Book 2 - Legend of Drizzt, Companions Codex

I was hesitant of the changes coming to faerun and drizzle ongoing series but this book has renewed my interest in the story it's literally a second chance for the companions of the hall and a breath of fresh air revitalizing this series I can't wait for more I hope he keeps expanding this series for years to come.

Overall, I do really like the Drizzt series. However, this latest installment wasn't impressive.

As a standalone book, it would have fallen flat, for nothing really happens in it at all. A less well-established author would have not been able to get away with a book like this, which isn't a compliment towards Salvatore's skills as a writer. Certainly, he *can* get away with writing a book full of obligatory battles and devoid of a true plot, but that doesn't change the fact that this is filler. This book reminded me of how some long-standing animes (most notoriously Dragonball Z, but also Naruto, Bleach, etc) would spend many many episodes in which the characters would be achieving a new power level in each episode as they get ready for what's to come, but fundamentally, such episodes only serve to draw out the length of the series, and serve as little more than maximizing the revenue stream.

I understand the contention that major events are on the horizon and such requires set-up, but honestly Mr. Salvatore, you can do better than this. Especially considering that now that The Companions are back, their battles just are just rehashed. Sure, Catti-Brie primarily fights with magic now and Regis isn't useless anymore, but at the end of the day, it's going to be each Companion worrying about the other and one ALMOST falls but then everyone else to the rescue! It's hard to believe that The Companions are ever in any true danger, because they always prevail. I'm not saying that they shouldn't be triumphant, I just wish that it wasn't so predictable, and that they sustain more than a few injuries that Regis' potions and/or Catti-Brie's magics won't fix in a jiffy. They can't even be defeated by death, so what's a group of goblins, orcs, ogres, giants, or even dragons? I get that the individual battles need to be written out so that the protagonists do not seem grotesquely overpowered when they're just pitched immediately into the large-scale orc war, but really, even with the small scale battle scenes and personal peril, one can't get over how Mary Sue they are. Take Catti-Brie for example. Blessed by two goddesses and chosen of at least one, she's a formidable mage AND a priestess. Nevermind that she has more firepower than all of the other wizards that she fights with, after she's done with those powers she's off outhealing the other healers. Does anyone have a damage/healing meter? Report Catti-brie for hacking!

Speaking of Catti-Brie, I was disappointed to see that Salvatore still doesn't seem to have a good idea of how to develop a female character. Catti-Brie feels bland and one-dimensional, especially in her reincarnated form where she's spouting sanctimony left and right. She gains some dimension when she feels guilt for murdering orckind, but other than that, what is Catti-Brie? Red-haired. Beautiful. Very beautiful. Did I mention that she's gorgeous? Yeah. By the way, have we met a primary female character who isn't extremely pretty yet? Even Calihye, who is portrayed to have an ugly scar run down her face, is actually quite beautiful. Think about the most attractive person that you've seen, and now consider a scar that runs down one of his/her cheeks. Does that detract from his/her beauty? Sure. Does it make him/her on par with average or unattractive people? Not in the least. And quite frankly, it's delusional to think otherwise. A strong female protagonist does not need to also be drop-dead gorgeous, and certainly not like Catti-Brie, who's arguably prettier than A FREAKING DAUGHTER OF THE GODDESS OF MAGIC, MYSTRA (Alustriel). Also, I thought it was really sweet that Drizzt still thought his wife very attractive even when she had aged into her middleages, but that isn't truly tested because as soon as she started getting older, she dies, and then a hundred years later, Drizzt is given her back as her hot young self again.

On the bright side, despite the rehashed fights, at least Salvatore only used "six hundred pounds of panther" once. I think it was an obligatory usage, and seemed to be thrown in there as a sort of inside joke even, so that, I appreciated.

Finally, especially as I got more towards the end, it felt like Salvatore was doing everything he could to keep Entreri from making an appearance, but at the same time he's dropping hints in a very obvious way that, "Entreri may not be in this, BUT HE WILL BE I PROMISE FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO WANT TO SEE HIM!! STAY TUNED!!!" The need to do that is rather sad, because it's obvious that the heroes are predictable, the evils are predictable, but all the other pieces that do not have to be involved that choose to be keep the whole interesting. I hope that the next book isn't more of moving the pieces around the board engaging in minor skirmishes without much else happening.

Overall, rather disappointing in what feels like a lazy, rehashed and uninspired installment. The only thing that kept it moving for me was the intrigue of the neutral parties.

"Rise of the King" brings us to the 27th book in the ongoing Drizzt saga and the second installment in the recharged "Companions Codex" series.

Picking up right where "Night of the Hunter" left off, the Drow and Orc of Many Arrows have teamed up to lead an assault on the Silver Marches. Feeling an immense burden of responsibility for the current conflict, Bruenor leads his companions towards the battle to fight for the goodly races.

Rise of the King is 75% plot development with the final 25% being edge of your seat action. I anticipate that next March, when the third installment arrives, several big conflicts might finally come to fruition.

Some of our favorite supporting cast members return with minor and cameo appearances: Jarlaxle, Athrogate, Ivan Bouldershoulder, the dragon sisters and Dahlia. Then, other key players are blatantly absent which means the third novel should be exciting indeed.

I'm a huge fan of R.A. Salvatore's work and a big fan of the Drizzt series. After all these years, the saga and characters remain fresh and exciting. This is a solid entry in the Drizzt anthology and a very well written novel overall.

For new readers and those who are coming back from a Drizzt hiatus, check out my the store listmania list which shows the read order for the main series from book one to this latest installment. http://amzn.com/lm/R2JESL8JR0TPV2

A huge, huge thank you to NetGalley and Wizards of the Coast for providing me with a copy of this book to read for review.

It was okay could have been better. There was way too much happening and so different point of view changes that it took a lot away from the story especially since the book wasn't that long. Also it seems to me that most of the time the companions were so weak and as usual the enemy has a full picture of what's going on while all they do is blunder into tight spot with no type of knowledge. One of the main reasons I've always liked Drizzt do'urden books is because the Pov is steady and there isn't that much jumping around from character to character that you get too frustrated with the read which happens in this book. Well I'm a avid reader of these but so just going to Dait for the next one and hope it's better.

Awesome, hurry Bob I need the next one already! This new, yet old, path of the companions is great. I have read everything Bob Salvatore has put in writing and his companion books are my favorite. In fact anything within this realm is my favorite From Jarlaxle, to Cadderly, anything. But this new series would also be good for a newcomer to this world.

Huge fan of Drizzt but I think Salvatore used a very cheap out bringing back the Companions of the Hall so I'm not a big fan of this whole story arc. Not a huge fan of GRRMartin but at least he's not afraid to kill his popular characters.

As with most books by Bob, he does a horrible job of introducing characters. If this book is about Drizzt, and the companions, why can't Bob open with them, introducing, the time, scene etc? Bob always starts with someone evil we know nothing about and it takes 20-50 pages to finally find out where the main characters are which gets really old. Then we have a stupid cast of thousands, I mean thousands of evil people. Really? We need to have 10 matron mothers all fighting? 10 other drow all evil, plus orcs and evil dragons and Gromph and Jaraxle and three other dwarves besides Buenor? Really Bob we need to follow 30 different people and see what happens, talk about confusing! Why not just focus on the companions, one or two evil drow, one evil Orc and an evil dragon and let the action/war/scenes just play out? Why did we have to wait until the last third of the book to get any action? Come on Bob, we aren't rocket scientist trying to interpret your books, even with a cast of thousands, but please we need more action less character. Your not George Mertin. I hate his books anyways, k.i.s.s. Keep it simple stupid, were the people buying your books. We want to escape not wrack our brains trying to figure things out or not understand 29 different characters. Next book, leave all those matron mothers out. This isn't war of the spider queen books about menzoberrazan.

This is the first really big disappointment from Salvatore. The crystal shard and the underdark books were amazing. This book is a rehash of A thousand orcs. It's a case of been there, done that. And the ending, or lack of an ending is just a slap in the face. In all of his past books he was able to resolve whatever the main conflict was in the book and still set up a sequel. He gave us a complete story before setting the stage for the next story. He doesn't even try in this one. It just cuts off. I can't give up on characters I've loved for a very long time but I definitely don't have the same anticipation for the next one that I did for this. Maybe it actually is time to kill these characters off, because lazy books like this kill the characters off in a much more painful way.

You have to stop charging so much (publishing house or whoever) for these digital books! I know it is very subjective and they let them set the price but I cannot justify buying these ebooks for hardback prices.

The first Companion Codex was a great foundation for this series and started many different things moving in the Faerun. This book brings you deeper, much deeper into the plot of the Spider Queen. She truly is a creature of chaos! Great story and great series.

Great addition to the drizz't line. Been reading these books since they were first written and they don't disappoint.
I feel like salvatore has tapped into a little more brutal writing style and has become more efficient at getting the mood and atmosphere across more efficiently.
Can't wait for the next one.