Rating: 
Summary: Oo!
Review: Considering that this is my first Cleric Quintet book that I have read (let alone the first experience with R.A. Salvatore's work), I found this little gem entertaining. The Fallen Fortress falls in line with the genre of RPG novels, but Mr. Salvatore's flair for comic relief (a green bearded dwarf named "Pikel") has forced me to put the book down a few times - from laughing.
I was slightly disappointed by the length of the book, only because the literature was so enjoyable, I wanted more! But hey, there's a lot more where that came from. R.A. Salvatore is reknown for his numerous quality works.
4 Stars. I'd probably give it 5 if was a wee bit longer.
Rating: 
Summary: More Great Salvatore!
Review: I am a huge fan of all of R.A. Salvatore's series, and the Clerics Quintet is one of my favorites. This fourth book in the series is no let down for any avid readers of the first three. The plot is exciting, engaging, and leaves you on the edge of your seat. The characters, as always, are beautifuly portrayed and very deep. I would defenately recomend this book to anyone who is a Salvatore fan, or who would like a taste of him for the first time. Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: Surprisingly - Disappointing
Review: I should first say that I grew up on Salvatore's books and have always considered him as a master of fantasy writing... until I read this one. Having enjoyed Canticle, been ok with In Sylvan Shadows, and absolutely loved the concept of the Ghearufu in Night Masks - The Fallen Fortress, as title suggests, fell flat on its face.Suddenly, Cadderly's steady growth as a character ground to a flat halt. In Fallen Fortress, he is omniscient, all-powerful, etc, etc. He can do anything; nothing affects him. The rendition of his emotional turmoil in this book is flat and hard to sympathize with. This makes for very boring reading. Maturity of characters? I don't think so - everyone here is predictable and does not grow. Plotwise, there is nothing interesting - there is nothing to match the invention of Cadderly's yo-yo or crossbow in the earlier books, or the originality of the evil artifact mentioned above. Instead, potential plotlines are disappointingly dashed aside. Eg. I was intrigued when a certain villain "came back" - that would have made perfect material for advancing the plot. But instead, the book kills him off unceremoniously, without exploiting his potental (to the plot) - what a waste.
Rating:
Summary: An outstanding book!
Review: I will give this book all my 5 stars and highest compliments, I hope any of you who have followed the series enough so far didn't get off course with the horrible reivews people have put in, this book is by far one of the greatest in this series, the series is great the characters are well developed and they do continue to develop unlike what other people have been saying, this book is basically the climax to everything in Castle Trinity and it couldn't have been done better, yes it's hack and slash but it's good hack and slash and the climax was worth the fun reading, you are perhaps expecting a Luke Skywalker thing with Cadderly and Aballister but I will tell you now that the father and son rival thing was done well by salvatore and the ending to this book was great, this book is my second favorite book in my favorite series by Salvatore and I know that if you give the book a chance you will find that there are more exciting things to Salvatore then Dark Elves! I give this book and series 5 stars because it deserves it and I will gladly defend the book in anyway if an argument comes up, read this book my friends and I promise the people who have found this series fun so far that this climax will not disappoint you.
Rating:
Summary: Great...but there is just one thing...
Review: Salvatore continues his story of the gallant Cadderly and the beautiful Danica. This book takes the fight to Castle Trinity. A great feeling sweeps through you as you read the book, as the group lays waste to the evil minions of Castle Trinity, you find yourself wanting to cheer out for Cadderly and crew to "Kick their arses." This book is classic Salvatore, absorbing and exciting, you never want to put it down even though it is 5:19 in the morning and you have to be to work in 11 minutes. I found one small problem with this book. Cadderly suddenly gains this superior confidence and believes what he says is right and everyone else is wrong, what ever happened to the Cadderly who weighed his options well. The expanations did not sit well with me but they by no means distracted from the book. The highlight: Ivan on his Magic Dragon Ride. If you pass this up you are missing out on the vengence book of the series. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Great...but there is just one thing...
Review: Salvatore continues his story of the gallant Cadderly and the beautiful Danica. This book takes the fight to Castle Trinity. A great feeling sweeps through you as you read the book, as the group lays waste to the evil minions of Castle Trinity, you find yourself wanting to cheer out for Cadderly and crew to "Kick their arses." This book is classic Salvatore, absorbing and exciting, you never want to put it down even though it is 5:19 in the morning and you have to be to work in 11 minutes. I found one small problem with this book. Cadderly suddenly gains this superior confidence and believes what he says is right and everyone else is wrong, what ever happened to the Cadderly who weighed his options well. The expanations did not sit well with me but they by no means distracted from the book. The highlight: Ivan on his Magic Dragon Ride. If you pass this up you are missing out on the vengence book of the series. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Here's a pretty good book in a pretty good series. . .
Review: The Fallen Fortress, Book 4 of the Cleric Quintet - R. A. Salvatore
A Review I'd like to start things off by saying that the back cover of this book is somewhat misleading. Rather than this novel being just another short episode in the ongoing war between Castle Trinity and Cadderly and his friends, the Fallen Fortress is more like something of a conclusion to the series. It encloses the "fall" of Castle Trinity, which is where the name of the book comes from. If you've read my reviews on the other books in the series, you'll know that the series really isn't anything exceptional, but is still pretty good. If you have never read Salvatore before, though, I would strongly advise you not to start reading his works with the Cleric Quintet. I shall make the following announcement:
"The Cleric Quintet is Salvatore's least enjoyable series."
And although I have not read all of his books, I am pretty sure that this series has to be his worst. If it is not his worst, if he has written something that is even crappier than this series, then that goes to show that he most assuredly is not much of a writer.
One, when reading this book and very near the end, thinks why would Salvatore write a fifth book in the series? All the possibile plot variations have been exhausted! Not so, as is obvious when considering that there actually is another book in the series after this one. Just read the Epilogue, and you'll see why. It is true, though, that the plot variations have been exhausted. The fifth book is very tired, but. . . (spoiler)
The plot of this book is nothing more exciting than the similar plots of the other books in the series. The character's are self-righteous and sickening, and always more intelligent than the supposedly "brilliant" villians. That is one thing about fantasy that always irks me. Good forces do not always have to prevail. If one is intelligent enough, he or she can come up with a plot or idea that is a bit more original than the typical fantasy series. Anyway, there is an evil red dragon in this book, Fyrentennimar, that Cadderly manages to charm so that he and his friends can use the dragon to their own whims. Eventually, Cadderly loses control over Fyren and the dragon turns on them. A battle ensues, and I won't even bother mentioning who the victor is. This "dragon" segment of the book, though, is unusual and I appreciated it greatly. But that alone does not make it any better than the other books in the series.
Anyway, like I have said in all my previous reviews for the books in this series, the Cleric Quintet, specifically this book, isn't really all that bad. It's classic fantasy, and nothing more can be expected from it than what one expects is contained in the words "classic fantasy." Yes, I suppose the series is worth reading, this book especially, but I can't really say the same for the Chaos Curse, the following book.
Rating:
Summary: Here's a pretty good book in a pretty good series. . .
Review: The Fallen Fortress, Book 4 of the Cleric Quintet - R. A. Salvatore
A Review I'd like to start things off by saying that the back cover of this book is somewhat misleading. Rather than this novel being just another short episode in the ongoing war between Castle Trinity and Cadderly and his friends, the Fallen Fortress is more like something of a conclusion to the series. It encloses the "fall" of Castle Trinity, which is where the name of the book comes from. If you've read my reviews on the other books in the series, you'll know that the series really isn't anything exceptional, but is still pretty good. If you have never read Salvatore before, though, I would strongly advise you not to start reading his works with the Cleric Quintet. I shall make the following announcement:
"The Cleric Quintet is Salvatore's least enjoyable series."
And although I have not read all of his books, I am pretty sure that this series has to be his worst. If it is not his worst, if he has written something that is even crappier than this series, then that goes to show that he most assuredly is not much of a writer.
One, when reading this book and very near the end, thinks why would Salvatore write a fifth book in the series? All the possibile plot variations have been exhausted! Not so, as is obvious when considering that there actually is another book in the series after this one. Just read the Epilogue, and you'll see why. It is true, though, that the plot variations have been exhausted. The fifth book is very tired, but. . . (spoiler)
The plot of this book is nothing more exciting than the similar plots of the other books in the series. The character's are self-righteous and sickening, and always more intelligent than the supposedly "brilliant" villians. That is one thing about fantasy that always irks me. Good forces do not always have to prevail. If one is intelligent enough, he or she can come up with a plot or idea that is a bit more original than the typical fantasy series. Anyway, there is an evil red dragon in this book, Fyrentennimar, that Cadderly manages to charm so that he and his friends can use the dragon to their own whims. Eventually, Cadderly loses control over Fyren and the dragon turns on them. A battle ensues, and I won't even bother mentioning who the victor is. This "dragon" segment of the book, though, is unusual and I appreciated it greatly. But that alone does not make it any better than the other books in the series.
Anyway, like I have said in all my previous reviews for the books in this series, the Cleric Quintet, specifically this book, isn't really all that bad. It's classic fantasy, and nothing more can be expected from it than what one expects is contained in the words "classic fantasy." Yes, I suppose the series is worth reading, this book especially, but I can't really say the same for the Chaos Curse, the following book.
Rating:
Summary: Here's a pretty good book in a pretty good series. . .
Review: The Fallen Fortress, Book 4 of the Cleric Quintet - R. A. Salvatore
A Review I'd like to start things off by saying that the back cover of this book is somewhat misleading. Rather than this novel being just another short episode in the ongoing war between Castle Trinity and Cadderly and his friends, the Fallen Fortress is more like something of a conclusion to the series. It encloses the "fall" of Castle Trinity, which is where the name of the book comes from. If you've read my reviews on the other books in the series, you'll know that the series really isn't anything exceptional, but is still pretty good. If you have never read Salvatore before, though, I would strongly advise you not to start reading his works with the Cleric Quintet. I shall make the following announcement:
"The Cleric Quintet is Salvatore's least enjoyable series."
And although I have not read all of his books, I am pretty sure that this series has to be his worst. If it is not his worst, if he has written something that is even crappier than this series, then that goes to show that he most assuredly is not much of a writer.
One, when reading this book and very near the end, thinks why would Salvatore write a fifth book in the series? All the possibile plot variations have been exhausted! Not so, as is obvious when considering that there actually is another book in the series after this one. Just read the Epilogue, and you'll see why. It is true, though, that the plot variations have been exhausted. The fifth book is very tired, but. . . (spoiler)
The plot of this book is nothing more exciting than the similar plots of the other books in the series. The character's are self-righteous and sickening, and always more intelligent than the supposedly "brilliant" villians. That is one thing about fantasy that always irks me. Good forces do not always have to prevail. If one is intelligent enough, he or she can come up with a plot or idea that is a bit more original than the typical fantasy series. Anyway, there is an evil red dragon in this book, Fyrentennimar, that Cadderly manages to charm so that he and his friends can use the dragon to their own whims. Eventually, Cadderly loses control over Fyren and the dragon turns on them. A battle ensues, and I won't even bother mentioning who the victor is. This "dragon" segment of the book, though, is unusual and I appreciated it greatly. But that alone does not make it any better than the other books in the series.
Anyway, like I have said in all my previous reviews for the books in this series, the Cleric Quintet, specifically this book, isn't really all that bad. It's classic fantasy, and nothing more can be expected from it than what one expects is contained in the words "classic fantasy." Yes, I suppose the series is worth reading, this book especially, but I can't really say the same for the Chaos Curse, the following book.
Rating: 
Summary: Cadderly is overpowered: worst in the series
Review: This, the fourth book, in Salvatore's "Cleric's Quintet," is probably the worst novel in the five book series. There were a few promising ideas that could have been developed more but alas, no such luck. This book is meant to be the climax of the story, which resolves around the plans of Castle Trinity to conquer part of the Realms. Cadderly, the lead character, becomes more and more powerful with each passing page. His development seems to have been arrested and I found him less interesting than in the previous books. In "Canticle" (which I've reviewed), Cadderly was inexperienced and he depended on his friends to help him. He also had several internal struggles that gave him some depth. However, here, Cadderly seems to be able to overcome any obstacle with little trouble. The story development leaves something to be desired as well. Salvatore brings back one of the interesting villains from a previous book ("Nightmasks") and then dispatches him without so much as the villain facing off against Cadderly. Other reviewers have mentioned this and I have to find myself agreeing with them. Cadderly's incredible and frequent use of magic becomes something of deus ex machina. There are supposed to be limits on what magic (i.e. power) can accomplish and it seems something of the balance was lost here. It is a pitfall that every fantasy author must always attempt to steer clear off. There is one development in this book that hints at what will happen to the Edificant Library (a bastion of priests and good gods) in the following novel. I don't want to say anymore on that note for fear of spoiling the plot. Please refer to my review of all the other novels in this series.
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