Canticle Essay, Research Paper

I. Background Information

Adam U. Lit

Canticle 5th hour

R. A. Salvatore 313 pages

1991 paperback

Home Fantasy

II. Plot

Summary:

The main character of this book, Cadderly, was a young priest living in a place called the Edificant Library. The Library was large, plain building that housed priests of all of the good gods, but mostly Denier and Oghma. Cadderly was an inexperienced priest of Denier. He was working as a scribe for the library, as well as making weapons that he calls “toys”. His inventions included a bladed yo-yo, a small, one hand crossbow, and darts for that crossbow that were filled with an oil that, when jolted, exploded.

An evil priest of the goddess Talona named Barjin was sent to the library by an evil wizard, named Aballister. He was sent to place a potion called “The Chaos Curse” that the two had made. The potion made anybody who breathed it act out there deepest desires. They did this because they were from Castle Trinity, which is in the same mountain range as the Library. Castle Trinity was filled with creatures that Abillister led.

The potion could only be opened by someone pure of heart. Barjin hid out in the catacombs beneath the library’s basement. Barjin hypnotized Cadderly and made him open the bottle. The fumes drifted up into the main part of the library. During the next few days, people began to do strange things. Some people became gluttons, while others just stood up during church and went fishing. The place had been taken over by complete chaos.

Cadderly struggled to regain his memory of the events that had taken place in the catacombs. Finally, in a dream, Cadderly recalled that Barjin was in the catacombs. Cadderly and two of his dwarven friends, Ivan and Pikel, the cooks of the library, went after the priest. Since Cadderly was the one who opened it, he was unaffected. Dwarves have innate magical resistance, but the affects were beginning to wear on them.

When Cadderly arrived, he found that the priest had risen undead creatures, such as skeletons and zombies to aid him. The leader of the undead was a huge mummy. The friends were hard pressed against the enemies. While trying to kill the mummy, one of his crossbow quarrels accidentally hit Barjin in the chest, putting a gaping hole in it. Since the priest who had risen them had perished, the undead creatures crumbled into dust at that point. Cadderly was ashamed of killing the priest, albeit being the hero of the day.

Many of the priests had perished as gluttons, while others thought they could fly. Others, the priests of suffering, had killed themselves in other, more painful ways, but enjoyed it because that is what their religion believed in. In the days following, the Library was visited by an elf, requesting help for the neighboring elven forest that was being attack by troops sent by Aballister. Cadderly volunteers to go with since he wants to see more of the world. The end the book revealed that Aballister was Cadderly’s father, though Cadderly doesn’t know it. This book is the first in a series of five named The Cleric Quintet.

1) The main conflict was external as Cadderly tried to stop the Chaos Curse from killing all of the priests of the library. There was some internal conflict as he tried to recall where Barjin was.

2) The climax was as Cadderly, Ivan, and Pikel fought Barjin and his undead monstrosities.

3) The conclusion was indefinite, since it led into another book. The closest to a conclusion is Cadderly going out to see the world.

4) I think the ending wasn’t too predictable because I didn’t think so many priests would die.

III. Characterization

The main characters of this book were Cadderly, Barjin, and Abillister. Cadderly was a naive young priest, but became wise beyond his years. He was pure of heart and strong willed. Even against all of the undead, he didn’t become frightened and run away. He didn’t have any secret desires. He was pretty believable because he wasn’t a super-strong hero, but an ordinary guy. His dialog was done very well, so he seemed to be talking right in front of me. He kind of reminds me of Marty on Back to the Future because he isn’t big and strong, but he’s still a hero. He becomes wiser through the book, as a because he was gifted by his god.

Barjin was an evil priest that was ruthless. He plotted against Aballister so he could become the leader of Castle Trinity. He planted the Chaos Curse that killed many people, just to get his own way. He wasn’t too believable because he seemed too exited over raising all the undead, like a mad scientist. He reminds me of a gangsters right hand man, since he did all the dirty work for Aballister. He changes as he gets more and more obsessed with the potion and with power.

Aballister is the most evil person you could imagine. He would mercillessy kill hundreds of people, just so he could get his own way. At the end he sends his soldiers to the elven forest to kill the thousands of elves that lived there. Neither of these places had threatened him. He is kind of believable, because some real life leaders act like that some times. He reminds me of Saddam Hussein because he was attacking places that hadn’t harmed him, just for power. He gets more determined to get the edificant library throughout the book, especially since Cadderly was his son.

IV. Setting

This book takes place in a Fantasy setting. It is on the planet Toril. It is in the summer or spring because there isn’t snow on the ground, but it is still is cold since it takes place in the mountains. To the west is the elven forest and the east is a large lake near the town of Carradoon.

V. Theme

I think the theme was saving the Library from certain destruction by being brave. If Cadderly hadn’t saved them, the Library’s priests all would have killed themselves or each other.

Cadderly wouldn’t have backed down for anything, and he bravly defended his home. I agree with this theme because it makes more sense having three people risk their lives to save hundreds than it does for three to escape and hundreds dying.

VI. General Info.

I chose this book because it was written by an author I like. I have read many of his books before. I would reccomend this book to readers who like fantasy and fairly long books. My favorite part was when Cadderly and the dwarves were fighting Barjin and the undead. My least favorite part was when Barjin hypnotized Cadderly into opening the potion. The story started out slow but gained momentum until I couldn’t put it down because I didn’t know if Cadderly would get there in time to save the other priests.

It took me about 4 hours to read the book and 2 to type the report.