Rating: 
Summary: Okay
Review: I think that salvatore says to many times about the woman in his books about there free spirit. The characters are quite a bit like his forgotten realms books. Pony reminds me off Cattie-brie and Wulfgar with her inner struggles with memorys. If you like salvatore you will enjoy it, it is nothing compared to Dark elf trilogy or his other forgotten realms books. But hey if you have finished try this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Now here's a great book. . .
Review: The Demon Awakens (Book 1 of the Demonwars Trilogy) - R. A. Salvatore
A Review This is undeniably, a great book. I read alot, although I haven't read too much Salvatore. (I've read his Dark Elf Trilogy, which is excellent, and his Cleric Quintet Series, which is much less than excellent. Both are of the Forgotten Realms line of novels.). I began this book and read it during a considerably stressful time in my life, and so I was expecting and hoping for an involving, absorbing novel which I could forget my other troubles unto. Indeed, this book is involving and absorbing, much better than the other two Salvatore series I have read.
Not only that, but this is undoubtably one of my favourite fantasy books. I've ever read. Let it be noted that I not read the remaining two books in this series, although I plan on doing so very soon. And do not doubt, I've read alot of fantasy (among other genres). Never have I considered Salvatore an especially good writer, though, but now I consider him to be exceptional. For the reason of this series, this book, alone. I can promise the reader that he or she will surely not be dissapointed.
What is so outstanding about this novel? That is a difficult question to answer. The plot and storyline itself is nothing extroardinary, isn't even wholly original, for a fantasy novel at least! Perhaps, though, that is what makes the book so good. Just because the storyline is traditional fantasy doesn't mean it's bad at all, which it is most certainly not. I sum this section of my review by establishing that the storyline itself follows fantasy tradition, and although not entirely original, it is enjoyable nonetheless and I have no complaints about it.
The main characters, though, I am somewhat unsure of. But that's just my perspective. At first, when reading about the monk Avelyn, I disliked him as I disliked Cadderly (from the Cleric Quintet series by Salvatore), because he was self-righteous and, following that stereotype, therefore boring. Those thoughts of mine were soon changed, though. I actually grew to like the character Avelyn, a hell of a lot more than the other male main character, Elbryan. What's so bad about Elbryan? Unlike Avelyn, who is actually quite interesting (undeniably contrary to what I wrote earlier, though), Elbryan is nothing special to read about. He is a simple, pragmatic person, not at all in any way unique or even sophisticated. The other character, Pony, is a well-rounded, independent woman who is emotionally troubled throughout most of the book. I will not begin to describe the characters' relationships with the others, or any of the storyline and such, since that can very easily be found by reading the back cover of the book, which can be read on this site.
What about the villians? There is really only one villian, a stereotypical, evil-incarnate demon that follows the tendencies and ambitions that come along with the steroetype. After quite a long time, he wakes up on the land of Corona once again, and promptly decides wreak as much havoc as possible, organizing and commanding the goblins, giants, and evil dwarves that inhabit Corona. The rest of the plot is, if you read what I wrote previously, quite self-explanatory. The three main characters eventually unite after their personal hardships and strive to fight back against the demon.
The theory and technicalities of arcana in this book are quite simple and uninteresting, although somewhat sophisticated and unusual, I must admit. Rather than being possessed through talent and skills by a magic-user, magic is used through rare magical stones, and, with proper training, can be used by anyone.
I found the beginning and middle of the book to be significantly more enjoyable than the ending, but that may just be a personal quirk of mine. Furthermore, I was slightly annoyed that (SPOILER) the only remaining characters in the book are Elbryan and Pony. The rest do die, which I was greatly dissapointed at, since to do that seemed to be unnecessary, repetitive of other fantasy books, and wasted.
Despite all these complaints that I have about the novel, I cannot deny that it is a very good book, very underrated in the fantasy community. Even though some parts are much better than others, it is still moderately, consistently excellent throughout. Salvatore fans will love this book (and this series) to death, I am sure, and even a casual fantasy reader will certainly like it alot. Have no doubt, reading The Demon Awakens will not be a waste of your reading time.
Rating:
Summary: Mastery
Review: Salvatore begins this series with an excellent book. In my opinion it's the best one. They get "worse" as you go, but this one is excellent. Being an R.A. Salvatore fan my opinion is bias, however the characters in this book are among the best he has written. Though you will see a lot of Drizzt in Elbryan, and a lot of Catti-brie in Pony. Come to think of it, there is a lot of Breunor in Bradwarden as well. Anyway, the characters are excellent, and the only real problem I have with the series is the removal of Avelyn way too soon. Thus my feelings that this one is the best. :)
Rating:
Summary: best book
Review: At first, i didn't think i would like this book, but i finish all books i start so i kept reading. as it turned out, this was the best book i have ever read. That was like a year ago. Even today, its still the best book i have ever read. It is by far my favorite. The characters feel so real, they are very well developed and have very deep personalities. The plot is also very good. And the ending is great. Its real life. R.A. Salvatore is a very great author.
Rating:
Summary: Salvatore was not quite as enjoyable as usual.
Review: The Icewind and the Dark Elf trilogies will always have a warm place in my memory, but somehow, the Demon Awakens was not nearly as fun to read. IMHO, Salvatore lost his on-your-toes, quick-paced, easy reading style that I like him so much for. The book is rather long compared to his previous writing, to the point of being bogged down and almost boring (almost!), and he strayed from the Forgotten Realms formula. His world (Corona) has a few neat elements, but DA falls short of the epic story that it tries to be. Corona's prevalent religion draws many parallels with Christianity, and it is almost as if one of the religious characters tries to teach us morals. However, he justifies premarital sex, so I think it sets a bad example. Most of the fantasy elements Salvatore employs are stereotypes, except for the ones he changes. (Usually to bad effect, i.e. a centaur, the very noble creature from Forgotten Realms that we have come to respect, is displayed in a very Dionysian and rather depraved way; it made for some awkward reading...) Although his magic system is something I've not read in many books, his plot line draws dangerous parallels with LoTR, especially near the end. Copying Tolkien might be good for business, but it's not the best way to endear yourself with fantasy readers. Furthermore, I don't hold to the convention of changing 'i's to 'y's as a method for creating fantasy names, and many of Salvatore's originals were just plain awkward. It seemed as if he was trying to match Tolkien's elfish grace, but IMO, things like "Bellimar Juraviel" sound rather bungling when spoken aloud. The Demon Awakens was not bad by any means, but it is not great literature, and not nearly as fun as the Icewind or Dark Elf books. The story did not captivate me to a point that I would read the rest of the series to find out what happens.
Rating:
Summary: Fantasy Fiction is redfined in this trilogy
Review: First I want to comment that this relates to the whole trilogy, since one cannot review only a part of it, in my opinion. With Salvatore, I can always picture the words into a kind of a movie. That is, words gain full meaning a become much more than those letters in a page. To all Drizzt Do'Urden fans - this trilogy is so very different. Salvatore puts only a little magic but the compensation is funneled through depth of characters. This is a trilogy, a story about a few good people going against the ultimate evil - that which is in the human way of thinking. It is said that "Evil turns upon itself", and I was very much certain that these books will be the regular fantasy story about a hero and his party and a good happy end. Let me tell you something, Salvatore has truly did it - this is no "Hollywood" fantasy story, this is the real life (well, actually you do get to see, and I mean see, some magic) and not all ends well. Last, the author twined some mild insinuations as to the part of religion in our world and I just have no words - it's so great. Enjoy!!!
Rating:
Summary: Lacks sophistication to tackle raised themes
Review: The world grows corrupt and decadent, allowing the Dactyl to come back to life. In its hunger for pain and suffering, the Dactyl slowly gathers its evil throng, and finally erupts upon the unwary world in a titanic war of destruction. The reader follows the lives of the three heroes from adolescence through adulthood as they slowly realize that their goal is to warn (or, alternatively, save) the world. The one female and two male heroes are: Jylseponie (Jilly or Pony for short), a girl who loses her memory after her village is burned and ransacked by goblins; Elbryan ("Nightbird") the Ranger, who, having witnessed the same carnage as Pony, is trained by the elves to become an ultimate warrior; and, finally, Avelyn Desbris, a young monk with phenomenal magic powers who loses faith and escapes with a trove of magic stones, having witnessed the ultimate corruption of his order. To put it plainly, Salvatore seems to lack the sophistication to properly exploit the complicated themes he raises (lost faith, long-lasting trauma, wanderlust, alienation, captivity), and because of this flaw the most involving aspects of the plot become mundane very quickly. An viable alternative would be to flesh out the dark, somber world of the Demon Wars saga, but it is not pursued. His world retains the feeling of modernism and rarely allows the reader to "immerse" himself in the reading. The reader is left dangling between the Scylla of a fragmentary world and the Charybdis of characters that grow flatter as the book progresses. Although generally quick-paced, the chapters are frequently interrupted by overlong, overdescribed skirmishes, where each individual stike and parry gets its own sentence. Since very little imagery is involved, the skirmishes quickly lose individuality. A long, fairly average read, the first in a fairly long series.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty Good Fantasy Book
Review: I liked R.A. Salvatore's Cleric Quintet series of books, and the Dark Elf Trilogy and found them to be fun and exciting series. I picked up this book in anticipation of some more great reading. However, it did nothing to amaze me, nor did it offer anything new. Generally, books of this genre offer a set of characters that would be considered an odd-assortment "adventure party mix", and this book stuck to that recipe: a Ranger named Elbryan, a Fighter and his love (Pony), a Centaur (Bradwarden), a magic-wielding Monk (Avelyn) and of course Elves. I enjoyed the story pretty well, and the characters were developed well enough, but not earth-shattering. There were things and characters I felt were underdeveloped, but overall found it to be a solid and enjoyable story and I will continue on to the next in the series.
Rating: 
Summary: This Book Blows
Review: This book was very possible the worst thing written since anything by Danielle Steele. I have tried to read this book 5 times made it through the last time, wish I would have just read the back of a cereal box instead. Salvatore...what in the world were you thinking?? Please end this series here you are destroying minds with books like this.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I've read in years.....
Review: This was the first Salvatore I read, and now, only a few months later, I'm having trouble finding Salvatore books I haven't read.
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