Posts Tagged ‘R A Salvatore’

The Orc King by R.A. Salvatore

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009

Yes, you have to be a bona fide fantasy geek to enjoy Salvatore’s Forgotten Realms novels, but since you made it to this page you probably are, so let me just say this: If you haven’t read any of the Drizzt books yet you definitely should.

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After reading all the Drizzt novels (now rebranded as The Legend of Drizzt series) up to The Orc King, including a few short stories, a summary of the experience is that they never fail to impress. Ok, some are better than others – the Wulfgar-centered and low paced Spine of the World wasn’t a favorite, but there’s very little Drizzt in it anyway. Salvatore is at his best when he has the opportunity to put battles and fighting scenes in writing, and The Orc King has no shortage of either.

Not that the novels lack depth; on the contrary, both Drizzt, his companions, and what goes on in the world around them is much more complex than what you see in the bulk of fantasy novels out there. There is no pure black-and-white or good vs. evil distinction in Salvatore’s novels, and The Orc King is a prime example of this. This first book in the ongoing Transitions trilogy deals with the rise of an orc kingdom in the north of Faerun. If you’ve read the Hunter’s Blades trilogy you know that the protagonists have been fighting this orc uprising in the past, but now it’s time to decide whether to accept the orcs as a race among the others or to push them back into the holes from whence they came.

Obould, king of the orcs (and much smarter than the average orc, I might add) seeks peace with the neighboring kingdoms of the Silver Marches, but this turns out to be a harder than expected task due to rivalry in is ranks. A new, ambitious, and less peaceful tribe appears in Obould’s kingdom and puts his plans on hold. Meanwhile the nearby dwarf kingdom and its allies disagree on whether or not to launch an attack on Obould’s army. Now it’s up to Drizzt to scout the area to find out more about the orc’s intentions. In a side plot, Wulfgar the Barbarian sets out to find a better life for his adopted daughter, accompanied by an injured and somewhat reluctant Cattie-Brie.

The Orc King surprisingly starts out a century into the future, where Drizzt fights to defend a band of orcs from marauding elves and dwarves, but I won’t delve deeper into that and spoil the surprise. In short, the novel is a good continuation of the Drizzt saga. It’s not the most suspenseful or action-packed in the series, but as usual it’s still a page turner.

Get it from Amazon.com
/ Amazon.co.uk

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The Highwayman – Saga of the First King Book I

Thursday, July 9th, 2009

R.A. Salvatore is a highly productive author and one of my absolute favorites. He is mostly known for The Legend of Drizzt and other novels in the Forgotten Realms fantasy setting. This one is an exception, however – it’s part one in a entirely new trilogy called Saga of the First King, which takes place in the land of Corona. You may recognize Corona from the Demon Wars novels, and this is one and the same only the events in The Highwayman takes place hundreds of years before the Demon Wars.

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Corona is a feudal society scattered in small kingdoms and ruled by kings who for the most part treat their people like slaves. The countryside is swarming with dangers such as the blood-thirsty red cap dwarves. There’s also an ongoing struggle between two religions – one the merciless but traditional Samhaism, and the other the newly formed and more progressive Church of the Blessed Abelle. But as usual Salvatore doesn’t tell stories in black or white, and the latter isn’t necessarily pleasant either.

Bran Dynard is a monk of Blessed Abelle and returns from mission in a far-off and supposedly savage land. He returns a wiser man, having absorbed the more refined and civilized culture of the “savages” and married one of their dark-skinned women who is pregnant when they return. As it turns out, Bran’s brothers aren’t that eager to accept either his new-found wisdom or his new wife and quickly label him a heretic. Soon enough a witch hunt is set in motion that none of the two survives, but first Bran’s wife gives birth to the couple’s severely handicapped son Bransen – the soon-to-be highwayman.

That is the onset of the Highwayman’s story; Bransen grows up as the village fool, but when he finds a book that his father wrote, and gets gets to familiarize himself with his mother’s martial arts training he becomes a different man altogether.

Salvatore is not only good at weaving intricate and absorbing stories, but his descriptions of fighting scenes are amazing. In this first book of the trilogy the action takes a while to kick in, but once the Highwayman is born it becomes a real pageturner. Can’t wait to read the second novel in the Saga of the First King!

Get it from Amazon.com, Amazon UK.

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