Product Description
The second title in the New York Times best-selling trilogy by R.A. Salvatore. This title is the second hardcover release in the latest trilogy from R.A. Salvatore, which once again features his popular dark elf signature character. The hardcover release of the first title in this trilogy, The Thousand Orcs, had the highest debut ever for a Salvatore title on the New York Times best-seller list, and it remained on the list for an unprecedented 10 weeks. The Thousand Orcs hardcover was also the fastest-selling novel in the history of Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
R. A. Allison @ 6:30 pm
To summarize my review before I get into it: R.A. Salvatore’s Drizzt-books have evolved into Saturday morning cartoons rather than staying as the Tolkein-esque stories they first started out to be.
I have been a Salvatore-Drizzt-book reader ever since 1990 when I read The Crystal Shard. I have read every Drizzt-book since then, but with this last book I have decided to give up the series until some drastic changes are made. Instead of an exhaustive review of this book, I’ll just point to 6 ways as to how this entire series is on its death-bed. Salvatore can cure these maladies by listening to the following:
1.) DRIZZT AND HIS FRIENDS HAVE BECOME SATURDAY MORNING CARTOON CHARACTERS – In cartoons the main characters never die, they are invincible, they are unflawed. In The Drizzt books, no main character can ever die. They fight hundreds and hundreds of “bad guys,” only to score perfect victories each time. If it seems that one of the main character has died, or will, it’s only a red herring that sets you up for that character to inevitably “save the day.”
2.) DRIZZT’S ENEMIES HAVE TURNED INTO THE “VILLAIN OF THE WEEK VARIETIES” – In cartoons, the heros are usually pitted by a different villian each week. The villians are rarely fleshed-out, and they’re just around for the purpose of getting killed by Drizzt and Co. If a villian is fleshed-out, Salvatore becomes attached and cannot kill him, only send him away (Artemis Entreri, Jarlaxle, etc).
3.) SUPPORTING CHARACTERS ARE LIKE THE “YOMAN” CHARACTER FROM STAR TREK – Remember in Star Trek how Captain Kirk would beam down to a planet with some unnamed officer, and inevitably, the unnamed officer would die while Kirk would be unharmed? Okay, now substitute “Captain Kirk” with “Drizzt” and you have Salvatore’s new books. A seasoned reader knows that when a character is introduced, he’s not likely to be a permanent fixture.
4.) YOU CAN’T GO 2 PAGES WITHOUT BEING REMINDED THAT DRIZZT & CO. ARE THE TOUGHEST, BADDEST CHARACTERS IN THE WORLD – It’s not that you see this through their actions, but Salvatore spells it out for you before every fight. Hypothetical example: “The orcs were heavily armed and outnumbered the weakened drow twenty five to one. But this was Drizzt Do-Urden, and he was no ordinary drow!” Please …
5.) SALVATORE’S EDITORS NEED TO BACK OFF OF HIM AND LET HIM WRITE – if you’ve noticed in the past several books, Salvatore paces the story nicely, then has to suddenly end the story because the editors limit the number of pages he can have. When you get 4/5s the way through it, you think “wow, I’m almost finished, and there’s so much left! Hell, (enter character’s name) isn’t even within a 10-day ride from the others?!” ANSWER: Robillard the mage shows up and magically teleports the character wherever they need to go.
6.) THE FIGHT SCENES ARE A BIT TOO DETAILED – Everyone knows Drizzt is a bad mutha-sucka, but when Salvatore gets carried away and writes, “Drizzt then shifted his balance to the right and pivoted low with a perfect center of gravity, slicing his left scimitar right, then feinting back, swinging his left scimitar in a downward arc, pulling back, then upward pivoting to his right, bringing his swords at a downward V-angle, parrying each blow, then rolling to his left, followed by an inverted cone flip to the front, slicing diagnally with his left right-ended scimitar….” I just find myself skimming paragraphs.
MY SUGGESTION FOR SALVATORE & DRIZZT:
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Set the next series some 100 years into the future. Drizzt, as an elf, will continue to live for several more centuries. Cattie-Brie, Wulfgar, Regis and Bruenor will not. Go ahead and jump forward and write the novel that you wanted to with THE LONE DROW. It’s time for Drizzt to move on.
I think Salvatore knows that. He toys with the ideas of Drizzt and Cattie-brie’s grim future, but I don’t think he has the nerve to actually kill anyone off. So just jump to the future and make it happen.
And get rid of those annoying dwarf brothers! They are the Jar Jar Binks of the Drizzt world. I would welcome any feedback from Salvatore fans. I still am one, but I feel like I’m watching a good thing go down the tubes.
Be critical, people. Don’t just throw praise at a book because teh main character is cool and has potential. I can tell by the writing style of the majority of these reviewers that they are somewhere between 10-16 years old. That’s how old I was when I read The Crystal Shard. I want to feel the same way about these new books as I did when I was that age reading the early adventures. I’ve matured, so now must the Drizzt storyline.
T. Harris @ 6:34 pm
The Lone Drow was one of the best Drizzt books out there. The writting style of Salvatore is amazin’ and the character interaction and emotion put into the characters is beyond words.
The book starts right off where the first book in the trilogy, “The Thousand Orcs,” leaves off. Drizzt left alone with the thoughts of his friends dead and his scimitars hungry for vengance! The Dwarves, along with Wulfgar and Catti-Brie, fighting for their lives and for their home aganist the unrelenting orcs. Every page was wonderful and never filled with a dull moment between the two main storylines. And the characters were spectacular. Some of the highlights were: (can’t write them all because there were just to many) The obvious one is Drizzt and his tale. Salvatore was able to take Drizzt back to the days of the hunter and his life in the underdark. And The emotional baggage Drizzt was carrying and the amazin’ detailed action scenes were spectacular.
The next hightlight was the other main storyline, Dwarves vs, Orcs, LET’S GET IT ON! All the character in this battle and around it were just some much fun to read. Salvatore is not only the master of the Drow society, but the master of the Dwarves society as well.
Many characters in the,”Thousand Orcs,” (or in other Drizzt books) annoyed me, but in the, “Lone Drow,” they shined. The characters sure as Tarathiel, Innovindil, Pikel, and Pwent. the two elves interaction with Driztt and what happen in this brought out the elf characters. The interaction between Drizzt and Innovindil was a great way for Salvatore to go, showing Drizzt a life he never had or never really thought about (can’t wait to see what happens).
The last and final highlight came from the character Obloud Many-arrows. I liked this character in the thousands orcs, but I loved this character in this book. the image Salvatore painted in my head of Obloud was beyond words, well no, one word came to mind, Badass!
“Lone Drow,” is one of the best Drizzt books I have read, fill with action, drama, and twists and turns all weaving around one other. the characters are some much fun to read about and it’s not a hard read either. The writing style and the flow of the book is very smooth and there is not one dull moment. If you want a book about Dwarves, Drow, Orcs, and many other races, a book filled with action, drama, and unforgettable characters, a book with an awesome storyline, “The Lone Drow, ” is for you. But you have to read all the other Drizzt books first….you must, for they are great! All Hail Drizzt Do’Urden and R.A. Salvatore!
One more thing, the ending was awesome!
Tankertoad @ 8:34 pm
I have read every published work I know of by Salvatore. I read the Icewind Dale series (still the best by him) starting in ‘88. I really began to like Salvatore because, unlike most fantasy at that time, he wrote long, descriptive combat. But now, Salvatore has become a cash cow for various folks, and his early unheard of success (if not in fantasy in general, D&D type fantasy in specific) in the fanatasy market has been milked dry. So many of us read Salvatore out of loyalty, and too many of us give great ratings and buy the books brand new when they simply aren’t that good. I still have the last book of that awful DemonWars Saga only partially read.
The Lone Drow is _OK_. But it isn’t great by a long shot. And the poster who wrote a list of improvements for Salvatore was correct in many spots of the list. The Lone Drow is one of the better Salvatore books in more recent times. I really think Mr. Salvatore needs to finish his contract requirements and go offline for a while and JUST WRITE. See what he can do. Forget the marketing, the rules, the formulas. The publishers like the formulas because they get about $25×3 out of us. Most of these series can easily be combined into one book.
My rant is complete. I hope my long term favorite fantasy author can get something fresh going. No more Tarzan or Star Wars and no more milking. Just some good, epic, fantasy.
Adam Gonnerman @ 10:07 pm
Although new readers might not enjoy this novel very much, die hard fans who have read about this unusual Drow from the beginning will no doubt enjoy this story. Salvatore’s work in this series seems to be losing a bit of steam, but it is a fine read and a good product of the genre.
The story is not too complicated, but there are highs and lows. Reading the other reviews will likely reveal too much about the story and take away from your enjoyment of the story. One of the reviews here on Amazon revealed a major event of the story that leaves the reader waiting for it to happen rather than being surprised.
A. Chu @ 11:52 pm
I have read many of Salvatore’s books over the years and I must say that this book is the worst that I have read. As many reviewers have mentioned, there is very little plot or character development. Many of the battle sequences seem overly ridiculous (Gutbuster brigade charges orc defensive post, easily overwhelming while taking few, if any, losses) or repetitive (reading about orcs assaulting dwarf lines loses its appeal after 15 times). Surprising, since the plot is virtually nonexistent, there seems to be so many plot holes that you, as Schwarzenegger would say, “could drive a hummer through it”.
Anothering disappointing feature is Drizz’t. Even though he’s a drow master swordsman, he acts like an distraught emo-kid during this book. Reading his internal dialogue which consists of “I’m hurt. Get angry, turn on Hunter mode…” gets boring fast. The rest of his crew have subjugated their roles to being “invulnerable” soldiers killing dozens (perhaps hundreds) of orcs while merely taking the occasional glancing blow.
Also, almost all of the supporting characters are exceptionally annoying, especially Pikel and Nanfoodle. Even more annoying are some of the character names. If Nanfoodle doesn’t sound ridiculous enough, Cordio Muffinhead is definitely testing the limits of naming convention.
I highly discourage anyone from reading this very poorly written series. Newcomers to Salvatore’s work should start with the excellent Dark Elf trilogy to see Drizz’t in all his glory without the baggage that is Cattibrie, Regis, and Bruenor (I never much liked his one-dimensional companions much, probably due to the fact that they are so one-dimensional; except for when Wulfgar was going through his psychological trauma but even then, he still wasn’t very interesting).