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Forgotten Realms: Return of the Archwizards #1
The Summoning
The evil and powerful archwizards who rule the mysterious floating city of Shade return and seek to unleash their magic on the unsuspecting inhabitants of the world of Faervn. Original.
352 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 1, 2001
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775 people want to read
About the author
Troy Denning
185 books662 followersAlso known as Richard Awlinson.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Den...
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Den...
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
March 2, 2020
A very enjoyable book. It did take me a little while to read because I have other stuff to do.
It's been a while since I've read a Forgotten Realms novel. The beginning was a little slow, but after a little action scene, it definitely kicked it into gear all the way to the end of the book. Troy Denning is one of my favorite authors of the F.R.. I dreaded having to start this trilogy (because I wasn't liking the cover art) but I wanted to read more of the further books (next series will be the "War of the Spider Queen. Somehow I've already read 'Pool of Radiance' which would've been the next book I would've read). I have (2) 5 shelf book shelves (at least 6 ft tall) that house all of my F.R. novels (I hate paperbacks, but....) and a 3rd book shelf that they've dribbled into. I have read about 132 F.R. novels....they are my pride & joy......LOL....just kidding. But close. I do enjoy them immensely. And this novel is the reason why.
It's been a while since I've read a Forgotten Realms novel. The beginning was a little slow, but after a little action scene, it definitely kicked it into gear all the way to the end of the book. Troy Denning is one of my favorite authors of the F.R.. I dreaded having to start this trilogy (because I wasn't liking the cover art) but I wanted to read more of the further books (next series will be the "War of the Spider Queen. Somehow I've already read 'Pool of Radiance' which would've been the next book I would've read). I have (2) 5 shelf book shelves (at least 6 ft tall) that house all of my F.R. novels (I hate paperbacks, but....) and a 3rd book shelf that they've dribbled into. I have read about 132 F.R. novels....they are my pride & joy......LOL....just kidding. But close. I do enjoy them immensely. And this novel is the reason why.
August 28, 2018
Having recently acquired some ~300 Forgotten Realms books (ebooks), I decided I would make my way through them, beginning with the tales that set up Paul S Kemp's Erevis Cale trilogy. That was the first Realms series I read and I thought it would be cool to see how the story got set up.
This isn't my first novel by Mr. Denning. He has written some of my favorite Star Wars novels, so I was excited to see how he would handle a fantasy setting.
There were good things and bad things. I will begin with the good.
Mr. Denning writes very exciting battle scenes and has quite an imagination. I would have appreciated the "weird magic" more if I had not read something similar in his Star Wars novel, Crucible. He did a good job of giving you a feel of impending disaster and you get a good idea of how dangerous the Phaerimm are by the corpses they leave behind. There was some good humor, too.
Along with what seems to be the general consensus here, Mr. Denning's characters weren't the most dynamic. Truth be told, I don't mind tropes at all, but I found the play between Galaeron, Takari, and Vala to be irritating.
My biggest issue, however, is the awkward porn. As a reader of Mr. Denning's previous novels, I have become (involuntarily) acquainted with what I like to call "Troy-Denning-pseudo-porn". There is always some strange sexual encounter, with either overly-described overly-tight clothing, watching women dress in the dark, grabbing penises, almost-statutory-rape/torture, etc. It is inserted at random points, and only draws away from the story, at least for me.
All in all, not a bad book, but not one on my short list. The lore was interesting, and I do like Mr. Denning's prose and the atmosphere he creates. I will be moving on to the next novel within the next month or so. Probably.
This isn't my first novel by Mr. Denning. He has written some of my favorite Star Wars novels, so I was excited to see how he would handle a fantasy setting.
There were good things and bad things. I will begin with the good.
Mr. Denning writes very exciting battle scenes and has quite an imagination. I would have appreciated the "weird magic" more if I had not read something similar in his Star Wars novel, Crucible. He did a good job of giving you a feel of impending disaster and you get a good idea of how dangerous the Phaerimm are by the corpses they leave behind. There was some good humor, too.
Along with what seems to be the general consensus here, Mr. Denning's characters weren't the most dynamic. Truth be told, I don't mind tropes at all, but I found the play between Galaeron, Takari, and Vala to be irritating.
My biggest issue, however, is the awkward porn. As a reader of Mr. Denning's previous novels, I have become (involuntarily) acquainted with what I like to call "Troy-Denning-pseudo-porn". There is always some strange sexual encounter, with either overly-described overly-tight clothing, watching women dress in the dark, grabbing penises, almost-statutory-rape/torture, etc. It is inserted at random points, and only draws away from the story, at least for me.
All in all, not a bad book, but not one on my short list. The lore was interesting, and I do like Mr. Denning's prose and the atmosphere he creates. I will be moving on to the next novel within the next month or so. Probably.
August 16, 2019
This is a licensed Dungeons & Dragons IP based prose book that I bought and read primarily as source material for the game as the material included in this trilogy was never published (AFAIK at least) in a standard D&D source material type book; at least not with this sort of detail.
I'm not familiar with the author's other work, but this struck me as passable but not more than that. The central story hook for the trilogy is that a long missing flying city from the fallen Netherese empire has returned to the realms after spending almost 2 millennia in the plane of shadow. Living on that plane has given the already powerful magicians there access to a unique form of magic that also corrupts.
Given all this, the fact that the plot of this book follows both a local who is being corrupted and an obviously-not-who-he-claims-to-be character from said flying city and plays it largely straight is not particularly satisfying. Denning does do a decent job of depicting the corrupting influence of shadow magic on the protagonist, but the conceit of the non-revealed/revealed nature of the Netherese mage accompanying them is not particularly effective.
It must be said though, that this book was sort of a long set-up for the main conflict that will presumably be depicted in the next 2 books in the trilogy.
I'm not familiar with the author's other work, but this struck me as passable but not more than that. The central story hook for the trilogy is that a long missing flying city from the fallen Netherese empire has returned to the realms after spending almost 2 millennia in the plane of shadow. Living on that plane has given the already powerful magicians there access to a unique form of magic that also corrupts.
Given all this, the fact that the plot of this book follows both a local who is being corrupted and an obviously-not-who-he-claims-to-be character from said flying city and plays it largely straight is not particularly satisfying. Denning does do a decent job of depicting the corrupting influence of shadow magic on the protagonist, but the conceit of the non-revealed/revealed nature of the Netherese mage accompanying them is not particularly effective.
It must be said though, that this book was sort of a long set-up for the main conflict that will presumably be depicted in the next 2 books in the trilogy.
April 25, 2021
I've been playing Dungeons and Dragons for about six years, and I thought that my knowledge of the world would be an added bonus when reading this novel. Boy was I wrong.
Every campaign I've ever played was more interesting than this book. The characters had no depth, and the storyline was cumbersome and yet simplistic. I read this book before I went to bed because I would get so bored reading it that it would help me sleep.
Even though the books ends on a cliffhanger I have no desire to read the next two books. The characters show only the shallowest of emotions that I felt myself not caring about them at all.
Give this book a miss.
Every campaign I've ever played was more interesting than this book. The characters had no depth, and the storyline was cumbersome and yet simplistic. I read this book before I went to bed because I would get so bored reading it that it would help me sleep.
Even though the books ends on a cliffhanger I have no desire to read the next two books. The characters show only the shallowest of emotions that I felt myself not caring about them at all.
Give this book a miss.
June 1, 2018
Even having taken only a couple of days to read this, and as much as I love Elminster playing an important role in the book, the plot was predictable for the major points in the storyline. I loved the large scale battles and following them along the map and I liked the twists at the end, but the archmage responsible for the invasion had no real excuse for the invasion except for illicit means. His story from the very beginning was bogus and obvious. When Elminster didn’t buy his good intentions, how could the average Joe? There were a few times in the story where even I drifted off and had to reread passages, but overall a good effort.
June 22, 2018
"I take back half the bad things I've ever said about you."
"your kind always seemed to measure what is good for others by what is best for yourselves."
"...I would be forever in your debt-no doubt because I seldom repay a favor."
"Not every servant loves his master."
"Selfishness is not always a bad thing...Especially when everyone can be made to see that their own needs are best accomplished by working together."
"your kind always seemed to measure what is good for others by what is best for yourselves."
"...I would be forever in your debt-no doubt because I seldom repay a favor."
"Not every servant loves his master."
"Selfishness is not always a bad thing...Especially when everyone can be made to see that their own needs are best accomplished by working together."
July 31, 2020
Empieza bien pero poco a poco va perdiendo fuerza.
August 18, 2020
Better than I thought it would be. Not a big fan of magic based fantasy but more than enough swordplay to get through it.
February 7, 2011
It took all of my willpower to keep reading this book after the halfway point...The characters were two-dimensional and transparent, and nothing about this story really grabbed my attention. The main character, Galaeron, is an arrogant ass who seems to complain more than anything else, which is in my opinion very unlike an elf. When he is battling with his "shadow side", there no buildup of tension or suspense, until suddenly he becomes manic and wants to kill his companions for no reason. This book is even worse if you are a fan of R.A. Salvatore, who is a master of storytelling...It's like an adulteration of everything I love about the Forgotten Realms, and the only thing linking it to the Forgotten Realms is a few names dropped here and there.
I'm going to go soothe my bruised mind by curling up in front of the fire with Exile
I'm going to go soothe my bruised mind by curling up in front of the fire with Exile
December 27, 2011
As I get further and further along the cronical line of the forgotten realms library, I'm finally starting to see some of the history of the world that I always wanted when I started to read ALL of these silly books. And in that sense, this book was pretty entertaining.
The begining is exciting and engaging. Denning gives you just enough to keep you wondering what is really going on. But then things started to unravel for me. There were several confusing and unnessary fight sequences that seemed like the only purpose was to fill up pages, not to move the plot along. That is always annoying.
However, the last 40 pages brought me back in. Exciting things started to happen again, history was revealed, and the author left it with a pretty bigcliff hanger. So, I want to read the next one.
Overall, I liked the book, I just felt myself fading out in the middle.
The begining is exciting and engaging. Denning gives you just enough to keep you wondering what is really going on. But then things started to unravel for me. There were several confusing and unnessary fight sequences that seemed like the only purpose was to fill up pages, not to move the plot along. That is always annoying.
However, the last 40 pages brought me back in. Exciting things started to happen again, history was revealed, and the author left it with a pretty bigcliff hanger. So, I want to read the next one.
Overall, I liked the book, I just felt myself fading out in the middle.
October 8, 2009
Mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, the portrayals of the villains are very well done, as is the "feel" of an impending disaster. The plot is of course interesting, as it deals with a major event in the Forgotten Realms setting. Too bad the author got his facts wrong - with regards to how the Shadow Weave came about. If only that was the only flaw. Overall, the story was uninteresting, as there's not much excitement going on. The worse thing it did was that it portrayed elves in a very un-elven-like manner - it was like the author wasn't familiar with how elves in the Forgotten Realms setting usually are. Also, other major characters like Elminster, Khelben, and the Seven Sisters aren't exactly done justice too.
September 3, 2010
I so wanted to like this. I mean, I love Forgotten Realms, I live for reading about wizards in all their forms, and Shadow-Weave is such a neat concept. But... the overall impression was just... bland. Boring. Another book about nothing, with protagonists that serve as vessels for... well. I never managed to figure that one out.
January 9, 2015
a few inconsistencies with other Realmslore, but overall a pretty neat tale. I've always liked the city of Shade (and the Netherese), and so here they are.
also, a nice set up for one of my favorite Realms books, Elminster in Hell.
also, a nice set up for one of my favorite Realms books, Elminster in Hell.
sold
February 23, 2012Sold to Lewis White on eBay on 7-Jun-11:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI....
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI....
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May 3, 2011This is a very good book and series it is about a tombwarden named Gaelorn and his friends have to find a way to stop the Phearimm from destroying the world of Faerun
August 18, 2016
6.5/10
January 3, 2024
4.5 stars [Fantasy]
(W: 4, P: 4.33, O: 4.42)
Exact rating: 4.25
#16 of 113 in genre
(W: 4, P: 4.33, O: 4.42)
Exact rating: 4.25
#16 of 113 in genre
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews