The Pirate King (Forgotten Realms: Transitions, Book 2)

Let's face it, if you've made it this far through the Drizzt chronicles, no review will persuade or dissuade you to read (or not) the next installment. If you have become interested in this book based on the recommendations of others, you should start at the beginning.

Salvatore continues his accounting of the Dark Elf we have all come to know and love. However, Drizzt his hardly the main focus of the book. His old friend, Captain Deudermont, has a "nuclear reaction" to the piracy along the Sword Coast, and sets off to change the balance of power in Luskan. I can't comment about "changing rules" and all of that, but it seems to me that Salvatore is tying up a few loose ends from previous novels.

The majority of this book is action-packed, page-turning, edge-of-your-seat excitement. Most of an entire section of the book is the fight in Luskan, which was masterfully and vividly told. The middle of the book takes a dip in pace as winter sets in, which I guess is ok. The entire book can't be face-melting awesome battle scenes. As per usual Salvatore, the (goodly) characters wax philosophical about the consequences and morality of their actions, which have always been thought-provoking for me.

I enjoyed this book. I stayed up all night enjoying it :). If you have been following the series, you should definitely pick this one up.

Over the years, as TSR went through turmoil to eventually be renamed Wizards of the Coast I've been a fan of Salvatore's Drizzt. In perusing the other reviews I caught a few references to the Forgotten Realms 4th edition. As a non-gamer, I'm admittedly not sure what that means for this story.

But I can tell you this; this book by far is my least favorite tale of Drizzt Do'Urden. Granted, I get its hard to break new ground with Drizzt and his companions of the hall, but w/so much of this book dedicated to Deudermont and the high captains of Luskan, Drizzt became more of a peripheral figure for much of this book.

I've read over the years that Wizards of the Coast lays out much of what direction Forgotten Realms books need to take. Maybe I'd be more sympathetic to the direction of this story if I was a gamer, but as I'm not, this book doesn't seem to be much more than fulfilling a quota.

For my money, there were developments here that would have made a more interesting story; Morik the Rogue, the Harpell's, Wulfgar, & Jarlaxle. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the Ghost King makes no mention of Luskan and focuses on far more personal story lines for Drizzt.

...and there's not much else Drizzt can do. Randomly taking place 4 years after The Orc King, book one of the Transitions Trilogy, with Cattie-brie training as a wizard and all but not in this book, and the lords of Waterdhavian suddenly deciding that now is the perfect time to attack the wizards of Lukstan who are protecting the pirates plaguing The Sword Coast...

In general, I'm not happy with The Pirate King. As mentioned above, no Cattie-brie, so that element of Drizzt's name is missing. Secondly, halfway through the novel I found myself realizing that, though they were battling the wizards, I had little idea, if any, what had brought everyone to that point. And, though the dialogue was wonderful as always and the battles intense, I found little development for anyone other than Deuredmont in the entire novel, and that, in fact, Drizzt seems to have taken a couple of steps sideways...

All in all, I finished it in hopes that The Ghost King will be better. Which is sad, because I loved the first, oh, 20 novels... and this one is just disappointing for Salvatore.

The Pirate King by R.A. Salvatore is the second book in the Transitions Trilogy set in the Forgotten Realms. The first book in the trilogy is titled The Orc King: Transitions, Book I (Transitions) with the third book being titled The Ghost King (scheduled for release in October, 2009). 2008 marks the 20th Anniversary of the iconic character, Drizzt Do'Urden, on top of that the title of the latest trilogy - Transitions - is just that. A transition from the current rule set of the Forgotten Realms to the new 4th Edition. There are many differences in the new 4th Edition, some positive and some I will wait to make a definite opinion on. As an aside, if you have not read The Stowaway: Stone of Tymora, Book I (Stone of Tymora) by R.A. and Geno Salvatore you may want to do so before reading this book. One of the characters from that book plays a prominent role in this novel. This trilogy appears to be a way to get Drizzt to the `new' Realms and tell how he came to where he is. Here are my thoughts on the novel.

The plot of this book is, for all intended purposes, dived up into three distinct sections. The first focusing on Captain Deudermont and a mission he agrees to be apart of. This mission is unlike anything he has ever done before and will certainly tax him to his limits. As always, he surrounds himself with powerful friends, but there are equally as powerful (if not more powerful) enemies as well. The second section of the novel focuses on a journey Drizzt undertakes to finally, after four years, find out the fate of one of his dear friends. The third section focuses on the consequences of the choices that Captain Deudermont made previously and how that affects not only him but the city of Luskan as well. This book is a little different from past Drizzt novels, in that it focuses on other characters than just the Companions of the Hall. Also, the reader is able to get a really good sense of the conditions of Luskan. I really feel that Mr. Salvatore really shined in this book in his ability to allow the reader to see Luskan. Drizzt is not as introspective in this book as in previous books, but that does not diminish the plot in anyway. It is a gritty novel with much suffering and death. The overall feel of the book is one that I would anticipate fourth edition novels to be like.

Many of the characters in this novel and old hat for many readers. Characters such as Drizzt, Regis, Deudermont, and Robillard. However, there is the addition of several new characters as well such as; the five Luskan captains, the Crow, and Arklem Greeth to name a few. While there are certainly a lot of characters in this book, it never feels like there are too many. Each characters seems to serve a purpose, and none are written in merely as fluff. One thing I lightly complained about in The Orc King was that there is only so much that can be written about certain characters before they become stagnant. I would be remiss if I did not say that the characterization in this novel is very well done. We get to see new sides of several characters. Some characters make choices that I would not have guessed they would have made, but the circumstances they are under force those decisions. The character development is also some of the best of the recent novels as well. I would love to say more about it, but I do not want to spoil anything for anyone. I will say that I was able to connect with each and every character and rarely can I say that about any novel.

A couple minor criticisms about this novel:

1 - It seems pretty evident, that Mr. Salvatore is being forced to do some things with the story that he otherwise would not have done. This appears to be coming from the push to the 4th edition and making everything congruent. While I think Mr. Salvatore did the best he could, it does, at times, create moments of the story feeling forced.

2 - The, for lack of a better way to describe it, middle `section' of the book didn't seem to flow with the rest of the story. It seemed really out of context and almost as though it was a short story put into the middle of a novel. With how the rest of the novel felt, and flowed, the middle just seemed out of place.

Some things I liked about this novel:

1 - The overall grittiness of the novel. It felt much like some of Mr. Salvatore's Demon Wars work. It didn't have that happy-go-lucky, everything will be okay in the end, type feel. I rather enjoyed not knowing until the end how each character would fare.

2 - As I mentioned above, the characterization and character development was really done well. None of the characters followed the traditional lines that we would expect them to follow. When characters begin to make decisions that are unexpected, it creates a sense of newness and makes you want to keep reading. That is how I felt with this novel.

Overall I enjoyed this novel quite a bit. The middle section seemed to bog down a little bit, but once everything worked itself out and the story was back in Luskan it really picked up and flowed smoothly. The ending leaves me clamoring for the next book to see how things play out. Fans of Salvatore and the Forgotten Realms will certainly want to pick this book up and see the changes that are happening. Some of those changes surprised me quite a bit, so I can really only guess what will happen in the next book. Transitions is an apt title to call this trilogy, I can not think of a more appropriate word. This is a book that I whole-heartedly recommend to those who are this far along in the series. Only time will tell what is in store for Drizzt and the Forgotten Realms.

Overall, this is better than The Orc King, and this book is among my favorite Drizzt books.

Four years have passed since The Orc King, and the uneasy treaty has held. The real action starts when Drizzt and Regis leave Mithril Hall to check up on Wulfgar in Icewind Dale.

In the meantime, Deudermont mounts a "pirate cleansing" campaign. But he doesn't know how complex the alliances run, or who he is really up against.

The action starts quick and runs through most of the book. The cool thing is that Salvatore is mastering weaving intrigue with his battles, giving them much more of a deeper meaning and making the plot that much more dark and interesting. The flavor of The Pirate King is similar to Book one of the Hunter's Blades Trilogy.

Of course there are moral questions posed, another thing Salvatore is mastering, making each book better than the last. Here, Deudermont and Drizzt are wrestling with unintended consequences and how far to go in the name of right.

If you liked the Hunter's Blades Trilogy, you'll love this book. Salvatore did a great job weaving intrigue and action while foreshadowing plot twists. In addition, the heroes are in quite a lot of peril, and find themselves in difficult predicaments...

An awesome book. Looking forward to the third installment, even though the first two of this "trilogy" have seemed more or less standalone books, with a running background storyline/environment (which I'm fine with).

Pick this up. You'll enjoy it.