Book I (The Legend of Drizzt 17) - The Orc King

For those who are familiar with Drizzt and company, this book doesn't disappoint. There are major changes to the characters, and even the world, but the descriptive action sequences we've come to expect are there in abundance. A must read for fans of the Forgotten Realms.

hightly recommend...as always great depth and thought provacation by Salvator in his story line. If you liked his previous this one adds to the rich story line and moves you in a very unexpected direction.

Since the publication of the bestselling Crystal Shard, R.A. Salvatore has launched on a dynamic Swords&Sorcery career, mostly centering around the adventures of rogue dark elf Drizzt Do'Urden. Earliest in the series were mostly slash 'n smash page-turners, but lately, as he matures as a writer, R.A. Salvatore had merged his black and white rhetoric into a startling shade of gray.
In his ongoing battle with the foul orcs, Drizzt, a drow elf who has rejected the vile ways of his kin, learns to see past the dark deeds of the porcine race and looks to see the good in orcs.
Filled to the brim with excellent stylized action scenes, this newest novel in the Legend of Drizzt delves deeper into the emotional chaos in our favorite drow warrior's soul, and finds good in even the most evil of beings.

Most of RA salvatore's books in this series leave much to be desired. Maybe it is that they feel barren and formulaic, too much like the preceding novels with not enough substance of their own. For whatever reason, this one has that thing that the other books lack - a certain je ne c'est quoi - it is a breath of fresh air the aforementioned series badly needed, especially after reading so many of its vaguely disappointing or repetitive prequels. In my opinion, this is the best book in the series (up to its point - i haven't yet read those that follow it) since Sojourn. Longtime fans of the series will find enough of the things they loved about the previous books to enjoy this installment, and i'd argue that they'll find enough in the way of newer, fresher themes to keep them hooked in ways the immediately preceding books failed to do.
if i could have given the book a 4.5, i would have. It is by no means perfect - many of the most interesting plot lines suggested by the novel are abandoned part-way through. However, i am at least glad that those plot lines were presented in the first place; I would never have thought to see them in the previous books. ultimately, i give the book a high rating not because it is perfect, but because it so exceeded the low expectations i have come to ask of the series and the genre. I left the book satisfied and unmistakably impressed, despite my initial expectation to dislike it.

Like many of Salvatore's recent novels, I had mixed feelings about this book. He has created an interesting story and certainly has the characters facing situations and developments that are far outside their comfort zones. I like the internal struggle they are forced to deal with in the face of reality. The plot is outside the norm for a usual Forgotten Realm novel, and for that Salvatore should receive some praise.

However, interesting plot strands aside, these pros cannot overcome the halting writing style and awkward dialogue that has become typical of Salvatore's novels. I haven't seen any real growth is the craft of his writing since he started the Drizzt novels 20 years ago. The ideas flow but are obstructed by a rather utilitarian prose. In addition, I've grown tired of his portrayal of the shield dwarves. They sound like idiots and I cannot find myself really caring one way or another about how they come out of this new stalemate with the orcs.

In the end, I wish that Salvatore could write like Kemp or Baker, FR authors who have a real talent of weaving interesting stories with solid writing. I doubt Salvatore is going to change and I'm not sure I'll be picking up his books as soon as they hit the market anymore.

Let me discuss something that happens in the very beginning.

Drizzt encounters these "vigilantes", for lack of a better word, who kill orcs (you know know, those monsters that kill/rape). Except apparently they do it when orcs are sleeping or whatever, but they don't kill children or women. What Drizzt does about it is shocking. He attacks these guys, which results in of them dying (which Drizzt doesn't feel bad about) and the others captured by elves.

When I read this passage, I was so disturbed that I actually felt pain in my heart and had to put the book down for a while. I mean come on. Here you have these characters doing exactly what Drizzt does (kill orcs), but they do it in a way that isn't "honorable"? Since when is Drizzt about honor? He even calls them "murderers." Oh, Drizzt, you mean like the way that the orcs they were killing were butchers of the innocent? The whole situation is utterly ridiculous.

Its as if RA Salvatore forgot his own character. Drizzt is supposed to be chaotic good. Basically, DRIZZT was always the vigilante. He's supposed to not care about honor or order, just doing what is right no matter what. What happened to the old Drizzt who said "And when did I say I would every fight fair?" or something like that. Since Drizzt is pretty much acting chaotic evil (for defending chaotic evil orcs), this whole debacle is a betrayal of the character. The whole reason I can think that RA Salvatore would do this is to make the book "edgy" and "controversial."

But it doesn't end there. The fight sequences have become utterly ridiculous. For example, the text says things like "Drizzt rolled his scimitars over each other in circles." First of all, what does that mean? I tried to visualize it and couldn't, as I don't even know what that is or how it would look. I tried to draw it in multi-step comic slides, and I couldn't do that either. Secondly, I'm 100% sure that no swordsmen would ever actually do that. I think RA Salvatore has no clue as to how real sword fighting would work. The other possibility is that he knows SO much about real sword fighting that the audience has to be experts to understand it, but I suppose that is pretty dumb as well. The book shouldn't be written in a away that you have to be an expert to understand the swordplay, it should just be entertaining without being too complicated. There are so many examples of this that I had to skim/skip fight scenes because I got bored.

Lastly, is RA Salvatore running out of ideas? He can't kill off characters except for very minor side characters. Heck, he can't even kill off villains.The main villain in this book is Obould's Kingdom of Many Arrows. First of all, how are they still around? Secondly, MOVE ON. We're sick of orcs. Let that "villain" be over and done with, and get a new one. It seems like RA is ran out of creativity and so he just let them stick around to create conflict, instead of making new conflict.

Don't buy it. You don't want to, trust me.

This is definitely not what you would expect for Salvatore, but then again, he has been waxing philosophical in recent years. I, like most readers, always skipped over those philosophical journal entries in italics, but this book adds the philosophy to the plot as well... you can't escape it. I felt like I was getting a lesson in tolerance and morality. How annoying! I miss the suspense and action of the Dark Elf Trilogy and Crystal Shard. I didn't care for the fact that Drizzt got married; he is supposed to be a loner and the other small plot lines were very.. soap operish... There were no characters that I became emotionally attached too... except maybe that other drow, but his part was small. The evil gnome (Jack) was also interesting but he did not appear prominently enough to keep my attention. Ultimately, the only redeeming quality was a few lines at the beginning and end of the novel that hinted towards future events. It almost seemed like Salvatore was setting up a merger of the other forgotten realms novels.. Lirial and the Dark Maiden followers.. maybe even Jarlaxle and Entreri will enter the picture to struggle with the wars, disease, deity issues and conflict in the next books. That sounds like an interesting saga.

"The Orc King" is an excellent first novel in the "Transitions" series of Forgotten Realms books by R.A. Salvatore.

Salvatore examines how a people can set aside their racial prejudices for the greater good. I have to admit that the way Salvatore goes about it is a bit cliched. Bruenor has the deep-seated hatred of all things Orc that stems from way back, and he's very reluctant to trust Obould at all. He's firmly convinced that Obould's orcs that are camped a short march from Mithral Hall are there for a lot more than farming. So isn't it convenient that there is a force of orcs who are dead-set against Obould's plan to peacefully coexist with the Dwarves, thus illustrating to Bruenor that these are Obould's true intentions. That being said, Salvatore's handling of the whole situation is quite mature. It's nice that there is still plenty of distrust there, even though Bruenor is willing to finally accept the peace that Obould's offering. It's something that could be shattered at any moment, and it threatens to fall apart very easily.

Salvatore takes the "Transitions" name of this series to heart, making changes in all of the major characters that have been with us since the beginning. Wulfgar, the barbarian who has loved Catti-brie for many years, finally has some decisions to make as he has come to accept that she loves Drizzt. Events of previous novels (I'm assuming, anyway) have shown him that he must do what is right for his adopted daughter and then make his own way in the world. Catti-brie, the human woman who is also Bruenor's adopted daughter, was injured in the previous novel, which brings about changes in her life and her profession that she never saw coming. Regis, the halfling, doesn't change as much, but he's much more mature than I remember, and events from past novels are weighing on him. Drizzt himself doesn't change much, but he brings a sense of stability that helps anchor the book.

Salvatore writes the action scenes just as well as I remember, though occasionally they are a bit too detailed. The reader gets a feel for the flow of the action, but sometimes it gets so detailed that it's almost like he's choreographing it for the reader rather than letting the reader just get a sense of what's going on. It did help me see the action step by step in my mind, but it also felt very mechanical at times. It's a question of style, though, and obviously this style has a lot of fans. I like it, but it begins to grate on me after a while.

Just a couple of minor notes before I close. The type in my copy of this book is almost microscopic, supposedly to keep a reasonable page count despite the huge number of words. Don't try to read this in bad light. Secondly, the "map" at the beginning of the book is almost totally useless for following any events in the story. You see where Mithral Hall is in relation to the Orc kingdoms, but other than that, you're on your own. I couldn't even follow our heroes' expedition to the lost Dwarven city on this map, which really annoyed me.

"The Orc King" is a great first book in the Transitions series, though it probably would mean even more if I was familiar with the last 6-9 novels. There is a lot of backstory, though Salvatore rarely loses the reader in the retelling of it. It does feel like you've missed a lot, but you won't be at a loss to follow the events in this book. What more can you ask of an author who has written so many books previously in the series? It's worth checking out if you like this sort of thing. Don't let the Forgotten Realms tag turn you off.

David Roy