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The Barnes & Noble Review
From Ed Greenwood, creator of Forgotten Realms -- one of the most richly detailed fantasy worlds ever imagined -- comes a prequel of sorts to his bestselling Band of Four novels (The Kingless Land, The Vacant Throne, A Dragon's Ascension, et al.), entitled The Silent House, a spellbinding saga about the long-abandoned and accursed Silvertree mansion.
Beginning with the very first Silvertrees who began construction of the Silvertree House -- the legendary warrior Ravengar Silvertree, the Lord Overbaron of Aglirta; and his beautiful sorceress wife, Yuesembra -- the novel chronicles several generations of their descendants, as the destiny of the Silvertree bloodline becomes intertwined with the covert machinations of the Faceless -- shape-shifting humans born with the Beast Taint -- and later, the evil intrigues of the Serpent's depraved followers.
From Sembril, the Lady Baron of Silvertree who willingly became a living nightmare in order to save her home, to Taerith, Lord Baron of Blackgult, a dashing thief and kidnapper who reluctantly returned to the Silvertree House to face his destiny, The Silent House explores the maddening curse that saturates every inch of the ever-expanding and ever-changing fortress. The book concludes with a story about the beginning of the legendary Band of Four: the thief Craer, the warrior Hawk, the healer Sarasper, and Embra Silvertree, the sorceress who is much more than she appears.
Packed with bloody battles, shape-shifting seductresses, magic-filled quests, political intrigue, and enough tentacled horrors to fill ten novels, The Silent House is Greenwood's strongest work to date -- and one of the best adventure fantasy novels of the year. Paul Goat Allen
Publishers Weekly
In this complex, fast-paced heroic fantasy, the first to give a sweeping overview of the world of Aglirta, Canadian author Greenwood focuses on the transformation of Silent House, the ancestral estate of the Silver-tree clan mentioned in his Band of Four series (The Kingless Land, etc.), from a stronghold into a living entity. As the increasingly sentient Silent House tries to protect its charges with supernatural force, it unintentionally releases a curse. Characters are as confused by their own ambiguous motives as they are by one another. Beneath all the surface action and adventure, the romance and battles that are standard sword-and-sorcery fare, the author subtly explores the effects of culpability and remorse. He extols ideals of heritage and courage even as he depicts often misguided individual motives with grim naturalism. This is a book as philosophically engaging as it is entertaining. Agent, Andy Zack. (July 6) FYI: Greenwood is the creator of the Forgotten Realms role-playing game series. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
Beginning with the story of Ravengar Silvertree, Overbaron of Aglirta, and the origins of the cursed and haunted Silent House, the dungeonlike fortress that is the Silvertree ancestral stronghold, and continuing through the years to Embra Silvertree, Dragon and Guardian of Aglirta, the legend of the Silvertree family comes to life in vivid detail. The author of the "Band of Four" adventures illuminates the background of a realm filled with sorcery and peril. Each tale stands alone, yet together the stories form a cohesive whole that tells of a family curse and its surprising end. For most fantasy and YA collections. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
