deities, the Shadovar/Shade Enclave, epic battles that include spells that the D&D enthusiasts out there will be able to name/figure out, and of course, Faerunian geography.

In Shadowstorm, we get some interesting insight into a number of new characters (outside of Erevis) - Nayan and his dark brothers, Phraig and the situation with the 'hole' in Yhaunn, Brennus and Rivalen again, of course, Furlinastis, Elyril, and more. And, without spoiling anything for you, we get to see the major secondary characters' arcs develop. And as I said in my review of the first book, I am still not a fan of [Magadon's] first person perspective being mixed with third person narration [I am also now most certainly not a fan of the name 'Volumvax' either]. Thankfully, Paul used this technique sparingly here.

Some of the emotional end points that got me at the end, without giving anything away, were betrayal, revenge, and self-doubt. Enough of a conclusion to say that it felt like a self-contained story, but with a clever amount of 'what next' built into it to want you pick up Shadowrealm (the next, and final book in the trilogy).

Which is what I'm about to do right about now...

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

The following review was taken from http://beezermn.laethyn.com/index.php
I highly recommend this website for this and other fantasy author reviews.


Shadowstorm by Paul S. Kemp is the second book in the Twilight War Trilogy. The first book is titled Shadowbred. Both of these book feature familiar characters from Mr. Kemp’s Erevis Cale trilogy. Fans on Mr. Kemp’s work will most assuredly find Shadowstorm to be of the high caliber of writing that we have come to expect from him.
Being that Shadowstorm is the bridge novel of this trilogy, I had mixed hopes on just what to expect from it. It seems all too common now-a-days that bridge novels in trilogies do little to further the story. Some seem to be just filler until the next book. That is not the case with this book. This book has many elements most fantasy fans will enjoy; large scale battles, magic use, political intrigue, and a great deal of character development.

The plot of this novel continues right where Shadowbred left off. As with the first book in this trilogy, the plot of this book is actually several sub-plots interwoven to create the complete story. Upon completion of this book, it is rather evident that the final book in this trilogy, Shadowrealm, will be a stunning climax as all the events of the first two books collide. Some of the sub-plots that readers can expect to read about are; Cale’s promise to his god and how he attempts to fulfill that promise, Mag’s dealing with events that seem to spiral out of control for him, the Overmistress’s quest to lay siege to Selgaunt, the Nightseer’s yet to be revealed plot, the Hulorn’s further development, and more. If that list seems like a lot, it is. Mr. Kemp successfully crams as much as he possibly can into the pages of this novel. Mr. Kemp also succeeds in inviting the reader to make assumptions about what will happen later in the book, only to wrench those assumptions away in very memorable scenes.

As with past Kemp novels, that characters in this book are second to none. Mr. Kemp has clearly proven time and time again his ability to make each and every character in his books special. Mr. Kemp balances his characters well, there are characters that readers will love, there are characters that readers will hate, but there are also characters that are in the middle of the spectrum as well – some will like them and others will hate them. Yet, each character elicits a response. There is also a great deal of character development for multiple characters in this novel. The characters that seem to really develop the most are; Mags, Cale, Rivalen, Tamlin, Abelar, and Elyril. Much like the plot, if that list seems large, it is. However, at no point in the story does anything suffer because of the multiple plot points or the multiple characters. Quite contrary, in that the book seems to move along at a fast pace because of all the various things going on. Mr. Kemp does a fantastic job of giving us just enough information to advance the story (and characters, but not so much where the reader knows everything, or becomes bored with a character.

The pace of this book makes the reader feel like they are running a marathon at sprint speed. I do not mean that in a negative way though. The pacing is fantastic and challenges the reader to put the book aside, even for a little bit. Mr. Kemp’s prose also lends itself to easy reading. There are no parts of this novel that get bogged down due to explanations or excessive dialog. Every word in this novel is chosen for a reason and clearly conveys the vision Mr. Kemp had for this particular book.

In my review of Shadowbred, I commented on how there are first person scenes that took away from the book for me. I realize this is purely a self-bias , as I have never been able to read first person stories. The first person scenes are again present in this book, however, they are not as ‘disruptive’ as they were (for me) in the first book. They are more subdued and to the point. I am assuming that the third novel will also have first person scenes, but if they are like the ones in this book I won’t have a problem with it. It does add more depth to the character and allows the reader to see more ‘inside’ of Mags and what he is thinking.

The one criticism I have of this book is, at times, it felt like a couple of the characters were becoming too powerful for the scope of the story. This mostly applied to Cale and Rivalen. There are a couple scenes in particular that Cale and Rivalen dominated and I had no doubt they were going to come out of it unscathed, when I think it would have been better served to give a little sense of vulnerability. There was one scene in particular where I felt like it was just ‘showing off’ of different powers and new ways to kill people.

Other than that, I felt this was a fantastic novel. It is grittier and darker than most Forgotten Realms books on the market today. There are at least three scenes that I was surprised to read just based on the graphic nature of them. Don’t get me wrong, they fit superbly with the story, but they also certainly pushed the envelope of the PG-13 rating that Wizards of the Coast strives for.

As with every other Kemp book I have read, I would not hesitate to recommend this book to fantasy fans. While 2007 is only half over, this novel may well end up on my top 5 books of the year list.

- BeezerMN

[Jacob Brewer · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book was written very well and was very engaging. Seeing the slight moment by moment decent into darkness of the main characters and Sembia kept me hanging on. I still find Paul S Kemp one of my favorite Forgotten Realms authors. He writes the stories and characters so you are invested in their plights and struggles. Would highly recommend this series.

[Steven Wendell]

Excellent read

Extremely well written story. So many layers and plot twists you really never know what's going to happen when Shar and Mask are at the heart of it all. Can't wait read the third book. Honestly I think the Erivis Cale books are by far some of the best Forgotten Realms books I've read.

[Billy Rodriguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I dug the parallels going on, and Abelar's crisis of faith. I do hope he returns to Lathander, but I could see him converting to Mask. Totally ready for the next book. I just wonder who those other sacrifices were. My guess is the other priests that showed up in the battle.

[Kagan Oztarakci · Rating 3 out of 5]

"You possess nothing of interest to me except your pain. And that, I claim as my own."

"Confessions after all change both those who give them and those who hear them."

"If this goes bad, it will go very bad."

"I need a drink and two women. Or a woman and two drinks."

[Drizztl · Rating 3 out of 5]

6.5/10

[Craig Leininger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent midpoint book for the series. A few things seemed forced plot wise, but not to bad.

[Iain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another winner in the series. It drags a bit in the middle, but finishes very strongly. I've already started the next in the series.

[Tim Baruffi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I had words to express how amazing this book is even compared to the rest of the Cale books

[Abhinav · Rating 5 out of 5]

You can read the full review over at my blog:

http://sonsofcorax.wordpress.com/2013...

Just about a year and a half ago, I read my first ever books from Wizards of the Coast: Paul S. Kemp’s excellent The Erevis Cale Trilogy (review). Set in WotC’s highly popular Forgotten Realms setting, these books took me for a great ride through a setting incredibly rich with characters and diversity. It was a… bold new world for me to explore, as someone who had never read any Forgotten Realms novels before, and who was heavily invested in Games Workshop’s Warhammer Fantasy setting. Paul’s books proved to be a great turning point and they inspired me to read more from WotC, and I soon followed up his novels with various others, such as the War of the Spider Queen series and Erin M. Evans’ Brimstone Angels series.

This year, I haven’t read nearly the same number of Forgotten Realms novels sadly, but I’ve started to change that around. I read R. A. Salvatore’s The Companions (review) just last month and a couple weeks ago I finished up Paul’s second Erevis Cale trilogy, Twilight War, constituting the novels Shadowbred, Shadowstorm and Shadowrealm. This trilogy proved to be even better than the first, and I’m really glad that I read it. Now I’m finally caught up with this series, right in preparation for reading Paul’s next Forgotten Realms novel, The Godborn, which is the seventh novel in this series and is the second novel that ties in to the current Forgotten Realms event, The Sundering.

Erevis Cale 04 ShadowbredNormally I would review each book in the trilogy separately. But that’s somewhat of a long and laborious process especially when a lot of the strengths of these books are shared between each other and I don’t want to rehash the same points further one. So I’m going to review this trilogy together.

When last we were with these characters, Erevis Cale, Drasek Riven and Magadon, they had just stopped a very powerful mage from unleashing some really dark sorcery on all of Faerun. But they had each suffered in their own way. Erevis Cale had lost much of his physical humanity and was now a creature of shadows. He had also become an agent of his god, Mask the Shadowlord. The same goes for Riven, who once used to be Erevis’ opponent and rival but is now a friend. Of course, he is another agent of Mask by now, and both he and Erevis are two halves of a greater whole, serving Mask as the Shadowlord needs or requires them to be. Seeing that friendship come about in The Erevis Cale Trilogy was most definitely a highlight of the omnibus. With Magadon, half-demon and half-human, that friendship extended even further, and together all three became a really solid and dependable unit of adventurers out to save the world.

When Twilight War begins, we see how the goddess Shar, the Lady of Loss, is beginning to use her agents throughout Faerun to unleash the Shadowstorm. An event of biblical proportions, its only purpose is to reshape Faerun according to the whims of Shar, a world where death and misery rule supreme and are the two constants. Bit by bit, Paul teases out his characters as they set on the path to stopping Shar and her agents, specifically a human devotee who worships Shar at the cost of her humanity and the other being a Prince of the Shadovar, creatures of shadow and darkness much like Erevis has now become, but a fallen civilisation from ages past who still hunger for world ascendancy.

The political intrigue in these novels is superb. Comparable easily to the detailed political machinations that I saw in C. L. Werner’s Black Plague #1: Dead Winter (review) last year, a novel that I regard as one of the best that Black Library has put out in the last five years, at the least. Initially, I disliked the heavy focus on all the politics, and the characters engaged in them. For one, it was all fairly predictable how events would fall out and second, I wasn’t interested in them in the first place. At least, until I finished Shadowbred I wasn’t interested. But by the time I was moving through Shadowstorm and later on into Shadowrealm, I was really enjoying all the political intrigue. I was now familiar with the characters, with the chess board of pieces that Shar had set in place and was playing off against each other. And I welcome all these political dealings. I enjoyed the slide into damnation that characters like Tamlin Uskevren and Mirabeta Selkirk were going through. It made for some really charged, excited reading.

[Travis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shadowstorm by Paul S. Kemp- The second book in The Twilight War trilogy. This part picks up after the events in the first book, Shadowbred, and what happens to Erevis Cale, Drasek Riven, and Magadon. The last book in the trilogy is Shadowrealm.

As I mentioned before, Shadowstorm picks things up directly after what happened in Shadowbred. Cale, Riven, and Magadon face an archdevil, a shadow dragon, a god, and personal demons. While the trio goes about their business, a civil war breaks out in Sembia. From this civil war, shadows snuff out the light.

Negatives:
1) The slew of names. The first book had this, but I just didn’t find it that annoying. Kemp gives names to at least a hundred people, all the while focusing on maybe twenty of them. The other eighty are really only named once or twice and forgotten, and in some cases reappear in later chapters, which left me scratching my head. It doesn’t help either that some of the names are so similar to one another that you forget who is who. Maybe it’s just me who felt that way, but I just didn’t see the point of naming someone like a standard-bearer who dies right after he’s named.
2) Tamlin’s inconsistency. I did have a small problem with him in Shadowbred, but it seemed to be okay before, with a year and all passing. But in Shadowstorm, this portrayal of Tamlin is just not consistent with Lord of Stormweather, the last book in Sembia: Gateway to the Realms series. In that book, Tamlin basically changes into a deeper, braver, and just totally changed. In Shadowstorm, Tamlin is weak willed and just a whiner. Honestly, I was really disappointed in how Tamlin’s change in Lord of Stormweather was so overlooked.
3) The pacing. I know that some people liked the flow and how everything moved, but there were some scenes in which I could barely get through. It’s still a fast paced, action packed story line, but there were times in which somethings felt forced.

Positives:
1) The dark tone. This story really had some dark scenes in it in which I was either; a) grossed out, or b) had to take a “double-take.” It worked well, because this is the kind of story that needed to be dark and violent. There are a few things I’ll mention here that show this, and I won’t give up any big details. First is Magadon and his father’s claws. It was just chilling and gruesome. The second is “Bowny,” which just tore my heart out and made me LOATHE a certain character. These scenes were just disturbing, yet oh so good. It’s definitely more of an R-rating.
2) The main characters. I would say that Cale, Riven, Magadon, Rivalen, and Abelar are some of the best done characters in the Forgotten Realms for a while. You see Cale and Riven become more dimensional. You see Magadon’s inner horrors and demons and how his friends try to help him cope. Rivalen becomes more complex and interesting. Then you have Abelar’s journey from the light into the darkest of revenge. All these characters really became more complex and had different dimensions added to them.
3) The last two chapters. I can’t and will not give anything away from these chapters. However, I can just say that I’m happy two people got what was coming to them and the turn of a certain character was just done wonderfully. I can just see these happening in a movie, and before anyone says something, it’s just one of those cinematic moments that you wish you could see.

Overall: 4.75/5
*With the problems I’d had with some things in the book, I was going to give it a solid 4, that is up until the last two chapters, which were just beautiful.*

[Joel Flank · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shadowstorm, by Paul S. Kemp, is the second book of the Twilight War trilogy, set in the Forgotten Realms. It continues the story of Shar's machinations to bring about a prophesised Shadowstorm, and the main protagonist, Erevis Cale's attempts to stop it. However, Erevis doesn't even know that there is a larger plot afoot, and is being bounced around by one greater power or another for their own ends. Like the first book in the series, too much of the plot is focused on characters and events that seem ancillary to Erevis' story, and for me at least, they don't add a lot to the story. That being said, Shadowstorm does spend a lot more time than book one, Shadowbred, on Erevis and his companions, and their struggles to save the soul of their friend Magadon.

Unfortunately, while this book is more enjoyable than the last, it still fails to deliver on the promise of previous books by Kemp, by splitting the focus of the story amongst too many characters, many of which aren't particularly engaging. The good news is that the final book in the series is likely to wrap the various stories being told into a single conclusion, so many of the elements that I didn't enjoy in this book are likely to be smaller in the final book. In addition, the main plot of the story does something that shared world fiction should not do (or at least not often), which is to break the world. The Shadowstorm being brought about not only promises to radically shift the status quo of the Forgotten Realms, but so does the civil war in Sembia. Since I am reading this book several years after publication, I can see with the lens of hindsight, that Wizards of the Coast most likely actively influenced this direction, since they already knew they planned on completely nuking and re-making the Forgotten Realms world.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a step up from book 1! Everything notches up - the pacing, the war, the brutality, and the grittier, darker tone. Well done.

Book 2 continues immediately after the end of book 1. The pace never lets off from there, as we follow Cale and Riven on an intertwined quest to save Magadon and serve Mask's agenda. Along the way, we follow Abelar, Tamlin, Rivalen, and Elyril as they each deal with their own darkness within them. I have to love the theme here, so fitting with Shar's doctrine, and so well written.

Characterisation was superb, not just Cale and Riven, but the supporting cast as well. The book crams a lot of events, so it's really commendable that the internal reflections and dialogue continue to push the plot, yet builds a firm consistent picture of the characters.

The closing chapters bring to fruition all the schemes and plans that has been put into motion - the true scale of the plotting coming to light, pushing the primary concerns highlighted in book 1 into the background. There's even scenes where the Princes of Shade Enclave got to see some serious action. I think book 3 is going to get even darker still.

[Pedro · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am going to keep it short, since this is part of the trilogy and there isn't much to say besides what I wrote in the first review.

Good points:
- The story is always great with Paul Kemp. Its pace is good, it doesn't drag on and on
- The characters are tight and good. He doesn't have to use a huge cast, mixing and confusing people.
- The background Paul is creating is amazing
- The new shadow"guards" from Mask are interesting

Bad stuff:
- Magadon's "story" and FP view of events. It's boring and confusing. Though interesting in how it plays out, it's just plain cumbersome to read through those passages, since they don't put the story forward
- Erevis' whining (gets much worse in the third book, here it's just a bit) about his condition and evil and good

Nonetheless it's a great read.

[Mario García · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent middle book. We find Magadon's soul deteriorating more and more as his devilish side seems stronger. Sembia's civil war is devastating the countryside and the bodies are stacking up. Cale and Riven encounter a foe who may be more than a match for them. The shadovar's plan seems to be going just as they wanted it, or is it?

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty fun book. From what I've read of his work so far, Paul S. Kemp is probably the best author in licensed genre fiction. He writes in a way that is fun, well paced, and doesn't seem to end up feeling nearly as cheesy or forced like authors. I'll definitely be finishing out the trilogy.

[Russ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This second book really picked up where the first began. It is building some serious momentum and gives the reader an idea that pretty significant events are going to occur that will effect the entire Realms. Another well-paced story. Definitely looking forward to reading the finale!

[Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kemp's ability to coherently weave together multiple plots and characters gets better with every novel. I just spent the last year with the Malazan Book of the Fallen and their are parts of The Twilight War that remind me a lot of Erikson.

[George Ramos · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story continues in book 2, unabated. Shar's agents manage to finally achieve one of the key steps in their ulimate plan. I liked that fact that her own agents are pitted against each other, and it's fitting that Shar would benefit regardless. An exciting, quick, and fun read.

[Liam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite as explosive as the first novel, but that’s no surprise, though the ending managed to be more epic than the first books’.

Read my full thoughts here: https://www.forgottenrealmsreading.co...

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full review at my blog!

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent story!! This is what keeps me reading!!

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I forgot this book was in the middle of the series I was so on edge waiting for the conclusion. I can't wait to start the next one!

[Ryan D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book...great series..can't wait to see how it ends

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite an epic series. Undead shadows, dragons, archmages and assassins. A paladin falls.

[Chad Terriah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! Great Series!

[Jack]

False

[Fantasy Literature · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed by guest: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/fant...

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strong and forceful - focused and engaging