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The Ghost King: Transitions, Book III |  | Go Tell a Friend | |
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| Author: R.A. Salvatore
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
Category: eBooks
This item is no longer available
Rating:  82 reviews
Sales Rank: 3660
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Pages: 352
Number Of Items: 1
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
ASIN: B002RLBKO0
Publication Date: October 5, 2009
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Product Description
Don't miss the gripping conclusion to Salvatore's New York Times best-selling Transitions trilogy!
When the Spellplague ravages Faerûn, Drizzt and his companions are caught in the chaos. Seeking out the help of the priest Cadderly–the hero of the recently reissued series The Cleric Quintet–Drizzt finds himself facing his most powerful and elusive foe, the twisted Crenshinibon, the demonic crystal shard he believed had been destroyed years ago.
From the Hardcover edition.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 82
 Disappointed September 7, 2010
Tird Ferguson
I recently finished The Ghost King and I feel let down as a fan of this great series and these great heroes. I have followed the companions of the hall through every book, and have enjoyed thier exploits good/bad/and ugly across every page.
*** spoiler ***
For Salvatore to bring an end to the companions by killing Catti-Brie and Regis the way he did is horrible and unfitting. I am not a sap who feels heroes should make it through every fracas no matter how steep the odds. When Wulfgar sacrificed himself against the Yolchol it was a fitting heroic demise and would have been a fine end for the character if Salvatore had wished so. The same can be said for Bruenor's apparent demise against Shimmergloom. For Cattie-Brie to be assaulted by a random event that plagues her throughout the book until she dies is poor writing at best and poor loyalty to characters Salvatore has worked hard to create. For Regis to simply die of the same thing only after trying to help C.B. is inexcusable.
At least Cadderly sacrificed himself to save his friends and family, though him becoming "the ghost king" makes no sense at all.Cadderly recieved an end deserving(at least somewhat)of a character we have followed through multiple books and come to love. Why does Salvator write better apparent deaths for charcters than actual ones. Ivan Bouldershoulder got a great death scene in this book, one that was heroic and sad altogether, only to be resurrected in 2 chapters.
Iunderstand that in the overall plotline C.B. had to die soon. Drizzt would out live her by many years. It would make for a poor story to simply keep her around as an elderly woman married to a young Drizzt to eventually die of old age. As bad as that would be, it is preferrable to her end in this story. For Regis to be simply thrown in as victim to the same thing is poor story telling as well. One of the few good passages in this book is Drizzt's soliloquy on being a hero. For Salvatore to possess such insight it is puzzling how can he discard 2 of his beloved characters.
The further development of Jarlaxle was one of the few engaging parts of the book. He has become my favorite character in the series and I can only hope he has a magic item that saves him from bad writing and an impotent death scene. It would be nice to see another sell-swords trilogy and find out what has happened to Entreri.
The interaction between Pwent and Athrogate was amusing as well.
As a whole the book seemed as if everyone was simply traveling the whole book to reach the big battle at the end with little discovery along the way. In the end I think the characters are all still unsure of where they have been and what has happened (I know the reader is) other than losing some of thier closest frinds and family randomly.
I know if you are a fan of the series as I am you will read this book. I hope only to prepare you for the dissapointment and anger you will feel when you finish.
 BOOOOOOO! September 6, 2010
Aaron Marlow (CLARKSVILLE, TN, US)
What the heck was this book about? Why did two important characters get killed off in such an unceremoniously way. Out of nowhere Regis gets sucked into where Catti-brie is and we never read about him again until the final pages. Wasn't he supposed to be alive to take part in the opening of the pirate king but now he is dead all of a sudden! Couldn't they have both gone out fighting and had a warriors death? How and why is Cadderly now the ghost king? There are so many unanswered questions that I had after reading this book. Why did Ivan have his axe one minute then all he had was two rocks, then he had his axe again? This shows how the book was rushed and put together with out much thought at all. As loyal fans to this great series we feel let down with the past two books. Get rid of the hippie peace loving Drizzt and bring back the warrior he used to be! If it keeps going this way, in the next book he will have traded in his swords for a bong and a dime bag! For the sake of your fans, fix this series Salvatore!
 good read September 6, 2010
Keith Ritchings (mi usa)
was a good read and good story but it seemed r.a. salvadore put to much into fight scene discriptions. while i know this is one of his strong points i feel it was a little over done in this book. while not one of his best works still a good story and worth the read if you enjoy the drizzt stories.
 Transitions Trilogy September 5, 2010
Madness
This entire series is gripping and exciting, R.A. always knows how to keep a reader interested. Never have I read a book of Salvatore's and wanted to put it down. Excellent read!!
It's Anti-Drama (Spoiler-ish Review) August 17, 2010
Poisoned Blade (California)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I've enjoyed all of the Drizzt Books, except for this one.
It had the potential to be the GREATEST DRIZZT BOOK EVER, but every single story arc is anti-climactic.
As a result, the book flops like a knucklehead trout out of water.
Note: There are some clearly marked SPOILERS at the end of this review.
Story:
This book is like a finale / tribute of RA Salvatore's Forgotten Realms books. It takes parts of almost all of his previous books and weaves them together to create an epic quest for the ages. Three of Drizzt's toughest villains become one. Crenshinibon the Crystal Shard, Hephaestus the Red Dragon who destroyed it, and Yharaskrik the Mind Flayer, all become merged as a Dracolich! So, you basically have a Psionic Mind-Reading Dracolich with Godlike Powers with seven liches and an army of dark creatures and undead at their command! Meanwhile, Cattie-brie and Regis are struck by errant magic and end up in nightmare comas. Drizzt and company must team up with Jarlaxle and head to Spirit Soaring to get help from Cadderly, Danica, and the Bouldershoulders.
Ok, so you've got the Greatest Villains in the Universe vs. The Greatest Heroes (and Jarlaxle) in the Universe minus Wulfgar.
Wulfgar isn't mentioned in the book, so I assume he's busy uniting the barbarian clans, drinking ale, and hunting.
This story is an RA Salvatore Fan's Dream!
Characters:
They're all here except for Wulfgar.
Drizzt, Jarlaxle, Cadderly, Danica, their children, Buenor, the Bouldershoulders, Cattie-brie, Regis, Pwent...
And they're all written in RA Salvatore fashion.
Action:
There's magic, undead, sword battles, dragon fights, undead battles, monsters, etc... Drizzt slashes, Jarlaxle uses magic weapons, Cadderly casts spells, Buenor swings his axe, Pwent does what Pwent normally does, Danica flips and kicks... About half of the book is loaded with Forgotten Realms action!
Writing Style:
The language is descriptive and the chapters are short. This book is a page turner.
Maturity:
Like all books in the series, it's good for teens. There's fantasy violence and a "they made love."
What Went Wrong?
This book has a great setup, but all of the story arcs end in some kind of far fetched anti-climactic way. When it appears that characters have died, they actually survived. When all hope is lost, someone casts an unknown crazy save the day spell doing 10000 damage to all enemies and healing all heroes. When you see things like this over and over, you become disconnected from the action and the drama. You start to think, "The author is cheating. The rules of magic are broken. The laws of physics are broken. The powers of characters are broken..." So, although grand things are happening, you've lost interest.
Overall:
This book has a great set-up and it has the potential to be a great book, but the characters are miraculously saved too many times. As a reader, you start saying, "No way! That's impossible!" At that point, all sense of drama is gone. Read it if you've read all of the other Drizzt Novels and want to see what happens next. I cannot recommend this book to anyone else.
* * * * *
SPOILERS - Here's what I'm talking about:
* * * * *
Danica is in a huge battle and she gets flung off of a 1000 foot cliff. A full chapter later, it is explained that she survived the 1000 foot drop by punching the cliff face as she was falling, defying all laws of physics. She hits some branches below that slow her down a bit and gets injured when she hits the ground. There are many believable ways that Danica could have survived this fall. Punching a cliff is not one of them.
A minor character was touched by the dracolich and her arm was withered. We're talking, a stick of beef jerky with an elbow in the middle. But Thippledorf Pwent and Drizzt can touch it, no problem. Characters repeatedly survive things that should have killed them.
Cadderly can suddenly use Godlike Spells for no reason. When asked, "Gosh, how did you do that?" Nobody knows.
The entire story is about Drizzt defending Cattie-Brie's helpless form as they get help. She is having nightmares through the entire book. In the end, she and Regis are picked up by a goddess and live in a paradise plane. They are supposedly dead, but RA Salvatore resurrects so many other characters in the main part of the story, it is hard to believe that he won't just bring them back to life. Also, having main characters that have appeared in 20 books, basically die in their sleep is terrible. Have them die in battle. Have them die heroically. Have their deaths be meaningful. Have their deaths be a warning for other characters. Have Cattie-Brie die of old age to show the pain and sorry of an elvin life span. But never kill them off in a way that seems totally random and then put them in a confusing plane of existence. It makes their lives seem cheap and meaningless and it makes their deaths seem like a ploy to sell more books.
To me, this book felt like a complete waste of characters, villains, and potential.
Sadly, I think I'm done with Drizzt.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 82
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