Title The Thousand Orcs
Author RA Salvatore
Year 2002
Stand Alone or Series Hunter's Blades #1, The Legend of Drizzt #14
Pages 367
Reading Time February 20 to April 21, 2014
Synopsis
One Dark Elf.
Two Enchanted Blades.
One Unknown Enemy.
And a Horde of Invaders.
When a blood-thirsty band of orcs led by an as-yet-unseen enemy comes rampaging out of the Spine of the World, it lays waste to everything in its path. Dark elf ranger Drizzt Do’Urden and his most trusted friends find themselves in the path of destruction. As blades slash and feet trample, even the heroes may not survive a desperate stand.
Review
Beware, several spoilers ahead.
This book was quite interesting. After the last two books that I thought that Salvatore and Drizzt were done and overdone - he throws a curveball with this one.
With the passing of the king of Mithral Hall, Bruenor is called upon to take the crown. So he, his companions and the dwarves begin a journey to Mithral Hall, passing by Mirabar to ensure a better understanding between two cities. Afterwards, they travelled north but To-Be-King Bruenor, Catti-Brie, Wulfgar, Regis and Drizzt and a score of dwarves meet some dwarves that had been ambushed by Orcs. With the thought of revenge they travelled to warn the nearby human cities.
This is the premises of this novel. What we get is a lot but at the same time a bit overdo. Some things come from other books, and people starting here can be a bit lost. This book is full of philosophy and ways of life.
-Catti-brie (human female; adoptive daughter of Bruenor) deals with her relationship with Drizzt a Drow. First should they be together, is it love and after, what would be their future?
-Regis deals with his way of life. He is an halfing and what he likes best his to live his life without many worries. But, with his companions that doesn't happen much. But after being rescued a zillion times by them he feels that he owns them and so he stays.
-Wulfgar, adoptive son of Bruenor is a barbarian with a soft heart. He deals with his past life (lover of catti-brie, imprisoned by a demon) and now together with a woman and her adoptive son. So he has a lot in his mind.
-Bruenor, all his life the dwarf only wanted to return to his ancestors dwelling place, Mithral Hall. But after retrieving he feels incomplete. This is characteristic that plagues almost every human (and dwarves). We are never happy with our life. We want more. And after doing what we achieve we want more. In one way that's what drives humankind ever forward but at the same time that's the reason for all evils humankind do. So in Bruenor, is the decision to be King or to be on the road with Drizzt and kill some foes (this same question dwells on every character).
-Drizzt, the main character. A goodheated drow(dark-elf). At times he is the most hated of characters. He is that kind of person that whines and takes everybody pains/difficulties as his own. He is a self-sacrificing guy and he is never happy with his decision... always wondering if he made the right choice and always suffering for past events. The problem relating with him his that. Nobody is that good. But at the same time, he is a god in the arts of war. He can kill everything. He reminds me of Gotrek the Trollslayer.
Nevertheless this flaws (to me they are); his battlescenes are probably my favourite battlescenes in any books I have ever read. His books are worth reading just for that. When Drizzt battles Entreri, where a battle takes ten or more pages, is glorious.
By the Way: This picture here. Didn't happened on this book. Misleading cover. Yes there are a thousand orcs but most of time Drizzt is fighting the Ice Giants. And when he fights Orcs usually is one or two.
Well with so many critics, why did I rate four? Some critics are not critics. It's good to see characters wonder about their life choices. The problem is overdoing it and Salvatore is overdoing it for some books.
This book is life Two Towers (movie) as a small force of dwarves and humans try to stop the power of orcs and giants. Again our main characters are overpower in relation of their enemies but I can handle that.
The Regis scenes, of all companions, are the best ones. And the highlight must be the almost comic appearance of Ivan and Pikel Bouldershoulder. They are quite interesting characters.
The story moves forward in the end and end with several cliffhangers. First Drizzt thinks his friends are lost beneath the rumbles of the destroyed city. Then we've got Torgar of Mirabar and his band of refugees who aid Bruennor. We have most of companions of the hall hurt or demoralized. We have Ivan and Pikel Bouldershoulder as they meet Bruenor. The elves as they see with caution the appearance of the Orcs in the forest and then we've got the evil alliance of Drows, Orcs and Giants who want nothing more than to destroy Mithrall Hall and Drizzt.
7/10
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