Orc King excellent addition to Drizzt Lore

books:


	• The Orc King (Forgotten Realms: Transitions, Book 1) R.A. Salvatore Wizards of the Coast, 2007 - 346 pages average customer review:based on 45 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Drizzt is still good, Salvatore less so

The Orc King is, for all its faults, still a great read. Drizzt Do'Urden is a hero of righteousness and truth, and no reader can help but root for he and his team. Salvatore's novels are always exciting. This novel being the first in a trilogy called Transitions, the reader can expect (I hope) to see some significant changes to the Silver Marches and to the way that orcs at least are characterized in future novels...Don't read this novel for your first foray into the Forgotten Realms, but fans will enjoy, though probably not love this one. It is no Sojourn or The Crystal Shard, but it is fun to read and is a welcome return to the Drizzt legend for all Salvatore's readers.

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Guilty pleasures.

Among folks of certain scholarly or intellectual bent, fantasy has a bad rep.And deservedly so, too many hacks littering the field. The reason I call fantasy reading my guilty pleasure is that I enjoy it ALL, even the hacks. It is my opinion that Salvatore started off as a talented hack and has evolved into a really good writer. His more recent books have a depth and clarity his earlier ones lacked. So...fantasy lovers, grab this book, sit back and prepare for a wonderful ride.

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fantastic read! must have for Drizzt fans

marvelously orchestrated battle scenes tied together with meaningful philosophy which adds depth to the usually shallow genre. hated to see the book end.

Salvatore is not always this great. The demon wars series was trite, formulaic, and just so plain awful that i couldnt finish it. but when he picks up his old standby characters he shines. hope he keeps the drizzt series coming and coming.

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A tale of two books...

Why a "3"? Well, perhaps that's because parts of this latest "Drizzt" story merit a solid "4", while others barely earn a "2".

The fact of the matter is that it's painfully obvious that R.A. Salvatore long ago stoped caring as much about certain characters and elements within his greater storyline. With the "Orc King" , Mr. Salvatore has taken the opportunity to wrap them up as well as possible.

An example of this is Wulfgar, who has been bounced about in so many different directions ever since his return in "Passage to Dawn"--and mostly unsuccessfully. After turns as a hell-haunted wreck, a self-loathing alcoholic, a hard-bitten hero and a reluctant father, the once majestic barbarian finally seems to have been put out to pasture... and in a rather mediocre way, in my humble opinion. I say mediocre because, looking back at the Icewind Dale Trilogy and "The Legacy", I never imagined that Wulfgar's primary contribution prior to being shown the door would be to ENSURE US that Delly Curtie was, in fact, MUCH MORE than people assumed that poor barmaid was. Add to that a series of painfully forced scenes of the adorable adopted daughter cooing "Da" to him as he continues to lament his lack of legacy, and you have one of your "Transitions", wrapped up.

Catti-Brie seems to be taking a new direction as well, which is probably for the best seeing as how the Companions needed an additional fighter like I need another ear--and seeing as how Mr. Salvatore has been struggling for some time to make her a part of the action (most notably, in coming up with places from which she could shoot her bow). It remains to be seen how well this will work out... and how much time is alloted to her for this to happen. After all, Mr. Salvatore has dropped many more hints regarding her mortality and, ahem, biological clock, than he did for Wulfgar.

Finally, the motivations behind the political endstate seems somewhat contrived and illogical--the product of a need to follow an established game world's direction rather than sensible story-telling. Ultimately, that's the problem with writing novels based on a gaming world. The greater metaplot will force contrived, ill-fitting concepts on stories that largely were intended for different directions. It's either that, or Salvatore undertook an almost schizophrenic change of direction with the relations between Dwarf and Orc.

Having said all that... The action sequences are very well written. The villains, especially those new ones (and some of the established ones), work very well. "Transitions" is a theme that also applies to characters outside of the Companions... and I think one of those will be a pleasant surprise to the readers.

Established fans of the series will obviously enjoy this book, but those of us who were spoiled by the far superior Sellsword novels and the earlier Drizzt yarns will likely be somewhat ho-hum about this one. Sit back, enjoy, but don't expect anything mind-blowing.

(edited on 25 May, for clarification and grammar)

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Orc King excellent addition to Drizzt Lore

Excellent book. Well thought out with an interesting glimpse into the future of the Forgotten Realms.

reviews: 1, 2, 3, page 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

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