Promise of the Witch King

The Sellswords #2

by R.A. Salvatore

The book was hidden well.

Its pages promised the power of the Witch-King himself.

And now that it’s been found, even the fact that it kills anyone foolish enough to crack its cover won’t stop people from fighting over it.

Welcome to the Bloodstone Lands!

Human assassin Artemis Entreri and his dark elf companion Jarlaxle have come to the demon-haunted wastelands of the frozen north at the request of their dragon patron. It doesn’t take long for them to find themselves caught in the middle of a struggle between powerful forces that would like nothing more than to see them both dead...or worse.

But Entreri and Jarlaxle aren’t just any wandering sellswords, and the ancient evils and bitter blood-feuds of the wild Bloodstone Lands may have finally met their match.

©2005 Wizards of the Coast, Inc. (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Genres: Fantasy, Forgotten Realms, Fiction, Dungeons and Dragons, High Fantasy, Audiobook, Epic Fantasy

Audible Audio

First published January 1, 2005

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

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

R.A. Salvatore finally returns to form after about forty books of repetitive nonsense. Adventure, romance, and fight scenes that literally have you hanging on to every word. This book is fanservice to the highest degree, and one should love it. The removal of the ever fickle Drizzt as protagonist in favor of the heartless Artemis makes for one hell of a read.

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

According to Goodreads, this is the 34th book I've read from R.A. Salvatore and I'm sorry to say that this is the first time I've ever given him a rating below 3 stars.

My hopes were high....

Heroes of the book were Jarlaxle and Artemis Entreri so how could we go wrong?

So the setup is that we have our two bad guys/good guys and they're going adventuring and they hook up with some mercenaries and some military and they have to defeat a magical device left behind by a defeated lich. Sounds exciting right?

Not so much.

My first problem is that Entreri is treated like a 2nd class character. He's a bad ass of the first degree and Salvatore treats him like an afterthought. Bad move.

Jarlaxle gets top billing but we don't ever really get to find out what's in his head. It's like someone told you a story about somebody who knew somebody who did something - you never really know the character or his motives etc. It was kind of like reading a history textbook about an adventurer instead of reading a novel about an adventurer.

Of course I'll keep reading Salvatore - why would I not?
I'll chalk this up to a momentary downturn of a great career and just look forward to the next book of his on the TBR shelf.

[Fantasy boy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is must be the most painful review I would write. Since read the very excellent start of the Sellswords trilogy, Servant of the Shard I was long to continue the trilogy. But Unfortunately, this was a disaster for me to finish Promise of the Witch King.

After SotS Artemis Entreri and Jarlaxle left Calimport, they were hired by the dragon sisters; this time, The quest is about destroying the witch king, in the prolog, Artemis Entreri and Jarlaxle thought they've destroyed the witch king, but no, the tower, is a duplication of the real artifact. After they ventured to the Bloodstone Lands, they will face the real master of the tower who was haunting the wasteland for years...

The plot is not innovate as Servant of the Shard, it follows the same formulas, I can see many similar motifs in the previous book of the Sellsword, the plot twists are not essential to the story’s progressions. I had too many follow-up questions about why the story would be like this? It seems unnatural for me following the story. It's languishing too care the characters developments; there are new casts of characters in this book, however this doesn't give me the credit of wanting more about their background stories, more like playing minor roles than supporting the story's frame.
Especially, one thing hurt me more which is the characters I LOVE so much, Artemis Entreri was being treated as a side kick character.... Moreover this book completely ruins Artemis Entreri....

Artemis Entreri is a determined, self-disciple, cruel and efficient at his jobs as an assassin, after he was defeated by Drizzt Do'Urden three times, he began thinking what is the life for him? what is the purpose of living in the world where always has machinations and benefits to oneself. Since he started thinking the question, he has been looking for the new life of himself. In Servant of the Shard, he swerved his journey from pursing his nemesis, cooperation the most canny opportunist, Jarlaxle , fleed from Calimport and began his new journey with Jarlaxle. This story is in tSotS, and it's done excellently well! but in this book, characters development, self-motivation etc are built that being crumble. Promise of the Witch King does something extremely unpleasant to me. First, R.A Salvatore wants to develop Entreri's characters, to interact with other people around him, he use the magic lute which was given by the dragon patrons. And the worse things happen... I was reading very ridiculous dialogues by Entreri, yes the magic tools are convenient to cause the change of person's personalities, however for me, it is an abuse to use to change Entreri's personalities. If we want to see the changing from Entreri, it shouldn't force the changing by using some magic tools, it's too lax to alter a character. Secondly, the plot that is set to make Entreri thinking about other people is quite sumptuous, the tone of his voice shifts to a teenager's tone... I hardly bear to read the changing. It's not like the letter that Entreri has gave to the halfling in which includes not only the messages also the intention, the introspection, the subtle empathy that Entreri barely has toward to others in the letter. It is a masterpiece! one of the best moment I've read in fantasy books! Even I am a reader who doesn't want any changing from Entreri, because for me, he is perfection without any character development in sequences of forgotten realms. In Promise of the Witch King, I just saw immature relationships, cheesy sex, yes the ending of the cheesy sex totally broke my heart. I strongly disapprove Entreri has any sex with other characters; but if it must have to, please don't write the cheesy plot to show that Entreri is different, please treat Entreri better! Entreri is one of the characters who has been accompanying me through my childhood and my adulthood.

After all, we all have our favorite characters in fictions. When we see our favorite characters was tarnished by authors, we would be depress. I was in depress mood for a few days, and couldn't have read any books at all.

[P. Aaron Potter · Rating 5 out of 5]

As time has worn on, it's become more and more ovious that R. A. Salvatore is dead tired of his cash cow, Drizzt Do'Urden. That's partially the inevitable result of twenty or thirty years stuck writing the same damned guy, but it's also got to be that, as a much more mature writer than when he started, Salvatore is painfully aware of the limitations and problems with his Drow savant: the dude is a Mary-Sue of the first water, a ridiculous over-achiever who still whines constantly about not being accepted, even though he is very clearly accepted every bloody where he goes.

The other factor is that Salvatore has developed some much more interesting characters on the fringes of his primary bread-and-butter, and chief of those is the positively brilliant Artemis Entreri. Where Drizzt's conflicts are all external (and thus both obviously avoidable and, these post-spellplague days, moot), Entreri's are all internal. Nobody can really stand up to Entreri, but that's not even because Entreri is the best swordfighter on the block: it's because he's a complete paranoid, training, choosing his ground, setting traps all the time. This is a guy who would check the hotel soap for hidden contact poison, and suspect every field of flowers of concealing a lurking horror. He wins because he's severely damaged, and can take no joy in it.

That makes for an awesome setup, and only in these more recent novels is Salvatore being given the opportunity to really let this much more interesting character shine. In between killing off pretty much everyone in the 4E Forgotten Realms, we get nice gems like this. Here's hoping Entreri makes a comeback for fifth edition.

[Greg Strandberg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Big let down from the previous book, Servant of the Shard, which was written several years before this.

Hey, the idea is great - you've got Jarlaxle and Artemis going out on their own to some village. What I liked were some of the battle and the feel of a good D&D adventure.

What I didn't like was the overall story for these two books. I felt Salvatore could have done better, and honestly I got the impression he just kind of wanted to get these done to fulfill some contractual obligations or something.

Still, if you're a fan (which I'm a big one) I don't know how you can pass these up forever.

[Charlton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exciting from page one. There is some intrigue, somebody trying to get the better of someone else. And new characters abound. I thought the book was great, liked the new setting and new characters, ready for the third!

[Nicolae-Gheorghe Cojocaru · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liked it throughout, even though 2/3 of the book seem like a slog through the same repetitive castle rooms motions. Interesting new characters and guilds, new allies and new enemies alike. Entreri seems a bit off, or it might just be the setup of a Jarlaxle long-con as always. The assassin seems o be aimless and still follow blindly his partner, out of a sense of camaraderie he never had ? Sure, an (spoiler) artifact should alleviate some of my concerns, but it seems more like swept under the rug excuse rather than character development. It's even more emphasized in the last chapter where the drow claims to be a muse to the aimless Entreri, like a bad joke spelled out to the reader... Nevertheless less fun than some other titles is fun still, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Looking forward to the culmination in the third book.

[Erlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

6,5/10 Novel·la de fantasia clàssica plena d’acció, amb els carismàtics antierois, Jarlaxle (l'enigmàtic i astut drow) i Entreri (letal i conflictiu), que roben tota l’atenció. La trama és simple i monòtona però l'estil de R.A. Salvatore és
addictiu, amb combats èpics, intrigues i un toc d’humor negre. Aventura ràpida, personatges carismàtics i un món fantàstic ben consolidat.

[Dani (The Pluviophile Writer) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has a lot of battles and fighting, which if you're a big fan of reading Salvatore's battle scenes, is a major plus.

2/5 stars.
Hardcover, 244 pages.
Read from May 9, 2019 to May 15, 2019.

Review at The Pluviophile Writer: https://bit.ly/2Jlz7mW

This is the second book in The Sellswords' Trilogy featuring the adventures of Artemis Entreri and Jarlaxle as they search for artefacts from the notorious and terrible Witch-King Zhengyi, seemingly under the request of their alluring dragon patrons. New characters are introduced and new partnerships (friendships?) are made within a new and dark landscape. All the while the pair work to meet their own gains, usually from one of Jarlaxle's elaborate schemes, that he doesn't fully reveal to Artemis until the end.

I am heavily disappointed in this trilogy so far. The characters of Artemis and Jarlaxle seem much more developed and intriguing within the stories of Drizzt than in this trilogy of their own adventures. Jarlaxle and Artemis are the supposed bad guys and their characters are meant to be a refreshing change from the goodness of Drizzt. Somehow the adventures of these two should have lent itself to a more enticing story but instead, it's falling flat. The formula for this book is that same as the first book in the trilogy, in which the two of them partake in some crazy scheme that Jarlaxle has come up with, that puts them, and others in great peril, for their own gains. Well, mostly Jarlaxle's actually. Artemis starts to explore his own motives within this most book, making for the most interesting part of the story that's isn't touched on enough. Despite all that, it's obvious that Artemis and Jarlaxle have a friendship or at least an amicable partnership, that they're reluctant to part from and have some sense of messed up loyalty to each other that works with their morals and life choices.

This book has a lot of battles and fighting, which if you're a big fan of reading Salvatore's battle scenes, is a major plus. However, if you've fallen in love with Salvatore's books for his character work, this book, or trilogy may not be for you. I will continue with the last book in this trilogy and hope that the final instalment turns the trilogy around for me.

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[MJFox11 · Rating 4 out of 5]

"La voie la plus facile pour obtenir le contrôle est de marcher aux côtés de ceux qui dirigent."

"Il existe deux sortes de rêveurs, mon ami. Ceux qui rêvent la nuit, et ceux qui rêvent le jour. Ces rêveurs nocturnes ne m'inquiètent pas plus que cela. Car les rêves nocturnes nous libèrent, dit-on. Ils nous purgent de nos tourments ou nous font voler à l'infini. Ceux qui songent la nuit seulement sont condamnés à la médiocrité, n'est-ce pas? Les rêveurs nocturnes ne m'intéressent guère, parce qu'ils n'ont nulle part où s'élever. Mais ceux qui rêvent en plein jour… […] Seuls les rêveurs en plein jour sont réellement vivants. Car eux seuls trouvent une perspective, dans l'existence, et cherchent un moyen de s'élever au-dessus de la simple survie."

"Ils ne comprenaient pas que la puissance du Roi-Sorcier venait de l'intérieur, et non de l'extérieur, et que ses reliques, l' "essence de la magie éparpillée", les "morceaux de Zhengyi largement répandus", évoqués dans les chansons de ces bardes stupides et naïfs, les dépasseraient, à travers l'acte de création, et les dépouilleraient même quand ils tenteraient de tirer parti de l'éparpillement de Zhengyi."

Les aventures de Jarlaxle et Entreri se poursuivent. Jarlaxle a soif de pouvoir et manipule toujours aussi bien son entourage. Entreri découvre une nouvelle facette de lui-même tout en combattant intelligemment ses ennemis. Le duo infernal, qui oscille entre haine et amour, continue leurs aventures ensemble malgré tout. Ce duo est le meilleur de la saga des Royaumes Oubliés.
Leurs autres compagnons d'aventures pour ce tome étaient sympas et formaient un bon groupe, même si les complots régnaient. L'ennemi était d'un nouveau genre, plus mort que vivant, et fut à la hauteur des aventures de notre duo.

Un début un peu lent dû au nouvel environnement et a moins de complots que dans le premier tome. Mais un combat ultime digne de nos deux protagonistes! Une fin toujours étonnante avec notre très cher Jarlaxle! Hâte de savoir où va nous mener le dernier tome, toujours sous les manipulations de Jarlaxle!

[Dale Pearl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally! Finally R.A. Salvatore delivers. Many of his recent works have been junkers but this one is right up there as one of the better Forgotten Realms novels. This leaves me wondering why Salvatore can no longer deliver on his Drizzt novels when this story holds everything that I hope to find when I read the books on the kind hearted Drow.

The Promise of the Witch King has action and adventure on every single page. Not only that but Salvatore manages in this novel to keep mystery and unravels it in unpredictable ways.
I still don't see the real reasons why they left Calimport but perhaps that is still a tale to tell. I am hoping that he has many more books to write with Jarlaxle as the main character. Enteri is facinating on his own accord, however, he is already 40 so it is going to be hard pushed making to many more novels with an aging Enteri.

A must read for the Forgotten Realms fan.

[J. Griff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've listened to this trilogy more than any other in the Legend of Drizzt saga. I enjoy the banter & "friendship" of Jarlaxle & Artemis Entreri. You see a bit of it in the previous book Servant of the Shard that Artemis begins to show more depth becoming a more relatable character than earlier in the book series. You really don't get much incite into Jarlaxle as a character making him a bit frustrating to read.
I've found the other supporting characters (Maribrone the Rover, Commander Ellery & Pratcus) in this book fascinating & would enjoy learning more about them. While the first part of the book is introducing readers into the Bloodstone Lands & the major powers within the lands, but the last half of the book reads like a D&D adventure when they get into the castle.

[vhatos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Наступна прочитана мною книга з серії "Забуті королівства", яка відрізняється від попередніх, оскільки протагоністами виступають негативні персонажі циклу дроу Джарлакс та найманий убивця Артеміс Ентрері. У цьому романі вони відіграють загалом позитивну роль, хоча й проявляють притаманні їм підступність та жорстокість. Разом з іншими героями, гномами, напіворками і тп, Джарлакс та Ентрері рушають у небезпечні мандри та, зрештою, знищують могутнє породження зла, не забуваючи про власні інтереси. Багато поєдинків та магії.

[Kati · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book felt like a video game: get in, battle zombies and gargoyles and traps, kill the monster, get the price. It felt really... small. I didn't see much of a difference between Jarlaxle and Entreri fighting the lich at the beginning and them and company fighting the dracolich in the castle. It was more of the same, just... more. Also, I really didn't like Entreri's sudden interest in anything with breasts. It felt really OOC for him.

[Paulo "paper books only" · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy this novel as much as other from Drizzt although I enjoy reading about Entreri & Jarlaxe. The main problem was the plot itself. It bounced from one place to another but never really nothing happening. First of all there are too many characters that you won't really have time to invest because you know something is going to happen with them which was way more interesting that Drizzt. I know, I contradict myself but bear with me. Salvatore is a master creating characters but some of these we know they are just fodder for our companions and they aren't that well flesh out maybe because he intended to kill them off? Per example there is a dwarf assassin, which in theory sounds cool but why is he the best on the north? Well we never get that feeling because we were told and that's it. The best tracker is also there , again, because we are told not because we are shown.

Another thing I didn't enjoy is the repetitive in the castle attack. Uhh baddies, kill kill , okay let's g that way and rinse and repeat. The ending is fine and we expected as such. It was also cool to see some developement on both main villains (Entrari & Jarlaxe) and they are villains. Although they are the main characters, they are evil. Do not mistake or confuse with chaotic heroes. No. These guys will do evil stuff to further their gains. No respect. No humanity (drow-ity?) from them. Pretty good.

Overall, I will be reading the last one on this interconnected trilogy and then go to the War of Spider Queen. Maybe a project for 2024? 6/10

[Hanna (lapetiteboleyn) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm so predictable. It's an entire novel about Jarlaxle- of course I loved it. The banter is on point, Salvatore writes action scenes as well as always, and although I wasn't necessarily convinced by the plot it did keep me entertained.

[Aja: The Narcoleptic Ninja · Rating 4 out of 5]

I dragged a little bit with this one, but I did really enjoy it and I'm hoping I get to see more of Artemis.

[Joe Xtarr]

DNF @ 40%

Started lame and got cringey real fast.

[Richard · Rating 2 out of 5]

Artemis and Jarlaxle are back in Promise of the Witch King. This book begins with a lot of promise. This pairing draws a strong parallel with other fantasy staples such as Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser. Unfortunately Promise of the Witch King fails to deliver the goods.

The book's protagonists find themselves adventuring for fortune and glory in the FR lands of Vaasa and Damara (aka "The Bloodstone Lands"). The pair come across the mysterious Dragon Sisters who engage Artemis and Jarlaxle into searching for long lost artifacts of the Witch King Zhengyi. This results in a trip to the village of Palishchuk and then on to the Castle Perilous where an artifact is in the process of getting out of control. This is the weakest part of the book. Artemis and Jarlaxle are far too one dimensional. Through the greater portion of the book Artemis sulks while Jarlaxle prods him. This one note routine falls flat most of the time and begins to grate towards the end of the book. Rarely does the reader see any reason for the two to be together and the characters seem to wonder as well.

The book picks up in the final third when more supporting characters arrive and the real action begins. We finally get some back story on the guarded Artemis and this, to me, points to the primary flaw in the book. To care about such an evil pair we really need to understand more about why they are the way they are. A few more chapters about how Artemis became such an accomplished swordsman and why or what led Jarlaxle to the mercenary band Bregan D'aerthe is sadly missing. Something to show a common bond between these two. Or mutual respect.

I've read other reviews that would rate this book higher. I struggled between and 2 and a 3. Ultimately I give it two stars for lost potential.

[Eric Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

There isn't really much that can be said about this book. The plot is well done and the writing is tight and fast as with most of Salvatore's work my biggest complaint is with the characters. These two protagonists, whose names I will avoid typing for fear of mangleing them, worked much better as antoginists in the Drizzt books. I throughly enjoyed the moral ambiguity and sometimes downright evil of their characters before but as they take over the reins in their own series and stumble into a grey area of decision making I find myself asking the same questions as the characters. How has it come to this? Why has it come to this? Its not the plot or the writing or even the brillance of these dark and deep creations it is more the fact that the purpose of the telling of this story seems lost on me.

Or maybe I just perfer Drizzt and Cadderly too much to see the villians take the stage for awhile.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is without a doubt the weakest of the Salvatore novels I have read so far. Some lists have this book as one of the Drizzt books. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO READ THESE BOOKS TO FOLLOW THE DRIZZT SAGA. The Sellswords series is a spin-off of Drizzt featuring two of his villains having evolved into anti-heroes of a kind. Drizzt and friends do not appear. Unless you are a completest, I would skip these if you haven't already bought them. They did things in kind of a sneaky way to ensnare readers by making Servant of the Shard BOTH book 3 of the Paths of Darkness tetralogy and book 1 of The Sellswords trilogy, so that you are led into reading this series as well.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Any RPG lover will enjoy the writings of R.A. Salvatore.
This book take you through an adventure with a dark elf and an assassin. Along the way they meet and join with others for one common goal, and a few goals of each owns!!

[Michael Ware · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jaraxle and Artemis rock

[German Chaparro · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's nice to see a Dungeons and Dragons book that actually features dungeons and dragons. And Jarlaxle and Entreri. Also, it was nice to not have to skip over Drizzt's usual editorials.

[Lora Shouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Promise of the Witch-King is the second book in the Forgotten Realms: The Sellswords sub-series of R.A. Salvatore’s Legend of Drizzt series. Like the immediately preceding book, Servant of the Shard it happens without any interference from Drizzt himself. This one doesn’t even include Drizzt’s usual philosophical commentary at the beginning or between sections. I’m not sure whether I’m sorry that Drizzt doesn’t show up in this one or not. The book is pretty good without him. But I bet Drizzt, and his companions, are off somewhere on the other side of Faerun wondering how to act without any interference from Jarlaxle and Artemis Entreri.

Who I do miss in this book is the evil little crystal shard, Crenshininbon. Artemis and Jarlaxle destroyed the sentient shard with help from the priest, Cadderly and his family and friends, and a dragon in the previous book.

Now, the mercenary Dark Elf and the assassin are working for a pair of dragon sisters. They are out collecting treasure for the sisters to add to their hordes. And they like magical artifacts as much as gold and jewels. So, they have Artemis and Jarlaxle hunting for items left by the powerful wizard Zhengyi, who was blown to bits years earlier.

And what’s the first thing the pair encounter? An enchanted castle created by a magical spellbook stuffed absolutely full of weapons, traps, enchanted warriors, and other magical defenses. With all the magic the pair of them possess, they barely manage to survive the thing. Destroying it and the creature (they call it a lich; a lich appears to be a super powerful wizard who wants to be in control of everything and is practically unkillable) that powers it appears to be almost an accident. Jarlaxle is happy because he finds a magical skull gem (that he doesn’t give to the dragon sisters), but Artemis is angry because the magic-eating glove that goes with his magical sword, Charon’s Claw, is lost in the fight.

The dragons are so pleased that they send the two soldiers of fortune out to find more of Zhengyi’s artifacts.

The two have hardly begun to explore the Bloodstone Lands where they wind up looking for these artifacts before they get tangled up with another castle-creating spellbook, this one even more vicious than the last one. They need the help of a larger company to sort out this one, so it’s a good thing they are in the middle of a company going to do just that.

For those who like fight scenes, or who like a book that could be a game of Dungeons and Dragons, you will love this book. Artemis and Jarlaxle aren’t troubled greatly by consciences, so they don’t hold back much in their fighting. Surprisingly, neither do most of the other members of the band they are fighting with. We find out some pretty amazing things about some of their fellow fighters before the spellbook and the lich behind this second castle are vanquished.

My favorite characters are the half-orc sorceress Arayan (?) and her half-orc friend, Olgercon (?). Arayan first brings the castle to life when she starts to read the spellbook after her uncle brings it to her, and it feeds off her life energy, rendering her virtually useless for most of the book. The uncle binds Olgercon to her to strengthen her, making him promise to kill her before the book overpowers her completely, but mostly Olgercon is drained and pretty useless most of the time too. So we don’t get to see enough of them. Several other members of the party convinced that Arayan is the power source behind the castle are all for killing her right away. But Arayan and Olgercon are almost the only nice people in the party. Some of the others make Artemis and Jarlaxle look like good guys in comparison.

Victor Bevine did the narration for this book, but he almost didn’t sound like Victor Bevine. I presume this was because I have come to associate his narration with Drizzt’s character. Most of the characters he is voicing in this book tend to have more growly voices, so it didn’t sound the same.

[Cesare Bartolini · Rating 2 out of 5]

Plainly put, this book is not one of those by Salvatore that really, really suck, such as The Legacy and Sea of Swords. I must acknowledge that on a couple occasions it does a credible attempt at fitting in the above list, but in the end it turns out not to be that bad after all. Conversely, I would neither call it good. It's just ok, I could have spent my time doing worse things, but to fantasy enthusiasts I would recommend to move over.

Most important thing first: there is a lot of shrugging in this book. It appears that shrugging is the most frequent activity in the Bloodstone Lands, especially but not exclusively by Jarlaxle. The word is repeated a total of 47 times in the book, which is more than double the number of chapters (just short of double if you include the prelude and epilogue). I have never read a book where there is so much shrugging as this one.

The story has three main flaws. The first flaw is that, similarly to other books by Salvatore (generally the most lousy ones), it reminds me a great deal of the transcript of a (A)D&D adventure that has actually been played, with Salvatore present. There is too much fighting involved, and there are too many situations which are typical of a classic dungeon crawl (with a couple NPCs). I might be wrong about this, but if this is not the transcript from an actual adventure, then it must be that Salvatore was so engrossed in playing (A)D&D that he couldn't get off that mindset.

The second flaw is that the author apparently didn't want to part with some of his old work, and so he set this book in the Bloodstone Lands. Which is so incongrous for Artemis and Jarlaxle, that the only real connection is that Salvatore wrote the Forgotten Realms accessory "The Bloodstone Lands" almost twenty years before this book.

The third flaw is that Salvatore is good at describing fights, but after one has read at least three books by him, every time a fight starts the reader simply wishes it to be done soon, and painfully plods through the description. Every time there is a little bit of fighting, every move, countermove, turn, feint, change of momentum (yeah, there's plenty of those, not quite as many as the shrugs though) is described in painstaking detail. Even not considering that one might have read a lot of similar books before, more than two such fights in a single book is way too many. And there are far more than two in every single book.

From the point of view of the characters, they are very weak. There is a dwarf that is quite the copy of Bruenor, except that he sometimes speaks in rhyme. There is the evil and untrustworthy wizard. The great hero of the land, who dies tragically, fighting alone. This book is a fair of stereotypes.

Also, the author is starting to work some change into Artemis. I don't know if I like the way he is changing him. So far, Artemis was a wonderful character because he was so similar to his good counterpart, and yet so different, lacking all the virtues of Drizzt who make the drow an extremely boring character. Artemis starts to appear more humane, and while I don't know how this will turn out yet, I sincerely hope he doesn't get sort of goody-goody, which would ruin him completely.

A pleasant turn of events from previous books, however, is the lack of a happy ending for everybody that marked Salvatore out as his own namesake. Some of the main characters who are introduced in this book die, and badly at that. While this should not be a surprise in a fantasy novel, in previous books the good guys always turned out completely unscathed, with the loss only of a few irrelevantly secondary characters. It's good to see that Salvatore, for once, got out of the fairy tale.

The dungeon crawl part was unduly long and boring, and is what really was about to earn a single star to this book, but fortunately in tha last part the story gets back on a more pleasant track. so in the end I enjoyed it a bit.

[Conor · Rating 4 out of 5]

**SLIGHT SPOILERS**

Promise of the Witch King is very much a return to form for R.A. Salvatore. After Servant of the Shard, this sequel delivers the kind of sharp action and fan service that many longtime readers crave, including myself. Taking a step back from Drizzt, Salvatore explores the dynamic of Artemis Entreri and the drow Jarlaxe which gives the story a darker edge, while still retaining Salvatore’s combat writing. At its best, the book captures the thrill of a tabletop dungeon crawl, with Entreri and Jarlaxle cutting their way through traps, undead, and political intrigue in a new corner of the Forgotten Realms.

That said, the novel is not without its flaws. Much of the second act feels like a video game dungeon, with room after room of repetitive battles. Entreri’s sudden bursts of romance feel out of character, while his broader development is uneven. At times his arc is dismissed with an artifact or brushed off in Jarlaxle’s shadow. The ending, with its deus ex machina resolution, undercuts the mounting tension of the castle’s oppressive evil. Even so, the ride there is rarely dull.

Ultimately, Promise of the Witch King stands as a messy but engaging sophomore chapter of the Sellswords Trilogy. It introduces a slew of new characters, guilds, and even undead dragons treated more as political schemers than beasts of legend, which expands the stage for future conflicts. For readers invested in Artemis and Jarlaxle, this book is worth the trip: flawed, sometimes repetitive, but undeniably fun. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing where Road of the Patriarch goes in the next novel.

[Austin Murders · Rating 4 out of 5]

Getting to read from the perspectives of Jarlaxle or Entreri is always such a fun switch up from Salvatore, whether it’s an interlude in another book or a whole book like this. Jarlaxle is a bit of a Mary Sue with him always knowing more than other characters and always having a magical item that seems to be exactly what he needs in the moment, but he’s just so damn charming that I don’t care. He’s the perfect foil to Entreri, and drags such a great character into situations he would normally never naturally find himself in.
In regards to Entreri, his character development in this book is so exciting and necessary. He’s still the indomitable (at times insufferable) badass he’s always been, but just like the grinch, his heart is starting to grow a few sizes. It is a little annoying that him getting in touch with his feelings is caused by a magical flute rather than a natural growth, but his interactions with other characters is such a welcome change that I’m not too upset by it.
I actually love most of the new characters that we’re introduced to in this book, especially seeing their perceptions of our main characters. Them being heroes in their own right and consistently being outdone or impressed by Jarlaxle and Entreri really contextualizes how special they really are. Such a fun journey of a book (I mean, there’s an undead dragon c’mon) and I can’t wait to read the next one!

[Calensûl · Rating 1 out of 5]

Skimming through 80% of a book is a very disgusting experience. It leaves your brain dizzy.

Ok, this was outrageously boring. Entreri and Jarlaxle get a treasure, and their employers send them to find a similar treasure. They meet a bunch of boring people about whom we don't care in the slightest, the fight a bunch of boring fights that mean absolutely nothing, and they retrieve the treasure. The end.

Seriously, the amount of fights was absolutely ludicrous. This book is almost a direct transcription of a D&D campaign. Yes, I know this is Forgotten Realms, but even Servant of the Shard was more interesting, not to speak of the earlier Drizzt books.

The most character development we get is at the end, in which Artemis saves a girl and gets laid with another, all thanks to Jarlaxle's magical flute, which cheapens said development. Jarlaxle is great as ever, although his act gets a bit old. I honestly think his and Artemis's chemistry could have been developed a lot more, and I truly enjoyed their conversation on top of the wall, at the beginning.

The only other bit I genuinly enjoyed was the beginning of the fucking epilogue, in which Kimmuriel makes a cameo, and I was all "Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, Kimmyyyyyy!!!"

In short, don't bother with this one. I will read Road of the Patriarch because of the Entreri backstory, but damn.

Thanks for reading!

[Kevin Seiler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Where Servant of the Shard felt very much like part one of this subseries, Promise of the Witch King feels like part three or four, and we're missing the part that took us from the end of Servant to the beginning of Promise. Time and distance separates Jarlaxle and Entreri from the previous novel's setting, and this one is populated by several new supporting characters and new areas who have not had the time to get any real depth added to them, and it makes the whole book feel like kind of a mess in general, characters I'm unfamiliar with interact with other characters I'm unfamiliar with, and they venture from one place to another and at times it felt hard to follow. At least until we get to the final act where they fight their way through the castle, at which Salvatore does not disappoint in the action, though at times I felt myself struggling to visualize exactly what was happening.

I found myself rewinding multiple times throughout this book because I either missed something or found myself not paying attention in some spots.
For context, I've been listening to the entire Legend of Drizzt series on audiobook, and I do so in the car while I'm working, and admittedly my focus is elsewhere at times, so I can't fully blame the book for this as I do this with virtually all audiobooks I listen to, however I found myself doing it much more frequently with this book.