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The Citadels #4
Sentinelspire
To save the future, he must embrace his past...
A ranger and his apprentice are captured by a group of assassins who demand their help in overthrowing their leader and the ruler of the fortress of Sentinelspire, the Old Man of the Mountain. Although the ranger doesn't want to help, he discovers the Old Man's plans may involve the master druid who gave him a new life--and the destruction of all he now holds dear.
A series that centers on the citadels - castles, keeps, fortreeses, and watchtowers - of the Forgotten Realms world, each book in The Citadels series is a self-contained fantasy adventure.
A ranger and his apprentice are captured by a group of assassins who demand their help in overthrowing their leader and the ruler of the fortress of Sentinelspire, the Old Man of the Mountain. Although the ranger doesn't want to help, he discovers the Old Man's plans may involve the master druid who gave him a new life--and the destruction of all he now holds dear.
A series that centers on the citadels - castles, keeps, fortreeses, and watchtowers - of the Forgotten Realms world, each book in The Citadels series is a self-contained fantasy adventure.
384 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published July 1, 2008
11 people are currently reading
406 people want to read
About the author
Mark Sehestedt
13 books17 followersMark Sehestedt lives in Maine, and is a freelance writer and editor. He was an editor for Wizards of the Coast’s book publishing group for almost ten years.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
October 9, 2011
To put it simply, this novel was incredible. I originally picked the novel up, but was a little dubious of it, having come right off of reading Shield of Weeping Ghosts, a novel that I felt so-so on. For the most part, the only reason that I decided to pick it up was because of the fact that the first chapter, that I quickly skimmed in the store, took place in the Yuirwood, and I figured that the story, as a whole would have lore on the Yuirwood.
I was quite surprised. From about the third or fourth chapter on, I couldn’t put the novel down. The story? At first, I found it a little weak, and as the novel progressed, the plot did not get that much deeper. The plot did get a lot more complex, however, and this is where the novel scored points. The plot followed the stereotypical, “Find something out, go somewhere, kill someone” format, but it was the complexity of the characters, and the twists that are the strength of this novel. The only thing that I thought was fairly easy to guess was actually who the main antagonist at the end was.
Did I mention the characters? Yes, the characters were definitely the strongest part of the novel. At the beginning of the book, I felt as if the Ranger character, Berun, was going to be a stereotypical “no nonsense, no personality” good guy. That couldn’t be further than the truth. I felt as if Berun’s apprentice, Lewan, was going to be a stereotypical “whiney, hold-you-back” sidekick. He wasn’t. I felt as if Sauk was going to be a stereotypical, “brawn, not brains” bad guy, with no personality to speak pf, but a whole lot of ways to hurt you. He wasn’t. Hell, even Berun’s animal companion, Perch, and Sauk’s animal companion, Taaki, had interesting personalities!
The novel dealt with a bunch of subjects that I like- the Utter East, Imaskar, the Yuirwood- so that’s en extra, added plus.
I was quite surprised. From about the third or fourth chapter on, I couldn’t put the novel down. The story? At first, I found it a little weak, and as the novel progressed, the plot did not get that much deeper. The plot did get a lot more complex, however, and this is where the novel scored points. The plot followed the stereotypical, “Find something out, go somewhere, kill someone” format, but it was the complexity of the characters, and the twists that are the strength of this novel. The only thing that I thought was fairly easy to guess was actually who the main antagonist at the end was.
Did I mention the characters? Yes, the characters were definitely the strongest part of the novel. At the beginning of the book, I felt as if the Ranger character, Berun, was going to be a stereotypical “no nonsense, no personality” good guy. That couldn’t be further than the truth. I felt as if Berun’s apprentice, Lewan, was going to be a stereotypical “whiney, hold-you-back” sidekick. He wasn’t. I felt as if Sauk was going to be a stereotypical, “brawn, not brains” bad guy, with no personality to speak pf, but a whole lot of ways to hurt you. He wasn’t. Hell, even Berun’s animal companion, Perch, and Sauk’s animal companion, Taaki, had interesting personalities!
The novel dealt with a bunch of subjects that I like- the Utter East, Imaskar, the Yuirwood- so that’s en extra, added plus.
March 12, 2014
An interesting little novel. Not often you have major characters that include half Orcs, of followers of Malar which were both quite interesting. Wasn't overly familiar with Malar beyond his tie to evil Lycanthoropes so getting a bit of insight into that was pretty cool.
As is often the case with Mark Sehestedt's work the main characters weren't over the top in comparison to the villains they faced, rather they were actually actually a fair bit more handicapped. The twist at the end, admittedly, I saw coming and thought a tad predictable, but the motivation of the characters and their internal struggles were entirely believable.
All in all, a pretty solid book, even if not quite up to Frostfell or the Hand of the Hunter Trilogy (Which I'm still hoping to get follow up on even though I know I likely never will). I'd definitely recommend it for anyone looking for a stand alone novel in the Realms!
As is often the case with Mark Sehestedt's work the main characters weren't over the top in comparison to the villains they faced, rather they were actually actually a fair bit more handicapped. The twist at the end, admittedly, I saw coming and thought a tad predictable, but the motivation of the characters and their internal struggles were entirely believable.
All in all, a pretty solid book, even if not quite up to Frostfell or the Hand of the Hunter Trilogy (Which I'm still hoping to get follow up on even though I know I likely never will). I'd definitely recommend it for anyone looking for a stand alone novel in the Realms!
November 1, 2010
Loved the way the author developed this story. Some of the characters though were too simple. Really really really heated the lizard Perch: I'm sure the author meant to convey some short of message with it, but sadly the "little but important" trick was already used by Tolkien!
The hidden city, Sentinelspire, is well portrayed and really come alive. Even the wilderness is well depicted and seems "alive", even more t han some characters.
The hidden city, Sentinelspire, is well portrayed and really come alive. Even the wilderness is well depicted and seems "alive", even more t han some characters.
December 31, 2025
This book probably deserves a few more stars but the main character Berun is just legit braindead. He has a goal that ends up aligning with that of supporting characters Sauk and Talieth, but continues to hinder them for no good reason. I guess the author wanted to create some artificial drama or something. Berun's little pet lizard Perch was also quite annoying. Maybe the author wanted it to be a "mighty meek underdog" type of trope but I was actively hoping it would die. The secondary main character Luwen was just a glorified plot device, which I guess is understandable since he was just an apprentice. The thing that made this story pretty awesome was the half-orc assassin Sauk and his companion Taaki. They honestly deserve their own spinoff/story, away from the mess of this book.
When you really think about it the story makes less and less sense.
When you really think about it the story makes less and less sense.
December 28, 2023
Another Forgotten Realms book under my belt. I enjoyed this one more than expected, as I was unfamiliar with the author. But I think that Sehestedt did an excellent job fleshing out a section of Toril that has not had a lot written about it. Also, this story has quite a bit more background for the characters, as the page count is about 70 more than a typical Forgotten Realms book. I love seeing this, as I think other authors besides Salvatore deserve enough pages to tell their stories completely.
There is a lot going on in this tale; forsaken companions and old lives, apprentices becoming masters, a great mystery surrounding a keep, and, of course, the destruction of the world hangs in the balance. We meet a lot of characters throughout the novel, and they too are well fleshed out. The plot is a little slow getting started, but the set up is important and one of the most interesting things about the story.
All and all, a good read
There is a lot going on in this tale; forsaken companions and old lives, apprentices becoming masters, a great mystery surrounding a keep, and, of course, the destruction of the world hangs in the balance. We meet a lot of characters throughout the novel, and they too are well fleshed out. The plot is a little slow getting started, but the set up is important and one of the most interesting things about the story.
All and all, a good read
May 4, 2017
this was a quite good story, although there were a few things that bothered me. i loved perch, his character was brilliant. i also liked the relationship between berun and sauk. there was something really touching at the end of the book, something that was really deep. this book had a great potential, the story was enough mysterious and there were interesting twists in the story. still some things just seemed too cliche for me and that bored me somehow. this book was entertaining enough, a very interesting set up and characters with a twist. i think though that the plot could have been more original.
November 9, 2019
This reminded me a lot of Cliffhanger. Lots of tense moments. Man against the wild. Gritty and full of twists. An excellent read.
January 14, 2020
Best book in this series for sure.
Rich characters and environment! Over all story was gripping and for once I didn’t see the end coming haha.
Rich characters and environment! Over all story was gripping and for once I didn’t see the end coming haha.
August 7, 2009
This was a really complete book. It had a great cast of characters, a fascinating story filled with unseen twists, and detailed action and adventure to keep the pages turning.
I personally loved the character of Sauk. I thought him to be the "coolest" character of the lot. Who doesn't love badass half-orc hunters?!
My only complaint is that the book moved a lil too fast. I think it should have run a little longer but then again it's not my book :]
I personally loved the character of Sauk. I thought him to be the "coolest" character of the lot. Who doesn't love badass half-orc hunters?!
My only complaint is that the book moved a lil too fast. I think it should have run a little longer but then again it's not my book :]
November 5, 2010
A good read. Interesting characters (though Chereth was a teeny bit overworked). Interesting plot. I enjoyed it.
Want to read
February 3, 2017didn't realize it was book for since ask the others are by different authors...guys I should read the others first ;)
August 3, 2011
It was ok. I only enjoyed reading one character and that was Perch. I smiled every time he had a role.
December 12, 2012
Not bad, overall. The "twist" towards the end was fairly predictable, but even so, it still made some logical sense (so it wasn't offensive to the storyline in any kind of way).
Read
October 10, 2014Awesome story and characters
August 9, 2013
It took a while to get warmed up, but it had a really good action filled ending. However, it wasn't as good as his newer books.
October 29, 2013
Great story, nice plot twists but WotC needs to start using larger fonts, this was incredibly hard for me to read and I read most of it with a magnifying glass
April 11, 2017
Not bad. Some fun/cool things. The writer knows his craft but the story just didn't do it for me. Not worth keeping or re-reading.
May 26, 2019
"There is always a choice...not always a good one."
"Killing is killing. The why...now that is something else."
"Killing is killing. The why...now that is something else."
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews