The Two Swords by R A Salvatore

Review – The Two Swords, by R A Salvatore

The Two Swords is a pretty fun story set in the Forgotten Realms. Once again, Drizzt D'OUrden and his friends come to the rescue. This is the third book in the Hunters' Blades trilogy. As the final book of a trilogy, some amount of closure is to be expected.

The world-changing events of the first two books in the trilogy really don't get resolved here. At the end of the day, there's still an enemy growing in strength. The next series of books is neatly set up. However, there are some small ways in which the trilogy resolves itself. All of the members of the main group are reunited at the end, and some degree of personal growth is achieved by each of them.

This is ultimately a book about kicking butt, though, and RA Salvatore doesn't disappoint in this regard. Plenty of cool battles are fought. Most of them involve characters other than the main group of protagonists, which is nice. After all, one or two battles involving DDO is about all I can stand in a 340 page book.

DDO's 'introspection' introductions to each chapter are nice, as well. Most people dismiss these as puff-psychology, which they are, but they're more, as well. It's important to get a feel for the protagonist as something other than an orc-slaughtering machine, and these introductions help in that regard.

I enjoyed reading this book. I'll probably re-read it in five years or so, long after the details have been forgotten. However, it really is a lightweight read. It probably took me 4-6 hours to complete. RA Salvatore isn't long-winded, and his text isn't hard to get through. There's not a lot of subtlety to his writing. I say this as a positive fact, though-- not every book needs to be a George RR Martin festival of characters and details.

Check it out!