Product Description
This new series features R.A. Salvatore’s signature character, Drizzt Doourden, as the focal point of the entire trilogy. The popularity of this signature character has driven Salvatore’s last seven hardcover titles to New York Times bestselling status.
One Dark Elf.
Two Enchanted Blades.
One Unknown Enemy.
And a Horde of Invaders.
It’s been a long time since Drizzt Do’Urden has had to fight alone. When a ravaging mob of vicious orcs overruns the North and his friends are washed away in its evil tide, he must take matters into his own deadly hands.
An all-new trilogy takes Drizzt to the edge . . . and beyond.
Amazon.com Review
The Thousand Orcs opens a new trilogy starring R.A. Salvatore’s popular dark elf Drizzt Do’Urden and his loyal friends Wulfgar, Catti-Brie, Bruenor, and Regis. The band returns from Icewind Dale in the company of the dwarves of Mithril Hall, who are escorting King Bruenor back to reluctantly assume his throne. But, as always, old enemies and new emerge from the shadows to threaten our heroes. Emboldened by a dark alliance with the deadly frost giants, an orcish horde is massing quietly, waiting with uncharacteristic patience to move against dwarves, elves, and humans alike. Meanwhile, Bruenor, sensing that his adventures will come to an end once he takes the throne, coaxes his friends back onto the road, all the while unaware of the powerful forces gathering strength by the roadside.
Salvatore is obviously in his comfort zone with his favorite characters, and fans of the series will no doubt enjoy another bloody romp into danger with Drizzt and company. He even throws in a few mind-blowing surprises for the faithful. However, newcomers to the Forgotten Realms shouldn’t start here, as familiarity with Salvatore’s brave companions is a necessity despite Salvatore’s attempt to provide a skeletal backstory for the uninitiated. Start with The Icewind Dale Trilogy and get to know the gang. –Jeremy Pugh
K Gallagher @ 6:16 pm
Rarely has any author, in any genre, created a series of such consistent quality as the Dark Elf books of R. A. Salvatore.
Even so, that The Thousand Orcs (the fifteenth full-length novel in roughly as many years to feature characters introduced in the Icewind Dale trilogy!) stands as one of the finest installments in the series is nothing short of breathtaking.
I write this review for the purpose of assuring any follower of the series who doubts that it can possibly go on for much longer that not only is this tale not showing its wear and tear, but, incredibly, taking full advantage of the ground gained (and, more importantly,loose ends tied up!) in Sea of Swords to
begin weaving something very new… at a truly remarkable pace.
This is the tightest, fastest presentation since Starless Night, yet its attempt to cover a broad scope of intrigue, action, and personal relationships is the most ambitious since Siege of Darkness.
The result is a nearly flawless creation that should set the heart of any true fan beating at life-threatening speeds.
What do you know?
We did need another trilogy after all.
Anonymous @ 6:21 pm
This book is an excellent example of the skill of author R. A. Salvatore. Not only this book, but all his books which I’ve read have several things in common. Given that, here’s what a Salvatore novel entails:
He is known for being a great author, especially of fantasy. He’s especially well-known for the many novels centering around Drizzt and company, and for the novels set in his world of Corona. The Thousand Orcs falls into the former category, dealing with the latest from Drizzt and his companions.
His battle scenes are vivid, but not so weighty as to take away from the story. The characters are realistic and intrigueing, and the “action” in any given part of one of Salvatore’s books might be a battle, political subterfuge, a character’s emotional conflicts–in short, Salvatore isn’t limited to skillful portrayel of battle. He can, and does, include a variety of gripping situations in his works. The Thousand Orcs is no exception, boasting all three of those things and more.
If you’re a Salvatore fan, I shouldn’t need to tell you to buy this, because you’ve probably already got it on your wish list. If you aren’t, this book is as good a place as any to get started!
G. Swift @ 7:45 pm
Whenever an author has written an extended series of books about the same characters, there is always inclusion of a period of introduction (or reminders) of significant events. This is mainly for new readers of the series. For those who have read the previous works, this can be tedious. Such is the case for this book. However, without being cumbersome, Salvatore managed to hit the major events in the characters’ lives to illuminate some of their motivations. The problem is that there are a good many characters that require this, so it seems to take a while.
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.
Charles H. Martin @ 10:41 pm
This book marked my first excursion into R.A. Salvatore’s literature, and I must say that I liked what I saw. While I am only passingly familiar with the Drizzt stories, Salvatore provided enough backstory in certain places for me to at least get the picture.
For those of you expecting an epic battle between Drizzt and an army of humanoids, you’ll be a little disappointed. Although the thousand orcs do appear, for the most part Drizzt has the benefit of his companions and doesn’t really face a whole army until very late in the book.
However, this book stands on its own very well despite not giving the action that the title and cover art promised. This is a story about change, and how each of Drizzt’s company deals with it. Each of the characters are going through their own trials: Bruenor is returning to Mithral Hall as king and is desperately searching for one last adventure, Wulfgar must balance his warrior spirit with a newfound family, Regis is striving to become a more useful and essential part of the company after a brush with death, and Cattie-Brie and Drizzt are encountering several snares in their relationship. Salvatore’s characters are very well done and come across as very human, with their own strengths and failings.
As an added bonus, I discovered that Salvatore was a superb writer when it comes to non-human races. His story features orcs, drow, giants, dwarves, halflings, and elves, and they all come off as a part of their own race. A typical fantasy novel usually treats dwarves as small bearded humans, elves as pointy-eared and arrogant but woodsy people, and so on. The differences between the various Forgotten Realms races really come out here.
The writing occasionally stumbles and the plot becomes a bit predictable near the end of the story, but overall R.A. Salvatore did a wonderful job here in detailing very interesting characters and putting them into a very good starting story for this trilogy.
Clint Emmett @ 1:35 am
R.A. Salvatore has created one of the best loved and most dynamic charachters in the entire fantasy genre. With the creation of Drizzt, he has garnered legions of loyal fans and praise from high places within the editorial world. I remember back in ‘97, my senior year of high school, i was sitting in english class reading “passage to dawn” i believe- my teacher walked by my desk and made an offhand comment that he could not stomach the fact that salvatore was now getting his books published in hardcover. He obviously thought that fantasy novels should be confined to paperback where they could be perused by the “common” reader. How wrong he was.
Salvatore is a master at his craft. This is the reason he is as succesfull as he is.
Drizzt and the gang are back and they are going orc hunting. An alliance has been formed and it threatens the safety of all the humans living in the region of Icewind Dale. Drizzt and Bruenor and Wulfgar and Cattie-brie and even Regis have taken it upon themselves to investigate these rumors of a large army and a threat to the surrounding villages.
The book is mostly about the journey to discover what exactly it is that those pesky orcs are up to. Most of the novel takes place on the road and gives us information about where the charachters are now in their lives and the things that weigh most heavily upon their minds. Thoughts are turned toward loved ones and the life that the companions have chosen to lead. Is it a wise one? Will they survive for much longer? Will they all be together in the years to come?
I particularly enjoy the monologues that Drizzt delivers as a preface to each part of the book. In this alter ego, Salvatore can ask and answer some pretty deep questions and explore some pretty heavy issues.
This book is written well. It is plotted well and the charachters are written in a way that makes them believable and real. They have real problems and real pains- they arent just hulking barbarians and lithe warriors riding in the save the day in the nick of time. The last third of the book is where the action happens and boy, it happens fast. When the dust settles we are left feeling a little hopeless, a little angry and more that ready to devour the next volume in this all new trilogy starring our favorite rogue drow elf.