In comparison, Servant of the Shard continued where Silent Blade left off, and finally, two very interesting but under-developed characters, human assassin Enteris Artemis and drow mercenary company Bregan D'aerthe' enigmatic yet brilliant and astute leader Jarlaxle, took the centre stage.

Readers would already be familiar some of Enteri's philosophy through earlier novels, but that had at most been a sideshow and a less significant contemplation to act as a comparison to Drizzt's own private reflections. In this book, Salvatore presented a new yet old Enteri - a man who walks carrying his past, his past life, his old motivations and thoughts, along with new ones which came from his experiences in Menzoberanzan and from finally surviving his duel-to-death against Drizzt. The fact that Enteri had been forced to work for the Bregan D'aerthe in the latter's foray into the surface world served as a catalyst to Enteri decide what kind of an existence he really would want.

Readers did not really get to see the inside of Jarlaxle because he was clearly, though not definitively, influenced by the Crystal Shard. As the Shard urged to expand its influence, the inevitable conflict leads to more-than-cursory role-playing of secondary characters who were often under-utilised in other novels. Jarlaxle's top lieutenants from the Underdark, along with Enteri's subordinates running the guild which Enteri took over in Silent Blade, had their work cut out for them. It is refreshing to see such supporting cast do more than come, go, obey, betray, kill and die, these characters actually affected the development of the events.

The plot of the book is a little of a typical gangland turf-war, with more devious plottings and intricate intrigue rather than outright brute force (compared to less flattering depiction of sterotype gangsters in most novels), motivated by the possession of an ultimate weapon (isn't it nice that such a weapon is used in turf wars instead of the run-of-the-mill take over the world, it is so less damaging).

Jarlaxle, having completed his goal of establishing indirect but definite influence and network on the surface, brought danger to his mercenary group when goaded by the Shard, sought to expand that dominance aggressively, threatening to expose the drows' presence on the surface. His lieutenants, justifiably worried, and none-too-kind on Enteri, had to decide the steps to take to protect themselves.

Thus set the background stage for one of the best books on underworld intrigues in a fantasy setting where in the foreground really was the internal conflict within Enteri as he fought to keep alive.

This is one book where any loopholes are not really discernable nor distracting, worth keeping if you have the money. The actions are fast and furious, but not too detailed with swashbuckling details as Salvatore's previous books. Salvatore finally came up with something fresh, thankfully. For sometime, he had been exhausting the potential of Drizzt until his novels became weak. Consider this a new beginning, returning to the excitement generated for the original drow trilogy.

This certainly did make an exelent change in plot, setting, and character as I read this book. I never thought that I might be saying this, but I have become somewhat tired of Drizzt Do'Urdan, feeling that Salvatore has been over-using those characters, and that something should change. Well, now it has changed, and certainly for the better.

So now we have another exelent book, and it was done without Drizzt. So much is different. There are exelent plot twists, as expected with the devious Jarlaxle. Artemis Entreri is losing control over the situation with the dark elves, and he must find a way out. Jarlaxle is subtly being influenced by Crenshinibon, the Crystal shard, and is making foolish, uncharacteristic decisions, and all of this nearly brings his doom as his lieutenants lose faith in their leader. I could not have expected the plot to be better.

As for other elements of writing, the setting is exelent and well described. The characterization and character developement is exelent, with some odd twists to that of Entreri. The overall writing is once again exlelnt, once again making a good light reading book.

This is an exelent book, and anyone who enjoyed R.A. Salvatore's earlier work should be glad to read this and find something new in his writing. If you really don't feel like it, just read it, you only have two to go at the moment.

However, Exile happens to be my least favorite Drizzt novel. I just wasn't too thrilled with the boring setting of the Underdark or the characters (especially the stupid pech, Clacker!). I thought the whole Illithid (telepathic octupus-like creatures) thing was pretty silly, too! And the telephathic mushrooms?--what the hell was that?! :) Anyway, I also didn't sense that good of a bond between Drizzt and Belwar as compared to Drizzt and Zak'nafein/Bruenor/Wulfgar/Catti-brie in other volumes. Don't get me wrong, though--it is still a fantastic book compared to other authors. It took me only 2 days to read it... but I don't know whether that was because it was a fast read or because I just wanted to get it over with so I could get to Sojourn. :)

The plot of this book picks up right where book one ended. As the title of this book suggests, Drizzt Do'Urden is in exile from his home of Menzoberranzan. He is now a drifter in the underworld and is living a life of adventure. Meanwhile, back in Menzoberranzan, his mother, Matron Malice, is being told that the Spider Queen Lloth wants Drizzt sacrificed. She sends out a ghost (I won't tell you who) to hunt him down. Back in the wild of the Underworld Drizzt befriends the gnome race and becomes a good friend of the gnome Belwar. Belwar and Drizzt travel through the Underworld through many adventures to get from the Spider Queen. This action packed and fast moving plot make this novel one to be savored.

In book one Drizzt Do'Urden is established as one of fantasy's best characters. Through Drizzt's many adventures here we see Drizzt grow and grow to be a mature, well rounded Drow, unlike his kin. Belwar makes a great companion to Drizzt in this novel, and while not as good of a character as someone like Sam Gamgee of "The Lord of the Rings,"he is still well developed on very likeable.

In "Homeland," the first book of this sensational trilogy, the gnomes are depicted as evil and vile creatures because they are seen from the point of view of the majority of the Drow. Since Drizzt is different from the other Drow we see the true side of the gnomes because he takes the chance to get to know them, leaving out all stereotypical thoughts. Drizzt's actions in this book are ones to learn from and how many people should behave. People don't need to be put down because of ethnicity or what not, but how they are as people. That is what Drizzt does here. Because of this R.A. Salvatore puts in this little tid bi on life, among many others which are too many to account here.

People who have read book one of the trilogy should definitely read "Exile." I have found Exile to be a better read than book one due to the reasons above, which are just a few of the great things in this book. After you have read this book make sure that you have the third and final book of the trilogy on hand.

Happy Reading!

This takes place in the Underdark, mostly, where Drizzt has exiled from his drow homeland. He has very strange adventures (most of them with his friend in the city, Belwar.) and decides to go to the surface. I felt some syumpathy with Drizzt of leaving his cruel homeland to go into the harsh surface. Guenhyvar's (sorry if I spelled it wrong)charecter devolpment gets better with each passing book, and my 2nd favorite charecter was Clacker (poor guy), although Belwar was up there (Is it me, or does her say "magga camara" WAY TOO MUCH?)

Anyway, this is a fast read, took me 5 days, I hope you'll like it too. Rating:Teen. Has bloodshed and language.

This novel brings together aspects and characters from the eight previous novels in the series rather nicely. Matron Baerne and the House of Baerne from the Drow city of Menzoberanzzan, the Burrow Warden Belwar Dissengulp of the Deep Gnomes, Lady Allustriel, and the Harkles amongst other all appear in the novel and blend fantasticaly.

Another of the novel's strengths is the battle scenes. Salvatore has a knack for writing battles that are successful in outlining both the fight's scope and the details of particular combatants. The climatic war between the Drow with their minotaur, goblin, and illithid allies and the Dwarves with the Silver Knigts, Barbarians, and Deep Gnomes is fantastic. The descriptions are vivid and the scenes flow smoothly.

For a change, the heros don't have to deal with Artemis Entreri. Thats not a knack on the spectacular assassin, but it is nice to see that the one character isn't at the heart of all the battles that Drizzt is destined to face.

The characters don't "grow" or change as much in this novel as they did in the past. The majority of the emotions and internal monologue deal with recovering from the major loss of the last two novels, which I won't reveal so as not to spoil it for those that haven't read the Legacy or Starless Night.

The novel is a real adventure, and reminiscent of the first novel in the Drizzt Do'Urden series, The Crystal Shard. Salvatore fans will not be disappointed.

I found this book much less fast paced than its predecessor The Crystal Shard. I didn't find the search for the hall as compelling as some of the other reviewers, but it had some redeeming factors. There was a sense of mystery that veiled the story and made you wander what was going to happen next. However some of the conflicts during the trip seemed a little haphazardly put together. Overall the quality of Salvatore's writing increases in this book and I like how the characters are developed. However, there are lots of grammatical errors that tend to get annoying. Artemis Entreri and his attempt to catch the heores saves the early part of the book.

The part I enjoyed the most was the events in Mithral Hall. I don't want to give away too much. So, all I will say is that its exciting and action packed. Just remember when reading this book that even though it starts off slow the story enthralls you by the end. If you like Forgotten Realms, then you will like this book.

This one has more intrigue, more plot complexity, more character depth, and more machinations than the first book of the trilogy. The dialogue occasionally slips into comic strip mode, and there is a surprisingly large number of printing errors (e.g., missing quotation marks, extra commas, "m" being replaced by "rn"). It's still a good, fast-paced, rousing adventure.

It isn't easy to read a book about hopelessness and despair caused by plague, but Salvatore attempts it and succeeds. This book is a bridge that will be followed by the rest of the Demon Wars Saga and it succeeds in allowing his characters to develop in to real people.

Drizzt made him famous, but the characters in this serious are what Salavatore should hope to be remembered for. Not just the big characters like Jilseponie and Elbryan, but the secondary characters as well. Start from the beginning of the series and pay extra attention to Francis and De'Unnero. They are true masterpieces.

What I liked best...beyond the great battle scenes was probably the development of the villains in this book. Artemis Entreri is definitely only a shadow of his former self. He is for the first time is in his life lost. He has lost his confidence and in the presence of the drow feels true fear and even pities himself, not what you expect from the wily assassin. But, beyond Entreri is the new power behind the scenes, Jarlaxle. He is truly the most cunning and intelligent villain I have ever read about. Watching Jarlaxle manipulate the other characters in the book like pawns really gives me chills. I love these characters and can't wait for more.

The only thing, other than the obviously inaccurate cover art, that I disliked about this book was the actions of Catti-brie. For a character that Salvatore always described as wise beyond her years and always able to look inside people and tell them about their biggest flaws, Catti-brie really does some dumb stuff. Yeah she had a part in the ending of the book, but she should have never made the trip. She is always yelling about people for putting themselves in danger for her and not thinking clearly then she goes off and chases after Drizzt. Someone needs to slap the stupid witch to give her a taste of reality or at least quit helping her (meaning Alustriel). Oh well just my point of view.

Anyways, if you have enjoyed the Drizzt series so far this one will not disappoint you. If you haven't read the books before this one...you can probably get by just fine, but you won't truly enjoy it. At least read the Dark Elf Trilogy and The Legacy before this novel.

As with all of the books in this series, there are great combat action sequences. The gist of the story is that there are numerous orcs and giants uniting in the north to menace the goodly races (human, dwarf, elf). This happens as the companions are returning to Mithral Hall for Bruenor to reclaim his crown. They are diverted from this course to avenge the deaths of those early victims of the orc/giant alliance. This diversion leads the companions into significant danger, with Wulfgar acting as counselor to Catti-Brie at one point. This and the event that precipitated it give some conflict and depth to her character which persists the rest of the novel. Regis continues acting contrary to his early ways, and his inner reasons for this are discussed. Drizzt, meanwhile, is Drizzt, narrating the book through section introductions. He does not play any larger a part than the other characters, though he does shine as per his usual.

There is significant inclusion of previous Salvatore characters, not only those originally from this series, as the Dwarven brothers from the Cleric Quintet appear. New characters are also introduced, on both sides of the conflict. Salvatore manages to weave political intrigue into the mix, again on both sides, to great effect.

The climactic battle of this novel occurs in the defense of a remote village against the evil hordes. This takes a good portion of the end of the novel, but it flies past. Facing insurmountable odds, the companions battle on. Humor even finds its way into the mix before all is done.

As the title of this review indicates, I thought that the book started slow, but this was mostly due to the introductory process I noted earlier. The several segregated storylines are united in the end to a satisfying conclusion. I truly think that this book will appeal to both new and established readers of the series. And trust me, you, like me, will be dismayed that another year will pass before the next book in the series is released.

Minor aside: this is the nicest a Drizzt book has ever looked. The borders, segment breaks, and logos are of a higher production value than previous Salvatore tomes. Great cover too!

If you've enjoyed Salvatore's previous work, but felt Paths of Darkness was under par, this book should bring him back into your favor.

The Thousand Orcs starts in somewhat the way most good books must start, at the beginning of the tale. Drizzt and company are off to Mithral Hall and stumble upon the survivors of a neighboring dwarf contingent that have a bleak tale to tell. The hero's change course and take off on what they expect to be a grand adventure, unbeknownst to them the foe is quite formidable. We get to enjoy their triumphs as well as their failures.

It's about time that a writer, a popular writer, realizes the level of intellect his readers have. When I first bought this book, I was afraid that Salvatore had perhaps fallen into the Louis L'Amour syndrome, that is that he writes one book fifty times. There are so many series on the market today and most of them are the same story over and over, with no growth in the characters from one story to the next. The main principles of the stories usually end up being flat and unbelievable.

I found that the best part of the storyline was the surprise ending. Salvatore takes a good story and with the surprise ending, a great story rises from the ashes. He has definitely left the door open for the remaining books in this series. Salvatore has set himself up of the ruler of Tolkien's world and seems to enjoy the perch from above.

The fact that we have the 5 books collected together is a plus for me at least in a monetary sense. Cadderly is a likeable enough character and is given a decent amount of depth in his religious doubts and the fact he does some possibly objectionable things to further his deity's agenda. The supporting cast both good and evil are alright, and Ghost in particular I liked.

On the downside the portrayal of the supporting cast is not so great, and the plots don't have the vibrancy I expected. Salvatore's introduction states he wanted to write a book about monks and was told he couldn't as monks were not part of AD&D 2nd edition rules. He did put in Danica as a supporting cast member monk though and seemed to possibly care more for her than for Cadderly. The plots aren't too bad, some neat things but they seem to move slightly woodenly from point to point. Not poorly, but in the fashion of a car that needs servicing. You are taken to the destination but arrive with the feeling that the ride should have been superior to what it was.

I personally feel that a major opportunity was overlooked with the portrayal of the bouldershoulder brothers as straight comic relief. The dwarf wanting to be a druid was a marvelous opportunity for character development. Here we have someone who is forbidden from taking up the druidic calling because of race but believes so strongly in it that he restricts himself to druidic weapons. This is really something that could have been presented as total faith and sacrifice and when he does get some druidic powers more should have been made of it. I think Pikel Bouldershoulder was the true icon of faith in the novels, not Cadderly and it is a shame he was presented as somewhat dim-witted.

I don't feel many people familiar with Salvatore's work will be disappointed with this, and it does give a nice look at the clerical part of the Forgotten Realms which is not shown anywhere else to my limited knowledge. However those purchasing this won't find it to be as great as some of Salvatore's other works.

The characters are unique. The hero is a cleric, who develops incredibly. At first he cannot really do anything, but he soon learns to cast powerful magic. Unlike other books where they just say "He put his hand out and a fireball erupted", this book truly explains how he casts magic, by giving in-depth detail. There is a monk, who is like his girlfriend, who is 10 times stronger then him, and 2 dwarfs. The dwarfs are perceived as just some guys to create humor, but they are true friends. The way Salvatore writes these books, he explains everything so easily, and it makes reading seem simple. Every battle scene was descriped so that you knew exactly what was happening. The series also ends perfectly. Everything is wraped up, and it seems some people reach perfect harmony, while others turn evil. I cried at the end of the series just because it was so sad yet joyous. Please pick this book up and you will not be dissapointed.

His world (Corona) has a few neat elements, but DA falls short of the epic story that it tries to be. Corona's prevalent religion draws many parallels with Christianity, and it is almost as if one of the religious characters tries to teach us morals. However, he justifies premarital sex, so I think it sets a bad example. Most of the fantasy elements Salvatore employs are stereotypes, except for the ones he changes. (Usually to bad effect, i.e. a centaur, the very noble creature from Forgotten Realms that we have come to respect, is displayed in a very Dionysian and rather depraved way; it made for some awkward reading...)

Although his magic system is something I've not read in many books, his plot line draws dangerous parallels with LoTR, especially near the end. Copying Tolkien might be good for business, but it's not the best way to endear yourself with fantasy readers. Furthermore, I don't hold to the convention of changing 'i's to 'y's as a method for creating fantasy names, and many of Salvatore's originals were just plain awkward. It seemed as if he was trying to match Tolkien's elfish grace, but IMO, things like "Bellimar Juraviel" sound rather bungling when spoken aloud.

The Demon Awakens was not bad by any means, but it is not great literature, and not nearly as fun as the Icewind or Dark Elf books. The story did not captivate me to a point that I would read the rest of the series to find out what happens.

I would love to give this book a 10, but I can't. Salvatore was losing his touch, especially with the last book in his dark elf series. Like I said, though, he's returning quite well.

The biggest problem is that there is no real challenge to the characters through the story. There is no sense of urgency in their mission. There is no real "bad guy."

The original description of the Demon Dactyl is impressive. I was looking forward to learning about him/it and the history behind it, but there was nothing. It was just an unimpressive bad guy.

There were a few other problems. The good guys were too perfect. Elbryan was a better Drizzt than Drizzt was, Pony was a better Catti-brie than Catti-brie. They didn't have anything remotely challenging. Also, sometimes the writing style got a little overdone.

That said, I will say that this was a definate good read. This was especially true of the first two-thirds of the book. I literally stayed up half the night reading it.