The Night Parade (The Harpers, No. 4)

Rating:
Summary: Easily one of the best of the Harpers Series!
Review: Scott Ciencin has created a very dynamic plot here. By the time you reach the end of this story you discover how many of the character's backgrounds and stories are intertwined with each other's. Very few characters stand alone in this novel, they all have a strong dynamic relation to another person or persons in the story. What's more, Ciencin is not afraid to have a few of them die in the story. Rather than disappointing the reader though, this gets the reader to believe in the characters' mortality. These are not all powerful heroes who can just hack and blast their way through challenges. These are real people who could die on the next page. With the exception of one character in particular, but I won't ruin it by telling you. I agree with a previous reviewer, that character had unbelievable luck - being saved by a group of wandering adventurers with healing potions. Scott also uses a new brand of evil monsters - the Night Parade - who are both horrifying (in a Lovecraft kind of fashion) and devious. I am going to search for the rest of Scott Ciencin novels, even though I usually only read Forgotten Realms when I read from the fantasy genre. This was a great contribution to the Harper series.

Rating:
Summary: Not so much Fantasy as it is Horror¿
Review: Scott Ciencin is a GREAT author (Shadowdale was AMAZING), but unfortunately The Night Parade was a bit of a disappointment! It is much closer to HORROR than it is to FANTASY. Therefore, it is not your conventional Forgotten Realms fantasy novel. For those fans who enjoy Horror this is a book that combines the two, but for the rest of us, I recommend other books from the Series such as Red Magic or Parched Sea to mention a few, all the while keeping in mind the "heavy artillery" Forgotten Realms novels that have been written by RA Salvatore, Elaine Cunningham, Ed Greenwood etc My advice, read The Night Parade only after you're done reading all the other Forgotten Realms books and you are still in need of more Toril related material.

Rating:
Summary: Intriguing and original, if gory
Review: This is a most unusual Realms book. It's a kind of cross between fantasy and horror, but not the gothic horror of the Ravenloft books. Rather, it's like what would result if Lovecraft, King, or Barker wrote a Realms story. No orcs here! The monsters of the Night Parade are disgusting, twisted blobs of flesh with tentacles and sharp teeth, and insect-like humanoids, who feed on human beings and dwell in the shadows. The characters are well-constructed, though Ciencin seems to take a bit too much delight in killing several of them off horribly! My advice is not to get too attached to them, because a few don't last very long! Some scenes are quite gory and repulsively descriptive, but that helps set the goulish mood that is supposed to be there. And the ending is genuinely touching, like waking up from a bad dream. Overall, not my favorite Harper's book, but definitely worth a read.

Rating:
Summary: The Harpers vs. The Night Parade! Wow, what a fight!
Review: Yeah! This is a great fantasy book! You'll like the characters and be really interested in how the plot and thereby their relations to each other evolve. The Night Parade inextinguishables are very strong and cunning; in my humble opinion Lord Sixx is powerful enough to deliver all these harpers to meet their maker! But you'll see... The story is full of twists and turns and you will be surprised more than once without being lost. The end is simply fantastic and when you close this book you will definitely feel better! My only point of criticism is the luck these guys tend to have! What did they do? Does Myrmeen have the same hairdresser as Tymora's brother in law's roommaid? What? I mean how likely is it that when you lie in a ditch dying in the middle of a chaotic storm that a party of travellers will happen to come by and dump all their healing potions over you, a total stranger instantly restoring you to full health? Give me a break! But other than that...It is fantastic. A must-have for realms lovers, fantasy readers and people in genereal. *l*

Divination

Rating:
Summary: The Harpers vs. The Night Parade! Wow, what a fight!
Review: Yeah! This is a great fantasy book! You'll like the characters and be really interested in how the plot and thereby their relations to each other evolve. The Night Parade inextinguishables are very strong and cunning; in my humble opinion Lord Sixx is powerful enough to deliver all these harpers to meet their maker! But you'll see... The story is full of twists and turns and you will be surprised more than once without being lost. The end is simply fantastic and when you close this book you will definitely feel better! My only point of criticism is the luck these guys tend to have! What did they do? Does Myrmeen have the same hairdresser as Tymora's brother in law's roommaid? What? I mean how likely is it that when you lie in a ditch dying in the middle of a chaotic storm that a party of travellers will happen to come by and dump all their healing potions over you, a total stranger instantly restoring you to full health? Give me a break! But other than that...It is fantastic. A must-have for realms lovers, fantasy readers and people in genereal. *l*

Divination