Mystra’s ill-fated confrontation with Helm on the Celestial Stairway, Elminster’s battle with Bane in the Temple of Lathander – they have an enduring, mythic quality that ultimately transcends the novel’s technical issues. I first read Shadowdale around 20 years ago, and certain scenes stuck with me from then right until the moment I re-read them days ago with a boyish grin on my face. Though I’ve been quite hard on the quality of the novel’s writing – and it is, in truth, below the level most modern fantasy imprints would consider of publishable quality – there’s no questioning the great imagination of the author. I think it’s safe to assume the novel was written under some pressing time constraints and that there wasn’t, perhaps, much time to go back and edit the rougher early material. The final third of the book, a drawn-out invasion of Shadowdale by Zhent forces, is markedly better-written than the rest. Fortunately, the story does take shape later on.
Before we know it, the heroes are unconvincingly thrown together and set out on a quest to rescue the mistress of a young woman, who becomes mysteriously ill in the presence of Midnight and her newfound pendant. There’s something about a threat to the city of Arabel, but it isn’t well explained. Unfortunately, the way the human protagonists are introduced and brought together is as clumsy as the handling of the gods. The motives of the gods Bane and Myrkul in stealing the Tablets of Fate, for example, are poorly explained and more in keeping with naughty schoolchildren than the most powerful evil gods in the Realms. It’s perhaps unfortunate that a young and inexperienced author was chosen to pen a novel detailing such an influential Realm-shaking event: the way the gods and their schemes are written is anything but convincing, and their juvenile antics clash with their more measured (and believable) characterizations in later novels and game accessories. The main characters – Midnight the magic-user, Kelemvor the fighter, Cyric the thief, and Adon the cleric – are frequently referred to simply by their professions, which quickly becomes grating. The first part of the book in particular demonstrates the author learning his craft on the job – the writing is often unclear and hard to read, with sentences occasionally not making much sense. Written while he was in his mid-20s, Shadowdale was Scott’s first published novel and in many ways, it shows. Scott sadly passed away in August 2014 of a blood clot to the brain. All three books were written under the pseudonym Richard Awlinson (“Richard All-in-one”): in fact, Shadowdale and its sequel Tantras were penned by Scott Ciencin, while the third book, Waterdeep, was written by Troy Denning. Shadowdale is the first book in The Avatar Trilogy, which deals with the reshaping of the Faerûnian pantheon of gods while handily transitioning the setting from 1st edition to 2nd edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.
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