by Paul S. Kemp
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Product Description
The Lady has spoken to me.
It has already begun.
Shadows move out of the shrinking desert, south to the rich and arrogant cities of Sembia.
“Be brave, little man,” says the shadowman, and the boy thinks his voice is surprisingly soft. “Stay with your mother. This will be over soon.”
The shadows swallow him and he is gone.
On the edge of a war that will change the face of Faerûn, the world will find that not all shadows serve Shade.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Best Trilogy Since the Dark Elf Trilogy (Spoiler Free Review), 2008-12-06
I read all 3 books of the trilogy before I wrote this review. Shadowbred, Shadowstorm, and Shadowrealm all score 5 out of 5 and each book is better than the last.
The Twilight War Trilogy takes place after the Erevis Cale Trilogy. I strongly recommend that you read the Erevis Cale Trilogy first. Those are great books as well, and they will give you a really good insight on the characters' backstories and motivations. I gave all 3 of those books 5 of 5 as well. (They average 4.5 - 5 stars here on Amazon.)
All are written by Paul S. Kemp, who is one of the best fantasy writers of this decade. He creates believable fantasy characters with their own motivations, driven by a sense of duty, ambition, or emotion. His setting is amazing and the descriptions actually pull you into the world. The story is full of twists, deception, and betrayal. Epic action sequences featuring dragons, castle sieges, demons, mages, armies, cavalry, and undead keep you turning page after page. If you're looking for great heroic fantasy with a dark twist, all of these books are must reads!
The Twilight War Trilogy begins with dark forces manipulating the leaders of Sembia in an attempt to spark a civil war. Dark agents are in place throughout the government and the forces of good, evil, and even more evil are set on a collision course.
What sets these books apart from every other Fantasy Book is the emotional weight the characters are forced to carry. If you murder for the right reasons, you're still a murderer and that never goes away. As you are reading these books, the plots actually thicken and the emotion builds as you get through the books.
I strongly recommend the Twilight War Trilogy and the Erevis Cale Trilogy for anyone who reads fantasy novels. I'd especially recommend them if you like RA Salvatore or David Gemmell.
About 12 years ago, I read the Dark Elf Trilogy and there's always going to be a special place in my heart for those books. The Twilight War Trilogy has also earned a spot in that same special place.
Note: I lied when I said Paul S. Kemp was one of the best fantasy writers of this decade... he is the best. I was just trying to be nice to the other writers.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 Get ready to rock, 2008-10-16
Treachery!
I was minding my business. No, I was. Just perusing through some Forgotten Realms books, wondering what Forgotten Realms was. Breezy little reads, infested with elfs and bearded dwarfs, I thought, though I have played the Shadows of Amn game and Aerie's whinning added winged elfs to my disgust. It was the front cover that caught my attention; the stylised design so artistic I started flicking through the preview. Well, you don't really flick a page you mouse click it and it's not really a mouse . . . Stop rushing me, I'll get to the point eventually.
So I'm reading the prologue and Torm's beard I'm thinking, we got ourselves a cliche hobbit here sans the endless barding, don't we? Some kid excited about skipping stones and good golly a troll attack. Run to mum/mom, fellas, this could get scary. And it was for the kid and his mum/mom, otherwise they wouldn't have been hiding, or were until the troll found them. And while the kid is tossing twigs at it and I'm rolling a saving throw to keep from laughing, the suspense is building to a peak as the troll rears up for the kill---
And a dark man appears out of the shadows, dark sword in hand.
Shadows out, the troll slain. The screams of the villagers, slowly fading. The trolls, now doing the shrieking. And then the silence. The commendable build up of suspense that didn't read as cheesy had even Bane grunting grudging approval. Interest ensnared, I initiated the purchase ritual despite that awful font size all Realms-class books preen themselves with.
I must say I was impressed, very impressed. Kemp dispenses with pretentious prose and pace-slogging descriptions in favour of a no nonsense writing that's pragmatically practical when writing a cast of killers. The irrelevance of whether pragmatically is a word or not aside, Shadowbred is a slick little read of epic adventure. Despite the occasional reference to events of the last trilogy, the book can be read as it is just fine. Villains ranging from calm to homocidially insane, heroes you wouldn't want to meet in a daytime alley, and a talking dog that, ah ... eats shadows.
The Shadovar have recovered a mythallar from the depths of the sea, aspiring to add another upside mountaintop city to their collection. A parasentient battery able to empower magical objects, they need a mind mage to awaken its slumber, and have captured Magadon for the job. Bored teasing Lolth's abdomen, some Shar slut has decided to conquer the world, starting with the merchant cities of Sembia.
Divide from within, conquer from out. Caught between civil war and deceitful allies, the Twilight War begins. Find the book and herald the shadowstorm.
That's a bit of a problem. Guess she forgot Cale's from Sembia.
Get ready to rock.
Enter the Cale. A year ago he was a man. Butler by trade, assassin by profession. Now he's a shade, able to teleport through shadows and heal himself of injuries. But the price has come at an emotional cost to the soul. Erevis is his name; First Chosen of Mask, the deity of thieves. And blaming Mask for the loss of his humanity and best friend, Cale makes for a refreshing hero to read as he fights a war between reverence and resentment.
To find Magadon Cale needs Mask, and with a cataclysm coming Mask needs Cale. On one hand you have Salvatore and his introspective pet drow, who could attack Ao and live to tell the tavern tale. The same swordfights book after book. On the other hand you have Cale, forced to choose between the family he left in Selgaunt and a friend screaming help in his mind.
Because the game has gotten bigger now. Gone are the silly but deadly slaads of the past trilogy. The stakes are higher and Cale is going to need all the help he can get. They're cold, they're assassins, and the lines flow faster than the bodies they sprawl in their wake; and in place of their rival bickering that was classic Kemp, Rivan is back with his signature sneering.
The villains are no less interesting, from the calm and mannered Rivalen, an archmage orchestrating Shar's dark ambitions and apparently 2000yrs old, to Elyril, a sadistic sylph of ruthless amorality sowing political strife. Loyalty is its own reward. Rivalen has murdered his mother to prove his fealty to Shar. Elyril would thank the slut just to be stepped on by her feet. Rivan has finally accepted his second place to Mask. Faced with a siege he cannot repel, Tamlin wars between private ambition and a father's name to live up to. Magadon is losing his sanity within himself. And Cale, his life and humanity flipped over by the deity he trusted, must find that core within himself.
How far would you go to get your friend back?
Shar's own priest, thousands of years old, a shade himself -- bursting through the door, Cale grabs Rivalen by the shirt, shadows sparking violently.
"Where is Magadon!"
The look on Rivalen's face, the sheer chutzpa -- the scene is worth the price of the book alone.
This is Kemp. This is his Cale. This is Shadowbred. And if you're looking for a Realms book that's not saturated with blonde elfs, mindless action and unkillable Drizzt, Mystra's butt cheeks is this the book for you.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Dark and empty!, 2008-05-10
Though it is a favorite saying of the book's characters, "dark and empty" is only partially correct in describing this novel. It is indeed dark, but it is not empty by any means; on the contrary, it is filled with rich storylines, plots, counterplots, and enough action to keep things moving.
The amount of combat has decreased from the previous trilogy, but when it happens, it is far more intense than before. Instead of Slaadi, Erevis takes on fellow Shades and even his own God. There is a scene between Mask and Erevis that makes the entire book worthwhile (yet even without it, the book would still merit five stars).
The pacing drags slightly at times, but only because so much is happening that Paul S. Kemp must take time to explain it all. The descriptions are vivid and rich with detail. Even these slow moments are significant. They often involve the political machinations of Sembia, and the causes of the unrest that could very well lead to civil war. Unbeknownst to the mortal politicians of Sembia, unseen hands are guiding events in precisely that direction. A slew of new characters are introduced, and fleshed-out accordingly. One great thing about Kemp's writing is that he subtly helps the reader see things from everyone's point of view. At times, I found myself cheering on the drug-addicted servant of Shar, even though she was ruining the lives of many a good soul. It is this quality-- the lack of preaching and one-sided perspectives-- that really set all of the Erevis Cale novels apart from the typical WOTC fare.
Sex also plays a role in this new book. A number of reviewers have criticised Kemp for introducing Varra into the plot during the last trilogy, yet I think that she plays a key role in Cale's story. She helps keep him human. She represents the mortal hopes&dreams of Erevis Cale before he became a Shade. With Jak gone (though he does appear in this book, for a short while), she is the last bastion of his humanity. She is present in this novel, but most of the sexual encounters involve the main villainess. She, and the rest of Shar's Servants, bring a whole new dimesion to the story. Prince Rivalen and The Leaves of One Night, first seen in the novel 'Mistress of the Night' by Don Bassingthwaite and Dave Gross , show up in this book. I love the way that this series brings so many huge, realm-spanning events and characters into the fold, yet keeps the story personal, the motivations believable and human.
Numerous other characters from Cale's past show up as well. The entire Uskevren clan has a long-awaited reunion with 'Mister Cale'. Erevis' struggle to keep his Shade-self hidden makes this all the more interesting, as does his conflict with the still somewhat immature Tamlin.
The last twenty pages really bring the book together. They contain the most action, and some of the most important plot development, in the entire book. In his usual, infamous fashion, Kemp leaves us hanging three-fourths of the way through a monumentous event. Luckily, the second book in the series has already been released, or else I would be tearing my hair out in frustration. All in all, this series is transcendent for the Realms. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good story, and especially to those D&D players who prefer the plot of a campaign over the mindless hack-and-slash. This is truly a thinking man's series.
One final note- the events of this trilogy lead up to the 4th edition shift, for those of you who actually play D&D. This series, and the story therein, plays a significant role in the changes that take place during that one hundred year break between 3.5 to 4th edition; in fact, the spell-plague is a direct result. I shall say no more, to ensure that nothing is spoiled for anyone.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Drizzt who?, 2008-04-14
I know alot of you who follow R.A.Salvatore are probably thinking to yourselves that if I have read any of the novels by the master of fine fantasy fiction himself, then there is no way I could possibly be serious about the title of this review. Well I am as serious as a heart attack. While reading this novel and the rest of the novels involving Erevis Cale I did, if for only the time it took me to finish said novels, totally forget about the Transitions series that Mr. Salvatore is currently working on. This review, however, isn't about the novels involving Drizzt, so lets get on topic.
Mr. Kemp knows how to create a powerful, evolving main character and surround him with a supporting cast that greatly improve the flow of the story, and do a great job of keeping you interested. Erevis Cale is that character. Although each of the characters in the story are powerful in their own way, Mr. Kemp makes them extremely easily to identify with and become attached to due to their individual character flaws. Whether it is Erevis' attempts at coming to grips with his newfound power, or Drasek Riven's craving for more of it, you will feel as if you have been reading about them for years.
These books are hard to put down. Many authors use different chapters to jump between different settings/events in the storyline, which normally makes it easy to find a stopping point. This is not the case with this series/author. Every chapter ends with something that makes you want to keep reading to find out just how it affects the story in the next chapter.
I picked up this book to give me something else to read while I wait for the next book in the "Transitions" series to come out, and I ended up reading the whole Erevis Cale collection. Now along with Mr. Salvatore and Mr. Knaak, I am adding Mr. Kemp to my list of favorite fantasy fiction authors. Pick this book up and I think you will be as surprised and hooked as I am.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Pure Gold , 2008-02-21
I have read quite a bit of fantasy in my day and I must say that out of all I've read Paul S Kemp's work is truly spectacular. He creates fascinating protagonists that are fleshed out and realistic. None of the things Erevis Cale does is without motivation and reason. The villains that Mr. Kemp created from the last book series defy description and the new villains are just as good. I can say without a doubt that Mr. Kemp creates fantastic characters of any variety.
Shadowbred is a great tale, filled with intrigue, action, Lies, redemption ,character development, and a bit of romance. The story takes a bit of time to focus on the protagonist, Erevis Cale but since this is the first book and the author needed to set the stage for the main plot the delay is acceptable. The book, like all the Erevis Cale books, ends in a horrible cliff hanger that kept me on the edge of my seat all year waiting for the next book. This book is a must have from a great author and I would recommend it to anybody.
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