Cloak of Shadows

Forgotten Realms: The Shadow of the Avatar, Book 2

By: Ed Greenwood

Narrated by: Todd McLaren

The Shadow over Faern

The Time of Troubles had arrived. The chaos of spilled blood, lawless strife, monsters unleashed, and avatars roaming Faern had come. But wrathful and warring gods were not Faern's only problem.

The dreaded and insidious Shadowmasters had seized the opportunity to increase their influence and power while Mystra and her minions were otherwise engaged. The Shadowmasters had woven a magical cloak of spells that would render the wearer invisible to their rival's magic.

The shadow over Faern spreads....

©1995 TSR, Inc. (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Cloak of Shadows

What did you love best about Cloak of Shadows?

This book continues the story with the same set of characters from book 1. However, it does add quite a few more to the equation, which can be a little tough to keep track. Ultimately, these bad guys from the plane of shadows (the maulagrym) are trying to take over while magic is going haywire. Sharintyr and the boys must storm the castle and crack some skulls.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I'm sticking with my Harper Bros for favorite characters. Ed writes them so well and hearing the banter back and forth really sets the tone.

Have you listened to any of Todd McLaren’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

After listening to a few of Todd McLaren's narrations I have found a new respect and favorite narrator. He does a very nice job. Although, because there are so many characters with the maulagrym added... some of the Harper voices sound like the bad guys.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It was almost like two stories in one book. Definitely, not as much Elminster as the first book which is a bummer. About half way through the book I figured it could have stopped and I would have been satisfied. Then the story takes a different turn and you follow another series of events in a different direction (which made it a little challenging to follow at times).

Any additional comments?

You can see why people might not enjoy some of Ed Greenwood's work. He definitely started to get jumbled in this novel. More than a few times I didn't know why or what the characters were really doing. Why did the maulagrym let the Harpers waltz into their castle and stay the night? Selune was imbued into a sword Sharintyr was using? And, what was Elminster doing the entire second half of the book?... stopping people from fighting with one another? C'mon, don't even write him in if that's what I am going to have to listen to for 25 minutes.

Overall, it's a worthwhile read/listen. Just know it's a little on the long side but the fun is still there.

best elminster book Iv read yet.

this book finally shows a glimpse of the true power of elminster that all of the previous books failed to do

aweful book

poor writing, repetitive themes. I can't quite put my finger on it but everything I disliked from the first book was made way worse by this one. at least the story was slightly better but the awful writing made it almost unbearable. but I'm invested at this point so I'm going to read the third one and probably hate that too