THE PIRATE KING picks up about four years after THE ORC KING left off, and follows two separate storylines. On the one hand, we've got Drizzt and Regis searching for Wulfgar, at Bruenor's request. On the other, Captain Deudermont stages a revolt against the rulers of Luskan after he learns that they've been protecting the pirates he's sworn to fight. Drizzt and Regis arrive in the city just in time for his coup, unaware that Deudermont has been carefully steered by those who hold the true power in Luskan.

I'd say that Salvatore's best books are those in which his characters have a definite stake in the game. He's achieved a good balance of political stuff and personal turmoil in past books, but this one doesn't really make the cut. It's reasonably entertaining, but Deudermont's revolution is the driving force behind the plot. Neither Drizzt nor Regis has much at stake. They're concerned for their friend and for the city of Luskan, but they're not personally invested in the outcome. To be honest, they're kind of extraneous to the main plot. The book suffers for it.

It is nice, though, to see Salvatore moving away from the black and white morality that characterized his earlier books. These days, the monsters aren't necessarily the ones you want to be fighting, and the good guys don't always have a positive impact on the world. It makes for a more complex, not entirely comfortable read, and that's all to the good. I just wish the moralizing were a bit less in-your-face; Salvatore does tend towards the obvious.

It's also nice to see Regis taking centre stage. I like the little dude well enough, but he does tend to fade into the background. To be honest, I sometimes forget he even exists. Extraneous though he may have been, I appreciated the chance to see more of him this time around. We see very little of Cattie-Brie and even less of Bruenor or Wulfgar, but we've got absolutely scads of Regis.

Overall, this was a good read but not a spectacular one. It seems to me that Salvatore didn't aim to advance his characters so much as their setting. I'm sure readers with more of an investment in the Forgotten Realms series as a whole will get tons out of it, but since I'm really only interested in Drizzt and his cronies... well. I'm not exactly disappointed, (I mean, I still got to spend some time Drizzt and Regis), but I hope Salvatore focuses in on his characters in the next book.

(A slightly different version of this review originally appeared on my blog, Stella Matutina). ( )