R.A. Salvatore's new book

[Zephyr]

If you don't know, R.A. Salvatore is a fantasy writer largely known for his legendary drow, Drizzt Do'Urden. If you haven't read his books, go read them. Now.

But if you have, you might know that he has a new book out, Promise of the Witchking, which is supposed to be book two in the Sell-Sword series. Well, I looked and found the first book was Servant of the Shard, which was written in the middle of the Paths of Darkness series, and I always assumed it was a part of it. Did Salvatore always have the Sell-Sword series and just stopped, or did he switch what series Servant of the Shard was a part of? I know I have a copy somewhere, I just have to find it. If he did switch it, its a very strange thing to do.

[J Marv]

Well, Servant of the Shard isn't about Drizzt. He's in it, but he's far from the focus of the book. The book itself follows Jarlaxle and Entreri. This book seems to be a follow up on that. In the Drizzt timeline, it should be in Paths of Darkness, so you're right in thinking that, but he's going to spin off a new Jarlaxle/Entreri arc starting withs SotS, which is certainly possible.

I still haven't read The Two Swords yet. Got to pick that up.

[Zephyr]

I never said SotS was about Drizzt, I just mentioned him as one of Salvatore's famous characters. Anyway, I found my copy of the book, and its the older one from when the book first came out, and it lists SotS as the third book in the Paths of Darkness series. However I went to the library and found the more rescent paperback version and, sure enough, it says Sell-Sword book 1 on the front. So he just decieded to go back and write more of Jarlaxle's and Entrei's story, and I for one am happy to see that extended

And The Two Swords was a great ending to the Hunter's Blade trilogy. You should pick it up ASAP.

[Skyre]

I've only read 2 Salvatore books, "The Thousand Orcs", and "The Crystal Shard".

I'm in the middle of Streams of Silver, but I can't seem to finish it with all the Terry Goodkind Books I still have to read. I just finished his fifth book, "Soul of the Fire", and went straight on to "Faith of the Fallen". And I've already bought the seventh book, "The Pillars of Creation".

[Zephyr]

slight spoilers...

I just finished it, and I have to say I wasn't too pleased with it. I still liked it, and the insightful moments into Jarlaxle's and Entrei's relationship are always great. But it felt too much like a linear classic D&D module. Walk here, fight an encounter, keep walking, fight another encounter. and the items and spells were taken almost directly from the rule books. Arthogate's belt of strength is just that, a belt of giant's strength +5. I blame it on the cleric. There have been clerics before, but this guy was just using healing spells left and right. And when he cast the second light spell later in the book, one gargoyle is blinded while the other isn't. I can just hear the dice being rolled, one enemy making his save and the other failing.

Even the first dragonlance books in the War of the Lance series were based directly off of a module, but it wasn't this obvious.