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The Cleric Quintet #1
Canticle
A classic adventure from the creator of Drizzt!
High in the Snowflake Mountains sits the Edificant Library, a place of scholarly study for priests, bards, and others. Now from the hidden vaults beneath the library a devastating curse is unleashed, and a young cleric must battle the terrifying creatures set loose by a malevolent, consuming essence that's been released, before his own brethren turn against him. Cadderly must put his studies to the test and enter the catacombs far below to save his brothers and himself.
Paperback
First published December 1, 1991
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About the author
R.A. Salvatore
611 books11.4k followersAs one of the fantasy genre’s most successful authors, R.A. Salvatore enjoys an ever-expanding and tremendously loyal following. His books regularly appear on The New York Times best-seller lists and have sold more than 10,000,000 copies. Salvatore’s original hardcover, The Two Swords, Book III of The Hunter’s Blade Trilogy (October 2004) debuted at # 1 on The Wall Street Journal best-seller list and at # 4 on The New York Times best-seller list. His books have been translated into numerous foreign languages including German, Italian, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Turkish, Croatian, Bulgarian, Yiddish, Spanish, Russian, Polish, Portuguese, Czech, and French.
Salvatore’s first published novel, The Crystal Shard from TSR in 1988, became the first volume of the acclaimed Icewind Dale Trilogy and introduced an enormously popular character, the dark elf Drizzt Do’Urden. Since that time, Salvatore has published numerous novels for each of his signature multi-volume series including The Dark Elf Trilogy, Paths of Darkness, The Hunter’s Blades Trilogy, and The Cleric Quintet.
His love affair with fantasy, and with literature in general, began during his sophomore year of college when he was given a copy of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings as a Christmas gift. He promptly changed his major from computerscience to journalism. He received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Communications from Fitchburg State College in 1981, then returned for the degree he always cherished, the Bachelor of Arts in English. He began writing seriously in 1982, penning the manuscript that would become Echoes of the Fourth Magic. Salvatore held many jobs during those first years as a writer, finally settling in (much to our delight) to write full time in 1990.
The R.A. Salvatore Collection has been established at his alma mater, Fitchburg State College in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, containing the writer’s letters, manuscripts, and other professional papers. He is in good company, as The Salvatore Collection is situated alongside The Robert Cormier Library, which celebrates the writing career of the co-alum and esteemed author of young adult books.
Salvatore is an active member of his community and is on the board of trustees at the local library in Leominster, Massachusetts. He has participated in several American Library Association regional conferences, giving talks on themes including “Adventure fantasy” and “Why young adults read fantasy.” Salvatore himself enjoys a broad range of literary writers including James Joyce, Mark Twain, Geoffrey Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dante, and Sartre. He counts among his favorite genre literary influences Ian Fleming, Arthur Conan Doyle, Fritz Leiber, and of course, J.R.R. Tolkien.
Born in 1959, Salvatore is a native of Massachusetts and resides there with his wife Diane, and their three children, Bryan, Geno, and Caitlin. The family pets include three Japanese Chins, Oliver, Artemis and Ivan, and four cats including Guenhwyvar.
When he isn't writing, Salvatore chases after his three Japanese Chins, takes long walks, hits the gym, and coaches/plays on a fun-league softball team that includes most of his family. His gaming group still meets on Sundays to play.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/rasalv...
Salvatore’s first published novel, The Crystal Shard from TSR in 1988, became the first volume of the acclaimed Icewind Dale Trilogy and introduced an enormously popular character, the dark elf Drizzt Do’Urden. Since that time, Salvatore has published numerous novels for each of his signature multi-volume series including The Dark Elf Trilogy, Paths of Darkness, The Hunter’s Blades Trilogy, and The Cleric Quintet.
His love affair with fantasy, and with literature in general, began during his sophomore year of college when he was given a copy of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings as a Christmas gift. He promptly changed his major from computerscience to journalism. He received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Communications from Fitchburg State College in 1981, then returned for the degree he always cherished, the Bachelor of Arts in English. He began writing seriously in 1982, penning the manuscript that would become Echoes of the Fourth Magic. Salvatore held many jobs during those first years as a writer, finally settling in (much to our delight) to write full time in 1990.
The R.A. Salvatore Collection has been established at his alma mater, Fitchburg State College in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, containing the writer’s letters, manuscripts, and other professional papers. He is in good company, as The Salvatore Collection is situated alongside The Robert Cormier Library, which celebrates the writing career of the co-alum and esteemed author of young adult books.
Salvatore is an active member of his community and is on the board of trustees at the local library in Leominster, Massachusetts. He has participated in several American Library Association regional conferences, giving talks on themes including “Adventure fantasy” and “Why young adults read fantasy.” Salvatore himself enjoys a broad range of literary writers including James Joyce, Mark Twain, Geoffrey Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dante, and Sartre. He counts among his favorite genre literary influences Ian Fleming, Arthur Conan Doyle, Fritz Leiber, and of course, J.R.R. Tolkien.
Born in 1959, Salvatore is a native of Massachusetts and resides there with his wife Diane, and their three children, Bryan, Geno, and Caitlin. The family pets include three Japanese Chins, Oliver, Artemis and Ivan, and four cats including Guenhwyvar.
When he isn't writing, Salvatore chases after his three Japanese Chins, takes long walks, hits the gym, and coaches/plays on a fun-league softball team that includes most of his family. His gaming group still meets on Sundays to play.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/rasalv...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 317 reviews
December 14, 2014
This is a great series, but I have to say, it can be a bit childish at times, and I felt that when I was reading it as a YA.
It's good spellcasting, good sword and sorcery. It's got strong characters, a good female lead, and an interesting area of Faerun you don't usually see.
While I'm sure I've spelled Faerun wrong, I'd suggest you not make the wrong choice of passing up this first book.
It's good spellcasting, good sword and sorcery. It's got strong characters, a good female lead, and an interesting area of Faerun you don't usually see.
While I'm sure I've spelled Faerun wrong, I'd suggest you not make the wrong choice of passing up this first book.
October 17, 2009
This is the first book In Salvatore's Cleric Quintet series. I actually heard him speak once, and he said that he didn't want to write a book about a cleric, but about a monk (hence Danica being a monk). Interestingly enough, this series turned out to be one of his most popular.
It starts out in the Edificant Libarary, a place for monks, bards, and clerics to study. Cadderly, an orphan who has lived his entire life at the library, is a scholar with an appitite for creating new devices (so much so, that he is called a Gondsman[Gond being the god of invention I think, he makes stuff out of metal, he doesn't like magic...:]by his superior in the library).
His girlfriend is Danika, a monk of Pen-pod-don, who is studying his teachings at the library.
The other important characters are the dwarven brothers, Ivan and --- Boldershoulder, who are the cooks at the library.
Salvatore introduces a new evil society, the members of Castle Trinity, to which he fleshes out very well (as always).
To compare this book to any of the Drow books, it would come up short. But I don't think this book was ever ment to be compared. It is the begining. It is not as action packed as many of his other books, but it is full of development of characters and the region that the story takes place. For these reasons, I really enjoyed it and can respect what the author was doing. However, I did have the other 4 books on hand and could go right into the next one. If I had read this by itself, I may have been underwhelmed.
I would recomend it to anyone who is a fan of the "forgotten realms" world, R.A. Salvatore, or even just want to an easy escape into fantasy.
It starts out in the Edificant Libarary, a place for monks, bards, and clerics to study. Cadderly, an orphan who has lived his entire life at the library, is a scholar with an appitite for creating new devices (so much so, that he is called a Gondsman[Gond being the god of invention I think, he makes stuff out of metal, he doesn't like magic...:]by his superior in the library).
His girlfriend is Danika, a monk of Pen-pod-don, who is studying his teachings at the library.
The other important characters are the dwarven brothers, Ivan and --- Boldershoulder, who are the cooks at the library.
Salvatore introduces a new evil society, the members of Castle Trinity, to which he fleshes out very well (as always).
To compare this book to any of the Drow books, it would come up short. But I don't think this book was ever ment to be compared. It is the begining. It is not as action packed as many of his other books, but it is full of development of characters and the region that the story takes place. For these reasons, I really enjoyed it and can respect what the author was doing. However, I did have the other 4 books on hand and could go right into the next one. If I had read this by itself, I may have been underwhelmed.
I would recomend it to anyone who is a fan of the "forgotten realms" world, R.A. Salvatore, or even just want to an easy escape into fantasy.
March 9, 2013
This series is suppose to be his version of the five book series done by the author, David Eddings. What I like about the book is that it is totally different in structure with Eddings five book series, other than the real quest starts in the second. The book is not flawed like Eddings, where it is basically a set up on the background and history of the world or characters living their daily live, which could be done in the first 50 pages at best. So the plot for me does not move. This book is the exact opposite of a Eddings book. It is a totally separate story filled with action, mystery, and adventure.
August 23, 2024
Sé que me gustó, pero hace tantísimo tiempo que no recuerdo casi nada.
Recuerdo (eso sí) que aunque me gustó no tiene comparación con su serie de “El elfo oscuro”.
Me tocará localizarlo para hacer relectura y crítica decente.
Recuerdo (eso sí) que aunque me gustó no tiene comparación con su serie de “El elfo oscuro”.
Me tocará localizarlo para hacer relectura y crítica decente.
July 6, 2024
I must admit, I do occasionally enjoy reading generic pulp fantasy novels from time to time. Sure, they tend to be extremely formulaic and one-dimensional, but they're usually entertaining enough, and they tend to be quick easy reads.
I'm going to be blunt here: the writing in this book is stinky doodoo garbage. It's on the level of which high school teachers would use as a basis of comparisons to teach their students on what NOT to do when writing.
Very little description is given on character's thoughts or feelings regarding their situations or circumstances. A few major characters died in this book, but that warrants a cursory paragraph or two and doesn't impact much. Instead, Salvatore thought it was much more interesting to write pages upon pages of battle tactics and arrangements.
Salvatore heavily relies on the use of adverbs to let us know what a character is thinking or feeling, because honestly there's no other way to tell because he doesn't write about it. He also uses the same phrases ad nauseum pertaining to certain characters:
Keirkan Rufo is "the angular man".
Cadderly Bonaduce is "the young scholar".
Barjin is "the evil priest".
I read in an interview that Salvatore was hard pressed for time when given his contract, and it really shows. This whole book feels rushed and uninspired, and honestly, I don't think an editor so much as glanced at this mess.
The villains in this story are one-dimensional caricatures you'd find on Saturday morning cartoons. They even do things like monologue and let out maniacal laughs to constantly remind the reader they are evil and up to no good. I absolutely HATED reading the passages of Druzil the imp and his Wizard master Aballister and all the schemes going on at Castle Trinity.
So why two stars? Because this book wasn't totally horrible.
I really love the premise. The main protagonist, Cadderly Bonaduce is a lowly priest that serves a God of knowledge, but is essentially an atheist. He doesn't actually care about his clerical duties, and instead is much more interested in his own personal inventions. He's a very enjoyable character to read about, once you get past his silly name.
I liked the different portrayals of religion in this book, and found myself wanting to know more about all the different cultures and customs that are in the Edificant Library. Forgotten Realms has some really interesting deities. I found the Druids the most interesting of all, and really liked Newander's passages. I want to be a giant nature hippie that turns into eagles and bears too! Unfortunately, the interesting parts are few and far between.
If you were like me and were intrigued by Cadderly's later appearances in Drizzt and Artemis Entreri's novels, then these books help give you an idea of his character and how he came to be. Even for D&D novels though, this is pretty bad, so I would otherwise advise skipping out on this.
I'm going to be blunt here: the writing in this book is stinky doodoo garbage. It's on the level of which high school teachers would use as a basis of comparisons to teach their students on what NOT to do when writing.
Very little description is given on character's thoughts or feelings regarding their situations or circumstances. A few major characters died in this book, but that warrants a cursory paragraph or two and doesn't impact much. Instead, Salvatore thought it was much more interesting to write pages upon pages of battle tactics and arrangements.
Salvatore heavily relies on the use of adverbs to let us know what a character is thinking or feeling, because honestly there's no other way to tell because he doesn't write about it. He also uses the same phrases ad nauseum pertaining to certain characters:
Keirkan Rufo is "the angular man".
Cadderly Bonaduce is "the young scholar".
Barjin is "the evil priest".
I read in an interview that Salvatore was hard pressed for time when given his contract, and it really shows. This whole book feels rushed and uninspired, and honestly, I don't think an editor so much as glanced at this mess.
The villains in this story are one-dimensional caricatures you'd find on Saturday morning cartoons. They even do things like monologue and let out maniacal laughs to constantly remind the reader they are evil and up to no good. I absolutely HATED reading the passages of Druzil the imp and his Wizard master Aballister and all the schemes going on at Castle Trinity.
So why two stars? Because this book wasn't totally horrible.
I really love the premise. The main protagonist, Cadderly Bonaduce is a lowly priest that serves a God of knowledge, but is essentially an atheist. He doesn't actually care about his clerical duties, and instead is much more interested in his own personal inventions. He's a very enjoyable character to read about, once you get past his silly name.
I liked the different portrayals of religion in this book, and found myself wanting to know more about all the different cultures and customs that are in the Edificant Library. Forgotten Realms has some really interesting deities. I found the Druids the most interesting of all, and really liked Newander's passages. I want to be a giant nature hippie that turns into eagles and bears too! Unfortunately, the interesting parts are few and far between.
If you were like me and were intrigued by Cadderly's later appearances in Drizzt and Artemis Entreri's novels, then these books help give you an idea of his character and how he came to be. Even for D&D novels though, this is pretty bad, so I would otherwise advise skipping out on this.
October 29, 2013
Oh boy. This book was like a cup of hot chocolate. When I began it, it was too freaking hot so it burned my tongue, and I couldn’t really taste anything for a long time, but in the end got a sweet taste of the chocolaty goodness….kinda. I first got this book because of the name of the series, The Cleric Quintet, and I was SUPER excited to read about adventuring clerics, they kinda get a bad rep in the gaming world. So sat down and couldn’t wait to see what kind of trouble a cleric could get into running around the forgotten realms setting. So I was reading, and I was reading, and reading, but no cleric. I found a monk, a scholar, some dwarfs and some druids. No Clerics. I was kinda pissed. But with much insistence from my fiancé I pushed through and kept reading and I did enjoy the book! It had all the classical elements of a fantasy adventure that you love reading. I am looking forward to the next book and I am ready for a cleric gosh darn it!
See how that hot chocolate analogy worked…?
See how that hot chocolate analogy worked…?
January 19, 2025
Fantasía épica clásica de la época de la Dragonlance donde los buenos son los buenos y los malos son los malos y ya, aún así hay algún intento de giro "inesperado" (ya sabemos que cuando no sabemos el linaje de algun héroe va a haber alguna tipo de revelación posterior)
A mi estos libros me entretienen porque son con los que me inicie en este género y sus mundos, pero al lado de la fantasía que tenemos ahora, incluso los Romantasy o los Young Adult tienen una trama más desarrollada (y menos previsible). Este tipo de historias épicas se me hacen light, dandome una sensación parecida a lo que es el Chiklit al Romance más "de toda la vida"...
A mi estos libros me entretienen porque son con los que me inicie en este género y sus mundos, pero al lado de la fantasía que tenemos ahora, incluso los Romantasy o los Young Adult tienen una trama más desarrollada (y menos previsible). Este tipo de historias épicas se me hacen light, dandome una sensación parecida a lo que es el Chiklit al Romance más "de toda la vida"...
August 15, 2016
Skoro pa savrseno. Volim njegov stil pisanja. Jedino mi se ne svidja prenemaganje da se upotrebi samostrel u smrtnoj opasnosti.
January 25, 2025
Me da un poquito de pena el tono pesimista que va a tener esta reseña. Los libros de "Reinos olvidados" suelen ser para mi lecturas rápidas, entretenidas y que me transportan un poquito a mi adolescencia y a esos libros de fantasía clásica plagados de aventuras. "Cántico" es la primera parte de la pentalogía del Clérigo, una de las sagas más valoradas de la colección... Y con este libro prácticamente yo solo sentí hastío.
Esta pentalogía narra la historia de Cadderly, un joven clérigo estudiante en la Biblioteca Edificante, que posteriormente tendrá relevancia en la historia de Drizzt, razón por la cual yo me animé a leerla.
En este libro Cadderly se enfrentará a una maldición que pone en riesgo todo el templo y esconde detrás una conspiración de otro grupo de clérigos.
Si tuviese que resumir "Cántico" en una palabra sería: basiquísimo. Trama ya muy manida, personajes planísimos (los buenos muy buenos, los malos malísimos), DEMASIADA acción (sobre todo en la segunda mitad)... Mira que el libro es corto, pero son 300 páginas que siento que podían haber sido un relato. Tampoco a estos libros les pido mucho más que diversión, pero este se me hizo TAN plano que llegué a aburrirme.
Tampoco es que sea un desastre de novela, pero a mi personalmente se me quedó flojísimo. No es que los libros de Drizzt sean la octava maravilla, pero siento que al menos los personajes son algo más carismáticos y tiene alguna que otra reflexión interesante.
¿Voy a seguir con la pentalogía? Pues creo que voy a darle una oportunidad al segundo, ya que son cortitos, pero si sigue así... Tampoco me voy a forzar. Veremos qué pasa.
Esta pentalogía narra la historia de Cadderly, un joven clérigo estudiante en la Biblioteca Edificante, que posteriormente tendrá relevancia en la historia de Drizzt, razón por la cual yo me animé a leerla.
En este libro Cadderly se enfrentará a una maldición que pone en riesgo todo el templo y esconde detrás una conspiración de otro grupo de clérigos.
Si tuviese que resumir "Cántico" en una palabra sería: basiquísimo. Trama ya muy manida, personajes planísimos (los buenos muy buenos, los malos malísimos), DEMASIADA acción (sobre todo en la segunda mitad)... Mira que el libro es corto, pero son 300 páginas que siento que podían haber sido un relato. Tampoco a estos libros les pido mucho más que diversión, pero este se me hizo TAN plano que llegué a aburrirme.
Tampoco es que sea un desastre de novela, pero a mi personalmente se me quedó flojísimo. No es que los libros de Drizzt sean la octava maravilla, pero siento que al menos los personajes son algo más carismáticos y tiene alguna que otra reflexión interesante.
¿Voy a seguir con la pentalogía? Pues creo que voy a darle una oportunidad al segundo, ya que son cortitos, pero si sigue así... Tampoco me voy a forzar. Veremos qué pasa.
January 26, 2025
I'm pressing on with my reading of the Forgotten Realms novels, more specifically, the Legend of Drizzt and all novels connected to it, and I'm finally into the Cleric Quintet!
I went into this book expecting it to read very similarly to Legend of Drizzt from the jump, and while I will say it did eventually find it's way into the breakneck action and fun combat sequences, it spend the first 30% or so setting up the characters, world and threat, which was a wise move to make in a book where the enemy isn't as glaringly apparent from the start.
I have to note, that while I like Cadderly, Danica, Pikel, Ivan and Newander and found them to each be fun, engaging and well written characters, I can't help but compare them to the Companions of the Hall and when I do so, I'm admittedly much less interested in the Cleric and his pals. Not because I think they're more poorly written, in fact I enjoyed them quite alot, the dynamic of the party and their classes just don't interest me nearly as much as the Companions, as I never cared as much for Clerics, Monks and Druids, as I did Rangers, Barbarians and Rogues. This is purely a personal preference, but it did keep me from connecting with the party quite as much.
Again, this isn't to say I dislike them, I found Cadderly's curiosity and creativity to be a lot of fun and it made him relatable in a way to me, since I'm constantly jumping from one fascination to the next. Danica's incredible fighting prowess and attitude made her a joy to read, and she stands proudly as a great female lead who exists to be much more than just a love interest for the male protag. The Dwarf brothers were of course a blast, with their bickering and undying love for one another, and Newander and his character arc were a joy to read, and added just the right amount of whimsy to the early sections of the book, while still showing his incredible devotion in the end.
There are cons to these characters though. While I liked Newander's arc, it did feel a bit predictable to me, and I saw many of the reasonings and outcomes in his arc coming. And don't get me started on how predictable the "big reveal" in the end about Cadderly was, I saw that Star Wars-esque plot twist coming from a mile away (there's one section that makes it PAINFULLY obvious, when colors of a body part were discussed, and another when a certain character speaks about another certain character.) I also found the death fakeout of one of these characters to be annoying, as I never enjoy the "gotcha" moments when it comes to main characters dying. It just feels cheap and lazy to me, personally.
All of that said, I do feel it's very important to remember that this is just the first book in a five book series, and I have no doubt that Salvatore's later entries will show undeniable improvement. As it sits, I greatly enjoyed the plot, the established heroes and villains, the simple but engaging and fun writing style, and I'm excited to see how the next quest laid out for our heroes will go!
And just to clarify, I don't have a problem with this book having so many obvious odes to Star Wars, I mean The Crystal Shard had as many or more odes to The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, but I didn't criticize it for them. No no, the inclusion of Star Wars inspired moments is fine, it's the particular moments he chose to lift and how painfully obvious he made them that bugged me, just to clarify.
All in all, I enjoyed this one, and while I don't think it's as good of a first book in a series as Homeland or The Crystal Shard were, I still think it was a great deal of fun, and I'm giving 3.5 out of 5 stars, check it out!
Wanna check out my other Forgotten Realms book reviews? Check em out below!
The Legend of Drizzt - Homeland: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Legend of Drizzt - Exile: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Legend of Drizzt - Sojourn: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Legend of Drizzt - The Crystal Shard: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Legend of Drizzt - Streams of Silver: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Legend of Drizzt - The Halfling's Gem: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Stone of Tymora - Stowaway: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Stone of Tymora - The Shadowmask: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Stone of Tymora - The Sentinels: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I went into this book expecting it to read very similarly to Legend of Drizzt from the jump, and while I will say it did eventually find it's way into the breakneck action and fun combat sequences, it spend the first 30% or so setting up the characters, world and threat, which was a wise move to make in a book where the enemy isn't as glaringly apparent from the start.
I have to note, that while I like Cadderly, Danica, Pikel, Ivan and Newander and found them to each be fun, engaging and well written characters, I can't help but compare them to the Companions of the Hall and when I do so, I'm admittedly much less interested in the Cleric and his pals. Not because I think they're more poorly written, in fact I enjoyed them quite alot, the dynamic of the party and their classes just don't interest me nearly as much as the Companions, as I never cared as much for Clerics, Monks and Druids, as I did Rangers, Barbarians and Rogues. This is purely a personal preference, but it did keep me from connecting with the party quite as much.
Again, this isn't to say I dislike them, I found Cadderly's curiosity and creativity to be a lot of fun and it made him relatable in a way to me, since I'm constantly jumping from one fascination to the next. Danica's incredible fighting prowess and attitude made her a joy to read, and she stands proudly as a great female lead who exists to be much more than just a love interest for the male protag. The Dwarf brothers were of course a blast, with their bickering and undying love for one another, and Newander and his character arc were a joy to read, and added just the right amount of whimsy to the early sections of the book, while still showing his incredible devotion in the end.
There are cons to these characters though. While I liked Newander's arc, it did feel a bit predictable to me, and I saw many of the reasonings and outcomes in his arc coming. And don't get me started on how predictable the "big reveal" in the end about Cadderly was, I saw that Star Wars-esque plot twist coming from a mile away (there's one section that makes it PAINFULLY obvious, when colors of a body part were discussed, and another when a certain character speaks about another certain character.) I also found the death fakeout of one of these characters to be annoying, as I never enjoy the "gotcha" moments when it comes to main characters dying. It just feels cheap and lazy to me, personally.
All of that said, I do feel it's very important to remember that this is just the first book in a five book series, and I have no doubt that Salvatore's later entries will show undeniable improvement. As it sits, I greatly enjoyed the plot, the established heroes and villains, the simple but engaging and fun writing style, and I'm excited to see how the next quest laid out for our heroes will go!
And just to clarify, I don't have a problem with this book having so many obvious odes to Star Wars, I mean The Crystal Shard had as many or more odes to The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, but I didn't criticize it for them. No no, the inclusion of Star Wars inspired moments is fine, it's the particular moments he chose to lift and how painfully obvious he made them that bugged me, just to clarify.
All in all, I enjoyed this one, and while I don't think it's as good of a first book in a series as Homeland or The Crystal Shard were, I still think it was a great deal of fun, and I'm giving 3.5 out of 5 stars, check it out!
Wanna check out my other Forgotten Realms book reviews? Check em out below!
The Legend of Drizzt - Homeland: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Legend of Drizzt - Exile: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Legend of Drizzt - Sojourn: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Legend of Drizzt - The Crystal Shard: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Legend of Drizzt - Streams of Silver: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Legend of Drizzt - The Halfling's Gem: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Stone of Tymora - Stowaway: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Stone of Tymora - The Shadowmask: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Stone of Tymora - The Sentinels: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
February 2, 2018
I gave R.A. Salvatore a chance when I was in middle school after I'd had all my Magic the Gathering novels confiscated. For all the noise we make about the importance of education and knowledge being power and 2 Teach is 2 Touch Lives 4ever, it's amazing how often you can get in trouble for reading books at school. I'd received the big 3rd Edition D&D boxed set for Christmas that year, so I was primed to care about the multiple shelves of fat, yellowing Forgotten Realms novels that I saw every time I walked into a used book store.
I picked up a beat-ass old paperback from the Salvation Army, choosing based on how many 80s heavy-metal-magazine dragons they could wedge onto one bookcover.
Unfortunately, it was about Drizzt, a dark elf with too many swords at one time. I couldn't care about elves, then or now. Elves were the least interesting part of the D&D universe for me. Dark elves were comparatively more interesting, but only because of their weird spidery BDSM associations. Torture elves is still elves, and I jettisoned it after the first chapter.
Now I'm older, though no more refined, I see what went wrong. Salvatore is a pretty good writer, so long as you walk in with a certain set of expectations. The Canticle read like a corny, unself-conscious Conan the Barbarian story. The styles are much the same -- I found some of the same choices in George R.R.'s early work, which makes me suspect this was just how high fantasy was written at the time -- but less pretentious, more charmingly geeky.
An embarrassment of wizards and a lone demon, each with his own varying level of total dickheadedness, sort of incidentally conspire to release The Chaos Curse on a church library, because what better place to release something called The Chaos Curse? The curse itself is just an id heightener, and the church goes wacky with caricatures of the seven deadly sins.
Enter the protagonist, a young Kvotheian cleric we can functionally identify as Clerry Sue, his hot monk girlfriend Katniss Everdeen, their pet squirrel who can sort of talk(???), a druid with self-confidence issues, and a couple of likable dwarves whose comically exaggerated depiction felt remarkably like racism, even though "mountain dwarves" are not an actual race. The psychic scars of six years in academia, ladies and gentlemen. The dwarven brothers were both named Bouldershoulder, which seemed faintly dirty to me due to rib-sticking phrase "over-the-shoulder boulder holder", though I can't imagine this was Salvatore's intention or even something he had knowledge of.
In the preface, he toots his own horn about how good he writes battle scenes. This made me suspect they would be awful, obviously. They weren't! The flow was pretty good, and he can finish a paragraph with ", and he died." without making it seem dissonant and goofy.
Best part is, no elves. I guess I'll see this series through to the end.
I picked up a beat-ass old paperback from the Salvation Army, choosing based on how many 80s heavy-metal-magazine dragons they could wedge onto one bookcover.
Unfortunately, it was about Drizzt, a dark elf with too many swords at one time. I couldn't care about elves, then or now. Elves were the least interesting part of the D&D universe for me. Dark elves were comparatively more interesting, but only because of their weird spidery BDSM associations. Torture elves is still elves, and I jettisoned it after the first chapter.
Now I'm older, though no more refined, I see what went wrong. Salvatore is a pretty good writer, so long as you walk in with a certain set of expectations. The Canticle read like a corny, unself-conscious Conan the Barbarian story. The styles are much the same -- I found some of the same choices in George R.R.'s early work, which makes me suspect this was just how high fantasy was written at the time -- but less pretentious, more charmingly geeky.
An embarrassment of wizards and a lone demon, each with his own varying level of total dickheadedness, sort of incidentally conspire to release The Chaos Curse on a church library, because what better place to release something called The Chaos Curse? The curse itself is just an id heightener, and the church goes wacky with caricatures of the seven deadly sins.
Enter the protagonist, a young Kvotheian cleric we can functionally identify as Clerry Sue, his hot monk girlfriend Katniss Everdeen, their pet squirrel who can sort of talk(???), a druid with self-confidence issues, and a couple of likable dwarves whose comically exaggerated depiction felt remarkably like racism, even though "mountain dwarves" are not an actual race. The psychic scars of six years in academia, ladies and gentlemen. The dwarven brothers were both named Bouldershoulder, which seemed faintly dirty to me due to rib-sticking phrase "over-the-shoulder boulder holder", though I can't imagine this was Salvatore's intention or even something he had knowledge of.
In the preface, he toots his own horn about how good he writes battle scenes. This made me suspect they would be awful, obviously. They weren't! The flow was pretty good, and he can finish a paragraph with ", and he died." without making it seem dissonant and goofy.
Best part is, no elves. I guess I'll see this series through to the end.
March 23, 2016
Great start to a high fantasy series by R.A. Salvatore. The audio performance is superbly done by Victor Bevine. It is a slow start at building the environment and the characters, with everything built up to the actions in last few chapters. The story flows nicely, and writing is beautiful. I hung in there for the first few chapters; once I got hold on the characters, it becomes a page-turner, with a YA romance budding (yes!). I look forward to the next book!
July 9, 2009
I don't think I even finished it. Main character is a TOTAL Gary-Stu. His character flaw is that he cares too much. I just couldn't keep reading anymore.
May 26, 2017
Reminds me of the party who takes five hours to get out of the weapons shop. DNF #8.
December 27, 2024
Barjin is a very effective evil antagonist. First of all, he's a magnificent liar. He hides from his entire evil organization his past as a general and a wizard, pretending to be a simple witness to the evil goddess Talona and taking the mantle of priest. Then there's his weapon of choice, which equals his character in its terrifying presence. The Screaming Maiden is a scepter with an obsidian statuette on top of an attractive young girl. When the priest swings it, the girl's mouth enlarges rapidly into a fanged monster that chomps on the flesh of its victim. If that wasn't enough, the weapon also telepathically grants its own sight to Barjin after he's sprayed with the acidic musk of a druid-turned-wolverine, rendering his own vision useless. It's times like these you get the feeling that the bad guy just can't lose.
There are plenty of other things to love in this story. Newander's self doubt which vanishes in the glory of his self realization at the call of his forest god. Cadderly and Danica's intense meditations that save their minds from the insanity that overtakes everyone else and grant them visions of a way forward. To name a couple.
As always, depictions of underground passages and tunnels is just… they don't work on me. Whenever a character gets lost underground, I just feel bored and claustrophobic. I like to see the drama unfold in my head, but in these environments, I just see a single tunnel. I can't map out the lefts and the rights.
The dwarves Ivan and Pikel felt flat. Pikel wants to be a druid, and Ivan isn't having it. They felt a little bit unintelligent, which isn't a character trait I appreciate in important characters. Unless we're talking Stephen King. His idiots are always amazing.
There are plenty of other things to love in this story. Newander's self doubt which vanishes in the glory of his self realization at the call of his forest god. Cadderly and Danica's intense meditations that save their minds from the insanity that overtakes everyone else and grant them visions of a way forward. To name a couple.
As always, depictions of underground passages and tunnels is just… they don't work on me. Whenever a character gets lost underground, I just feel bored and claustrophobic. I like to see the drama unfold in my head, but in these environments, I just see a single tunnel. I can't map out the lefts and the rights.
The dwarves Ivan and Pikel felt flat. Pikel wants to be a druid, and Ivan isn't having it. They felt a little bit unintelligent, which isn't a character trait I appreciate in important characters. Unless we're talking Stephen King. His idiots are always amazing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 8, 2016
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.
October 28, 2016
This was my first attempt at reading anything Salvatore outside of the Drizzt series. Very interesting character development. It was also nice to see him take up another part of the Realms and bring it to life (without any Drow).
Will crack open book two at some point as well.
Will crack open book two at some point as well.
July 1, 2017
Stars: 3
The only reason it didn't get a higher rating was beacuse i felt like it dragged on in diffrent parts of the book. Otherwise i really enjoyed this book. I loved all the characters and i will be continuing this series. :)
The only reason it didn't get a higher rating was beacuse i felt like it dragged on in diffrent parts of the book. Otherwise i really enjoyed this book. I loved all the characters and i will be continuing this series. :)
September 25, 2024
It's been a while since I've visited the Forgotten Realms and I enjoyed the trip immensely. This is old fashioned fantasy - good and evil - not a lot in between. Battling over control of the realm - or in this case, a Library.
The idea of the curse was intriguing - suffers find themselves obsessed with their desires and wishes, unable to do anything other than fulfil them to excess. Whether this means they eat themselves to death or pull out their own entrails to feel the exquisite pain ... there's some rather gruesome deaths involved.
The characters felt a little 2D - but this is a relatively short book, with lots of action going on, so there isn't much time for character development. That said, this is a series, so there's plenty of future books to build on. Weirdly, the two non-humanoid characters, the imp and the squirrel, were probably my favourite characters, along with the Dwarvish brothers.
A good, fantasy adventure - worth the read.
The idea of the curse was intriguing - suffers find themselves obsessed with their desires and wishes, unable to do anything other than fulfil them to excess. Whether this means they eat themselves to death or pull out their own entrails to feel the exquisite pain ... there's some rather gruesome deaths involved.
The characters felt a little 2D - but this is a relatively short book, with lots of action going on, so there isn't much time for character development. That said, this is a series, so there's plenty of future books to build on. Weirdly, the two non-humanoid characters, the imp and the squirrel, were probably my favourite characters, along with the Dwarvish brothers.
A good, fantasy adventure - worth the read.
March 5, 2025
When times are rough you sometimes need to go back and visit old friends and this is exactly what the cleric quartet and by extension Cadderly,Danica,Ivan and especially Pikel the dwarf "druid" are to me.
These are the least famous of Salvatore's Forgotten Realms creations but by far my favorite. I love Drizzt and company don't get me wrong but the inherent goodness and even more so kindness of Cadderly speaks to me far more than Drizzt and company.
I love these books so this is not an unbiased review. I'm not sure they even rise above their genre, or that they are actually not just average fantasy that relies on pure nostalgia from me to be great, but to me at least they are just that
This is the first of 4 and the slowest of them yet if you know the story to come you realize all the set up that makes the other books even more enjoyable.
These are the least famous of Salvatore's Forgotten Realms creations but by far my favorite. I love Drizzt and company don't get me wrong but the inherent goodness and even more so kindness of Cadderly speaks to me far more than Drizzt and company.
I love these books so this is not an unbiased review. I'm not sure they even rise above their genre, or that they are actually not just average fantasy that relies on pure nostalgia from me to be great, but to me at least they are just that
This is the first of 4 and the slowest of them yet if you know the story to come you realize all the set up that makes the other books even more enjoyable.
January 4, 2019
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.
December 25, 2020
I really enjoyed Canticle, the first of the Cleric Quintet, and even though R.A. Salvatore was ordered to write a four-part series about a cleric (when he wanted to write about a monk), he managed to work a five-part series together including his beloved monk Danica lol.
I love Cadderly and his boyish charm and the dwarven Bouldershoulder brothers Ivan and Pikel (love that Pikel sports green hair and bread!). I really loved the part when Newander enjoys the rain (in all his glory lol) and refers to it as the "most beautiful sound", I also just really loved his druid character all around .
Either way, where do I get such a pet/master lol as every pet probably thinks them the master (I know, I have cats who I'm sure think the same).
I love Cadderly and his boyish charm and the dwarven Bouldershoulder brothers Ivan and Pikel (love that Pikel sports green hair and bread!). I really loved the part when Newander enjoys the rain (in all his glory lol) and refers to it as the "most beautiful sound", I also just really loved his druid character all around .
Either way, where do I get such a pet/master lol as every pet probably thinks them the master (I know, I have cats who I'm sure think the same).
August 10, 2021
Slow start, but enjoyable look at an AD&D universe
Fun story that any Role Playing veteran would enjoy. The author wrote a story that blended beautifully with the Forgotten Realms and character classes and races from the AD&D world. It took me a while to get interested because the writer seemed to spend more time developing the evil characters than the good ones. I also did not like the fact that the lead character really seemed the weakest of all. I wanted him to use some clerical abilities, at least to heal. Regardless, nice story and a good read.
Fun story that any Role Playing veteran would enjoy. The author wrote a story that blended beautifully with the Forgotten Realms and character classes and races from the AD&D world. It took me a while to get interested because the writer seemed to spend more time developing the evil characters than the good ones. I also did not like the fact that the lead character really seemed the weakest of all. I wanted him to use some clerical abilities, at least to heal. Regardless, nice story and a good read.
July 18, 2024
This is certainly the first book in a series.
The pacing feels a mess all over the book as the author is trying to introduce 5 main characters as well as a new setting and tell the story.
Cadderly is a bit of a boring character too, I'm hoping his personality gets expanded to make him better.
It was probably a bit too ambitious for book 1 but hopefully the setups will pay off through the rest of the series.
The pacing feels a mess all over the book as the author is trying to introduce 5 main characters as well as a new setting and tell the story.
Cadderly is a bit of a boring character too, I'm hoping his personality gets expanded to make him better.
It was probably a bit too ambitious for book 1 but hopefully the setups will pay off through the rest of the series.
April 17, 2023
3.5/5 The first of a 5 books series, The Cleric Quintet. This is the first R.A Salvatore I’ve read outside of Drizzt. This wasn’t quite as epic feeling. The scope just felt smaller maybe because it all takes place in a library.
The first half of the novel just feels pretty slow but it does pick up. The main draw here for me is the cast. Cadderly, Danica, Pikel, and Nevander are all fantastically fun characters.
A group of cultists release a Chaos Curse in the Edificant Library. Everyone goes insane except Cadderly and a select few people whose mission is now to stop this affliction.
The first half of the novel just feels pretty slow but it does pick up. The main draw here for me is the cast. Cadderly, Danica, Pikel, and Nevander are all fantastically fun characters.
A group of cultists release a Chaos Curse in the Edificant Library. Everyone goes insane except Cadderly and a select few people whose mission is now to stop this affliction.
February 13, 2024
This book took me forever to finish. As interesting as the premise was, it was so long. Cadderly also just seemed like such an untouchable protagonist and it made for a less than interesting main character.
either way, Salvatore still weaves a good story that I will be happy to keep reading. I can only hope that the characters evolve and grow with the series in a good way.
either way, Salvatore still weaves a good story that I will be happy to keep reading. I can only hope that the characters evolve and grow with the series in a good way.
February 19, 2026
Though probably not one of Salvatore's finest efforts, this first book of the Cleric Quintet is still enjoyable if you happen to like the Forgotten Realms world and have fond memories of your Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying days.
Call me strange, but I actually liked the villain character more then any of the rest... so much more was going on with Aballister and I liked how well he was fleshed out. A perfect evil villain is hard to come by, but I do like this one as about as good as it gets for this genre.
A simple easy read, and just fun. 3 Stars
Call me strange, but I actually liked the villain character more then any of the rest... so much more was going on with Aballister and I liked how well he was fleshed out. A perfect evil villain is hard to come by, but I do like this one as about as good as it gets for this genre.
A simple easy read, and just fun. 3 Stars
May 17, 2020
I used to read books by R.A.Salvatore a whole lot, the Drizzt series mostly, but time came when I felt like I outgrew them. This is the first one of his books I've read in a long time and I remember why I loved them so much. It's not an insightful book filled with a new perspective on the fantasy genre
but it is pure entertainment, I mean that in a good way. He doesn't put in a great deal of world building in it but instead focuses on high action that you never know what to expect next, and memorable characters (Bouldershoulders anyone?). This is a great starting place for anyone just getting in to Forgotten Realms, it was definitely a page turner for me.
but it is pure entertainment, I mean that in a good way. He doesn't put in a great deal of world building in it but instead focuses on high action that you never know what to expect next, and memorable characters (Bouldershoulders anyone?). This is a great starting place for anyone just getting in to Forgotten Realms, it was definitely a page turner for me.
April 23, 2025
Good ol' 90s fantasy goodness. Pretty decent page turner.
November 26, 2022
justice for my boy pickle!
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