Seriously? You're going to end the book THAT way? Up until the last 20 pages or so I was looking forward to finishing the book and reading the next one. Now I'm not sure if I care anymore :( ( )

I always enjoyed Salvatore's books, but this is the first one that I really had to force myself to finish. A winding and unrewarding plot, too many heavy handed tie ins to the changes in the table top game, and a preachy sentimentality combine to make this book a bore. ( )

Life in Mithrall Hall is settling down to an uneasy peace with the Orc Kingdom. Drizzt and Regis decide to head off to Icewind Dale to discover what happened to their friend Wulfgar. On their way they arrive in Luskan and find strange events in the works: Drizzt's old friend Captain Dudermont is in town with a small army to free the city from the Arcane Brotherhood. At least that's how it appears initially. Things are definitely more complicated than they seem.

The Pirate King is the second in the Transitions series by Salvatore. From what I've read, this was written during the transition from D&D 3.5 to 4 and is supposed to help bring Salvatore's Forgotten Realms books to the same timeline as the new game edition. It certainly reads like the middle book in a series. The beginning portions jerk back and forth between Drizzt and Regis' trek to find their friend and events happening between the "Ships" of Luskan. In fact, up until the last third of the book you could easily have cut the Drizzt line out of the book entirely and the story would have worked fine. Salvatore gave this one an surprise ending that was enjoyable enough for me to give this one three stars instead of two. ( )

I'm making it through this series.. but I'm not sure why anymore.

I can't rate this one as high as I usually rate the Drizzt books by Salvatore. Obviously he was given a plot and did the best he could with it. The plot in this case involved tearing down Luskan in preparation for D&D 4th Edition. While Salvatore's writing is good as usual and the book was interesting, the plot makes little sense. ( )