The Dragon King is the final book in the exciting Crimson Shadow saga. Luthien and the mystic wizard Brind Amour take on the mighty wizard Greensparrow in a final fight for land and freedom. 2 on 1 seems a bit unfair but Greensparrow has gathered up his council of evil wizards and sorceresses to help him carry out his evil deeds. Of course with Brind Amour awaken from his slumber Greensparrow is taking no chances and has conjured up evil demons from hell. How will this saga end? You'll just have to read it for yourself. If you like deception and mayhem in a mystical world I highly encourage you to pick up this book and read it for yourself. R.A. Salvatore does a great job in scripting the battle scenes in this book. You will literally find yourself sweating and wanting to read more as the story goes on. I gave this book and enthusiastic 4 stars.

A decent conclusion to a lackluster series missing in originality - but the action scenes make it a worthy read, coupled beside the wonderful character that is Oliver De'Burrows. The final confrontation with Greensparrow does not disappoint, and I left the series, having read this book, feeling like I had put my time to fair use, in spite of my opinon of the first 2 books. Overall, not bad, but Salvatore could do much better. He's proven that!

I must say that this book was excellent, although the first chapter or two starts off a bit slow. But once again, Salvatore produces an excellent story. There was one problem with the trilogy, and that was the fact that it was a trilogy. The third part of this story (the dragon king) could have been written as a trilogy by itself. It seems Salvatore spent too much time with TSR (or whomever) writting the forgotten realms books, and it would appear that now he thinks everything must be a trilogy. I wish someone would tell him that there is nothing wrong with writing a series of 4, 5, or 6 books (or even a story that can be told in one book). I really think he could have lengthened this epic story and increased the pleasure of his fans. After all, parts of this book flew by with little or no detail. But all in all, it was an excellent story.

In comparing this novel with the previous one in the series, "Canticle," this strikes me as a book-length battle with little else. Though I recognize that this was necessary for the story that Salvatore is trying to tell, it was not my preference.

The interesting parts of the novel are Cadderly's (the main character) struggle with violence; he struggles with every battle compared to his more worldly friends (Cadderly has lived his whole life in the monastery-like Edificant Library). In addition, the relationship among the villains (the operate as a triumvirate; priests, wizards and fighters) is more thoroughly fleshed out. The novel takes place in an Elven forest that has been invaded by goblins, ogres, giants etc.. The elves of the forest had many parallels to Tolkien's elves. For example, Tolkien's and Salvatore's elves are in the decline and they have few warriors to combat the increasing threats of the world. There is also the antagonism between dwarves and elves, which seems lifted from Tolkien's work. Also, readers of Tolkien will recognize the concept of the ents in this novel.

Salvatore's writing of battle is quite appropriate to a fantasy setting; there is some use of magic, but most of the battles are won on the basis of cunning and technique rather than wizardry. Some of the other characters developed in this novel caught my interest. There is a developing love interest between Cadderly and Danica (a monk whose discipline has allowed hear to become a formidable warrior), which is something different from the traditional prince and princess concept. There are also the two Dwarves (Ivan and Pikel) who provide a measure of comic relief. The brothers were the cooks of the Edificant Library but once summoned back to adventuring, they prove a considerable asset.

This novel was something of a mild disappointment after the interesting, fresh story that the first novel began with. The third novel in the series "Night Masks" appears more promising but I wonder how the series will play out.

I don't usually give high marks for many novels, but this is as good (don't get me wrong) as a night at the movies of a very gripping action picture.

Though I,ve been told this second book in the series was "trash" by one reader, forget about it. This novel for all its weaknesses raptures you in a full on war in the Sylvan' forest. The Characters Ivan & Pikel, (the dwarves) are sometimes downright hillarious, while other times will fill you with a bloodlust that will make you want to pick up a sword and join in the fray.

As exciting and powerful a book as you'll ever read. Outnumbered and sure to die slowly as the enemy moves in on them, mysticism and myth mix together and make you cheer for the heroes. The elves defend their heritage while Cadderly and his band stands with them. The battles are so well described, that you will actually be able to see from several different perspectives in the forest, at the same time while many different heroes struggle to just to survive, all the time they are fatigued and about to drop, yet they must fight on or die.

Salvatore puts you in a meatgrinder that will have reading until your eyes burn from lack of moisture, and you have to relieve yourself because you have'nt gone to the restroom for six hours. All the while you can't sleep because the story has charged up like a two year old on dimetapp, but your exhausted like the heroes with adrenaline pumping in you, to keep you awake.

Salvatore simply, gives you what you want. Once you read this, every other novel will be judged by the standard of action contained in this one book. I also recemmend any of the Ice Wind Dale books in another series by Salvatore, which is defintely a series that will have you seriously questioning other authors' talent in the fantasy-adventure genre.

"What?" I thought to myself "Five books about acleric? How good could that be?" But because it was Salvatore Iread and, boy, am I glad I did. Cadderly is one of the best characters I have ever read about. He fancies himself a scholar a priest who is not adept at the clerical magic of his faith...or is he? ...There are complaints about the ending, and I too must admit that it is not the most heartwarming in the world in was necessary for the transfer into the next book, just as Cadderly's Year Quest was for transition to this book. If you are a fan of Drizzt and Salvatore's books then you will this book and series very ingrossing (I read the first three books in a day, I couldn't help myself) and extremely intertaining. ...Don't be dissapointed that everyone's favorite dark elf ranger is not in this series, Cadderly is every bit as intriguing. IF you did not read this series because Drizzt is not in it then I beg you to reconsider you will not regret your decision.

"The Dragon's Dagger" continues Drizzt Do'Urden creator R.A. Salvatore's fantasy saga began in "The Woods Out Back." Like the previous novel, it is clearly a labor of love for its creator, as the main character, Gary, is named after none other than Salvatore's brother, while Gary's wife, Diane, is named after the author's own wife, and so on and so forth. Given Salvatore's connection to this tale, it's certainly difficult not to find the work a little endearing, but at the same time it lacks the punch and pacing of his far superior Drizzt Do'Urden stories (the early ones, and not some of his dawdling later efforts).

The premise is certainly a good one, and carries on that which began in the previous tome. Gary Leger, resident of the mundane Real-earth (or our world) is summoned to return to the magical realm of Faerie (think Middle-earth but less compelling) to slay Robert the Wretched, an evil dragon wreaking havoc in the land. Salvatore keeps things colorful and generally amusing in a somewhat light-hearted fashion, but manages to keep a whole lot from happening during the course of the novel. It has always seemed that all three books in the Spearweilder series could have been condensed into one excellent read, but were instead expanded into a trilogy, very much at the cost of pace.

Again Salvatore's tone is also a little unnerving. One moment Gary is lamenting killing his first human being, while the next he feels like he's taking a vacation from the grim realities of Real-earth. To top of it off, Gary's slaying of this human foe, and his guilt, play no real role in the events of the story, and make one wonder why they were ever included in the first place, since it seems so out of touch with the rest of the novel's good cheer. Salvatore also makes the mistake of becoming a little heavy-handed at times when he expresses his own viewpoints through the main character. It's a little preachy, to be sure.

In the end, though, "The Dragon's Dagger" is a lightweight read (only 300 or so pages) full of interesting characters and a decent helping of adventure that, like its predecessor, is worth checking out.

I would like to start by saying that Salvatore is a genius. With this trilogy, he not only keeps your interest, but gives you a genuine feeling of really being in the Land of Faerie. He brings in someone from our time and place, puts them in faerie, and then the true magic begins. The Dragon's Dagger is a wonderful story of honor, excitement, and brilliant battle scenes along with some good wit and humor. It's funny, yet it keeps you holding your breath. Definately a can't-put-it-down book.

Back in the day (1994), this was the first novel I read after The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings. Even for the VERY best contemporary author that's one helluva tough act to follow (impossible to top or even break even with). Take that and the fact that I obliviously started in the middle of the trilogy, and you would think I would have several complaints. I find it hard to come up with any, however. Aside from The Dark Elf series, this is book 2 in Salvatore's best series. Forget about those Demonwars and that Crimson Shadow (both series are highly trite and uninteresting). Pick this up instead - but DO start with The Woods Out Back and avoid those initial hints of confusion I suffered.

I think one of the reasons this series makes it where so many other Salvatore ventures have failed is because he embraces its wackiness and all its cliches (like Elven archers and Dwarven craftsmen, gentle Giants and wicked witches), and he does so in a comic yet adventurous fashion. I also liked the references to Tolkien which seem a respectable homage to the man who started it all and made this novel possible. Good work, Salvatore. Now if only all your other stuff could be like this and those Drizzt books...

While I didn't think this book was terrible, it was a bit of a dissapointment after how good Witch's daughter was. In my humble opinion, this book was really a retelling of that book, with a few different plot points added to the mix to change things up a bit. But beyond that, there are many flaws here.

Like Witch's Daughter, Bastion suffers from too many fantasy cliches (questing for a weapon, saving damsel in distress, etc.) but does not have the great action to make up for it, which was Witch's Daughter saving grace. Also, some of the plot was just plain silly and bad. A certain someone comes back from the grave (don't want to say who it is), and that fact, to me anyway, takes away from the over all story. Salvatore again makes facing a dragon in its lair a key point of one of his novels (he's done this about 4-5 times now, and may want to consider retiring that plot device). And also, a tribe of black carribbean-accented dwarves are introduced, seemingly for no reason whatsoever (that one REALLY had me scratching my head).

At the end of all of this is tacked on an extremely anti-climactic non-battle sequence that is over before it really begins. My advice: this book is only for us diehard Salvatore fans who want to read EVERYTHING he does. Everyone else may want to read something else of his. The Legacy perhaps? Ahhh, now there is a fine novel. In any event, you may want to skip this one and pick something else up instead.

First I just wanted to say that another review on this page contains major spoilers for this book. Be warned!This is the third book in the Chronicles of Ynis Aielle, which began with Echoes of the Fourth Magic and continued with The Witch's Daughter. If you liked those books, you will like this one too...Eventually. It has a very slow beginning that doesn't have the the usual quality Salvatore feel to it. It has the action but the characters and plot are both very hollow. It seems as if the author had a little trouble gettng back into the flow of this series. JUST KEEP READING- it gets very good. The plot really takes off with the usual R.A. Salvatore combination of Great Characters+Great Aciton=Great Story. In fact the story becomes so good that it is easy to forgive the slow start. A very worthy addition to the wonderful Chronicles of Ynis Aielle series.

The good wizards and greatest heros of Ynis Aielle have battled back the Black Warlock, and always he returns stronger and more determined. Now with his Staff of Death, the Black Warlock (also known as Morgan Thalasi) is able to ressurect an army of undead soldiers to do battles. He has also used the staff to bring forth the horrid wraith of Hollis Mitchell his general. Now its up to Rhiannon, the Emerald Witch of Avalon's daughter, and the half elf Brian of Corning to stop Morgan Thalasi, and its up to Belexus Backavar to defeat the wraith of Hollis Mitchell and avangeng his dearest friend. But the only hope of deafeating Morgan Thalasi lies at the heart of a mountain, guarded by a dragon as old as the world itself. Joining the ride to the dreaded Talas-dun is the hyperactive wizard Ardaz, Brielle the Emerald Witch of Avalon, the dead spirit of Jeffery DelGuidice, and the King Benador and the noble Avalon ranger Bellerian. R.A. Slavatore has paid homage to the Magicians and wizards using a discriptive and detailed story of the age old battle of Good and Evil, of Light and Darkness. A wonderful read and exiting tale.

I am currently using the book for a managerial economics class and find the information confusing . Certainly a review of supply and demand (chapter 3) and its application of middle level managers is crucial and should have been placed before optimizing techniques (chapter 2). The assumption is the student or reader has just finished an introduction economics course and all the information is still fresh in the mind. Personally, I review all principles in this book with basic economic principles for a much clearer understanding of the topics.

To be fair to the true value of the book, I would like to say that this book is a very useful, concise and all-round assortment of all the pre-existing economic concepts and techniques in their simplest and the most intuition-friendly form.

An undergraduate reader might find it a little challenging, but for a graduate level reader already seasoned in every aspect of economics, this would not only be an easy reading, but a very clear and insightful guide to economic rationale behind the theories they had taken for granted w/o giving its practical application much thought.

The beauty of this book for a graduate student, I think, is not in the treatment of highly advanced and feindishly complicated top of the line economic theories, but in the simple and insightful plain-langauge treatment of all the technical aspects of economics commonly and conventionally practiced in the economics discipline.

The value of this book for an undergraduate student majoring in economics or business may not be immediately evident w/o working hard at it, but rather would probably be appreciated a lot later when they are more comfortable w/ matrix algebra, calculus and econometrics.

Overall I rate this book a rare piece that balances well in the middle of the road between both graduate and undergraduate level audiences.

The content is excellent, and this book is a useful reference for anyone studying for the CIH exam. On the down side however, the publisher mistakingly elected to stuff two volumes worth of material into a 3-inch thick tome. The result is a poorly bound book that is not at all portable.

An amazing peice of work by a very intelligent man this book should become the standard that similiar works are based on.

The Chaos Curse, Book Five in the Cleric Quintet - R. A. Salvatore
A Review

The entire series is pretty good, but this particular book I enjoyed the least. When finished the Fallen Fortress, one says to him/herself: "Well, it was pretty good. Happy ending, and all. Why is there another book in the series, though?" I do not know why. The Chaos Curse is wholly unnecessary. From the very beginning, I felt that the series had been stretched beyond it's limit, to an extent of mediocrity that Salvatore should be ashamed of. Perhaps not, though. In my opinion, this is the least enjoyable book in the series. Especially the ending, although I won't say anything of it.
Unlike the previous four books, which are about the fight against Castle Trinity and it's dastardly villians, this one is about a battle against Kierkan Rufo, Cadderly's unrealistic arch enemy, and his minions. There are many things to say on this book, but I shall start my complaints with this:

1. The back cover of the book is somewhat misleading. It is as simply as that. When reading the book, I felt that it was nothing like what I expected it to be, from what I had read on the back cover.

2. Character Development. In this, I am particularly angry: Robert was presented with an oppurtunity for character development within this book. He had the chance to elaborate on Dean Thobicus's, the dean of the Edificant Library, fall from grace. No elaboration is written of, though. I was expecting Cadderly to return and begin dealing with Thobicus, but it was not so. By the time Cadderly returned home to his library, the only remaining residents in the libary were vampires and zombies. And this occured all in a few days!! Without a doubt, I feel that the Dean Thobicus's behavior in this and the previous book is very unrational and completely unrealistic.

3. An acceleration of events. Yes, this is true. In only a couple days, the number of living occupants in the Edificant Library is reduced to pretty much no people whatsoever. All have either been killed or turned into vampires or zombies. When (name removed so that no spoilers are given) begins taking over the libary, the other priests in the library, I am confident, are completely blind!!! Do they not realize that their numbers are being drastically reduced? That the holiness that once was upon Castle Trinity is now gone? Of course they do not realize it. Or maybe they do. The reader does not know, though, because no action is taken until Cadderly and his ilk arrive to save the day.

Unexpectedly, though, Cadderly does not save the day. The Edificant Library has sunken to a level of corrupted decay that is unrepairable. After defeating all the vampires and baddies in the library, Cadderly destroys the library and begins the creation of a new one, wielding the power of his god, Denier.
And here is pretty much where the book ends. The ending, though, is completely surprising. Cadderly sacrifices his youth and strength all to build the construction of his library. He uses to magic to erect pillars from the very ground, that form the foundation of the library. As powerful as he is, though, this taxes Cadderly greatly, as it should. It makes him age much quicker, as well. For the creation of the library to be built so quickly, he must age quickly as well. Or something like that.
So, by the end of the book, Cadderly is an old guy and Danica is still young and pretty. Very sad, actually, because the two still love each other greatly, but one has much longer to live than the other. At least Salvatore did something profound with the series. Although supposed to be deep and meaningful, I was hardly affected in the least for this sad ending of the series.

I shall finally end my review of this book with an extremely profound statement: "I enjoyed the Baldur's Gate book series MORE than The Cleric Quinet." That may be hard to believe, considering the BG book series is written by Phillip Athans, and unexperienced writer, and Drew Karpyshyn (A Bioware worker, who also worked on the games). Anyway, a lot of people (Just check the review on Amazon.com!!) think that the BG books are totally worthless, but those books, upon finished the series, had something of an epiphany effect on me. Very good. I would suggest you read them. This series, however, had no such effect. The Cleric Quintet is possibly the most dissapointing fantasy series I have ever read, and without a doubt R. A. Salvatore's worst series he has written. It does not exhibit his skills as a profession writer. It does the opposite.

... there are some interesting elements here. As hinted at in some of the previous novels of the series, Cadderly has something a reformer attitude. He believes his order has strayed away from its tenets and that it is too consumed with ritual and dusty tomes rather than helping people etc... Cadderly's religious order is headed up by Dean Thobiscus who, in Cadderly's view, personifies the ritualistic and power politics that have corrupted the order. This conflict had potential to be developed more, but this did not happen.

There was one improvement over the previous book in the series. Cadderly finally faces a foe that he finds difficult to combat. Obviously, I don't want to reveal who this last villain is but it was reasonably done. There is also some genuine risk involved here as Cadderly's lover, Danica, is captured. Where is the setting for this confrontation? The Edificant Library which has been overcome by the forces of darkness. Also, he faces an important choice near the end; to follow the calling of his God completely or continue his relationship with Danica.

...

The Chaos curse is the final book in a 5 book series, all of which are great. Cadderly and friends must face an evil in which they never thought they would have to face. They must fight together, facing new enemies, as well as old. This is a great series, and some of these characters make an appearence in Salvatore's other books containing Drizzt. I recommend these books to anyone into fantasy, or if you are just a fan of Salvatore, this book, as well as the others in the series, are a must! The ending of this book is a little sad, so be forewarned, but if you read the later books containing Drizzt, everything comes out to be alright.

After immersing myself in several of Salvatore's tales (Icewind Dale trilogy, Dark Elf trilogy, etc.), I picked up this series. Unfortunately, it was nowhere near as interesting or compelling to read as his other titles. I agree with the earlier reviewer in that I could not for the life of me get into the story. I didn't even finish the last book, simply because I didn't really care what happened. Not at all what I expected to be, I can't really recommend this to anyone but the most devout Salvatore fan. Instead, read the Demon Wars Saga: much, much better.

I would say that I was disappointed, but I wasn't expecting a Dark Elf Trilogy. The characters, especially the main character Luthien, were not very well developed and rather simple. Oliver was interesting, but he was the only developed character. Luthien, the main character, just was not that likeable. I never found myself cheering for Luthien, but Oliver was cool. The plot is ok, but I didn't really find the cyclopians very interesting for bad guys. Some of the things within the book were well written and interesting, but it would hurt anyone's view of the book when you are comparing it to his Forgotten Realms masterpieces.
Salvatore is still a great author, but I would recommend reading all of his Forgotten Realms novels before tackling this one. There are so many great fantasy books out there you can probably find a better one you haven't read, but hardcore Salvatore fans might enjoy it.

If you want good adventure story with a lot of battles, heroes, villains and magic creatures, well, this is your book. The story of Luthien is hardly original, but it is extremely interesting. You can not put the book down, so... I reccomend it.

R.A. Salvatore proves with this book that he was, at the time, running short on original ideas. Drizzt is my favorite character of all time, so I am fully aware of Salvatore's talents, but this book is lacking - much like the others in the series. For starters, there are just TOO many similarities to Tolkien to be ignored - the names Luthien and Eriador have been ripped right out of Middle-earth. The battle with the dragon is clearly the confrontation between Smaug and Bilbo modified to fit into Salvatore's story. And lastly, the character Brind'Amore, though a decent character, seems very much akin to Gandalf and therefore lacks in originality. The two major things that make this book worth reading, however, are Salvatore's trademark action scenes and the wonderful "highway-halfling," Oliver De'Burrows. But if you haven't read any of the Drizzt books, read them instead.

The second book of the "Crimson Shadow" is what I have expected - very good adventure story with a lot of combats. However that the first chapters are kinda boring(Luthien doesn't know who to love - Sioban, beautiful female halfelf or Catherin, his first girlfriend), the final is awesome, with hearthstopping magical duel.
Reccomended.

I could go on and on about how excellent this book is, but if you are at this page reading this then you probably know how good Salvatore is. And if you've read the first in this trilogy, well, this one is just as good. What I especially like about this book is Salvatore's description of the battle scenes (although they were a bit lacking compared to the rest of his work). I just have no idea how he can be that descriptive in his battle scenes. Makes you wonder if he was a medival hero in a former life.