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The Thousand Orcs (Forgotten Realms: The Hunter's Blades Trilogy, Book 1)

The Thousand Orcs (Forgotten Realms: The Hunter's Blades Trilogy, Book 1)

List Price: $7.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: An Excellent Introduction
Review: 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.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Another Trilogy?
Review: = Yes, We DO Need Another Trilogy...
Reviewer: K Gallagher from Honolulu, Hi United States
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.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great Adventure
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was cleverly written. The adventure and action juts keep coming. I also enjoyed The Lone Drow. I cannot wait for the next book in the series.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Not so much about Drizzt
Review: Drizzt is the reason I buy these books. Breunor, Wolfgar, Cattie-Brie and Regis have never been more than background characters for me (and other than Breunor, I find them pretty bland.) Drizzt is not the main character here. I know R.A. Salvatore is setting up the rest of the trilogy (at least I hope he is), but I'm dying for the Dark Elf to start doing his thing.

I found it hard to get into this story. A lot of this has been said before in all the other books (Drizzt's soliloquy like diary notes in-between sections are particularly uninspired.) R.A. Salvatore still writes action well, but that's not enough to sustain the novel.

The back cover says: One Dark Elf. Two Enchanted Blades. One Unknown Enemy. And a Horde of Invaders.

A bit misleading.

This is actually a story about Breunor Battlehammer faced with being King of Mithral Hall once again, the economic/political issues between Mithral Hall and Mirabar and lastly a horde of Orcs banding together with Frost Giants to conquer more land. With special guest star Drizzt Do'Urden to lend a helping hand.

Not what I signed on for.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Somewhat slow start but a great finish
Review: 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.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Thousand Orcs
Review: After waiting a long time to read another book with everyone's favorite Drow Elf, Drizzt Do'Urden, RA Salvatore brings us The Thousand Orcs, Book 1 of The Hunter's Blades Trilogy. This book was OUTSTANDING. I read it in a day, I couldn't put it down. I like this book not only because it is written by a great author but because the way in which he makes you feel when you read it (or any of his works for that matter). I had the feeling that I was actually in the story as another character sensing everything that they did, following them along their journey. I would give this book 10 stars if I could.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Its not you its me
Review: Perhaps I have grown to expect more from my favorite characters. This book is not very engrossing. Its a fair introduction to the next book maybe. I am simply not compelled by it.

Perhaps if this is your first RAS book, you will enjoy it. But for me it was just another story in a different setting with new characters, that did not compare in character or plot depth to stories RAS already wrote about the lead characters.

I get the impression he tries to do some things in this book which the editors prohibited, and so he hastily changed the plot in places. He has fixated on the ends, and so much less detail on the means. As if he had a skeleton outline, but needs to put another layer of flesh on it.

Maybe its because I'm not scared of a pack of orcs. Simply not worthy enemies for the Companions of the Hall.

Take notice, this is not RAS best work.

If you have never read about these characters, its still a good introduction. If you have and want to see them again, still a good read. But stick with a used paperback copy :)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: why
Review: Excellent. Except i want to knw why you made the drow get seperated from his freinds and make him think they were dead

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Action Packed
Review: If you like action and fantasy. Read this.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: F***in awesome book!!!
Review: I have just completed this book last night, and it is one of the best R.A. Salvatore books I have ever read. The book is basically non stop action, starting from one orc raid on some dwarven traders, leading up to a great battle in the secluded town of Shallows. I think I speak for everybody when I say that R.A. Salvatore should make a movie of the entire saga!


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