The Ghost King: Forgotten Realms: Transitions, Book 3

good job

The Ghost King completes the Transitions Trilogy, which started out quite slow and disjointed from the future scene that opened The Orc King to the more contemporary story of The Pirate King, taking place some eight years after the end of the second book in the series.While Salvatore unites the disparate characters from his two Realms series once again, he does so more intimately, having Jarlaxle as the main focus of the antagonist's ire at the start of the book. Spanning a wide range of the canon of the Forgotten Realms, we see psionics in use, magic failing due to the spell plague, priestly magic failing as the Gods seem to have disappeared, but magic weapons and items seemingly unaffected. The story deals with the reincarnated Crystal Shard in a new guise, dissociated from the Lichs who created it in the ancient past, but united with the dragon whose breath destroyed it and a mind flayer. The three minds compete for dominance, so the foe serves as its own antagonist for some of the book.The heroes are familiar, from the characters of the Cleric Quintet and their children, to the remaining Companions of the Hall (Wulfgar was split from them earlier in the series, for good it seems), to Jarlaxle and Athrogate. Artemis Entreri is mentioned but never seen, and it was noted that he was being hunted by the servants of the Shard so we might see another book or story featuring him in the future.The heroes band together to face the evil, accompanied by extra-dimensional beings entering through a dimensional rift that replenishes the enemy ranks. Two of the Companions are laid low before any battle is fought and they only serve to distract the rest until their plotlines are resolved at the end of the book.The title of the series, Transitions, reflects not only the changeover of the game system of Dungeons and Dragons, but also the changes that proceed in the lives of the primary characters as their world changes. The defeats and victories they have achieved and suffered in their lives are matched by their greatest challenge to date. The heroes show their mettle and the reader is rewarded for being patient in following the course of the action. This is not a pleasant story, as great changes are wrought both in the Forgotten Realms and in the lives of the characters we have grown to know and love. How they deal with these radical changes will have to wait to be revealed in whatever Salvatore delivers next.Note that Salvatore has a long author's note to open the book, citing how difficult it was for him to write. It was not until the end of the book that this truly became clear to me. It is a pretty rare thing for a book to move me to tears, but this one accomplished that for the first time in a very long while. I cannot say enough good things about this book, though it did start a bit slow and some things were not explained terribly well and there were some consistency issues (such as Ivan retrieving his axe at one point, then not having it and using rocks, then suddenly having his axe again). However much I might not like such things, they are present and result in my not giving this a five star review.This is a fantastic book that reads very fast, like the older books in the Drizzt line it is grand in scale and deals with the evolution in the life of this larger than life hero.

I always loved the Drizzt books and especially liked the Cleric Quintet. What a delight to find them both together! Engaging story with a dracolith and signs of change in the relationship between Drizzt and Jarlaxl. Recommended read!

Long time Drizzt and Salvatore fan . . . read all the books many times over . . . The Ghost King is one of those books that you'll only read once. I give it four stars/ 80% for truly representing true change within the Drizzt saga . . . which will hopefully lead us on to greater depths and insights within the Drizzt story. As a long time DM and gamer I found the book suffering from high level campaign anxiety. In other words, where do you go with a character like Drizzt who has done so much and possesses so much power, and as a dark elf has lived approx. 100 years with possibly another 400+ years to go? I felt the writing was generally decent, but it definitely felt rushed, incomplete, or "hack and slashed" in several areas.Several of the battles in The Ghost King are superlative and have all the martial details we've come to expect. The Ghost King/dracolich was nearly immortal and a worthy adversary. But I felt the seven liches of Crenshinibon were poorly represented and literally mere shadows of themselves. Tell us more about the liches . . . what long lost cultures DID they actually come from and if they are becoming more independent give us more character. They're liches for pete's sake, not sneaky kobolds. I admit that I've never read the Cadderly novels but the insertion of his family was not that interesting to me and took away from much sought after 'real-estate' with Drizzt. I understand their purpose as a link, but it was not engaging. I would have loved AT LEAST ten pages (but of course more) of Drizzt and Jarlaxle sitting by a campfire talking about the time Jarlaxle and Zaknefein defeated the two weapon masters of Melee-Magthere. Zaknafein! The fans want Zaknafein! But we got shadow crawlers instead. And then we got undead hordes with Cadderly's kiddos. There is nothing more boring than an undead horde. No personality. The only thing that sustained me through these mind-numbing encounters were the warm and fuzzy memories of battles like Biggrin and the verbeeg from yesteryear.These things said, I was touched by Mr. Salvatore's introduction and the events which inspired the somber feel of this novel. The literal and figurative darkness in this novel will, or should, hit you. I made the mistake of reading the book on my cruise vacation and no amount of Caribbean sun could dispel the dark mood it presented. The Ghost King parallels the times right now . . . lots of loss, dark clouds, and tumultuous change. I was not surprised by the ending and I wasn't disappointed by the ending either. As a fan I would enjoy reading a series based on Drizzt and Jarlaxle campaigning together (which would give us that camp fire Zaknafein back-story . . . ok I'll stop now). We've seen many hats on this Drizzt character: the star weapon master pupil, the Hunter, Ranger, Hero of Mithral Hall, lover, philosopher, and brooder. What else could we see? Perhaps father and husband, ranger/monk (hinted at), new flaws, a broken Twinkle scimitar replaced by another more wondrous blade from the monster's horde? Could we see Drizzt around 400 years old smacking of Paul Atreides from Dune ready to fulfill his destiny by snuffing Lolth and destroying (and merging) drow society back with the surface elves? Dunno. Keep the faith people. Drizzt (R.A. Salvatore) will deliver. If you need some semblance of closure, read the brief epilogue from The Orc King.

The Transitions trilogy has been amazing, what a way to come back to Salvatore! I started reading these books when I was a kid and recently started them again to read all of them, and I couldn't make a better choice! The Orc King, the Pirate King and, finally, the Ghost King represent a shift on Drizzt's character: the world is changing, magic is failing, it's a time of odd alliances and folly, and I really felt the struggle of Drizzt and his companions to adjust to this new world. I didn't expect the book to end that way, particularly because of one of the characters, but I can't wait to see how Salvatore will write a darker Drizzt, a Drizzt in a world that has now changed forever.

This book is a bit of a mixed bag, there are parts of it that are brilliant, and others that are slow and unnecessary. I would give these book 3 stars but 4 stars as a trilogy.This book takes place 8 year after the disaster of the last book. After this book the Realm will never be the same again. Something has happened to the weave (the energy field that all magic originates from). All magic is becoming chaotic and unpredictable and is some cases back firing. Now I would have expected this would raise the stature of more of the warriors such as Drittz but in this book Drizzt is reminded that some situations are too big even for him to be more than a footnote. Anyway the chaos magic is casing a dimensional convergence (two or more plains of existence overlapping). This causes the energies from the destroyed Crystal Shard to find a new host and attempt to become the Ghost King. The result ZOMBIES lots of them! I hate zombies anyway and I had my fill of them in the last book so this might colour my view of the book. There is a bit a passing the torch as the next generations of adventures are introduced. 2 main character and one side character "die" or pass on to another form of existence. This book is full of zombies and crawlers (really big spiders).I really liked the first book in the trilogy  The Orc King: Forgotten Realms - Transitions Trilogy, Book 1  was excelent it forced readers and the characters to question their core beliefs and how to carry on in the face of this.  The Pirate King (Forgotten Realms: Transitions Trilogy): Forgotten Realms - Transitions, Book II  started the idea a war of ideals which normal everyday people were caught up in. Now the Ghost king has shifted the WHOLE Realm. Magic is such an integral part has shifted. Also on a personal note Drizzt losses someone very important to him. I think this is what really bothered me about the last 2 books despite their best efforts the guy guys lose. I accept that in real life but in fantasy as well it really sucks. Also with the mammoth task in front of him Salvatore could have very easily made this a 5 book arc, he tried to do too much in 3 books, leaving a lot of loses ends. Like he said in his introduction it is a much darker book, but I don't think one of his best. The Orc King: Forgotten Realms - Transitions Trilogy, Book 1The Pirate King (Forgotten Realms: Transitions Trilogy): Forgotten Realms - Transitions, Book II

Bought this product as "Used - Very Good" because I had the first two books of the series in hardback and never finished them till now. I needed the 3rd book and wanted hardback too but its now out of print in hardback. The book they sent has actually never been read but is just a little beat up around some of the edges from being moved about in warehouses etc., but nothing major. Overall very happy with the quality considering what I paid with World of Books and the cost of HB copies originally.

Really enjoyed this book within the Drizzt Saga and has they say onwards along Drizzt' s journey , sadly I have read the books out of syn but that has turned out to be somewhat of a blessing as I have enjoyed putting the puzzles together, the sign of a good storyteller!!!!!!!

The only word I can use to describe this is stunning. The detail, the imagery, the storyline, everything about this book is just brilliant. So rich and a wonderful read.