Dwarven King, Dwarven Arrow

Drizzt and Bruenor veered to the right, where orc reinforcements rushed past the trees and the stones. Torgar and Shingles ran straight ahead off their wake, following Pwent in his attempt to punch through this thin flank and toward the main engagement, which was still far to the north.

With his long strides, Drizzt moved ahead of Bruenor. He lifted Taulmaril, holding the bow horizontal before his chest, for the orcs were close enough and plentiful enough that he didn't even need to aim. His first shot took one in the chest and blasted it backward and to the ground. His second went through another orc so cleanly that the creature hardly jerked, and Drizzt thought for a moment that he had somehow missed--he even braced for a counter.

But blood poured forth, chest and back, and the creature died where it stood, too fast for it to even realize that it should fall over.

"Bend right!" Bruenor roared, and Drizzt did, sidestepping as the dwarf charged past him, barreling into the next group of orcs, shield bashing and axe flying left, right, and center.

With a single fluid movement, Drizzt shouldered the bow and drew forth his scimitars, and went in right behind Bruenor. Dwarf and drow found themselves outnumbered three to one in short order.

Meanwhile, in Mithril Hall, Wulfgar recovers the body of his dead wife, Delly, says his goodbyes to his friends, and goes on the hunt for his adopted daughter, Colson, who was kidnapped. He plans on finding her and returning her to her true mother. After that he will return to Icewind Dale, leaving Bruenor, Catti-brie, and Drizzt to fend for themselves.

Bruenor wants to find the fabled dwarven city of Gauntlgrym and weapons that they can use to drive the orcs back to their holes. On their expedition, Bruenor does find an ancient, abandoned underground city, but it is not Gauntlgrym. They find images and parchments there that show both dwarves and orcs living in harmony in this city for hundreds of years. Appalled by the find, Bruenor refuses to believe that dwarves and orcs could have even been anything but enemies.

As Grguch's army grows, he is being influenced by Jack the Gnome, although he does not know it. Grguch begins to believe that he should be the orc king and turns his army toward Obould.

Bruenor and a small group of his closest friends also head out to find Obould, as he believes that the orc king has been behind the attacks. They all meet in a battle royal that leaves blood staining the ground red for years to come.

The Orc King is the first book in the Transitions Trilogy by R.A. Salvatore. This Forgotten Realms fantasy tale features R.A. Salvatore's signature character, Drizzt Do'Urden, the drow and Bruenor Battlehammer, the dwarf king of Mithril Hall.

Having been a few years since I read a Drizzt Do'Urden book, I was very excited to begin reading The Orc King. After all, R.A. Salvatore is my favorite fantasy writer. I was disappointed to see Wulfgar leave for Icewind Dale, but I am sure that he will be back. He has things that he needs to do in his homeland. And I was also downhearted to learn that because of Catti-brie's injury, she wasn't in this book very much either.

Most of the tale is broken up into two main stories; one about Bruenor and one about Grguch. After having battled thousands of orcs over the years, is there a possibility and dwarves and orcs may somehow get along? Is this even possible? I don't know, but it sure would be a major turn of events if this did happen. Actually, I hope it does happen with the anticipation that some new plots may evolve.

The story is a little slow, as the author is building the to something exciting happening in the last book, The Ghost King, I'm sure. The last fifty pages were awesome as the melee began and continued right through to the end. After all, R.A. Salvatore is the best descriptive writer ever for fantasy battle scenes. No one writes them better than he.

The Orc King is a wonderful beginning to a new chapter in Drizzt's life and I cannot wait to see what happens next in The Pirate King, the second book in the Transitions Trilogy. Say, I don't recall there ever being any pirates in any of the previous Drizzt books. Hmmm . . . this should be interesting.