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Crucible : The Trial of Cyric the Mad

Crucible : The Trial of Cyric the Mad

List Price: $6.99
Your Price: $6.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Wonderful new perspective on the Forgotten Realms Universe
Review: Through the eyes of Malik a fat, dim witted, sniveling, coward, new light is shed upon not just the perspective of the "good" but also that of the "evil". The first person commentary by Malik I found insightful and more often then not humorous. This book is great if you could not get enough of Prince of Lies.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A nice vile change of pace.
Review: Troy Denning is one of the better TSR (I won't mention WOtc) fantasy authors, and he deserves credit for writing a novel in the form of a first-person account of the trial of Cyric and its circumstances. It's especially interesting since the point of view is that of Malik, a pathetic -and at times humorous- spy that clings to Cyric despite that god's cruelty to him. Thus the tone of the book is morbid, but Malik is an interesting enough character to keep one reading, if only to discover what extremes he will push himself to to attempt to free Cyric of his madness.

Like the previous Avatar books, the gods are major characters, and some are fleshed out better than they were before, such as Tyr and Talos. Torm, however, one of the protagonists of Prince of Lies, is barely to be found here. Instead, Mystra, who represents the 'good guys' in the book, appears to be fallible, and Kelemvor suddenly discovers the meaning of Lawful Neutral. The chapters that describe characters other than Malik are told mostly in a third-person narrative, but still from the pen of Malik, so Mystra is at times described as the "Harlot" and Cyric as the "One" or "Our Dark Lord."

This may be why the book does not much discuss the fate of Gwydion and Rinda, two prominent and likeable characters from Prince of Lies who are slain early in the book by Malik in a very Douglas Niles-like fashion. For that matter, much of the book is filled with grotesque imagery and gore, usually due to Cyric (surprise), but Denning's writing style is good enough so that this does not become cliche. Just be prepared for a character to enter the novel, begin to be fleshed out, then die in a horrific way. It all reminds the reader of the Moonshae Trilogy at times.

Malik himself is both amusing and disturbing, both because he is willing to go to shocking extremes for Cyric, who he seems to both love and hate, and because the little turd's stinginess is amazing (such as when he 'only has time to take the gold'). The end of the book does not tie up all of the loose ends that this series has presented, nor could it be expected to, since it is 'written' by a Cyricist, but its conclusion is very exciting and does not produce a clear victory for good or for evil.

Disgusting at times, but an engrossing read. In some ways, I wouldn't mind another novel that might involve some of the lesser characters -such as Rinda, whose cheap death is one of the books' more bothersome aspects- in some way, but this is good enough for now. At least Elminster kept himself out of this one.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Unexpected masterpiece.
Review: Well, all i can say is that mr Troy Denning has got balls made of solid brass. To dare write a novel in FR series, with main characer evil-hearted is a heroic act. To write it so - that the novel is worth to be classic in the future is truly a hard quest. An mr Denning has completed that quest. This book is worth every penny you pay for it, and it is filled with twists, plots and superbly well developed characters and background from the start to the end. And i cant describe the ending. The final twist was simply marvelous.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Extreme changes to the realms...
Review: Well, I love this book. Prince of Lies was better to my opinion, but the first person view of one of Cyric's followers is wonderful. Malik, one of the villains, is telling us the story from his completely objective point of view. And that's fun. Needless to say, a villain, has a totally different way of telling a story than your all too tedious goody goody knight with shining armor etc... Some major changes happen too. No one will be completely the same, the way we left them at Prince of Lies. What happened to Kelemvor sucked, but it was bound to happen. To sum it all up, the book is a little boring at the beginning, but believe me, it becomes more and more interesting as you get deeper into it. It's filled with suspense and humor, and I definatelly recommend it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Against the norm writing style produces a delightful read.
Review: Well, when I first opened the book and saw the first person style, I put down the book for many weeks. How dare this sequal not follow like the others? Taking a course in college that is all about reading different styles from different cultures, I opened my horizon to reading this book. Soon enough I was caught skipping class to finish the book! Of course the book supported Cyric, for at the end it becomes clear to me that this is the holy book Cyric instructs Malik to write for Cyric's worshipers. The parts of the toiling god's was indeed most fun to read. I was a little mad about what happened to Mystra, Kelemvor, and Adon, but what the heck, good cannot always crush evil. My favorite character has always been Maask. This was a real novel, not some good over evil crap that plagues most novels. It makes way hopefully for more stories to come.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A great sequel
Review: When I heard the book was in the first person I was a bit skeptical, but after reading, I think it was an ingenius format. It isn't really first person in a complete sense, but you have to read it to understand what I mean (I don't want to ruin it for you). Bottom line, if you liked the avatar trilogy and Prince of Lies, you will without a doubt enjoy this book the same.


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