Το σπαθί του Μπεντγουίρ

Crimson Shadow #1

by R.A. Salvatore, Γιώργος Μπαρουξής (Translator)

Επί είκοσι χρόνια, η κάποτε περήφανη γη του Εριαντόρ στενάζει κάτω από τον ζυγό του μάγου-βασιλιά Γκρινσπάροου, που κατέκτησε τη χώρα με τις δαιμονικές του δυνάμεις και με λεγεώνες από τερατώδεις, μονόφθαλμους στρατιώτες. Οι νάνοι και τα νεραϊδογέννητα ξωτικά είναι σκλάβοι, οι άνθρωποι ζουν λίγο καλύτερα.
Ο Λούθιεν Μπέντγουιρ, πολεμιστής και γιος του κόμη Γκάχρις του Μπέντγουιρ, είναι πολύ νέος για να αντιληφθεί την τυραννία του Γκρινσπάροου. Ένα βράδυ όμως αποκαθιστά τη δικαιοσύνη μετά τον φόνο ενός φίλου του και γίνεται φυγάς για να σωθεί από τους φονιάδες του βασιλιά.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, High Fantasy, Forgotten Realms, Science Fiction

323 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

As one of the fantasy genre’s most successful authors, R.A. Salvatore enjoys an ever-expanding and tremendously loyal following. His books regularly appear on The New York Times best-seller lists and have sold more than 10,000,000 copies. Salvatore’s original hardcover, The Two Swords, Book III of The Hunter’s Blade Trilogy (October 2004) debuted at # 1 on The Wall Street Journal best-seller list and at # 4 on The New York Times best-seller list. His books have been translated into numerous foreign languages including German, Italian, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Turkish, Croatian, Bulgarian, Yiddish, Spanish, Russian, Polish, Portuguese, Czech, and French.

Salvatore’s first published novel, The Crystal Shard from TSR in 1988, became the first volume of the acclaimed Icewind Dale Trilogy and introduced an enormously popular character, the dark elf Drizzt Do’Urden. Since that time, Salvatore has published numerous novels for each of his signature multi-volume series including The Dark Elf Trilogy, Paths of Darkness, The Hunter’s Blades Trilogy, and The Cleric Quintet.

His love affair with fantasy, and with literature in general, began during his sophomore year of college when he was given a copy of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings as a Christmas gift. He promptly changed his major from computerscience to journalism. He received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Communications from Fitchburg State College in 1981, then returned for the degree he always cherished, the Bachelor of Arts in English. He began writing seriously in 1982, penning the manuscript that would become Echoes of the Fourth Magic. Salvatore held many jobs during those first years as a writer, finally settling in (much to our delight) to write full time in 1990.

The R.A. Salvatore Collection has been established at his alma mater, Fitchburg State College in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, containing the writer’s letters, manuscripts, and other professional papers. He is in good company, as The Salvatore Collection is situated alongside The Robert Cormier Library, which celebrates the writing career of the co-alum and esteemed author of young adult books.

Salvatore is an active member of his community and is on the board of trustees at the local library in Leominster, Massachusetts. He has participated in several American Library Association regional conferences, giving talks on themes including “Adventure fantasy” and “Why young adults read fantasy.” Salvatore himself enjoys a broad range of literary writers including James Joyce, Mark Twain, Geoffrey Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dante, and Sartre. He counts among his favorite genre literary influences Ian Fleming, Arthur Conan Doyle, Fritz Leiber, and of course, J.R.R. Tolkien.

Born in 1959, Salvatore is a native of Massachusetts and resides there with his wife Diane, and their three children, Bryan, Geno, and Caitlin. The family pets include three Japanese Chins, Oliver, Artemis and Ivan, and four cats including Guenhwyvar.

When he isn't writing, Salvatore chases after his three Japanese Chins, takes long walks, hits the gym, and coaches/plays on a fun-league softball team that includes most of his family. His gaming group still meets on Sundays to play.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/rasalv...

Reviews

[Jason Koivu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once upon a time I met R.A. Salvatore. He came to my high school and talked to a small group of us 9th graders. He had just signed his first book contract and was about to embark upon a very successful career as a fantasy writer. This impressed me a great deal, because Salvatore is from Leominster, Massachusetts....I know, that's incredible, right?!....Okay, so the reason that impressed me was because Leominster is right next to Townsend, and Townsend was where I was born and raised. So, the thought of a local boy making good as a writer thrilled me! I wanted to be a writer and here was living proof that a kid from the sticks could live that life!

Salvatore's achievement was a far greater influence upon me than his actual writing, only because it took me 30 frickin' years to read one of his books. I find that amazing. I don't know how it happened. Ever since the day I meant him I've meant to read his stuff, but somehow I never got around to it until this past week. It's one of the great reading snafus of my life.

However, all that is being rectified beginning with the Crimson Shadow series. Book one, The Sword of Bedwyr kicks off the trilogy in a way that promises the kind of fun and adventure I was hoping for! There's battles and monsters and treasure and more!

The book plays out sort of how a game of D&D runs. First you get the party together. In this instance it's just a warrior and thief. A wizard happens along later on, but he's not quite a full member of the band. In this case, we're not starting with first level characters. We've got a skilled swordsman and a practiced thief. They're jumping right into the tough stuff, slaying a bit of sword fodder before diving into some truly tough monster encounters.

The actual characters are at least interesting, if not absolutely enthralling. The thief, a charming and funny halfling, is straight out of a Monty Python sketch. Actually, I mean that literally. He speaks with the heavy accent and delivers the same lines as the castle guard with outraaageous French accent, played by John Cleese, in The Holy Grail. That's borrowing perhaps too heavily from a preexisting source, but I enjoyed it so I let it slide. However, when you have a halfling thief enter a dragon's lair and proceed to flatter the dragon in hopes of escaping the encounter alive, well then you've gone too far with the borrowing. That scene from The Hobbit is just too famous to tread upon. Of course, dragon encounters are nothing new to literature. They go as far back as the Old Testament and Greek epics of the 5th century BCE. It's just, well, that particular scene combination is very Tolkien-specific.

Irregardless, this is still great fun and I'll be moving on to book two soon! I plan to dive into Salvatore's other series, and one day I'll no doubt devour his Drizzt stories. I'm told those are the shit, so I'm saving them and working my way up to them. Hey, ya gotta have something to look forward to!

[Baal Of · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a D&D campaign turned into an amateurish novel, filled with standard tropes, bland, repetitive writing, and some laughably bad dialog. I love D&D, but some campaigns should just remain between the players. Take Tolkien, replace with a simplified map, change orcs into cyclopians (yes that is how it is spelled in the book instead of cyclopean), and remove all the scholarship, dumb down the plot, replace characters with cardboard cutouts, and it gets close to this. It wasn't absolutely horrible, and I was initially going to give it 3 stars, but I found the more I thought about this book, the less I liked it. The author used a stunningly limited vocabulary, for example the cyclopians are only referred to by that word, or the word "brute", in a roughly alternating pattern that appears to be a vain attempt to hide the repetitiveness. I am actually kind of curious how many times the word brute appears, and I would wager it's over 100. We are reminded at least 5 times that Luthien's love interest has wheat-colored hair, and that is pretty much her one defining feature besides green eyes. We are also told 3 times that Oliver has a romantic nature, and thus just smiles wistfully at Luthien's insta-passion, love at first sight, a trope that generally makes me ill. The book is chock full of this kind of simplistic fantasy, which means it is frightfully dull.

I have seen Salvatore's Drizzt books listed on more than one best-of fantasy lists, which means I may pick up some of those in the future. I really hope they are better than this. Given the vast wealth of good fantasy fiction available, this book needs to be confined to the dustbin.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Light, breezy reading.

The story follows the MC and his hobbit-like sidekick from one adventure to another. Nothing grimdark about this at all. It's old-fashioned fantasy fluff. Sometimes these types of books are exactly what I'm in the mood to read.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

First book in the Crimson Shadow trilogy, a series written by Salvatore early in his writing career (about 25 years ago). It reads like a Salvatore book, in fact if you didn't know he wrote it and then read the book I'm pretty sure you would say that it was Salvatore.

So we've got...
Great characters ~ can anyone say Oliver deBurrows!
Amazing fight scenes.

Old School (that's a good thing) plot ~ son of an earl who leaves home after some stuff happened (no spoilers here), his father's land and holdings are in name only because of the conqueror's who came before, chance meeting with a wizard, magical artifacts that lead to great deeds and legendary tales.

I liked this and will definitely continue the series.
I would probably only recommend this to fans of Salvatore (or Eddings or Brooks etc.) because it does read as a little bit dated and he was still learning the craft of writing so it is not as good as other books by him.

[Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first Fantasy genre book that I ever read. I don't even remember why I read it specifically, just some High School English project that allowed us to choose our own book. It was recommended to me by a friend who had read a lot of this style.

Was it an amazing book? I'm not entirely sure. Was it the best book I've ever read? Doubtful. But what it did do was ignite my passion for Fantasy novels, and for that I am forever grateful. It is, genuinely, a good book and a lot of fun to read. If you haven't read it, you should definitely give it a look and add it to your list, it deserves to be there.

For me, it will always hold a special place in my heart as the book that introduced me to Fantasy.

[David - proud Gleeman in Branwen's adventuring party · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly fun read! Well-detailed action sequences and witty banter amongst the characters (especially Oliver the halfling) make this book far more enjoyable than most of the so-called "exciting" action blockbusters Hollywood gives us. Definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys adventure novels!

[Ignacio Senao f · Rating 4 out of 5]

Como echaba de menos la fantasía clásica rolera. Estaba bastante quemado de todo lo que hay en la actualidad que no para de haber personajes, tramas políticas, engaños, guerras... Quiero otra vez ese viaje épico estilo videojuego yendo de un punto a otro continuamente y entremedio batallitas y problemas. Pues aquí lo hay, todo el rato peleas, aventuras, problemas...

Esta trilogía el círculo de lectores la ha dividido en dos libros. El primer libro autoconcluso donde narra la aventura de dos personajazos en el que uno es un ladronzuelo con mucho humor y pícaro. El otro un chico de alta cuna, guapo y gran guerrero que ha tenido que salir corriendo de su reino. Estos des personajes tan típico nos darán risas y acción.

Literatura buena!

[Angharad · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a VERY derivative book. That's a problem that plagues the fantasy genre, but there's literally a whole chapter that was basically Bilbo's initial encounter with Smaug. The main character Luthien spells his name the exact same way Luthien spells her name in Tolkien's Silmarillion. I also couldn't help but picture the movie Highlander. There's an eccentric foreign swordsman who helps Luthien that constantly reminded me of a less interesting version of Sean Connery in Highlander. The names other than Luthien's, particularly for the humans so far, are more or less Scottish -esque, particularly main characters. Stuff about a magic sword yadda yadda. You've been here before if you ever consume fantasy books.

I could forgive it all if the story wasn't so slow and average. If you've ever watched any B fantasy movie, you've heard this story before. It's textbook generic. It's only small saving grace is that it's not bad. It's just average. There's nothing new here, Salvatore took no risks and every twist was predictable well before it even happens.

[Derek Gillespie · Rating 2 out of 5]

We really only get one storyline in this book and it's of the reluctant hero, Luthien. He picks up a comedic sidekick on his journey (to find his brother?) who (if you listen to the audiobook) has a French accent. There is a Dragon guarding a pile of gold, a duke who gets possessed by a demon, and elves and dwarves. The cyclopians were a good change on the classic ogre or giant. However, the cadence of this story was very slow and the action sequences were just plain boring. The halfling sidekick had some funny lines but there wasn't anything pushing forward of interest for me.

[Komble III · Rating 4 out of 5]

60-ებში როგორი ენითაც იწერებოდა ჰაი ფენტეზი ზუსტად ეგეთია.

გულუბრყვილო, იდეალისტური და ბავშვური. სალვატორესგან განსაკუთრებით გამიხარდა ეგეთი წერის სტილი, აბსოლუტურად სხვა რამეს მიმაჩვია და უცებ აღმოჩნდა რომ ადამიანი ჰობიტის ენით წერს 90-ებში ჰაი ფენტეზის :D

მშვენიერი გასართობია

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reads like a prototypical D&D campaign made into a 700+ page book. Which it essentially is.

I recall fond memories of reading R.A. Salvatore novels as a young teenager. I decided to pick him back up, to see if his novels still interested me as a jaded, fantasy trope-cognizant, late twenty-something.

Sadly, the answer was “ehhh... not really”. It's not awful, but it was not an enjoyable experience. One positive is that the pace moves at a reasonably steady clip, and things change quickly enough to keep you from getting bored. But that's about it for positives. I found the characters irritating, unlikable, and unrelatable. The story held the most interest, but only for a meta reason – I kept expecting a twist on the premise, a twist that never came.

The main character is Lucien Bedwyr, the second son of a petty lord. He grows dissatisfied with his father's subservience to emissaries sent by the *The Dark Emperor*, who are there to remind the local lords who really is in charge. Apparently, there is a nefarious, tyrannical king lurking out there, cackling into magical mirrors and other such stock tropes. Lucien becomes fed up with his father bowing and scraping to these emissaries, and runs off to make his fortune (and dare I say, find himself?) in the outside world. Not exactly an unfamiliar set up.

On his journey, not really knowing where he is going, Lucien encounters a halfling named Oliver, and they join forces. Before the main plot surfaces, they embark on a few “quests” together, swashbuckling, adventuring - your classic fantasy D&D stuff. These adventures don't have much in terms of stakes, but the action and pacing move quickly enough to be reasonably engaging. One of these mini adventures bestows Lucien with a magical invisibility cloak, which becomes a key item to the rest of the story.

They eventually take up residence in a city, where they make use of the invisibility cloak, – to steal, rob, pawn, and steal some more. Yeah. They always steal from the wealthy merchants in the city, and they give up a significant portion of their ill gotten gains to the many poor, starving people in the city. The story treats their actions like they're the paragons of virtue, but I couldn't get behind this characterization. We're supposed to see them as heroes, but I saw them as thieving bastards who happen to toss a penny to the beggar outside. I'm not sure if I even need to say this, but uh – stealing is wrong. It doesn't make you a hero. Their “Robin Hood” portrayal ties into a grievance of dissonance I had throughout the book.

It wouldn't be a D&D novel without fighting, and if that's your thing, this novel does have numerous fighting sequences. Lucien and Oliver consistently fight against “Cyclopean” adversaries, who form what amounts to be the stock enemy in the book. I could not follow his combat at all. I don't know if Salvatore isn't good as describing combat sequences, or my imagination just sucks these days, but I could never understand what was supposed to be happening in the combat descriptions. Maybe you'll have better luck than me.

Something that ticked me off about the combat, and specifically the enemies they fight against – which are always, ALWAYS “Cyclopean monsters” - is the lack of room for moral ambiguity. These cyclops adversaries are always stupid, evil, savage thugs. There is no nuance or conflict to Lucien and Oliver constantly chopping these guys to bits. All of the enemies they kill are hulking, dumb, evil bastards, so it's a good thing to kill them, right? I found myself sighing every time Salvatore referred to a Cyclopean enemy as “a brute”. Apparently that is all they are, ever have been, and ever will be. No room for depth and nuance here.

This ties into a larger problem I had throughout the novel - the lack of depth and ambiguity. The dark emperor is dark and evil. Why, you ask? [Data not found]. The protagonists breaking into houses of the wealthy, stealing all their possessions. But, isn't stealing wrong? That's handily explained away by the fact that every merchant is corrupt, evil, and greedy. I didn't total the number of Cyclopean caravan guards, Cyclopean castle guards, and Cyclopean city guards that Luthien and Oliver kill, but it's easily upwards of a hundred. But don't worry! A race as ugly and brutish as the cyclops surely have no innocents among their ranks. They are all stupid, evil, dumb, clumsy, wicked brutes.

Oh, and there's a “love story”. And by that I mean Luthien falls in love with a mysterious beautiful elf slave girl. Basically at first sight, and for no other reason than because she is beautiful. The elf woman consistently rebuffs his advances, citing the fact that he doesn't know anything about her, and that he has no reason to be enamored with her. She is 100% right, but wait!! TRUE LOVE, right? Excuse me while I vomit..

Summary: A very standard, tropey fantasy adventure. There are dark lords, adventures, mad escapes, a “love story”, swashbuckling, there's even a dragon at one point. I kept hoping for a spin on the expected, a twist... - something, anything. Nope!

2/5 Stars

[Mike Wofford · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mean, who doesn’t love a little sword & sorcery nonsense?

[Marc Geraldez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started off slow for me but really picked up. I kept thinking of Puss N Boots of Shrek as a perfect stand in for Oliver 😜

[Martin Hernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally published in the mid 90s, and re-released in 2019 this book is good ol' fashion fantasy adventure.

There are no complicated court politics, there are no grim, and/or dark moments of hopeless despair, and there are no "possibly redeemable morally gray villains" that so plague modern fantasy. Just a simple adventure that chains together a series of events leading up to an unintentionally formed revolution against a dictator.

I won't ramble on too long, but basically our MC Luthien grows up a sheltered life on an island that is controlled by a ruler who in turn answers to a greater ruler known as Greensparrow. The main big bad Greensparrow united some armies back in the day, and basically conquered everyone to the point he's ruling over everything. After his friend is killed Luthien sets out on a journey to find his brother, and join him after his brother was sent away from home for speaking out against their overlords. Along the way Luthien happens upon a halfling who is a lot of big talk, and bluster; but is still a deft hand with a rapier. The two are then basically forced into doing a job for a wizard where they stumble upon a crimson cape that Luthien takes for himself. What follows afterwards is the two becoming thick as thieves, and pulling off some low level thefts in a big city, only to accidently in the process resurrect the legend of The Crimson Shadow. Said shadow was a big time symbol of the people before Greensparrow's rule.

In short this book is great. It's old school simple adventure fantasy in the vein of forgotten realms, or dragonlance. Which is no surprise given the author! The only downsides I can list is that Luthien is very naive, and often creates situations that lead to more problems for our duo. By the end of the book though it shows promise that Luthien is starting to realize the impact, and importance of his role as the "New Crimson Shadow." The other being that Luthien becomes fixated on a half-elf slave girl he sees for a brief minute. Very quickly by the end of the book they are "lovers" when they've only made steamy glances at one another, and kissed like twice.

[Buster LaFrance · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know this review comes about 20 years after this book's publication, but after reading it, all I have to say is, wow. I had read many of Salvatore's Drizzt books, and have long considered him one of my favorite authors. After reading The Sword of Bedwyr, my admiration for Salvatore's talent has grown tenfold. I couldn't put this book down. I found myself attached to the main characters, Luthien and Oliver, almost instantly, and found myself concerned for the safety of those they cared about as well. Luthien's struggle to reconcile his noble background with his new life really resonates throughout, to where I, the reader, truly felt his conflict. Oliver, in particular, is instantly likable, and though he's good for more than a few laughs, he comes across as worldly and more wise than he would like to admit. Overall, a great, great story. I cannot wait to start the second book. I would like to thank a good friend of mine who brought this series to my attention. I can't believe this series went so long without my notice.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than expected and not as derivative as expected either. Quite good, actually.

[Shawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Salvatore. He and Terry Brooks are who began my love of fantasy and reading, but I only really knew his Drizzt books so thought I'd give this series a try when it popped back up recently.
While not as in-depth as his Forgotten Realms books, Salvatore has created just enough detail of this world to get the story rolling, and it soon becomes about the characters and not the setting so I didn't really care after about a quarter of the way in -- the characters, mainly the halfling Oliver, were very entertaining.

Luthien Bedwyr, the main character, flees his home after some Viscounts come through and force his father, an Eorl/Earl, to bend to their desires. At the onset of his journey his hope is to meet up with his brother who was sent off to a war -- that is very quickly forgotten about it seemed as Luthien meets and follows the halfling thief Oliver. Once they get to Oliver's hometown we never hear of Luthien's brother again -- I can only assume he'll show up in book 2 or 3…
You also never hear of Luthien's father again until the very end, when he sends one of Luthien's friends to him with a gift -- how he knew where he was I have no idea.

But other than those two little issues, I enjoyed this. It was a fairly quick, and easy, read, with not too much to get in the way of the characters taking centerstage. Oh, and the fight scenes, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Salvatore's ability to write great fight scenes, the likes of which can go on for pages without losing interest.
If you're a classic fantasy fan, give this one a try.

[Ηλίας Κατραμάτος · Rating 2 out of 5]

Από την τριλογία ''Η Πορφυρή Σκιά'' μόλις τελείωσα το πρώτο βιβλίο. Πρώτη γνωριμία με τον συγγραφέα και όπως λέει η μαντάμ Σουσού , κατατάσσετε στους έτσι κι έτσι, εκτός και αν τα άλλα 2 βιβλία το διαψεύσουν.
Το οπισθόφυλλο σε προδιαθέτει για μια περιπέτεια φαντασίας με μάγους, ξωτικά, κύκλωπες, δράκους και γενικά περίεργα πλάσματα της φαντασίας. Η περιπέτεια ξεκινά καλά με τον ήρωα μα φεύγει από το σπίτι του μετά από κάποια γεγονότα που θα συμβούν και ουσιαστικά να ξεκινά μι αναζήτηση από αυτές που βλέπουμε σε βιβλία φαντασίας με σκοπό να υπερασπιστεί το καλό. Στο δρόμο θα βρει νέους και παλιούς γνωστούς που θα φτιάξουν την ''παρέα'' που πορευτεί στην συνέχεια.
Όλα θα ξεκινήσουν καλά δίνοντας μάχες με τέρατα και με μάγους, ξαφνικά όμως τα 2/3 του βιβλίου αναλώνεται δείχνοντας τον ήρωα και τον ένα από τους συντρόφους του (δεν έχουν ακόμη ενσωματωθεί οι υπόλοιποι) να είναι ληστές σε μία πόλη. Για πολλές πολλές σελίδες θα διαβάσουμε βαρετά πράγματα και σκηνές μάχης που είναι γραμμένες με ''καρμπόν''. Και φτάνοντας στις τελευταίες 50 σελίδες, αυτές προσπαθούν να σώσουν την κατάσταση αλλά είναι πολύ λίγες! .

[Janmi Pace · Rating 5 out of 5]

La espada de Bedwyr, del gran R.A. Salvatore, es el primer volumen de la trilogía titulada “La Sombra Carmesí”. Comprendido dentro del género de la fantasía épica más clásica, supuso una lectura apasionante en mi adolescencia.

En una tierra oprimida, nuestro querido protagonista tendría que aprender y evolucionar para derrocar al opresor.

Los combates de espada tienen la descripción magistral característica del autor.

No todo son espadazos, en este libro, y sus continuaciones, encontraremos de todo: amor, desamor, acción, intriga, política, alianzas, amistad y una buena historia.

Nunca he jugado al rol, pero he leído que este libro tiene muchas analogías con las campañas de Dungeons & Dragons.

La lectura es muy adictiva y hará las delicias de los aficionados al género.

RECOMENDADO.

[Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent start to a trilogy. I only wish the main villain of the book had been fleshed out further along with a certain ally of his and the love interest, too. It caused the end to feel a bit rushed. Maybe Salvatore could have squeezed out a few more chapters from the story. Would have also been cool if Luthien got his family heirloom during the climax, but I guess it makes sense narratively for it to happen in the epilogue.

Unoffensive Strong 4 to a lukewarm 4.5/5 in my opinion. Good fantasy and worldbuilding. Exciting action scenes. Wish this was a series that was more than 3 books considering I read the second book last year (there will be a proper review for Luthien's Gamble within the coming weeks as I will be re-reading the book before I move on to the third book).

[Amy]

DNF 24%
I was really surprised to have to stop reading this. I remember enjoying the homelands trilogy years ago, and I enjoyed the story and lore in kingdoms of amalur. I was so baffled, I read a sample of exile. It's not much better written, but it is. Perhaps I've grown as a reader.
Anyway, I stopped because the POV was so scattered. Yes, it's omni, and it's just hopping everywhere. On top of that, the ACTION WAS HORRIBLE! holy moly slow and boring. Sprinkle in a heavy infection of burly detective syndrome, and you've got something really annoying to read. So so shocked. So disappointed.

[Robert Noll · Rating 5 out of 5]

By no means is this the Great American Novel or any work of fiction that will stand the test of time. More than anything, the book seems to be the novelization of a video game.

Luthien and his new friend Oliver deBurrows meet and have several adventures. This is after Luthien’s father essentially expels Luthien’s brother for political expediency. Luthien commences a quest to join his brother Ethan on a battlefield far away. They end up in Montfort where Luthien becomes a revolutionary hero.

It’s a fun read and fun story. Salvatore does a fantastic job with action sequences and world building.

[Jeff Sabean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely Amazing

Honestly the book started a bit slow and I almost stopped reading. If I wasn’t such a huge fan of the author, I would have.

By the end of the 2nd Chapter, however, I was hooked and had trouble putting it down. The character of Oliver deBurrows is probably one of my favorite characters from any book (other than Jarlaxle of course). His sense of humor is amazing, and the situations the 2 find themselves in make it hard to stop reading once they get going.

I wish I could give this one 6 stars. Very very excellent book.

[John Mackey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got hooked on Salvatores books back in jr. high when I first read "Homeland" and the main character was a male drow piqued my interest. I was hooked on his books and wanted more. I have read his books on Drizzt multiple times as I love them. And this book although not of the Drizzt series was an excellent read. One that kept you wanting more all the way to the end.

I was shocked at the end how his father knew where he was to be able to send Katerin to find him and gift him the family sword. But I was glad she did. Who knows where they might go but I'm looking forward to following them.

[Vandana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent read. A bit too much description of the battles and fighting for my liking, but otherwise a good book. I just wish that Luthien was little bit more engaging as a hero. I do really like the fact that he is not someone who seems to know everything and everything, and has to learn to grow up and become the hero he needs to be. It's good story and I will be continuing the trilogy. P.S. The synopsis on the back of the trilogy's book is a bit misleading.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 stars. Fantasy trilogy. Finished series, all three books available as audible and kindle, etc. One of Salvatore’s early works. Told in third person (my preference) and set in a fantastical medieval land resembling Old England, Scotland, and Ireland. Vikings, too (Huegoths) and French (Gascony). I enjoyed this trilogy. Likable characters, humor, an easy pace, some vivid battle scenes, and some romance. A dragon, too, in book 3 especially.

[Call me Jeeves · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok this was my first foray into Salvatore. The story as a whole is pretty good. The swashbuckling hero who does not know he is a hero. But thinks be is a common thief. A thief who steals from the rich and gives it to the poor then starts over by taking it back . Luthien with his ner do well companion the halfling Oliver deBurrows. Leading Luthien to glory in the end. Or so it seems.
I may read this one again just to avoid missing anything.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a lot of fun. Salvatore's good at writing vivid action sequences, and likeable characters.

My only critique is that he could have done a little more exposition on character development. He keeps it brief...which isn't necessarily a bad thing, I just like a little more insight. So that's personal preference and a very subjective criticism.

If you like a good ol' fantasy novel, this is a good one.

[Sean McGee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good fantasy adventure series. Lots of hack and slash. Politics and intrigue are lacking in comparison to more elaborate series, but that addition would make it much longer. This isn’t a fantasy epic, however it is certainly in line with adventure genre in a fantasy setting. Style and depth is reminiscent of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan stories; that is to say, it’s easy quick reading with lots of action and little character development.

[Sean M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun, furious and frantic.

Really fun adventure between two friends as they unwittingly start a revolution with their antics.

Salvatore never disappoints with the action sequences, the use of magic and funny unique characters. It’s good to read something outside of the realms from Salvatore as he gets to flex his own world building muscles a bit.

A fun weekend read that’s hard to put down