Book III, The Ghost King: Transitions

******************SPOILER ALERT******************

Since the first reviewer already let it slip that 3 characters die, I have no problem bringing it up. The only reason I didn't truly enjoy this book is the manor in which 2 of the characters died. It was pointless and neither contributed to the story. It was a complete waste. I'm not gonna go in depth cuz I don't want to give away who it is. (the 2 in question don't kick the bucket til the very end so any hints will give it away) I felt this book should have been much longer. I think once Salvatore has the ability to walk away from WoTC, he should. He needs to move on to epic novels instead of this watered down form.

This book had the ultimate cast. All of the greatest characters in the Drizzt saga were here except for Artemis. Some of you may disagree because Wulfgar is not in this one but I haven't enjoyed his contribtion to the saga since the beginning. Just to name my favorites here you go: Jarlaxle, Athrogate, Ivan and Pikel Bouldershoulder, Cadderly (duh!), and Pwent. Each of these characters have recieved a lot of care on Salvatores part in the character developement department. I don't feel any of them got the chance to shine in this book with so many big names walking around. Cadderly was a bit of a let down since he was such a prominent part of this story. They didn't explain at all how he maintained his powers even though everyone else was SOL in the divine/arcane department. I understand he's a chosen but how can you be a chosen of anything when your patron deity goes MIA.

I find it hard for Salvatore to walk away from the Drizzt series since there are so many loose ends left from before as well a whole bunch of new ones opened up in this one. I don't think this is the end of Crenshinbon, Heifestus, or Yarakshik( definately not sure on the spelling). I didn't seem like the finale was complete. Not like in the earlier books. I felt some of these villians were done for good before but this ending was less finite. I'm wondering to myself why this 3 part series was about 3 different stories while this novel could have filled out all 3 volumes and answered a lot more questions. Hopefully we'll get another book that will clear up some of my misgivings about where the series is going. I don't fault the death of the chatacters. It's time a big name died. For so long these characters have had the illusion of immortality. To press on against insumantable odds and not only win but crush the enemy and throw a party afterwards. No one is that good. Elminsters days are numbered.

One last thing. Does anyone else feel that Salvatores little introductions to each sections of the books (the part where Drizzt laments on past experiences and explains why he does what he does how he does it) to be annoying and of no substance. This novel really irritated me on this one. They had no polish. It was as if he was really digging to write something truly deep and failed utterly.

If youve read the Spellplague(d) books being published and looked to the different series already landing in a spellplagued future, you have to know where Salvatore has to take you. In a sometimes too "fight to fight" book with a little less character reflection than weve come to appreciate from Salvatore, the future is cemented as a painful evolution but one thats been hinted at for the past few books with no solutions provided. If you can look at this final chapter as a microchasm of the forgotten realms and its pantheon, it's a fairly fitting finale to what we came to know with the release of that Forgotten Realms campaign setting so many years ago. Coincidence of enemies and allies pushes the first and last combatants of Salvatore's world into a last all out fight to the death in the confines of Spirit Soaring. While "normal" humans wander aimlessly under the world to escape the destruction of their town, Salvatore's elite characters (save one) combine forces to answer the question "what about tomorrow". What will the humans find when they emerge from their own mini dark age? Who will their heroes be? And will old villains be among them?

As depressing as it was to see the three characters lost move on, it allows Salvatore to take Drizzt potentially decades beyond the Ghost King. Maybe hes a haunted loner again. Maybe he becomes more of the surgical strike to Jarlaxle's noble(?) strategies and plottings. Maybe he and Bruenor spend the time plane hopping looking for that one pocket of peace allowing Mithral Hall to be forgotten. Maybe this is it?

It's been a while since I think I've read a book where I didn't think I knew where Drizzt would go next. He has been such a linear character for the past couple series. And now weve read his thoughts on what defines a hero, what magic provided for the stability of civilization, and that his anchor may be forever lost to him. Wide open. I couldnt imagine a better way to shove Drizzt into the Spellplague and maybe allow him to step beyond his regional fame and be a Hero for the new age.

It seems like Salvatore is getting tired of, or running out of ideas for the story line. Almost a convenient rehash of former villains to bring about an ending where you are not expecting any more continuing adventures. The change in the environment in the way it affects the characters so that there are not any more glorious exploits to be had. The reduction in the interaction between the characters to end further chances of more stories left me very disappointed with the ending.

The most popular characters are brought together to save the day again. Theres Drizzt,Brunor,Regis,Catti-Brie,Jarlaxel,Cadderly,Danka,Pickle,and his brother.
Maybe my least favorate Drizzt book but theres lots of action. It drags alittle more than Im used to his books doing. All in all a fair read. If I tell you anymore there would be no need to read it so thats all.

Once again, Mr Salvatore does a great job of doing great and unexpected things with the greatest fantasy heroes I've ever followed. Quite a sad ending, although somehow I can imagine it will turn around to a greater storyline.

I am a dedicated Salvatore fan and have read all of the other 20 or so books connected with the Legend of Drizzt series. So when his new book came out in October, The Ghost King, I was dying to read it and couldn't possibly receive it fast enough.

I ordered it through the store since they have provided such great service in the past. The shipping was extremely fast - I only paid the basic shipping price, but I still received the book within 2-3 days. It came in so quickly that I didn't even have time for anxious anticipation. =)

The book was also in perfect condition when it arrived. Every order placed through the store has been perfect thus far, and I will certainly continue to shop on their site.

Once again, Mr Salvatore does a great job of doing great and unexpected things with the greatest fantasy heroes I've ever followed. Quite a sad ending, although somehow I can imagine it will turn around to a greater storyline.

I am a dedicated Salvatore fan and have read all of the other 20 or so books connected with the Legend of Drizzt series. So when his new book came out in October, The Ghost King, I was dying to read it and couldn't possibly receive it fast enough.

I ordered it through the store since they have provided such great service in the past. The shipping was extremely fast - I only paid the basic shipping price, but I still received the book within 2-3 days. It came in so quickly that I didn't even have time for anxious anticipation. =)

The book was also in perfect condition when it arrived. Every order placed through the store has been perfect thus far, and I will certainly continue to shop on their site.

The Ghost King completes the Transitions Trilogy, which started out quite slow and disjointed from the future scene that opened The Orc King to the more contemporary story of The Pirate King, taking place some eight years after the end of the second book in the series.

While Salvatore unites the disparate characters from his two Realms series once again, he does so more intimately, having Jarlaxle as the main focus of the antagonist's ire at the start of the book. Spanning a wide range of the canon of the Forgotten Realms, we see psionics in use, magic failing due to the spell plague, priestly magic failing as the Gods seem to have disappeared, but magic weapons and items seemingly unaffected. The story deals with the reincarnated Crystal Shard in a new guise, dissociated from the Lichs who created it in the ancient past, but united with the dragon whose breath destroyed it and a mind flayer. The three minds compete for dominance, so the foe serves as its own antagonist for some of the book.

The heroes are familiar, from the characters of the Cleric Quintet and their children, to the remaining Companions of the Hall (Wulfgar was split from them earlier in the series, for good it seems), to Jarlaxle and Athrogate. Artemis Entreri is mentioned but never seen, and it was noted that he was being hunted by the servants of the Shard so we might see another book or story featuring him in the future.

The heroes band together to face the evil, accompanied by extra-dimensional beings entering through a dimensional rift that replenishes the enemy ranks. Two of the Companions are laid low before any battle is fought and they only serve to distract the rest until their plotlines are resolved at the end of the book.

The title of the series, Transitions, reflects not only the changeover of the game system of Dungeons and Dragons, but also the changes that proceed in the lives of the primary characters as their world changes. The defeats and victories they have achieved and suffered in their lives are matched by their greatest challenge to date. The heroes show their mettle and the reader is rewarded for being patient in following the course of the action. This is not a pleasant story, as great changes are wrought both in the Forgotten Realms and in the lives of the characters we have grown to know and love. How they deal with these radical changes will have to wait to be revealed in whatever Salvatore delivers next.

Note that Salvatore has a long author's note to open the book, citing how difficult it was for him to write. It was not until the end of the book that this truly became clear to me. It is a pretty rare thing for a book to move me to tears, but this one accomplished that for the first time in a very long while. I cannot say enough good things about this book, though it did start a bit slow and some things were not explained terribly well and there were some consistency issues (such as Ivan retrieving his axe at one point, then not having it and using rocks, then suddenly having his axe again). However much I might not like such things, they are present and result in my not giving this a five star review.

This is a fantastic book that reads very fast, like the older books in the Drizzt line it is grand in scale and deals with the evolution in the life of this larger than life hero.

I have read all of Drizzt's books and have been a big fan since the first one,and I have to admit the conclusion of this one was indeed was saddest of all. It's inevitable for any perrenial fans of the companions of the hall to feel a chunk of their lifeforce stripped away after reading the ending to this book. Like some of you said, it was necessary for the end of some of these key characters but the way two of them died in this book was ridiculous. Besides, I did not understand how some of the things exactly happened in this book. After I did a little research I found out that in the year 1385 Mystra was murdered so as a result the weave was broken or damaged, creating the spell plague in the process. Many people wonder if the next book will be a 100 year timeline jump, if it is will bruenor, the last remaining member of the companions besides drizzt, still be alive by then? Which new companions will salvatore give drizzt in the upcoming novels, or if there are any upcoming novels at all? It was a good read overall.

The Ghost King by far was the best read of the Transitions Trilogy. The storyline was so fluid and punctuated by the right amount of action that Salvatore is noted for. I highly recommend this to any fan of the Realms and of Salvatore's iconic character, Drizzt Do'Urden. For this tale is a must read and will bring out many emotions to the fans who have accompioned the Companions of the Hall on their many journeys.

I loved this book from beginning to end...I was depressed with the way some of the people had to die or end there lives but Salvatore did what he does best in this book. Keep his readers guessing and anxious. I started reading this series just by picking up a random book a few years ago and now see myself looking on the sites to see when the next volume is coming out. With Drizztt Do, Urden who can ask for a better character and hero. Cant wait till the next installment.

Salvatore kept in his wonderful tradition of writing in the saga including Drizzit. Book moved in all directions with twists and turns that you were not looking for throughout the book. Excellent book to read if you are keeping up with the saga

was a good read and good story but it seemed r.a. salvadore put to much into fight scene discriptions. while i know this is one of his strong points i feel it was a little over done in this book. while not one of his best works still a good story and worth the read if you enjoy the drizzt stories.

Salvatore does a great job of getting back to the characters that made him famous. He is tieing together loose ends that set the stage for the time frame that the D&D 4th edition settings take place. He returns old friends to the story and throws in some unexpected curveballs. Classic Salvatore at it's best. If you are a fan of the Drizzt books then I strongly recommend picking this one up too.

I've never cried over a book, I've never shrieked over a book, and I've most certainly never thrown my fist into the air and fall out of my chair over a book before. R.A. Salvatore has quickly become my most cherished author. He is one of very few authors who I can honestly say I still love his writing after reading four of five novels of his. This whole series revolving around Drizzt brought me to my knees in this book especially. Any with vivid imagination, compassion and insight should consider having a box of tissues while reading this book and a bowl of popcorn on their other side. I was not disappointed with this book in the slightest. Even though I'm only eighteen, I look forward to the next few books of Salvatore's wholeheartedly.

This book blows.. All the other books.. AMAZEBALLS!!!! This trilogy is painful to slog through.. I hear the next books are back to the exceptional caliber I've come to enjoy. Dear god I hope so as all the books til now have been tremendous!

"Once again Salvatore it a pure genius!!!" The third book of the Transitions trilogy was in my opinion, the best of the three....though all of them are great!! Salvatore has definitely stepped it up "several" notches with Transitions. The title of the book says it all......"nothing will ever be the same in Faerun, the Spellplague has come."

My emotions are running wild after the reading the conclusion; from the very beginning (Orc King) Salvatore "prepares" you for the "change", you do not want it to come (I dreaded it...), but fortunately/unfortunately things do change. Salvatore you are a pure master and genius, and I thank you for the time you have giving, we your fans, the opportunity to get to know (and love) all the "Companions of the Hall"....again thank you!! I sat at my desk for several hours contemplating "life, determination, conviction, family, goals, perseverance, etc. after finishing the book......wow!!!!

To any of you who read my review, I will say this book should receive "10 stars", and if you have followed Drizzt and his companions thus far.......be prepared for "transitions". Sometimes we do not want change, but change nevertheless is part of the fabric of "any" reality.

I cannot wait to read where this leads Drizzt next.....so many possibilites!!!!

I will not talk about any details of the book.....please read the book.I hope each of you enjoy this book as much as I did. Thank you again Salvatore!!!!!!

First, I should admit that the fight scenes were acceptable and that any book with Jarlaxle is usually decent since Drizzt has evolved into a sort of goody two shoes over the years. I was hoping Cat's death would open up another dimension to his personality, but alas... she is not even really dead.. just in la la land dancing and waiting for Jarlaxle to find a way to rescue her. The thing I hate most about this book is that Salvatore's philosophizing keeps getting worse and worse with each book. And, there is WAY, WAY, WAY too much internal conflict. Also, unless you have read every book Salvatore has written, including the cleric quintet, be prepared to be assaulted with an overwhelming number of new characters. With that many new characters, it was hard to become attached to any. I didn't really care when any of them died. I just wished Cat's death would have been more final. I have hated her character ever since she dumped Wolfgar. Speaking of which, Wolfgar was notably absent from this story even though the book ended with the implication we would see him in the next book. Wasn't this supposed to be the final in this series? Where is the conclusion? The shard isn't really destroyed. The dragon isn't really dead. The mind-flayer is now reunited with some hive. The weave is still fallen and no one knows why. Cadderly's god is writing metatext on the weave and you don't know what that is about either. Who is the mysterious god giving Cadderly power anyway? The end of the book was supposed to be like the beginning of the first book, which it is not. Will there be a 4th book in transitions? Will I bother reading it? Probably. I just keep missing the Salvatore I knew in Homeland, Exile, Sojourn and the Icewind Dale Trilogy.

Have read many R, A. Salavatore books, big fan. Could not even finish book, worst book of his that i have tried to read. Pirate King was also bad, but I did read whole book. Not worth the time, sorry i started. Will still read the next book.

The Ghost King brings Drizzt, Bruenor, Athrogate, Jarlaxle, Danica and Cadderly together for a great and important task. The story moves along well and has an abundance of action. I was slightly disappointed in the ending, but it wasn't that bad. Overall it was a great story in a line of great stories.

This was purchased as a Christmas gift last year. My son in law kept his nose in this book until the end and I know has read it more than one time so it must be good. R.A. Salvatore is a really great writer.

If you are a fan of Salvatore and his 2 groups, the Heroes of the Hall and the heroes from Spirit Soaring you will have mixed feelings about the book. On one side it revisits -yet again- some old villains in a clever way but it starts to look like a Power Rangers season where the villains keep coming back no matter how many times you defeat them. One of the attractive ideas from D&D that I have always liked in his books is the opportunity to always face new enemies, not only new challenges. It started with Icingdeath, then Crenshinibon, then Errtu, drow, orcs, etc., but not so in this book. And the evolution of the characters -for those than evolve - is in a direction which isn't logic and its corny (mainly Jarlaxle and Cadderly in relation to Jarlaxle) for it reflects more the joining of the players behind the characters rather than the way the characters would evolve in a world real to them. If you are a fan you need to buy this book if at all to close the cycle, but it is as disappointing as real life can be.

Spoiler warning
Though I understand the value of writing about confronting a terminal illness, it is certainly not expected in a fantasy book. I also understand that not all stories should have a happy ending, nor I'm asking one on the heroes, but as heroes and fantasy stories go Cattie-Brie's and Regis' ending is not fitting for a fantasy hero and it also fails in showing the heroic quality that anyone facing a terminal illness has to have.

And if you add the annoying need from WoTC to justify a changing world because a group of upstarts came up with new rules for the game ... well Salvatore's treatment is certainly good to introduce the new sources of power but it is not because it was required by the plot, or the storyline, but because the new bosses need to earn their paychecks. Understandable, but it is unfair for the author, the characters and the plot.

This book brings together several ongoing threads that have been the mainstay Character plots throughout twenty Drizzt books. The stories of several beloved characters are tied up in an emotional conclusion. I await Bob Salvatore's new book and await the new direction he will take his beloved dsrk elf hero.

"What a force they were! But what an enemy they had found. The Ghost King did not lift away and flee, did not shy even from Drizzt and that awful weapon."
Fantastic book. By far my favorite of the Transitions books and I loved the first two. Amazing fight scenes. So much heart. So many challenges from so many characters, the story coming to focus on Spirit Soaring, a temple library constructed by Cadderly, spirit, bone and blood, wood, stone and glass.
As the Weave turns to tatters and magic fails becoming unreliable, the warriors of the world, the monks, wizards and zealots face misshapen, seemingly mindless monstrosities. The dragon Hephaestus, embodied by liches, the crystal shard and a mind slayer, reek havoc.
R.A. Salvatore has managed to keep this enormous story and cast driven and hectic, fun and energetic, dwarves and elves with flair and personalities the reader falls instantly in love with. A must read for fans of fantasy adventures.

I've enjoyed all of the Drizzt Books, except for this one.
It had the potential to be the GREATEST DRIZZT BOOK EVER, but every single story arc is anti-climactic.
As a result, the book flops like a knucklehead trout out of water.

Note: There are some clearly marked SPOILERS at the end of this review.

Story:
This book is like a finale / tribute of RA Salvatore's Forgotten Realms books. It takes parts of almost all of his previous books and weaves them together to create an epic quest for the ages. Three of Drizzt's toughest villains become one. Crenshinibon the Crystal Shard, Hephaestus the Red Dragon who destroyed it, and Yharaskrik the Mind Flayer, all become merged as a Dracolich! So, you basically have a Psionic Mind-Reading Dracolich with Godlike Powers with seven liches and an army of dark creatures and undead at their command! Meanwhile, Cattie-brie and Regis are struck by errant magic and end up in nightmare comas. Drizzt and company must team up with Jarlaxle and head to Spirit Soaring to get help from Cadderly, Danica, and the Bouldershoulders.

Ok, so you've got the Greatest Villains in the Universe vs. The Greatest Heroes (and Jarlaxle) in the Universe minus Wulfgar.
Wulfgar isn't mentioned in the book, so I assume he's busy uniting the barbarian clans, drinking ale, and hunting.
This story is an RA Salvatore Fan's Dream!

Characters:
They're all here except for Wulfgar.
Drizzt, Jarlaxle, Cadderly, Danica, their children, Buenor, the Bouldershoulders, Cattie-brie, Regis, Pwent...
And they're all written in RA Salvatore fashion.

Action:
There's magic, undead, sword battles, dragon fights, undead battles, monsters, etc... Drizzt slashes, Jarlaxle uses magic weapons, Cadderly casts spells, Buenor swings his axe, Pwent does what Pwent normally does, Danica flips and kicks... About half of the book is loaded with Forgotten Realms action!

Writing Style:
The language is descriptive and the chapters are short. This book is a page turner.

Maturity:
Like all books in the series, it's good for teens. There's fantasy violence and a "they made love."

What Went Wrong?
This book has a great setup, but all of the story arcs end in some kind of far fetched anti-climactic way. When it appears that characters have died, they actually survived. When all hope is lost, someone casts an unknown crazy save the day spell doing 10000 damage to all enemies and healing all heroes. When you see things like this over and over, you become disconnected from the action and the drama. You start to think, "The author is cheating. The rules of magic are broken. The laws of physics are broken. The powers of characters are broken..." So, although grand things are happening, you've lost interest.

Overall:
This book has a great set-up and it has the potential to be a great book, but the characters are miraculously saved too many times. As a reader, you start saying, "No way! That's impossible!" At that point, all sense of drama is gone. Read it if you've read all of the other Drizzt Novels and want to see what happens next. I cannot recommend this book to anyone else.

* * * * *
SPOILERS - Here's what I'm talking about:
* * * * *
Danica is in a huge battle and she gets flung off of a 1000 foot cliff. A full chapter later, it is explained that she survived the 1000 foot drop by punching the cliff face as she was falling, defying all laws of physics. She hits some branches below that slow her down a bit and gets injured when she hits the ground. There are many believable ways that Danica could have survived this fall. Punching a cliff is not one of them.

A minor character was touched by the dracolich and her arm was withered. We're talking, a stick of beef jerky with an elbow in the middle. But Thippledorf Pwent and Drizzt can touch it, no problem. Characters repeatedly survive things that should have killed them.

Cadderly can suddenly use Godlike Spells for no reason. When asked, "Gosh, how did you do that?" Nobody knows.

The entire story is about Drizzt defending Cattie-Brie's helpless form as they get help. She is having nightmares through the entire book. In the end, she and Regis are picked up by a goddess and live in a paradise plane. They are supposedly dead, but RA Salvatore resurrects so many other characters in the main part of the story, it is hard to believe that he won't just bring them back to life. Also, having main characters that have appeared in 20 books, basically die in their sleep is terrible. Have them die in battle. Have them die heroically. Have their deaths be meaningful. Have their deaths be a warning for other characters. Have Cattie-Brie die of old age to show the pain and sorry of an elvin life span. But never kill them off in a way that seems totally random and then put them in a confusing plane of existence. It makes their lives seem cheap and meaningless and it makes their deaths seem like a ploy to sell more books.

To me, this book felt like a complete waste of characters, villains, and potential.

Sadly, I think I'm done with Drizzt.

After feeling only so-so about the first Transitions book, Orc King and really liking the second book, Pirate King, I was excited for the third and final book in the Transitions series, Ghost King.

I should preface this review by stating that I have read every Drizz't book previous to this and other novels by R. A. Salvatore. Sadly, I can say that this book has ended that for me. By far, one of the most frustrating and poorly written books in the entire Drizz't Do"urden series.

One of the first impressions I got that no one else mentioned is that it feels like the author is trying to "cash in" on the recent popularity of the undead. It may sound odd but this book has undead lurking everywhere, zombies, and ghouls rising en masse from their graves to prey upon the living. That would be cool, but it has been done to death. It didn't feel scary or creepy, even in the d&d context.

The main villain is creative and helped me to actually give the book two stars. The Ghost King is a strange combination of Crenshinibon (the crystal shard) and the seven spectres who worship it, the disembodied essence of a mindflayer, and a red dragon turned into an undead dracolich by the warping of the Spellplague (and later the dwarf Ivan). That's creative, but that's where it ends for me.

Jarlaxle and Athrogate are back from Pirate King but I have issues with them - in the last book Athrogate was hell-bent on bashing Drizz't's skull in, but suddenly everything is cool because Jarlaxle needs the heroes help to combat The Ghost King. Speaking of Jarlaxle, be prepared for another drow who has suddenly decided that working with and helping others is the way to go now. Wasn't he supposed to be a mercenary? A strong shift towards good in this book.

The combat sequences are top-notch, so if you are used to that and enjoy it as I do, you will at least like those parts.

The kids of Cadderly and Danica are featured, but they don't seem to do anything but worry, whine, and wish Pikel would do something more. Odd writing, really - seemed like trying to fill up a page count.

The now "infamous" scene of Danica kicking a cliff face to survive a fall over 1000 ft - I realize this is supposed to be her use of the monk's "slow fall" ability, but it comes across as really unbelievable.

Finally, the end - oh my, my, my. As others have said - I realize that heroes can fall, no one lives forever, but COME ON!!!
THESE CHARACTERS HAD BEEN PARTS OF MY LIFE FOR SO MANY YEARS!

Cattie-Brie and Regis succumb to the effects of the Spellplague after being affected by it in a series of almost stroke-like episodes throughout the entire novel against the pain, darkness, and shadows of dementia and death. They are killed without a word, without a chance to fight, without a solid explanation. That hurt. Bad. REALLY BAD. You have to read it to believe it and even then you will shake your head. An even more bizarre demise, Cadderly is left to haunt Spirit Soaring from the afterlife as the new Ghost King. What?!?

So to end, this series of books was a Transition to the 4th edition of Forgotten Realms. It does so at the expense of characters you have known and loved for years, possibly decades of your life, and is done so in the poorest of ways. I admit, I too have now experienced "Transitions" - away from R. A Salvatore's books - for good. After reading this book, you may find yourself doing the same.

There are some things I take into account when I go into a book from R.A. Salvatore. One, that I am highly appreciative of his work getting me interested in both reading and the genre. Two, that it will not be a shining example of genre literature. I expect to find plenty of action--so much so that it may prove a detriment to the novel, Promise of the Witch-King being a prominent example. I also expect to find Dwarves with horrible names and various characters philosophizing despite their walks of life. These expectations are based on experience and they are rarely off the track. They were not this time around either.

I have a love and hate relationship with Salvatore's Dwarves. I love them because they are often hilarious and some of the more outrageous characters tend to stem from this lot. I hate them because they are often used as little more than comic relief and they turn up so often throughout all of Salvatore's work that it gets old. In The Ghost King, the use of Dwarves has been ramped up to the point of sniggering glee, which contrasts to the usual limited use--after all, who needs that much comic relief? I actually liked this about the book because it provides a contrast to the downward spiral of depression that the novel entails. Instead of brief moments of comic relief, we are instead presented with a line of comedy running along the entirety of a novel. In this it feels less tacked than it would otherwise.

Over the past year or so, I have discovered that I do not gain much enjoyment from reading about fights or battles anymore. It stems from branching out in my reading and encountering a wealth of novels that are more focused on drama than action. However, I did enjoy a few of the battles found in The Ghost King. These few, which I cannot and will not mention thanks to their spoiler nature, managed to impart a feeling of... epicness. The sort of feeling that makes you want to thrust your fist into the air and scream something unintelligible. These scenes were well written and impressive and definitely received a nod of approval from me, along with a fist pump and declaration of "Huzzah!" Make no mistake though, not all of the fights or battles in the novel were like this. There were many that left me uninterested and skimming through the barrage of thrusts, slashes, kicks, and punches.

When I read The Pirate King last year, I had quite a bit of praise for it. I enjoyed it more than most of Salvatore's other recent novels because the spotlight was finally removed from the Drizzt Do'Urden and dropped on some of the minor characters we have met along the way. The Ghost King tries to take this route as well and in a way, it succeeds, but in another it fails. The Pirate King managed to focus the spotlight on a couple of characters, switching over to Drizzt every once in a while to fulfill the notion that it is a novel in the Drizzt series. This novel cannot focus. It tries, it really does, but in the end there are too many characters and too few pages to follow any single one or group of them for any significant length of time.

And that leads me into my major issue with the novel. I am not sure whether there is an enforced word limit--though I am inclined to believe there is--but it seemed to me that there was a lot of story either left untold or edited out. Everything seemed rushed, from small things like travel, to big things, like the conclusion. More time spent traveling, though an idea that strikes me as profoundly distasteful by my own inclinations, would have provided much-needed interaction amongst our disparate group of adventurers. On that same note, a lot of possible tension was siphoned off by skimming over scenes or leaving them to act out in the background. The resolution to the major arc of the novel was glazed over in a fashion that could only be described as lazy, but even then it only stands as the penultimate tragedy spawned by the rushing of this novel. The ultimate tragedy, the end of the one storyline that ran from the beginning of the novel until the bitter end, was done in such an abrupt manner that the only description I can coin for it is: complete and utter failure.

The Ghost King is a novel written by R.A. Salvatore. That alone is enough to pique the interest of some and to make people scrunch up their faces and turn away in search of something else to read. The prose here is simple and unadorned--and therefore inherently readable--and the likelihood of finding innovation amongst the book's pages is slim, but that is the norm. What can be found here is an adventure story filled with more than enough action to keep even the most distracted individuals interested and a wild mixture of characters that promises, at the very least, humor and hints at the possibility of awe and emotion. The Ghost King was a novel that had the potential to be more than good, better than decent, but the issues dragged it down to merely average. I would recommend the book, but only buy it if you are a fan, everyone else should make use of their local library.

The Ghost King was the best paced of all the "Transitions" books, however, the conclusions were disappointing throughout the entire book. Still, I justify the 4 out of 5 star rating due to the presence of strong secondary characters: Jarlaxle, Cadderly, Pikel, Ivan and Crenshinibon. In general, the weaknesses in this book are the same ones that propagate throughout the latter dozen or so novels: Drizzt has become excessively emo, the same villains come back every other novel, the heroes always defeat the bad guys with an inexhaustible source of luck. I have grown extremely fond of Jarlaxle thanks to the trilogy featuring him and Artemis Entreri, which caused me to enjoy The Ghost King more than any of the more recent Drizzt installments. I'm definitely looking forward to an entirely new landscape with the next book: Gauntylgrym.

I am a big fan of Salvatore's Drizzt Series. This book, which I am unsure of if it is the end of the line is short and lacking in content. Now without getting too into it, a couple of characters are afflicted early on in the story and contribute nothing, but the explanation for this is magic is failing. If you are looking for resolution this story isn't for you as only 3 of the many characters seem to get an "ending." This story actually seems to focus more on Cadderly's children than on Drizzt and company, but hey if WotC is looking for a spinoff then I guess they got the possibility.
There is plenty of drama and action, but again it is light on the details. I don't need a blow by blow recount but the action scenes seemed to lack the "epicness" of prior Drizzt novels. I really feel like the editor or publisher cut out a lot of content to make a word count or page count. It just feels "light" for a resolution to the Transitions series but in a way it does close a chapter in Drizzt's life that was alluded to in a previous book. The plus side is as far as Drizzt is concerned the story of our immortal dark elf is really just beginning.
The dark ending foreshadows Drizzt accepting his elf heritage, and losing some of his naivety that actually made him a weaker warrior,(though sadly it is what separated him from his counterpart, Artemis Entreri)but he still has companions to keep him grounded.
All in all I gave this a 3 star rating because it seemed rushed and light for a book that is the ending of the transitions saga. It can be a compelling read but without the detail required to explain certain situations it really is just frustrating by the end of the story as a few key characters hit the end of their line. The whole Drizzt saga has captivated me for many years now and oddly enough as my birthday is in october I have eagerly anticipated its arrival with the addition of a new book in this series. I think for this character...Drizzt, to really flourish Salvatore may have to leave WotC. Just my 2 cents.

I was torn between enjoyment and disgust...

I have been a fan of Salvatore since I first read "Crystal Shard". I quickly bought and devoured everything about Drizzt and his companions. Up until this novel I understood the character transitions as they arrived.

***SPOILER ALERT***
In this particular book I felt so cheapened by the ignoble ending to one of fantasy's most powerful female characters. Catti-brie has managed to hold her own in every novel prior, even after a rock fell on her for goodness sakes. To be laid low just because she wasn't paying attention was trite. I get that you need characters to move forward with their lives and if Catti-brie had died in battle I could've accepted it as tragic and moved on. But this?

On top of it, Regis falls into a similar trap trying to save Catti-brie. Granted his plight and subsequent death had more heroism than Catti-brie's but still. And what is the purpose of the glade where they ended up? To never see their loved ones again but Catti-brie doesn't care?

And then Cadderly is banished to a similarly depressing eternity of solitary watchfulness. He is and forever will be haunting the remnants of the Spirit Soaring.

I felt so cheapened by the end that I am seriously debating reading another Salvatore book. It's as though he got sick of his characters and decided to wipe them out wholesale.

As a Salvatore fan you will probably enjoy the book to some extent. His writing is quite good and his action is, as always, impressive and realistic. Still the end to these heroes we have grown to love is neither heroic nor fitting to the people they were. I'm not asking for a happy ending. I'm just asking for characters to be honored for what they were rather than sliding them off the cutting board like refuse.

The book was okay but I just didn't like the ending at all

Events had to take place in order for the D&D developers to go to 4th edition as such R.A.S didn't seem to have much creative licensing when writing this book.

SPOILER

I never cared for Regis or Catti so I didn't care that they died but the little heaven that R.A Salvatore described was so depressing. Regis sits around carving bone for all eternity waiting for guests that will never arrive. So depressing. Catti just dances around like a junkie on ecstasy. Maybe if R.A.S. left us with the impression that she would see Drizzt again I wouldn't have found it so depressing.

Cadderly is the most devout cleric in the realms and now he gets the honor of spending eternity walking around in circles in order to keep the ghost king from returning. Doesn't sound like a fate deserving of a hero. Again depressing.

It's interesting how authors evolve over the ages. After taking a fantasy/sci fi literature course and studying the "greats" like Arthur C. Clarke, perhaps my tastes are a bit higher, but I always enjoyed Salvatore growing up and have read over 20 of his novels. Ghost King was amusing and gripping, but also disappointing - the guts seem to have been taken out of Drizzt, and the "This character is about to die!! Oh - they're saved in the nick of time! That was close." plot device was used so many times that it almost feels like Salvatore is saying "I know how to write better than this; you've seen it, but Drizzt makes me money and I'm under contract to write him, so here you are."

I look forward to more works on Jarlaxle, who's growing as a character as Drizzt is shrinking (played out?). I also look forward to Salvatore possibly stepping back and taking more than 5-6 months to develop a book; maybe then he'll rise above the serial fiction world and re-evolve into one of the "greats." He's certainly got the ability; now all we have to do is wait for him to show it again.

After concluding The Ghost King I realize I need to re-read the forward and epilogue of The Orc King. What's written there will make the context of The Ghost King much more understandable, I think.

Salvatore's forward hints that this is going to be a dark novel. While it is, the handling of two companions of the hall to achieve that dark tone is nothing to be proud of. dragging them along for almost the entire novel as figurative and literal dead-weight seems to be lazy and unfair to all of us who've read Drizzt since the beginning. while their outcomes make sense in terms of what I understand about the spellplague, their handling does not.

why bring up Artemis several times if you're not going to include him in this book? If FR novels and games are jumping ahead by 100 years (as has been noted by other reviewers) will Artemis and Wulfgar, both humans, not get another story? Will Salvatore's next book really be Drizzt 100 years from the end of The Ghost King?

for my money, it's past time to give Jarlaxle a back story. his relationship to Zaknefein has been noted enough to give creedence to why he consistently helps Drizzt out, but I for one think his early years would make a great read.

another poor part to this book, the sub-plot w/Cadderly's kids, they seemed very bland. if they're the basis for new novels, I know I'll pass.

Where does Salvatore go from here? Will it be another Drizzt tale, one year from now, skipping right over the final years of Artemis and Wulfgar? Will we ever get the past of Jarlaxle?

This book serves as a "greatest hits" as with 2 major exceptions, all of the still living major characters from Salvator's books, and some that aren't, come together for a battle royale. Jarlaxle and Drizzt team up with Cadderly (who is probably more important to the book than Drizzt is) to save Cattie-brie from the spellplague and defeat a conglomerate of several villians from previous books.

Despite how nice it is to see the collected cast bounce off each other and the fact that this book is obviously a, well, transition novel, after a decent beginning characterization takes the backseat as it soon devolves into a zombie survival movie. The vast majority of the plot is focused on wiping out waves of monsters. While Salvator's action scenes are as compelling as ever, this doesn't exactly make for a detailed plot. Cadderly's children, who in my opinion go underdeveloped despite getting so much screen time, spend almost all of this screen time in the same place, doing the same thing. Throw in plot contrivances and this isn't a strong book. The author does come up with a clever way to induce flashbacks of the rest of the series, though. Like those episodes sitcomes do looking back on previous seasons. Greatest hits, remember?

The ending, though, makes up for it. Under normal circumstances such an abrupt and closureless ending, which the events of most of the plot did nothing at all to avert, would be bad. And to many, I assume, it is. But after chugging through nearly 20 books with the characters emerging either unscathed or nothing pernament time after time, I personally think the ending is fitting. Though I won't give specifics, we get to see Bruenor and Drizzt as something you probably thought was impossible for these D&D superheroes-hysterics. That powerful moment alone made alot of the book for me, though that said it might (and likely won't) for others.

Yet another Drizzt book and this one is not up to the standards of some of the previous works.

Part of it is style. "The Ghost King" is a bit different as Salvatore tries to fit his characters into the new WOTC D&D rules and it does not quite work. The book really needed another 100 pages or so to flesh out the plot but that simply is not done. Salvatore is, as always, fine on the action scenes but there are not enough of them. Salvatore is simply not a writer to ask ponderous questions and he often wanders into theological reeds in "The Ghost King."

But part of it is Salvatore's literary sins catching up with him. A minor spoiler here. Salvatore kills some of the lead characters in this book and he offers a sentimental, often maudlin, ending. I'm sorry. I can not be moved by it. Why? Because Salvatore has played this card too often. Oh, no, Bruenor is dead. Hey! Guess who is back in the next book? Bruenor! Oh, no. Wulfgar is dead. Hey! Guess who is back three books later? Wulfgar! Had another writer penned these scenes, perhaps I would be moved and find it a melancholy but satisfying end to the book. But, when it comes to deaths, Salvatore can no longer be trusted by readers. He has done this too many times to take it seriously.

As usual, Salvatore delivers a rousing tale of swords-and-sorcery. Also as usual, unfortunately, when he pens a darker tale than the usual Drizzt fare, he doesn't exactly succeed. The closest of his previous Drizzt novels to this is probably The Legacy, though this book works considerably better in some respects to that dismal failure. It seems that whenever RAS tries to write "significant" books rather than fun ones, he comes up with plodding and leaden lectures only lifted by the depictions of swordplay and tactics.

There are certainly good points to this book. Athrogate and Pwent, both mostly annoying in previous books, not only are tolerable together, but are actually amusing. Jarlaxle continues to mature as an interesting character. Quirky minor characters come to life in ways that remind me, strangely, of the Fox TV series BONES. The action is, as always, spectacularly well-written - though this time at a higher level of power than ever before.

However, the negatives also weigh heavily. He delivers not one, but two literal dei ex machina to conclude the book; indeed, it can be argued Drizzt winds up largely a spectator in a book he is supposed to be the lead. Three major characters "die" in this book, though conveniently in ways that Salvatore can easily retrieve them in the future should he so choose (he seems to have learned that from the "death" of Wulfgar). At least two of the deaths smack heavily of plot manipulation, since a straightforward resurrection via the deus ex machina would have made more sense than the one they receive (that was a "reward" for Drizzt?).

Perhaps worst of all is his continued mistreatment of Drizzt as a character. As the previous two books showed, the adventurer who would pursue a friend's captor across the Realms in the name of justice is long gone. The new version is a navel-gazing whiner who seems never to have met evil he couldn't try to make a bargain with. Gone is the decisive do-gooder; here is the ditherer. As a result, he largely winds up mostly irrelevant to the events concluding his own story. I suspect Salvatore has gotten bored with Drizzt, seeming to prefer Jarlaxle to him; the conclusion certainly seems to point to Jarlaxle for at least the next few books.

In truth, this is probably a two-star book to anyone not heavily invested in the Icewind Dale/Canticle series of novels. For those of us who are, it's probably a must-read, though not a very welcome one.

The last book of the Transitions Trilogy brings the tale of the Companions of the Hall to a close. The Ghost King brings together characters from Drizzt books, from the Cleric Quintet and the Sellswords Trilogy for an apocalyptic finale. The year is 1385 D.R. and the Spellplague has arrived to the Realms. The magical debacle entraps Catti-Brie (and Regis when trying to free her with his pendant) and provokes a bizarre conjunction between the blinded Great Wyrm Hephaestus (destroyer of Crenshinibon, the Crystal Shard), the remaining sentience of the Relic and the disembodied mind flayer Yharaskrik, creating a very powerful menace, the Ghost King, a Dracolich bent on revenge on those it blames for past mishaps, namely Jarlaxle and Cadderly. Jarlaxle, accompanied by the ineffable Athrogate, is the first to experience the attention of the beast and quickly concludes that he need Cadderly's assistance to fight it. Learning of Catti-Brie's state he quickly devises a plan to point Drizzt and Bruenor towards Cadderly as a means to regain Cadderly's trust. The situation quickly turns desperate around Spirit Soaring and even the power of so many heroes (Drizzt, Bruenor, Cadderly, Danica, Jarlaxle, Athrogate,...) might not be enough to stop the tremendously powerful beast. At the end of the tale three major characters have fallen and the Realms have changed forever. A sad reading for the fans of the Heroes of the Hall, but still a great book. Until swords part!!!

Most of the other negative reviews have already described the problems with this book fairly accurately. I'm as sentimental as the next fan of this series, so I should clarify that none of my problems with this chapter stem from the loss of beloved characters. The author has every right to do what he pleases with them, and this is certainly a series that can stand to jump ahead to a new era in Drizzt's life. The good news is that Salvatore is not afraid to do that. The bad news is that this book is simply a huge mess. The action and drama is severely lacking, and even our favorite characters aren't very likeable... there's nobody left to root for. Perhaps the low point is the childish, almost whiny behavior of the villains in the book. There's nothing threatening, ominous, intriguing or interesting about them... or anyone else for that matter. It's a huge disappointment coming from this author and would have been the worst book I'd read in several years if I hadn't stumble upon another unfortunate piece of literature recently.

Here's hoping Gauntlegrym rights the ship!

The magic is gone, and I don't just mean because the Weave is failing.

I can no longer care about these characters. In fact, I only read it because I understood the Cattie-Brie was finally going to die (I have not liked her since she turned on Wulfgar). This story made me dislike her even more. Drizzt takes a moment at the start of each section to lecture of truth and morals and the like, and the woman he loves is shown to have been living a lie through the first trilogy.

I have quickly tired of Drizzt's philosophical observations on truth of the heart and faith as well. In the end, he apparently has faith only in himself and the "principles in his heart", which apparently do squat for him once a true test of faith is faced and he knows nothing but dispare.

Even the fight scenes, which in earlier novels were so captivating, have become tedious. You can only read so many of the same lines about the precise sword strokes, kick, punches, etc. before it all runs together.

The most interesting bit of the book was Cadderly and his developing new powers. These, however, were not adaquately explained and his final fate seems more a punishment than anything else despite all his devotion.

There is just no heart to this book. It is just one long, dreary look at the misery of heroes I once cared about. I would suggest that anyone new to the series only read the Icewind Dale trilogy (and perhaps the Dark Elf trilogy). Anyone who still cares about these characters up until the last novel, I'd skip this as well, unless you just want to see them in hopeless pain.

The Ghost King, by R.A. Salvatore, wraps up the "Transitions" series of Forgotten Realms novels that Salvatore has been writing. And what a transition it is! The entire series has spanned thirteen years (five years between books 1 & 2 and eight years between book 2 and this one), and major changes have taken place in the Forgotten Realms universe. Since I think many Realms books take place in different times and places, it's not necessarily true that these events will have great ramifications for the future of the book line, but they very possibly could. In the meantime, my comment on The Ghost King is that it's sadly a lackluster ending to the series. Considering the major character transitions Salvatore gives us, that's too bad.

Reflecting back to the first Drizzt Do'Urden trilogy and Salvatore's first book (The Crystal Shard), the remnants of that shard are getting put back together. The dragon that used his fiery breath to destroy the shard ends up getting killed and becoming one of the most feared monsters in all the Realms: a Dracolich. The liches who became part of the shard, along with the mind-flayer Yharaskrik wish to take over the world, but the dragon is hell-bent on revenge, using masses of undead creatures that it can control. Meanwhile, Drizzt's wife Cattie-Brie, learning the ways of magic, is struck down when the Weave of the Realms' magic begins malfunctioning all over the world. The dark elf Jarlaxle, who the dragon also wants revenge on, knows that there is only one place to go for possible safety, but he needs Drizzt to get him in there. The massive library of the druid Cadderly, a third subject of the dragon's revenge fantasies. Will they be able to figure out what is going on and defeat the dragon before they are all killed?

Salvatore's dedication at the beginning of the book, I see that the writing of this book was very important to him as he had to go to some of the dark places in his life again. Thus it does pain me to say that this is probably the least of the three books in the Transitions series. I know there are a lot of themes of sacrifice, tenacity against incredible odds, and moving forward with your life in the face of horrible and emotional pain and suffering in The Ghost King. Unfortunately, while these themes are prevalent, they're wrapped up like the meat in a sandwich where the bread is nothing but fighting between the heroes in the novel and the massive army of undead creatures that are moving to destroy either the town of Carradoon or Cadderly's library. I like action in a novel as much as anybody, but there has to be more to it. There is more to The Ghost King than just fighting, but the interludes are so short that it doesn't always seem like it.

I did enjoy these interludes, though. Cattie-Brie reliving some of her most vivid memories of Drizzt and he watching her do so, knowing that he can't interfere and not knowing whether she's in any true pain or not. Cadderly's children coming of age, leading the refugees from Carradoon through the mountains as the undead hordes continue to follow them. Jarlaxle's dwarf companion Athrogate and his rhymes (and even better, when they join up with Drizzt and Bruenor and the dwarf Pwent and Pwent begins copying him). There are some very good bits scattered throughout the narrative. Unfortunately, it's masked by the constant fighting.

With that being said, Salvatore once again shows that he's the master of this kind of thing (I think it's a neck-and-neck contest between Salvatore and Michael A. Stackpole), as the fighting scenes are beautifully choreographed so they're not only interesting, but easy to follow as well. If that hadn't been the case, I don't think I would have made it through the book, to be honest. Between the undead and the Crawlers from the spirit realm, there are a lot of creatures for our heroes to kill, and they do a pretty good job of it.

Another aspect I liked is that, despite all the fighting, Salvatore still manages to make his characters interesting, whether it's through dialogue within the action or in the quiet parts in between. Drizzt has always been a good character, but Bruenor, Jarlaxle, Cadderly, and pretty much everybody else is well-done too. The only ones I didn't care for as much were the villains. The fight for supremacy within the mind of the dracolich, with the mind-flayer, the dragon, and the shard's consciousness just wasn't that interesting. These sections did their part by explaining what the villains wanted, but that's about it.

The entire "Transitions" series seems to have been written for Salvatore's long-time fans, to both move the series forward as well as to revel in the past a little bit. Situations and characters are revisited, major changes in the characters we know and love take place. There is so much history in these books, and this series refers to most of it. In fact, Cadderly is from Salvatore's other series, "The Cleric Quintent", though it's his appearance in some Drizzt novels regarding the crystal shard that makes him important in this book. Salvatore does a good job of making sure you don't need to know the history and most of the references are explained well enough that you won't be confused, but I did feel like I was missing something half the time. On the other hand, it has made me want to go read the other books, so maybe that's a plus for him.

All in all, The Ghost King is not a bad book. It's just not as interesting as it could be. If you don't like action in your books, stay well away from this one. There are some good themes and characterization hidden in here, but you'll have to get through a lot of fighting to dig them up. It will be interesting to see whether this is Salvatore's last hurrah in the Forgotten Realms or if he's going to come back and do anything with them. He has dead characters, characters whose lives have been shattered, but he has left everybody in a place where they can live out their lives (or afterlives) in our imaginations and memories, never to have another story told about them. It would be kind of fitting if this is his last book, actually.

Originally published on Curled Up With a Good Book © David Roy, 2009

There are few books, movies, stories, etc. that move you so much and touch you so much that you can NOT get them out of your head. This is one of them.

Even though I had read the Preface, I still expected all of the characters to make it through their ordeals, like they pretty much always do. (ex. Wulfgar) However, I was SO emotionally touched by the sacrifice and loss involved, especially the way that it all happened.

My only grievance is that the book, in my humble opinion, should have been 20-50 pages longer for further development of the first loss (very large loss) and to further describe what happened to the other people involved.

I can NOT wait for the next book to see how everyone adapts and grows.

This is probably my favorite book of the "Drizzt Sagas", overtaking The Legacy and Starless Night.

To appreciate this book, you have to be a follower of the Dark Elf and his friends. They are an unassuming band of heroes that take on unimaginable challenges and unforeseen difficulties in all their trials. Even though some of them die during their endeavors, the rest never give up, but struggle on. They are a picture of courage trying to do the right thing regardless of the circumstances. They live lives of great adventure.

As a Drizzt-junkie, I was hoping for most of the book to be entirely from Drizzt's point-of-view, although R.A. Salvatore can't be expected to write about the same character non-stop for some two-dozen books. What I did love, however, was the reappearance of "The Hunter," Drizzt's more wild-side, as he goes into a frenzy and slays his enemies with reckless abandon.
However, I wish he had written more from Drizzt's perspective, as many of the chapters about Cadderly and Danica's children wandering aimlessly through pitch-black caves got very boring very fast. The opinions of the children seemed to change during that time, with Temberle wanting to leave the cave, then thinking it unwise a chapter later (and vice-versa with Rorick). However, I think this gave us a good introduction to the trio, about whom many books may be published in the future.
I am extremely intrigued by the new relationship that R.A. Salvatore creates between both Drizzt Do'Urden and Jarlaxle Baenre in The Ghose King. This was a brilliant pairing by Salvatore, as he places Drizzt in the shoes of his former arch-nemesis, Artemis Entreri, albeit in a much different role. Point is, I really can't wait til the first installment of the next series comes out to read about these two. Hopefully we'll gain some insight of Jarlaxle's and Zaknafein's pasts together.
Also, while several friends expressed their disappointment at the conclusion, I think it was the best thing that Salvatore could have done, considering the emotional attachment he holds with all of his protagonists. Overall, I was more than satisfied with The Ghost King, and would give it an 8.5 out of 10.

***SPOILERS***

I thought the way Cattie-Brie and Regis died was trivial and it added to some realism. To have these characters that had been through so much to be laid low by so little a thing was great. I'm sad that they were killed off, but I seriously felt it was time. Through so many of his novels I have seen the Heroes of Icewind Dale escape impossible defeat and persevere. Honestly, it was beginning to get a bit boring, knowing that the heroes would always make it out unscathed. One of the reasons I'm such a huge fan of Elaine Cunningham is because she was never afraid to kill her hero. I think the death of the prominent characters adds to their lore in the realm.

Then there is Drizzt and his darkening character. I'm glad that he's taking on such inner turmoil. It reminds me of the Drizzt from the Dark Elf Trilogy. He seems more realistic as he experiences these struggles and sometimes makes the selfish choice. I look forward to seeing him step down a bit from that goody-goody pedestal and show some character flaws.

Jarlaxle's character is also getting a bit more interesting, in my opinion. I like how I can't always tell if the decision he made is because he's showing some hint of deep-down goodness or if there was just some underlying, self-gains. I can't wait to see where this is going.

Cadderly becoming the Ghost King was pretty sad and profound, however, I wish Salvatore would have had a better explanation for his eternal plight to hold the baddy at bay. There were a few too many holes in there for me to swallow that he was just keeping the trapped on another plane that seems to be traversed by several other heroes in the realms. I don't know, I just think there could have been more to it than that.

Overall, I'm still a HUGE Drizzt fan and I can't wait for future novels!

I can not apply the drama that played out in this book. Absolutely nothing to wait for, the action starts immediately and will have you hook. I literally read the entire book in 11 hours on my rest day. I went through the entire series in 3 days but Ghosts King is by far 1 of my favorites. I definitely plane on reading this again.

Despite having been a fan of Mr. Salvatore's through the Legend of Drizz't and The Hunter's Blade trilogy I cannot jump on the bandwagon with Transitions.

With all due respect to Mr. Salvatore of whom I have been a dedicated fan for lo these many years I cannot accept the 4th edition D&D rules and 4th edition Forgotten Realms setting. I will not buy any of the books and I will not play that system ever. It has taken a system rationally and historically grounded in classical and medieval mythology and turned it into a cartoon/comic book system thrown together purely out of whole cloth all for the enrichment of the corporate greed of WotC.

Whatever it's literary merits The Ghost-King is a sellout to WotC which has, with the 4th ed rules, bastardized and destroyed everything that was good about the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying gaming system and Mr. Salvatore should just have said no when it came to writing it. The whole concept of the "Spellplague" is ridiculous. Unless I have missed something it has yet to be explained how a deity, a divine, immortal being gets "murdered". Maybe someone can explain this to me.

Salvatore should have just refused to promote the abomination that is the 4th ed. He has gone to the well one too many times. Perhaps too literally the tale is too "deus ex machina" and that is a departure from everything that Salvatore has written thus far in the Legend of Drizz't. Sadly art has taken a backseat to the inevitable press of the almighty dollar. Transitions fails despite Mr. Salvatore's talents as a writer.

The Ghost King by R. A. Salvatore- This is the third and final book in the Transitions trilogy. The first book is The Orc King and the second book is The Pirate King. The trilogy is a part of the Drizzt Do'Urden saga, this being the most recent installment.

The story starts with Jarlaxle, a drow mercenary leader, and his traveling companion, a dwarf named Athrogate, traveling to around. Jarlaxle gets troubled by dreams he has in which a dragon and an ancient artifact, thought destroyed, threaten to find and kill him. At the same time, Drizzt Do'Urden and his wife, Catti-brie, are returning to Mithral Hall when blue fire consumes Catti-brie. The fire puts her into a lethargic state in which she is oblivious to everything around her and at times recalls past experiences and conversation. Drizzt, in obvious shock and terror, quickly returns to Mithral Hall and tries desperately to figure out what is happening. Catti-brie adoptive father, Bruenor Battlehammer is in the similar state of disbelief. With nothing working, Regis, with his magical ruby, tries to reach Catti-brie but instead gets trapped in the same nightmare with her, only more violent and destructive. Jarlaxle thinking that the cause of his problems could be solved by a priest of Deneir named Cadderly Bonaduce, persuades Drizzt and company to help them, by saying that Catti-brie could be helped by Cadderly as well. The reason why Jarlaxle needs Drizzt and Bruenor's help is because Jarlaxle was told to never return to Spirit Soaring, the cathedral of Deneir. So desperate to find anyone or anything that could help them, the group embarks to Spirit Soaring. At the same time, Cadderly and a meeting of mages and priest are trying to understand what is happening to the world and magic. But soon darkness and a creature more powerful than anything imaginable descends upon the cathedral. Can Cadderly help Catti-brie and Regis? Will Jarlaxle find answers? And can Cadderly protect his family and home, and figure out what is wrong with the world?

Negatives:
1) Missing Dialogue. There were parts and times when something was left unsaid and it seemed like it wasn't supposed to. Then there were other times when dialogue didn't even fit into what was being said. For example, there was a scene when Danica, Cadderly's wife, is talking to Jarlaxle and Drizzt about something and bursts out with something so random that it made me take a double take.
2) Cadderly's Children. Honestly, I didn't really care to read their parts. Sure they were interesting in their own ways, but it just felt at times to be more of the stories focus. It didn't help that other scenes with other characters were so engaging that when the children's scenes came up, I honestly didn't really care. Not to mention that they seemed so general. Hanaleisa, the daughter and twin of Temberle, is a basic carbon copy of Danica. Temberle, the fighter, was just so underdeveloped and plain that I just didn't really care. Rorick, the youngest child and a mage, was the most different and therefore, the most interesting, barely had anything to say. They just weren't as engaging as say, Athrogate and Pwent or Jarlaxle, Bruenor, and Drizzt.

Positives:
1) "The Group." To put it simply, when Jarlaxle and Athrogate meet up with Bruenor, Drizzt, Pwent, and a lethargic Catti-brie, it was just amazing. The utter fascination that Pwent has with Athrogate's hell boar was just funny. Then you had the fighting styles between the group. When the first fight happens, it was neat to see how Jarlaxle and Bruenor fought, side by side, than later on how Jarlaxle and Drizzt complimented each other. They were the main focus of the story, and I really could have used more.
2) The Ending. It really leaves you on a sad, depressing note. I'm not giving away anything, but I know people who have teared up and cried about it. After going in, knowing what happens, I even got a little upset. It's so powerful because it is written so well. Even the last line, "... for guests who never came", was just so powerful and sad that you couldn't believe it.

Side Notes:
1) The illithid. What happened to him? I mean seriously. Did he just get consumed by the Ghost King's other desires?
2) Cover Art. Simple, but good. Seeing the Ghost King trying to chomp Drizzt and seeing Drizzt just jump away is drawn beautifully.

Overall: 5/5
Final Thoughts:
This is a really hard book for me to review. The whole Drizzt series is my first foray into fantasy, not counting The Hobbit. So after a good eight or nine years of my life, Drizzt and company were in them. And losing even one of them is a little hard. But overall the book was great. It's funny and powerful at the same time. It really keeps you interested and invested in the story, and it almost forces you to keep reading it. Even the faults I mentioned weren't terrible. Cadderly's children were still pretty good, albeit general and the little bit of missing or confusing dialogue didn't hamper the experience the slightest. The story is was the driving force of this book.

Magic is failing, the gods are in hiding, and the dead dragon, Hephaestus is back not as a living creature but as part of an undead dracolich--who rules death rather than being ruled by it. Hephaestus is willing to be a part of the unraveling of the entire world, but he is also driven by revenge against those who killed him, including the dark-elves Drizzt Do'Urben and Jarlaxle. Meanwhile, the failing magic has caught Drizzt's wife/lover Catti-brie, trapping her between dimensions where she faces monsters visible only to her and re-lives terrible moments of her past. While trying to help Catti-brie, Regis the hafling-thief also gets snared, his body remaining behind but his mind gone.

Although Jarlaxle has been barred from Spirit Soaring, he knows that only there can he hope to escape the dragonlich that swears to destroy him...escape or allies. But shared foes can create allies only if those allies are first willing to talk, and Jarlaxle needs help to get a chance to talk. Cattie-brie's disaster gives Drizzt and Bruenor a reason to travel to Spirit Soaring, a place where magic and logic are worshiped together, and Jarlaxle gives them the push they need to get started, then joins their procession.

The dragonlich isn't alone. It is capable of calling up both undead zombies from the long-dead (and recently dead) corpses of humans, other sentient species, and even animals and fish, and warriors from the dimension in the process of colliding with the human/elvish plane. And soon Spirit Soaring is under siege with all of the dragonlich's enemies gathered together for his destruction.

Author R. A. Salvatore concludes his TRANSITIONS trilogy with more of the thoughtful and complex story-building he's used throughout this series. No longer does simple good battle moronic evil to an obvious and clear victory. Instead, victories are fleeting, loss is inevitable, and evil becomes a lot easier to define than good. Because the sometimes-saccarine Cattie-brie is unconscious/other-dimensional through most of the book, Salvatore can concentrate on Drizzt, Jarlaxle, Athrogate (Jarlaxle's dwarf-sidekick) and Danica, the lady of Spirit Soaring. I appreciated Salvatore's moments of introspection as characters realized that their victories, even if they were victorious, could only come at a price too high to pay.

Although TRANSITIONS is a trilogy, THE GHOST KING successfully stands alone

The Ghost King is a fitting conclusion to the series of Drizzt and Cadderly thus far. As good writers do, Salvatore draws from personal experience in the loss of his brother Gary almost a decade a go. Anyone who has lost someone they love can show empathy, as writers or as readers, and since we have been attached to these characters, many of us, for the better part of our lives, find ourselves crying the same tears as Drizzt and, not to put to fine a point on it, Salvatore himself. Many writers are not up to this challenge--it is easy to slip into bitter emotionalism and turn good story quickly into melodrama. However, Salvatore does not do this.

Some have suggested that this novel runs short on character. I disgree. Character, in novels such as this, are a continuum, like story, that runs as a thread through all of writer's works. This book is heavily about the transition, change, of the world but moreso on the change in these personalities we've loved for over twenty years. While this may make it difficult for a new reader to pick up this book without reading the others, I am firmly convinced one may do so as one meets and enjoys the final moments of a new friend who is soon departing from this mortal coil.

My hat is off to you again, Mr. Bob Salvatore.

Personally, I felt that the Drizzt series was at its height with the first eleven books. By the twelf, Salvatore was losing his magic in the storyline. This was even more evident when he wrote the Transitions, up to the point where it can be speculated that he decided to imitate other authors' works. Salvatore, in The Ghost King, is attempting to be a philosopher, theologian, and fantasy scientist. However, he fails all three even though he is constantly using these words and making it 'seem' like this Drizzt book is different-he's most likely just trying to remind himself to be this triad of subjects. He obviously copied his opening 'The Conflict Between Faith and Religion from a basic cliche, but he carries these types of arguments on by using mysticism, thus asking 'dramatic' questions but offering no solutions. To say something actually more pertaining to the concrete, The Ghost King is absolutely not concrete. Salvatore does not show any wisdom in just rushing through his story and character's lives. He does away with three essential characters for no sane reason, and then he offers very melodramatic effects that are just not original. Drizzt does the same old things and can be said, sadly, that he is one of the most irritating characters in the entire book. Even the dialogue is unreal-once again emphasizing my statement that Salvatore's work is not concrete to be relatable to the human experience. It is a confusing read, the author is even confused! Not to be negative, but it would probably be a good idea to drop Drizzt after this novel, Salvatore just doesn't have the heart for it anymore.

I finally read this book...and let me say both this and the previous book in the series are mediocre. Tying all these characters up into one book makes it look like a rough-stitched quilt. It doesn't feel natural, it feels artificial. Too contrived. Almost like Salvatore was just throwing something together in order to be done with the series.

Spoilers!!!!

Seriously I didn't mind the deaths of Regis and Catti-Brie. It was inevitable and logical. But that hokey "not quite heaven" place they went to, which...well, what more can I say of it? It just looks like an author's way to say explicitly that they're not coming back. All with the subtlety of a hammer.

And Cadderly becoming the Ghost King? What the?...Not much I can add. Again, doesn't make much sense.

Word of advice to other authors: Don't try linking the characters of various series together in the way that R.A.S. has done. It shows poor judgement and a lack of respect for your literary creations. May as well make "Hack" your middle name in that case.

I recently finished The Ghost King and I feel let down as a fan of this great series and these great heroes. I have followed the companions of the hall through every book, and have enjoyed thier exploits good/bad/and ugly across every page.

*** spoiler ***

For Salvatore to bring an end to the companions by killing Catti-Brie and Regis the way he did is horrible and unfitting. I am not a sap who feels heroes should make it through every fracas no matter how steep the odds. When Wulfgar sacrificed himself against the Yolchol it was a fitting heroic demise and would have been a fine end for the character if Salvatore had wished so. The same can be said for Bruenor's apparent demise against Shimmergloom. For Cattie-Brie to be assaulted by a random event that plagues her throughout the book until she dies is poor writing at best and poor loyalty to characters Salvatore has worked hard to create. For Regis to simply die of the same thing only after trying to help C.B. is inexcusable.
At least Cadderly sacrificed himself to save his friends and family, though him becoming "the ghost king" makes no sense at all.Cadderly recieved an end deserving(at least somewhat)of a character we have followed through multiple books and come to love. Why does Salvator write better apparent deaths for charcters than actual ones. Ivan Bouldershoulder got a great death scene in this book, one that was heroic and sad altogether, only to be resurrected in 2 chapters.

Iunderstand that in the overall plotline C.B. had to die soon. Drizzt would out live her by many years. It would make for a poor story to simply keep her around as an elderly woman married to a young Drizzt to eventually die of old age. As bad as that would be, it is preferrable to her end in this story. For Regis to be simply thrown in as victim to the same thing is poor story telling as well. One of the few good passages in this book is Drizzt's soliloquy on being a hero. For Salvatore to possess such insight it is puzzling how can he discard 2 of his beloved characters.

The further development of Jarlaxle was one of the few engaging parts of the book. He has become my favorite character in the series and I can only hope he has a magic item that saves him from bad writing and an impotent death scene. It would be nice to see another sell-swords trilogy and find out what has happened to Entreri.

The interaction between Pwent and Athrogate was amusing as well.

As a whole the book seemed as if everyone was simply traveling the whole book to reach the big battle at the end with little discovery along the way. In the end I think the characters are all still unsure of where they have been and what has happened (I know the reader is) other than losing some of thier closest frinds and family randomly.

I know if you are a fan of the series as I am you will read this book. I hope only to prepare you for the dissapointment and anger you will feel when you finish.

I own every book in the Forgotten Realm's series and I have to say R.A. Salvatore is by far my favorite author. Over the years I have come to love the truly unique and interesting characters in his created world. When reading you even start to think of them as 'real people, at least in your head". Deny it if you will but we all know that all of us have truly felt Anger and outrage when Wulfgar died or uncontrollable happiness for Drizzt and Cattie brie. You have been amazed by Jarlaxle's complex behavior and you hate utterly and despise Artemis Entreri but you also somehow feel bad for him at the same time. To many we know the characters are of course not real yet because of the many years we have spent reading of there adventures we feel as though we truly know them and that is a testament to R.A. Salvatore's great imagination and Character development. I liked this book, did it have flaws of course, but he tied pretty much all the main characters from all his novels together minus Wulfgar. I really expected Wulfgar to come running unexpectedly to his comrades aid in the book but alas I was wrong. It truly saddened me when he took away two main characters and one of my favorites being the Drizzt's first friend... I was so shocked... It is true that he has killed other characters before and they have come back but without Cadderly and they being taken away by a God it seems at best unlikely they will ever return. I want to say that I truly enjoyed this book and it lived up to it's name of transitions perfectly. It is not in my favorites because of how he ended it but we all saw signs in this particular series foreshadowing death in the main character party. I did like how he pretty much had all of his characters on the same side fighting the ghost king. It is worth owning and reading but isn't on my top ten list.

Sorry, but this is to counter the negative review. I bought the book and thusfar, it is a good read.

The star rating should be based on the authors skill at writing, not the stores woefully bloated pricing structure regarding the Kindle.
I bought my wife the Kindle and we are both beside-ourselves-pissed at the continued assault on our piggy bank for many great books. As far as I'm concerned, the store can stuff their monopolizing, money-grubbing little fat fingers in a wasps nest.

I wanted this book on the Kindle, but yet again we have the same old tactics from good ole Jeff Bezos. Hey Jeff, you can make all the excuses in the world why your ripping us off on Kindle book prices... In the end, your shooting the store in the foot - and chopping a great concept off at the knees.

This book and the trilogy it ended could not have had a more appropriate title. Transitions says it all for the characters that people have grown to love over the years. The world around Drizzt and his companions is changing. The Spellplague is ravaging the world around them. There is uncertainty in the air. What will happen to Drizzt and his companions? How will all the changes in the wide world come to effect them? The Ghost King is an attempt to bring Drizzt into the world of the 4th ed. I warn that the reader must approach this book expecting change. To not do so will inevitably lead to a huge dissappoinment.

This book brings together some of the series best characters in an attempt to reconcile and understnad the devestating consequences wrought by the failing of Mystra's weave. There is a great sense of desperation that appropriately lingers throughout the novel. As I said before though, the world is changing and no matter how great our heroes are they but players in a much larger game.

Salvatore takes a huge step to make changes that many fans of the series will not like, but are in the end inevitable. Though many will feel that some characters are not given justice, I remind fans of Salvatore's work on similar instances with characters in the series. Salvatore, though often criticized be readers seems to always have an end plan, and though things might seem unfitting appearances have often been deceiving.

Overall, I found the story engaging. There are holes in the story, and some issues left unresolved, but nonetheless the story moves along at a swift pace. Salvatore shines, as always, in being able to pen a battle scene in epic fashion. It is not a great read but is still essential for followers of Drizzt and his companions.

Anything dealing with Drizzt was getting boring. I applaud Salvatore for taking the steps he has, even if he was forced to do it by the D&D world at large. The door is open for Drizzt to evolve in very interesting ways. The events which transpired were'nt exactly a surprise for anyone who actually read the Hunter's Blades trilogy and paid attention to Drizzt's time with the female elf after he lover died. The ONLY beef I have with this book is he tricked me into thinking Artemis was gonna show up and then BAM, no show.
I hope he gives us more in-depth looks at how Drizzt moves on and since the only good characters in my opinion were the ones who were gonna be around for a few centuries, i'm not crying foul over the ending. No more miracles with bringing people back. In real life we have to move on, and i'd like to see my favorite characters do the same. Keep em coming Salvatore, you've left the road wide open for Drizzt and dont have to worry about character continuity. The only toon I wanted to read about already has his long range ticket, ahem(drank essence de shade). Anyone who wants the ol companions feel should just pick up his Highwayman books.

As with the other two books of the Transitions trilogy, I have to say that The Ghost King is a bit of a mixed bag. I've mentioned before that I am not what you would call a "Drizzt fan" by any stretch of the imagination. I was also told very specifically that I shouldn't read this book. Unfortunately, I am a glutton for punishment some of the time.

The plot can be boiled down to thus: Hephaestus and company want revenge on everyone who hurt them and the Spellplague is going on. Jarlaxle and Cadderly beware. Jarlaxle has the sensible idea of consulting with Cadderly (who doesn't like him) though Drizzt. Mayhem happens. Yes, there are major character deaths. If you are familiar with the current state of the Forgotten Realms, then they shouldn't be particularly surprising either.

So, my first big problem was the villainous triumvirate of Hephaestus the red dragon, Yharaskrik the mostly dead illithid and Crenshibon, the Crystal Shard. When these characters were last seen, two had been destroyed and the other had been blinded. Dragonfire does burn just about everything after all. I was not thrilled with the character recycling and remained rather "meh" about it throughout the book. I'm sorry, but when antagonists are killed off, I like them to stay that way. Doing otherwise seems like a cheap plot device and the spellplague filled that role pretty well. Besides, none of these antagonists were especially interesting the first time around (or the second or the third time). The revenge motive was also not especially intriguing either. I would have liked the illithid to win more in the internal power struggles, just to change things up a bit. It just seems like I had to choose between having permanently inscrutable motives or simplistic ones. Unfortunately, neither of them work especially well with me.

Drizzt hasn't really got any better for me since the last book. He's still as blind as a bat to the motives of the people around him and I still skip every other sentence of his fight scenes as "irrelevant action candy." Catti-Brie has been demoted to a "damsel in distress" non-character, which suited me just fine. I've never been overly fond of Cadderly Bonaduce the super priest and wasn't given any particular reason to like him in this book either. Maybe it's just me, but I prefer religious characters not to have the proverbial ear of their favored deity. I think it's more interesting that way.

Like the other two Transitions books, the last few chapters felt really rushed to me. I'm beginning to wonder if this is deliberate. In any case, the montage of scenes is disjointed to the point that I was confused as to who exactly had gone where until they popped out of the woodwork. An extra thirty pages at the end to deal with the aftermath would not be amiss with this reader.

By far the best characters of the book are Jarlaxle and any of the dwarves. Jarlaxle seemed like one of the most tolerant and reasonable fellows through the whole of the book, even when people were trying to kill him. Also, he was made much more vulnerable and less of a walking deus ex machina with a questionable fashion sense than in previous books and stories. His methods were made a little more transparent. I hope that his motives are eventually revealed a bit more too. It is becoming more and more apparent to this reader that Jarlaxle acts like a concerned uncle when around Drizzt and the other Companions of the Hall and less like a ruthless drow mercenary. It's an interesting development and I really wish that it was expanded more.

All the dwarven characters were varying levels of awesomeness. Athrogate has been somewhat annoying to me in the past, but putting him in the same room as Thibbledorf Pwent is comedic fun for all. Bruenor is such a great grounding personality to all the weird stuff that might go on around him. It was rather interesting to see him act as a father figure to Drizzt for the last few chapters of the book.

Strangely enough, the aspect of the story that was least connected to the main line of narrative events was one of my favorites. Temerle, Rorick and Hanaleisa Bonaduce's attempt to rescue some of the residents of Carradoon was rather fun to read. It was as if someone wanted to add an homage to Dawn of the Dead in the middle of a high fantasy book and almost nothing these characters did had any impact on the main story at all. However, it was decently written, pretty entertaining to read and the characters were not horrible, although they could have used a little more depth, particularly since this was the first time they were used as adult characters rather than little children. Pikel Bouldershoulder is quite frequently entertaining, if inarticulate. I liked how they kept themselves going despite their uncertainty and liked all of them by the end of the book.

When I first started this trek through the Transitions books, I was looking for some sort of rekindling of my interest in the Forgotten Realms. I've been rather uninterested in the fourth edition Realms to date and decided on a last ditch effort to dip my toes in the water as it were. Regarding the setting, I can only give a resounding "perhaps later" with due regrets for the Realms that were. For further books by Mr. Salvatore in the Realms, my answer is a firm "maybe." It is extremely clear that Drizzt is unlikely to develop into a character I want to read about further. I can only hope that a few of the minor characters that I like so much more, will become more important to future narrative lines and become more interesting as they progress.

And what about this book, you ask, gentle reader? Was it worth it? Everything you hoped it would be? Considering that I started the book expecting to laugh like an evil overlord then yes, I suppose it was worth it despite its flaws.

Spoiler alert!

What a mess of a book! There are so many things that make this book lame I almost don't know where to start. Well, lets start here....

1)The Ghost King: He is the title of the book after all. A dragon, an Illithid, and Crenshinibon all wrapped up into one being, yet each are separate, but two of them want to be together, but one doesn't, so that one takes over Ivan, but decides to go back, then he gets kicked out,then tries to go back to ivan again, then gets kicked out again, then he talks to Kimmurial who gets him hooked up with the astral plane where he might find a hive of illithid to take him in... etc. This is actually a confusing side plot that goes nowhere and has no purpose in the end. Holy Page Filler!

2)Cattie-Brie and Regis spend the entire books in a helpless daze before they die without so much as a fight. But more on this later.

3)Drizzt is annoying, whining the whole book, crying at least 7-10 times, being generally unreasonable and unlikable (such a change from previous RAS books). Get it together man! You are supposed to be the biggest baddest mofo in town.

3a)However if you like drizzt's combat skills they are back and he is as invincible as ever. He performs all of his typical moves that involve phrases like "sidelong roll", "spinning slash", "jumps off two heads", and of course: "but Drizzt was to fast for that". Why cant anyone land a hit on this crying elf!!??

4)Danicia is back. Quite possible my least favorite character RAS has ever made. She survives being thrown off a cliff by... kicking the cliff to slow herself down... Ughh. If even gravity cant kill a Salvatore character, how could the Ghost King?

5)Danicias kids are in this book and are a super annoying side-plot which involves alot of whining and "but uncle pickle.. naaahhh". You will cringe when their pages come up, which appears to be about half of this book. These kids are uninteresting carbon-copies of their parents and are on their very first adventure... yay! Too bad Pickle is left babysitting these fools: OOOOooooohh...

6)Athrogate is back. He has squared off against both Entreri & Drizzt yet survived unscathed; so why should he get hurt in this book either?

7)Jarlaxle is here, and is the highlight of the book. He continues to hint that he is becoming a "good guy" and has a sensitive side. But hey Jarlaxle, dont you start hanging out in Drizzt books again; his crying might be contagious. Stick with Artemis FTW!

8)Near deaths: Ivan is in a hopeless situation and is about to get crushed by the dragon but dives into a hole that happens to be right where its foot crashed down at just the last moment. I get why Drizzt is invincible, but Ivan? Who cares if he dies. Can anyone die? Comon, did this dracolitch go to stormtrooper marksmanship school? If there is a small hole in a dragon cave that leads to a pool below the main chamber, its probably where the dragon "drops his eggs off at the pool" if you know what I mean.

9)The ultimate munchkin Cadderly is back and is still (twenty some years later) casting spells yet not knowing how he is doing it. Enter subplots that go nowhere such as a metatext and the weave and trying to figure out whats up with magic and where are the Gods. Cadderlies repeated answer? "I dont know". Unfinished side plots urgggh!!!

9a)Cadderly somehow becomes the Ghost king (which isn't explained), and he doesn't kill the dracolitch even though he clearly won the battle with (which isn't explained), so instead of killing the dragon and coming back he decides to walk circles around his burnt up library forever as a ghost so if the dragon (that he should have killed) comes back he becomes trapped. Great way for a hero to go out huh? I guess he kind of died but not really. Unexplained & unsatisfying end.

10) Regis and Cattie-brie die after being completely useless this entire book. The ending is ridiculous and makes no sense. They are stuck forever in a bubble and died in their sleep. Didnt even go out with a fight. Dont worry though...

*Spoiler alert for the books that haven't come out yet*

Salvatore wants to move his FR books 100 years into the future for his next set of books. Let me see:

1)Is everyone who is still alive able to live hundreds of years? Bruneor, Drizzt, Jarlaxle, Athrogate, Pwent, Ivan, Pickle. Entreri (the dagger and the shade) CHECK

2)Is everyone who cant live hundreds of years in some kind of suspended bubble/heaven or shadowfell world? Cattiebree, Regis, Cadderly. CHECK

3)Looks like the whole gang will be back in a hundred years for the next set of unstoppable adventures.

2a)Notable exceptions:

Cadderlys kids: They become annoying superpowered munchkins that find their various own ways to beat death.

Wulfgar- probable gets frozen or something. They get jarlaxle to cast a fireball on him 100 years later and thaws him out.

Danicia- she kicks time to slow it down, then punches something when she lands in a "sidelong roll".

One of his best with a great ending but then you will have to read the series. I have read many of Salvatore's series and would say this is one of the best. I recommend the series to any Salvatore or si-fi fan.

What the heck was this book about? Why did two important characters get killed off in such an unceremoniously way. Out of nowhere Regis gets sucked into where Catti-brie is and we never read about him again until the final pages. Wasn't he supposed to be alive to take part in the opening of the pirate king but now he is dead all of a sudden! Couldn't they have both gone out fighting and had a warriors death? How and why is Cadderly now the ghost king? There are so many unanswered questions that I had after reading this book. Why did Ivan have his axe one minute then all he had was two rocks, then he had his axe again? This shows how the book was rushed and put together with out much thought at all. As loyal fans to this great series we feel let down with the past two books. Get rid of the hippie peace loving Drizzt and bring back the warrior he used to be! If it keeps going this way, in the next book he will have traded in his swords for a bong and a dime bag! For the sake of your fans, fix this series Salvatore!

First off I would like to say that I LOVE R.A Salvatore's work. I have liked every character (the villains and the heroes) because there is so much depth to them and they aren't cookie cutter characters. I was royally pissed off at this book. I understand that some of the heroes have to die eventually, that did not piss me off. what pissed me off was that they did not die because they were not perfect or their luck ran out. They died from a spell and just walked into the sunset! At least let them have died in a fight when they, for once, were not the better. that would be respectable and prefereable since they have all become Mary Sues and Jimmy Stues. Honestly I would have preferred if Wulfgar had stayed dead after the fight which caused the ceiling to cave in (a previous series) because he is off galavanting doing god knows what without any resemblance to the Wulfgar we loved. All the depth and care the heroes had died when they became Gods of fighting. Not to mention poor Cadderly, hasn't he done enough yet and gained some rest? Someone must have threatened Salvatore because I do not believe he would do this to Cattie-Bre or Regis or to his series. Next time just shoot them with an arrow or something!

What R.A. Salvatore has successfully done for 20 years is write fantasy stories about a group of friends as they find their way in the world and overcome the obstacles contained therein. He's done an amazing job of taking what started as fantasy fiction stereotypes and imbuing them with a humanity to which his readers can relate. Like many, I read the "Streams of Silver" in 1988 and was drawn to the adventure of these characters, each an outcast, but together a powerful team. I stuck with them these 21 years as they went through the same changes in life we all go through. Love, loss, change, and the strong friendship that runs through all of it.

This latest novel takes that relationship one step further as we explore the greatest losses and most cataclysmic changes the friends from Icewind Dale have ever faced. Unfortunately, all is not well with the book. Many of the story lines could have used some more time and development. I know what Salvatore was getting at with each of the story lines, but they didn't quite tie together as neatly as they could have, though this has never really been a Drizzt saga strong point. What hurts this book more than anything I think is the sense that the story is set against a backdrop of greater events within the Forgotten Realms, but without enough background information to truly ascertain the full scale of the changes. I found myself consulting a lot of outside sources for information to provide that context. While that works for an RPG handbook, it doesn't help a stand-alone novel.

In the end, we are left with a novel that paves the way for how the characters and settings we've come to love are set-up for D&D 4th ed. Unfortunately, I could care less about 4th edition, having given up on the game with 3rd edition. There were flashes of what we've come to love in the series present as we relate to what it's like to slowly lose someone we love. The alternating feelings of hope, denial, and grief that come with such a tragic loss are well represented without being too over the top (it is a fantasy novel after all). The action sequences are just as detailed as ever though the "baddies" go from all powerful to insanely flawed within 15 pages.Ultimately, the novel fell just a little bit short by trying to accommodate too many disparate elements at the expense of the most important element, the characters.

Too fond of his own voice, ranting away, like a mad preacher with a thesaurus...I skipped...Will admit to boredom and overload...I would like to cut two thirds of this text, to see if what remains might be worth a read...sorry, I cannot review a text I did not actually read....gave up at the reams, floods, cascades of words....

This is easily Salvatore's worst work I have read to date (and I've read most of his writing). The plot feels very disjointed and forced. It feels like there are going to be moments when everything that has happened will come together and make sense and turn into a good story but it just never happens. Reading this it felt like a lame attempt to bring Salvatore's best heroes and villains together but ultimately it falls flat.

I had been waiting for another book featuring Cadderly, and Bob Salvatore managed to do it in this book along with our friend Drizzt. I could not put this one down! I cannot say anything negative about the book, although I had to fight tears at the end. It is very rare that I am moved so much by a book. I would not be surprised if this is the end of the Drizzit series.

So I just finished the Ghost King. Was I impressed? not exactly. Was the book good? Absolutly. I am turning 26 tomorrow and have grown up with Drizzt and Salvatores novels. They have never dissapointed me on action and making me wanna read til all hours of the night until the Transitions series began. It was slow and boring at first making peace with orcs? Does anyone but me realize that in D & D ranking Drizzt is basically a demigod and could mop the floor with the orcs? Really making peace with them? Then the very boring Pirate King with its very drull story of Deudermont havent read anything so boring since the cleric quintet. Those of you that are fans of Cadderly I apologize but the only thing holding those books together were the two hillarios dwarves Ivan and Pikel. Now we have The ghost king where all of our favs seem to return for one last hurah against an old enemy (old story). The realms our changing and Charactors have to change right along with it if they live through it. We all knew Drizzt would outlive the companions of the hall so the bittersweet ending will come as welcome to some Drizzts fans and I am thankfull to WoTC for forcing Salvatores hand because it was starting to get repetitive. Its time for Drizzt to find new scenery and companions (like he needs any)and time for Salvatore to breathe new life in to Drizzt or if it isnt possible time for WoTC to let him kill Drizzt off. I just hope he doesnt once again bring charactors back to life miraculously it gets tiresome and old. But over all this book was great a page turner in the end and seems to be going in the direction it needs to be but just like the first 2 it is for fans of the series only.

I wasn't enjoying this series as much as I enjoyed most of Salvatore's work, it seemed forced to me, and then I started this book.

Spoilers- Beware--------------

First, with the Spellplague about, me and many of my friends already thought that Catti-brie would be hit with it. Well, Salvatore wastes no time in afflicting her. That is what starts the entire adventuring group prepared to take action. Then Jarlaxle and Athrogate come in (which just took me on the book- Jarlaxle is my favorite character) and they get them to join them to go to Spirit Soaring.

What got me the most was that Drizzt really stopped being an annoyingly dispassionate character. He's often so full of philosophy that he is flat. But Catti-brie's plight motivated him so that he seemed more like a person than just a cliche hero.

The killing of three characters... I think everybody suspected. It was coming throughout the entire book. You can wish it isn't true, just like the remaining characters in the book, but it is what it is.

Needless to say I was crying my eyes out by the end. My heart was broken just as much as Drizzt's was.

For anyone wondering if this book was worth it, it is. It goes to those same dark places that the Dark Elf Trilogy and the Sellswords Trilogy took us. If the beautiful cover art by Todd Lockwood isn't enough to make the purchase, then the read is. Good job, Salvatore.

This is easily Salvatore's worst work I have read to date (and I've read most of his writing). The plot feels very disjointed and forced. It feels like there are going to be moments when everything that has happened will come together and make sense and turn into a good story but it just never happens. Reading this it felt like a lame attempt to bring Salvatore's best heroes and villains together but ultimately it falls flat.

I had been waiting for another book featuring Cadderly, and Bob Salvatore managed to do it in this book along with our friend Drizzt. I could not put this one down! I cannot say anything negative about the book, although I had to fight tears at the end. It is very rare that I am moved so much by a book. I would not be surprised if this is the end of the Drizzit series.

So I just finished the Ghost King. Was I impressed? not exactly. Was the book good? Absolutly. I am turning 26 tomorrow and have grown up with Drizzt and Salvatores novels. They have never dissapointed me on action and making me wanna read til all hours of the night until the Transitions series began. It was slow and boring at first making peace with orcs? Does anyone but me realize that in D & D ranking Drizzt is basically a demigod and could mop the floor with the orcs? Really making peace with them? Then the very boring Pirate King with its very drull story of Deudermont havent read anything so boring since the cleric quintet. Those of you that are fans of Cadderly I apologize but the only thing holding those books together were the two hillarios dwarves Ivan and Pikel. Now we have The ghost king where all of our favs seem to return for one last hurah against an old enemy (old story). The realms our changing and Charactors have to change right along with it if they live through it. We all knew Drizzt would outlive the companions of the hall so the bittersweet ending will come as welcome to some Drizzts fans and I am thankfull to WoTC for forcing Salvatores hand because it was starting to get repetitive. Its time for Drizzt to find new scenery and companions (like he needs any)and time for Salvatore to breathe new life in to Drizzt or if it isnt possible time for WoTC to let him kill Drizzt off. I just hope he doesnt once again bring charactors back to life miraculously it gets tiresome and old. But over all this book was great a page turner in the end and seems to be going in the direction it needs to be but just like the first 2 it is for fans of the series only.

I wasn't enjoying this series as much as I enjoyed most of Salvatore's work, it seemed forced to me, and then I started this book.

Spoilers- Beware--------------

First, with the Spellplague about, me and many of my friends already thought that Catti-brie would be hit with it. Well, Salvatore wastes no time in afflicting her. That is what starts the entire adventuring group prepared to take action. Then Jarlaxle and Athrogate come in (which just took me on the book- Jarlaxle is my favorite character) and they get them to join them to go to Spirit Soaring.

What got me the most was that Drizzt really stopped being an annoyingly dispassionate character. He's often so full of philosophy that he is flat. But Catti-brie's plight motivated him so that he seemed more like a person than just a cliche hero.

The killing of three characters... I think everybody suspected. It was coming throughout the entire book. You can wish it isn't true, just like the remaining characters in the book, but it is what it is.

Needless to say I was crying my eyes out by the end. My heart was broken just as much as Drizzt's was.

For anyone wondering if this book was worth it, it is. It goes to those same dark places that the Dark Elf Trilogy and the Sellswords Trilogy took us. If the beautiful cover art by Todd Lockwood isn't enough to make the purchase, then the read is. Good job, Salvatore.

the book goes the main stream way of zombies and undead throughout, but the end of the book is so straight forward that it just grabs you and you dont want to read more but you have to finish it. I felt for drizzt...ESPECIALLY nearing the end.i would recommend it, even if it isnt as good overall as previous books

**Spoiler Alert**
Another good story with Drizzt and company. I wasn't overly impressed with the way Salvatore opted to eliminate Catti'Brie and Regis however. It was kind of a lame way for them to die

I consider this to be one of Salvatore's best works (second only to Homeland, which will always be my favorite). The Ghost King has a gripping storyline and was full of edge-of-your-seat action scenes (as always!) that kept me glued to the book until the end. I am a huge Jarlaxle fan, so I was thrilled that he had such a large role in the story and was pleasantly surprised with the direction in which Salvatore took his character. What most impressed me, though, was the emotional depth of this book. Salvatore did a beautiful job of portraying the reality of grief and loss as he expanded on the emotional depths of Drizzt more than ever before. The deaths which occur in this book were truely heart breaking (certainly had me in tears!) but, as others here have said, were inevitable. I look forward to seeing in what new directions Salvatore will take the (surviving) characters in the post-spellplague era. Thank you Salvatore for another wonderful adventure (and hope there will be many more to come)!! :)

I have read every book that has included Drizzt as a character and have been a fan of Mr. Salvatore's writing for many years. Given that this concluded the series titled "Transitions" I expected a lot. I thought questions would get answered and we would be given more detailed information as to the turbulence the spell plague has caused in the FR world. Nope.

Obviously there will be more books to fill in the blanks regarding this time period in FR but even still, the weight and credit Mr. Salvatore carries with him, I expect to get a little more bang in the story telling.

The forward hinted at a dark novel. There is nothing dark, gritty or otherwise mysterious about the book. Bland and predictable, the story arc is easily followed throughout. Halfway through the book I kept asking myself why I cared about most of the characters. The Bonaduce family is as boring as they come. This should have been an epic book and it is not. There are themes throughout about personal struggle, sacrifice and loss, but there is nothing compelling that will make you turn the pages other than a desire to just finish the read.

The word play used is tired and repeats several times over. Even the combat is obvious and it feels as though Mr. Salvatore is getting bored about writing the details of Drizzt and his friends. This is especially true in the way he handles the last chapter of the book. It leaves the reader feeling a sense of emptiness and loneliness and even confusion (as a fan) at an utter waste of two lives. That is not dark and it certainly isn't a pay-off which accounts for what the reader waited the entire novel to find out. It's just tripe masquerading as profundity.

Mr. Salvatore is a capable writer which is why I gave three stars but overall the experience left a sour taste in my mouth.

This is not a review of the book but rather a decision not to read the book after having read the reviews. I am very disappointed. After reading about all the Drizzt books up to this one and, after just obtaining the book, I shall not read it. I will discard it and read no more of anything new by Salvatore. I will think my own ending to the series and find another author, yet am appreciative of the enjoyment received and highly recommend the series to this point. Why would I want more reality? That is not why I read this genre of books.

I have read all of R. A. Salvatore's drizzt/caderly books including this one, and the Ghost King was my favorite. If you have not read any of the other drizzt/Caderly books the significance and emotion found in this book may not be present (although I would highly suggest just catching up starting with Icewind Dale or Dark Elf trilogy, its worth it). Due to the vast number of characters present, it would be difficult to understand who is who without some previous knowledge, you could google drizzt and caderly and catch yourself up pretty quickly.

I was actually just starting to complain about Salvatore's most recent drizzt work because it lacked the emotion and started to downplay the ability of several of the main characters. This books (characteristic of most Salvatore books) has a multitude of detailed fight scenes that allows the reader to visualize ever movement on the battlefield. It also carries the same light heartiness that many of the previous less intense books in the series contains. The books sets itself apart from previous work, because of the great deal of significance and emotion (I don't want to get specific and spoil anything) as well as actually providing a true ended. Many of Salvatore's books can be too open ended.

Simply put, this was the best Salvatore book I have ever read, and without a doubt one of my favorite all time!

***Spoilers***

I was looking forward to the latest installment of the Drittz series but the first shock happened when I went to purchase the book. The book cost 27 dollars which was far more then I expected to pay but I purchased it anyways. When I flipped through the book I noticed that it was less then 400 pages long and the text was huge. I started to get the feeling that perhaps with the failings of the WOTC DnD they might be milking Drittz for everything they can get. When I read the books I really felt that the passion for Salvatore to write these books had been lost. The past three books of Transitions all seemed realitively pointless to me as they all appeared to be books to weaken the cast of characters that surrounded Drittz through his adventures. It seemed like every character in this book was the diet version of themselves from past books. Decision making through out the book was completely irrational and did not make sense. First off you they are coaxed in traveling to Cadderly rather then the one of the Seven Sisters living in Silvermoon. Why would you travel 7 days instead of travelling 6 hours to one of the most power spellcasters? Second the ending of the book provided zero resolution other then to jumble together a quick ending that made zero sense. I hope that Salvatore stops writing books because I felt this is a poor example of his talents.

R.A. Salvatore's Drizzt books are usually hit or mess. You have the good (The Hunter's Blade trilogy, Servants of the Shard, the first two books of this trilogy) and then the very, very bad (Road of the Patriarch, Passage to Dawn, Sea of Swords). Based on the quality of the first books of the Transitions series (Pirate King and Orc King), the preface by Salvatore about this being his darkest book, and the fact that this is (presumably) the last book before a 100 year timeline jump, I had high hopes for this novel.

Sadly, this novel is one of Salvatore's weakest. The characters (even the interesting ones) are dull, the pacing is dreadful, the subplots go nowhere, Salvatore overuses deus ex machinas, and the plot is messy. Read on for a more in depth analysis.

WARNING: SPOILERS

The crux of the novel is that the Spellplague has caused the Crystal Shard, the dragon Hephaestus, and the mind flayer Yharisisk (sp, probably) to fuse together somehow and return as a Dracolich, the titular Ghost King, He can command the undead and open rifts to a new realm called the Shadowfell (a perverted Plane of Shadow). If that sounds like bad Drizzt fan-fiction to you, you're pretty spot on. It makes no sense and Salvatore doesn't make an effort to explain it beyond, "The Weave is falling!" We also spend WAYYYY too much time with Ghost King, especially in the first half of the novel. The dragon, the Shard, and the mind flayer are arguing with each other. This plot thread goes nowhere and is ultimately unimportant.

The Ghost King thus decides to kill everyone who wronged him: Jarlaxle, Cadderly, Danica, and Artemis Entreri. Unfortunately, Salvatore never gets around to bringing Entreri into the novel. Jarlaxle does get involved, brings Arthrogate with him (a character who needs more time in the limelight, since we get hints at an interesting past), and leads the gang from Mithril Hall to Cadderly. But Salvatore poorly manages Jarlaxle. Yes, Jarlaxle has a soft spot for Drizzt. But he also always has an angle, something he wants for himself. Here, Salvatore plays Jarlaxle as an altruistic hero who only wants to help. Suffice to say, Jarlaxle lands up as a boring character with a bunch of magical doodads.

On Cadderly's side, the Ghost King's minions are attacking Spirit Soaring. I actually liked the Cleric Quintent, but this is by far the weakest part of the story. Far too much time is spent following Cadderly's kids as they lead some survivors through a dark tunnel. This contributes nothing to the main plot. Worse, the action is boring and the kids have no personality. All this side plot does is slow the book down. There's also a side plot with Ivan being possessed by the mind flayer. This one doesn't go anywhere either, although it does lead to a moment where Danica witnesses Ivan's death at the claws of the Ghost King. This is the one death in the novel that invokes genuine emotion, except Salvatore ruins it because Ivan actually escaped. Finally, there's a side plot where the wizards and priest at the library argue and try to understand the collapsing weave. These sections offer no insight into the event. It's a back and forth with no point.

The main problem with the Cadderly storyline is that Cadderly is basically a walking deus ex machina. Salvatore doesn't bother following the D&D rules, let alone the rules of good story telling. If there's a problem, Cadderly's god will give him some new, unknown spell to deal with it. He was a bit more limited in the Quintet, but here Cadderly is positively god-like. There's no possibility of tension when we know Cadderly will take care of everything. I will say that some of the Cadderly stuff, mainly the talk about Deneir, the Weave, and the metatext, but also his connection to Spirit Soaring, is interesting, but totally underplayed.

On Drizzt's side, Cattie-Brie gets struck by the falling weave and trapped in the Shadowfell. However, her body is still in Toril, left in catatonic state, although she occasionally relives moments from her past. Regis tries to save her with his pendant and also gets trapped there. Sadly, this entire situation, what could have been the emotional crux of the novel, falls flat. It happens so fast with so little (and so nonsensical) an explanation that you never care. It's mainly a plot device to unite Drizzt (and Jarlaxle) with Cadderly. ****MEGA SPOILER AHEAD**** When Cattie-Brie and Regis finally die at the end of the novel, you just don't care because they've been in comas the entire novel. It's just lazy, sloppy work on Salvatore's plot.

***MEGA SPOILER ENDED*** On the plus side, the action scenes are great (at least the one's concerning Drizzt), and it's fun to see Drizzt, Jarlaxle, Bruenor, Arthrogate, Pwent, and Cadderly all fight a dracolich. Overall, though, this is just a poor effort. Both the Orc King and the Pirate King had epic storyline's, great characters, and emotional resonance. The Ghost King never reaches those heights. Especially after recently reading Paul S. Kemp's Twilight War trilogy (novel's that are heads and shoulders better than any Drizzt novel, as much as I love them), this book is a huge disappointment. Unless you're a die-hard Drizzt fan, stay away.

I saw many mixed reviews, and i wanted to put in my two cents. I thought this book was by far the best of the Transitions trilogy. The book was gripping and I did not want to put it down until the end. Although we hate to see bad things happen to characters we love, for the sake of the continuing story I can accept the fact it had to be done. I am glad that the characters' deaths were not cliche fantasy hero deaths, but reflect a more realistic situation in which death can come at any moment. Salvatore pulls your emotions through the final chapters of the story, and concludes with a truly poetic epilogue. I look forward to seeing Drizzt's life evolve without the companionship of these fallen heroes, as I know it will open a story line to more opportunities for new adventures.

This last book in the latest Drizzt trilogy ends as a disappointment for several reasons. However, it is only fair to start with R.A. Salvatore's strong points in the story. As always, Salvatore has the market cornered in action sequences, and I've yet to find a fantasy author who can come close to matching the images this man can evoke in my mind. In addition, the characterization of Drizzt is spot on in The Ghost King as he visibly suffers as his wife slowly dies before his eyes. The frustration at his powerlessness is masterfully written. Unfortunately, the other characters suffer the opposite problem; they lose dimension and become flat. Jarlaxle looses any of his moral ambiguity and becomes a clone of Drizzt, the children of Cadderly are bland and uninteresting, and Catti-brie and Regis are stripped of their agency and become non-characters. Plot threads are dropped, such as when a rift into the Shadowfell is opened and nothing pertinent to the plot happens with it. Worse yet, the end of the book feels nonsensical and disappointing. I'm still not sure as to how Cadderly assumes the mantle of the ghost king or why he is bound eternally renewing a ward over the Shadowfell when it has already been established that other portals out exist. Finally, the death of Regis and Catti-brie falls flat as they have literally had nothing to say for the entire novel. The intervention of the goddess of nature into Catti-brie's fate is also strange since she doesn't even worship the nature goddess. The capstone on this disappointment comes from the last line of the book, implying that Drizzt and Catti-brie are eternally separated, and will never meet in the afterlife. This ends the book on an especially depressing note. Overall, a lackluster effort by Salvatore.

I would have to say that this final book to the series. Is a great end to a really great trilogy. If this series doesn't get made into a movie trilogy I will be very surprised. Because it is that good of a series, After just finishing this book in under 3 weeks I would have to give a 10 out 10. I would recommend it for any fantasy fiction reader. And in conclusion I can't wait for the next series of books, for him to write.

This book is, of course, a must-read for Salvatore fans. It's the final book in his transitions series and all your favorite characters are there; drizzt, jarlaxle, cadderly, bruenor, catti-brie, etc. Some major things change in Faerun in this book, but i felt it was well worth the read. I highly recommend this title to anyone interested in fantasy, but i recommend reading salvatore's earlier books about these characters first.

I love R.A Salvatore but maybe after reading Pirate and Ghost King its time to stop, both are huge disappointments. The ending of Ghost King makes me want to petition RA Salvatore to re-write it, perhaps the worst ending to any book I have ever read... The ending drags on and on, and just gets dumber and dumber :( Just got the Neverwinter books gonna give them a try but man I hope they are better than the Transitions series...

No matter how long it's been since I've picked up a Salvatore book, I'm immediately engrossed. The author did a phenomenal job tying together everything into an unexpected, spectacular conclusion. The story was gripping, taking everything you thought you knew about the characters and allowing a deeper look into these already complex, familiar characters. Allowing the reader to see a bit of themselves in even the most unlikely of characters. Another home-run from this titanic author.

Splendid book by RA Salvatore and it is very well written. You get Jaraxle and Drizzt fighting together and Athrogate/Bruenor/Pwent fighting together. Fans of the series will appreciate these pairings and it makes for a great great book.

was a good read and good story but it seemed r.a. salvadore put to much into fight scene discriptions. while i know this is one of his strong points i feel it was a little over done in this book. while not one of his best works still a good story and worth the read if you enjoy the drizzt stories.

Although this is a well written book,I have to say the ending stinks.If you are looking for a happy ending ,DO NOT READ this book.At least 3 major characters kick the bucket(in a manner of speaking).I can understand if Salvatore is geting tired of writing Drizzt books,but if this is how he is choosing to end the franchise ,he should have just stopped with the Hunters Blades Trilogy.There is plenty of action and if you have already read his other Forgotten Realms books you might as well read this one.Just be warned.