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Forgotten Realms: Shadow of the Avatar #3
All Shadows Fled
Although the Shadowmasters are finally on the run, the evil ones have no plans to relinquish their dreams of conquest, even if it means total anhilation, and it is up to Elminster, Khelben, and Alustriel to end the reign of terror forever. Original. 75,000 first printing.
320 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 1, 1995
9 people are currently reading
730 people want to read
About the author
Ed Greenwood
364 books877 followersEd Greenwood is the creator of the Forgotten Realms fantasy world, which became the setting for his home D&D game in 1975. Play still continues in this long-running campaign, and Ed also keeps busy producing Realmslore for various TSR publications.
Ed has published over two hundred articles in Dragon magazine and Polyhedron newszine, is a lifetime charter member of the Role Playing Game Associaton (RPGA) network, has written over thirty books and modules for TSR, and been Gen Con Game Fair guest of honor several times.
In addition to all these activities, Ed works as a library clerk and has edited over a dozen small press magazines.
Invented the character Elminster from the popular Forgotten Realms RPG series. Currently resides in an old farmhouse in the countryside of Ontario, Canada.
Ed has published over two hundred articles in Dragon magazine and Polyhedron newszine, is a lifetime charter member of the Role Playing Game Associaton (RPGA) network, has written over thirty books and modules for TSR, and been Gen Con Game Fair guest of honor several times.
In addition to all these activities, Ed works as a library clerk and has edited over a dozen small press magazines.
Invented the character Elminster from the popular Forgotten Realms RPG series. Currently resides in an old farmhouse in the countryside of Ontario, Canada.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
January 31, 2023
Greenwood saved the best for last.
Wait, no. The opposite of that.
*****************
Tears.
Tears and kisses.
Tears, kisses, and chuckles.
Tears, kisses, chuckles, and roars.
That's what Greenwood books are made of.
It's never a good sign when you can make a drinking game out of a book, especially when you would be dead halfway through if you actually played it.
*****************
I've read five novels by Ed Greenwood previously, so I knew what I was getting into. This book remained true to form: pointless, plotless, and infuriating. It was enjoyably bad for a while, helped by the short chunks that split up every chapter. His books can be like terrible movies with cult followings: so bad they're, well, not good, but enjoyable in how bad they are. I found myself talking back to the book, shouting in reply to the passages that best represented the ridiculousness of it all.
On one level (a very narrow one), Greenwood's not a bad writer, not compared to some of the artless, agrammatical wordcraft that my forays into the dregs of delusional self-publishing have uncovered. Greenwood can craft a nice sentence, paragraph, and scene. His dialogue has rhythm, his chapter subsections are nicely blocked out, there's never doubt about what it happening. But the content of those scenes is always questionable, and any passage longer than a couple of pages begs the question of why it exists. No scene, no event, no character contributes anything novel-worthy. He has no actual story to sustain a whole book. He merely presents us with a series of moments that accomplish nothing and go nowhere, and therein lies the awfulness of his books: they're utterly pointless and plotless. This particular book can be summarized thusly: a few Malaugrym (shapeshifting idiots) infiltrate the Dalelands, thinking somehow that they'll be able to take over the world. They grow tentacles and kill some people, then are killed in turn by the Chosen of Greenwood. The end. To fill the rest of the pages, an army of Zhentarim (evil soldier idiots led by evil wizard idiots) infiltrate the Dalelands, thinking somehow that they'll be able to take over the world. They fall for every trap in the book, then the survivors are slaughtered by the Chosen of Greenwood.
Greenwood is so in love with his characters, it's disgusting. They're all constantly, "We're such noble heroes, boo hoo hoo," and kissing and chuckling and oh my god the banter. So much banter, all the same, all the time, in every book. No dialogue, just banter, which invariably leads to chuckling or occasionally roars of laughter from his other beloved characters.
I was doing fine, enjoying the absurdity of it all, but then the last 100 pages killed me. It was two scenes in particular that finally did me in and made me scrunch my face and rub my head and I had to put the book down and go for a walk. The first of these was the longest scene in the book, one equally pointless as all the others, featuring an extended dinner party in which an unkillable hero bantered with multiple characters that we'll never see again until the Malaugrym finally showed themselves and she killed them with ease. The next involved the trio of rangers who are ostensibly the book's and series's main characters but who show up for maybe 10% of the story, who return to their home base so exhausted that they are constantly falling asleep but still manage to beat up a dozen snooty guards who didn't know they were the Chosen of Greenwood, then are taken inside and the noble lady ruler of Shadowdale falls to pieces having them all simultaneously placed in baths in the main hall, hoisted up by ropes so they don't drown because they're passing out asleep, shouting for food to be brought out in emergency fashion, stripping her clothes off and ordering servants to also strip and get into the baths with the food to force-feed the unconscious heroes who are held up by ropes so they don't drown while they're being bathed and fed while unconscious and I just had no idea what the hell I was reading anymore.
And the names ... oh, the names! I am not exaggerating when I say they rival Antigua: The Land of Fairies, Wizards and Heroes for the sheer number and ridiculousness of character names.
At least, in my Forgotten Realms publication order read, in which three of the last ten books were by Greenwood, I now have a ten-book break from him except for two short stories in anthologies. It will be refreshing to read something different. The next book in sequence is ... [checks notes] ... a libertarian propaganda novel. Wonderful.
*****************
I almost forgot to rag on the cover art! Shame on me. But no shame on Greenwood, this has nothing to do with him. No shame on the artist Fred Fields either; the artist works with what they're given. No, this is all on the TSR editorial department, such as it was. Let's zoom in:
Notes:
*Was James Spader compensated for the use of his likeness?
*Of note, the book included zero characters with an eye patch.
*Of note, the book included zero Mickey Mouse hands hoisting a magic scroll.
*The magic hand is not the only oversized hand. What is with this guy's ginormous left mitt? And is it just me, or are his right fingers not anatomically aligned with the path of that arm? And does he have two thumbs? (On closer examination, only possible with my zoom shot, they both look like just part of the magic mist.)
In summary, the cover art suits the book perfectly.
fin
Wait, no. The opposite of that.
*****************
Tears.
Tears and kisses.
Tears, kisses, and chuckles.
Tears, kisses, chuckles, and roars.
That's what Greenwood books are made of.
It's never a good sign when you can make a drinking game out of a book, especially when you would be dead halfway through if you actually played it.
*****************
I've read five novels by Ed Greenwood previously, so I knew what I was getting into. This book remained true to form: pointless, plotless, and infuriating. It was enjoyably bad for a while, helped by the short chunks that split up every chapter. His books can be like terrible movies with cult followings: so bad they're, well, not good, but enjoyable in how bad they are. I found myself talking back to the book, shouting in reply to the passages that best represented the ridiculousness of it all.
On one level (a very narrow one), Greenwood's not a bad writer, not compared to some of the artless, agrammatical wordcraft that my forays into the dregs of delusional self-publishing have uncovered. Greenwood can craft a nice sentence, paragraph, and scene. His dialogue has rhythm, his chapter subsections are nicely blocked out, there's never doubt about what it happening. But the content of those scenes is always questionable, and any passage longer than a couple of pages begs the question of why it exists. No scene, no event, no character contributes anything novel-worthy. He has no actual story to sustain a whole book. He merely presents us with a series of moments that accomplish nothing and go nowhere, and therein lies the awfulness of his books: they're utterly pointless and plotless. This particular book can be summarized thusly: a few Malaugrym (shapeshifting idiots) infiltrate the Dalelands, thinking somehow that they'll be able to take over the world. They grow tentacles and kill some people, then are killed in turn by the Chosen of Greenwood. The end. To fill the rest of the pages, an army of Zhentarim (evil soldier idiots led by evil wizard idiots) infiltrate the Dalelands, thinking somehow that they'll be able to take over the world. They fall for every trap in the book, then the survivors are slaughtered by the Chosen of Greenwood.
Greenwood is so in love with his characters, it's disgusting. They're all constantly, "We're such noble heroes, boo hoo hoo," and kissing and chuckling and oh my god the banter. So much banter, all the same, all the time, in every book. No dialogue, just banter, which invariably leads to chuckling or occasionally roars of laughter from his other beloved characters.
I was doing fine, enjoying the absurdity of it all, but then the last 100 pages killed me. It was two scenes in particular that finally did me in and made me scrunch my face and rub my head and I had to put the book down and go for a walk. The first of these was the longest scene in the book, one equally pointless as all the others, featuring an extended dinner party in which an unkillable hero bantered with multiple characters that we'll never see again until the Malaugrym finally showed themselves and she killed them with ease. The next involved the trio of rangers who are ostensibly the book's and series's main characters but who show up for maybe 10% of the story, who return to their home base so exhausted that they are constantly falling asleep but still manage to beat up a dozen snooty guards who didn't know they were the Chosen of Greenwood, then are taken inside and the noble lady ruler of Shadowdale falls to pieces having them all simultaneously placed in baths in the main hall, hoisted up by ropes so they don't drown because they're passing out asleep, shouting for food to be brought out in emergency fashion, stripping her clothes off and ordering servants to also strip and get into the baths with the food to force-feed the unconscious heroes who are held up by ropes so they don't drown while they're being bathed and fed while unconscious and I just had no idea what the hell I was reading anymore.
And the names ... oh, the names! I am not exaggerating when I say they rival Antigua: The Land of Fairies, Wizards and Heroes for the sheer number and ridiculousness of character names.
At least, in my Forgotten Realms publication order read, in which three of the last ten books were by Greenwood, I now have a ten-book break from him except for two short stories in anthologies. It will be refreshing to read something different. The next book in sequence is ... [checks notes] ... a libertarian propaganda novel. Wonderful.
*****************
I almost forgot to rag on the cover art! Shame on me. But no shame on Greenwood, this has nothing to do with him. No shame on the artist Fred Fields either; the artist works with what they're given. No, this is all on the TSR editorial department, such as it was. Let's zoom in:
Notes:
*Was James Spader compensated for the use of his likeness?
*Of note, the book included zero characters with an eye patch.
*Of note, the book included zero Mickey Mouse hands hoisting a magic scroll.
*The magic hand is not the only oversized hand. What is with this guy's ginormous left mitt? And is it just me, or are his right fingers not anatomically aligned with the path of that arm? And does he have two thumbs? (On closer examination, only possible with my zoom shot, they both look like just part of the magic mist.)
In summary, the cover art suits the book perfectly.
fin
November 23, 2013
How did this ever get published? Scattered, confusing and at times none existent plot. Too many characters to keep straight. Awkwardly written.
And why is this a trilogy? It has nothing to do with the first two books, except featuring some of the same character.
Worst novel ever.
And why is this a trilogy? It has nothing to do with the first two books, except featuring some of the same character.
Worst novel ever.
March 21, 2018
Terrible. All three books in this trilogy are so awful it's hard to decide which one is the worst. But, my nod goes to All Shadows Fled. It's bad. This author is a good writer. He writes well. But the awful content, ridiculousness, predictability and banality of the characters and story outweigh any positive measure good writing provides. Do not read this book or the others in the trilogy. They're bad. If you want better Realms reading, stick with early Salvatore, Boyd and Kemp. Avoid Greenwood's books. I've regrettably read five of his and they're all terrible. Also avoid Denning's Avatar series. They're also terrible.
February 17, 2022
A fun romp in Leiber fashion, or really Greenwood fashion. Full of Realms lore and makes the setting come alive like few others can manage. Very lighthearted, nothing great but not bad to listen to.
August 18, 2021
God, it's like Greenwood actually got worse with every novel he wrote. Seriously, there is no difference between this story and any other story he wrote. On top of which, his timeline actively contradicts the timeline previously established in the Forgotten Realms novels. I've said it before: Greenwood needs to stick to world building and leave writing to five year olds more qualified.
October 22, 2013
your getting the same thing in this book as you do any Ed Greenwood books
February 26, 2018
This ended what I found to be a so-so series. I may have felt differently had I started with a different Elminster series and had a little more background info on the setting, as this didn't feel like a trilogy one can easily jump into. I play D&D so I know of the Forgotten Realms setting, but I frequently felt the need to look some things up for clarification. Overall entertaining, I may give this one another try after reading some earlier Elminster stories.
July 17, 2018
Good conclusions to the series
It was a good trilogy, but could feel a little long winded at times. Fills in some important gaps for the Time of Troubles period.
It was a good trilogy, but could feel a little long winded at times. Fills in some important gaps for the Time of Troubles period.
December 16, 2021
Great book, loved the ending.
April 27, 2024
Awesome
May 11, 2009
This is one of the best books this author has writen. I actually liked how some chapters were like little stories in and of themselves. I think that this series gets better as the stories progress, as opposed to the 'Spellfire' books, where the first story is really good and the third one is horrible. I'm glad I read it, as it lets you see another aspect of the time of troubles. I'm pretty sick of the Mualugyrm, though...
March 30, 2008
One of the best series in The Forgotten Realms. Ed Greenwood is masterful at using colourful, hilarious characters while still maintaining the seriousness of his story. This is a series I read over and over.
January 19, 2009
All Shadows Fled (Forgotten Realms: The Shadow of the Avatar, Book 3) by Ed Greenwood (1995)
January 4, 2016
5.5/10
July 16, 2015
I usually really like Ed's writing, but I didn't find this one as enjoyable.
April 16, 2016
"Have you come to any conclusions as to what to do - as opposed to what not to do?"
December 16, 2021
mostly not very good, but the one chapter with Storm at the dinner bumped it up a star
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews