Siege of Darkness (Forgotten Realms: Legacy of the Drow, Book 3)

Siege of Darkness, book 9 chronologically in the Drizzt series, finally gives what the last few books have been leading up to: the epic battle as the underground drow attack Mithril Hall, home of King Bruenor Battlehammer and his clan of dwarves. The battle turns epic when the forces of the barbarians, the Riders from Silverymoon and Nesme, and even the svirfnebli join forces with the dwarves against overwhelming odds. The first part of the book cleans up the mess left in Menzoberranzan, home of the drow, after Drizzt and co.'s escape and destruction of House Baenre's temple. A side story includes the temporary halt of all magic through some battle of the gods, which lets us see more of Lolth the Spider Queen and the Monster Errtu (whom Drizzt and Wulfgar defeated in an earlier book), and this so-called "Time of Troubles" is a useful device in several plots...they have little to do with the epic battle, but they either continue previous story lines or assumingly lay ground for the next book. Writing battle scenes is one of Bob Salvatore's greatest skills, and the battles in the caves and out in the valley are some of the best written in this series. There is also a plot line involving Berkthgar, the barbarian who takes over as king for the fallen Wulfgar. He initially believe he needs Aegis-fang, the weapon King Bruenor crafted specifically for Wulfgar, and Catti-brie and Drizzt convince him otherwise, that he needs to build his own name in battle and not rely on Wulfgars. In the battle scenes, he certainly does that. He becomes an interesting character, hopefully there will be more from him. Lots of groundwork laid for the next book, including the mysterious prisoner the Lolth gives to Errtu to help him get back to the Material Plan and go after Drizzt. I assume this will be the focus of the next book.

Another gem in Salvatore's collection. This time the stakes are higher as Bruenor and his friends face complete annihilation. Drizzt returns to the surface from his trek to Menzoberranzan successful only so far as slowing down the big bad drow war machine. However, the biggest stumbling block that must be overcome is fate. Fate, which rears its ugly head as the Time of Troubles, adds a twist to the story that makes this novel truly enjoyable. You will love the scheming that this stirs up in the drow with their magic heavy culture as well as the bizarre happenings on the surface.The ensuing battle when the drow do arrive is just spectacular. Fighting on all fronts with the defenders on the edge of destruction right up until the end. However, I too share the opinion of many of the other reviewers...this is one battle the heroes should have lost. I think the power of the attacking army was under played. While goblins, orcs, and minotaurs maybe fodder for drow, these creatures alone have massed attacks against the dwarves and won. But, add in the extra firepower created by the drow and you have an unbeatable force. The heroes should not have stood a chance. And what's more, I think the book would have turned out better if the heroes had lost giving it that tragic edge. Drizzt, Cattie-brie, and Bruenor could have still knocked out Matron Baenre and stopped the drow from occupying the dwarven homeland. But to let the dwarves and their allies run off an army of drow completely victorious is a step beyond even "fantasy reality". Regardless of the outcome of the battle...the melee was still very compelling and exciting with tons of detail and not ridiculous like the climatic battle in "Descent into the Depths of the Earth". I am anxious to see what new troubles and intrigues will develop from the ashes of this latest conflict.

Siege of darkness is one of the best of the best, which puts it even with many of Salvatore's other books. This book proves that it is possible to accurately portray a huge battle and still place individual characters into group-style fighting. Salvatore very nicely portrays a melee of huge proportions and places important characters in the thick of it, right along with everyone else. Although Salvatore wrote this book with very good battle scenes, and still could put in the personal struggles of all our forgotten realms characters, I was slightly dissapointed with the way Guen's disaster was portrayed. Although he did well in showing the friend's dismay, he glossed over a lot of the tragedy with, although important, distracting events such as Catti-brie's struggle with Cutter. However, his writing style made up for the small lack. One of the best things about this book was the thorough way in which Salvatore expanded on the dark elves and the affairs of dark Menzobarranzan, making this story about more than just a war with the surface. Once again Salvatore spins a web of intrigue and action, drawing us all a little deeper into the world of the Forgotten Realms.

This book was great. The juxtaposition of the avatar series with this book (The Time of Troubles) was brilliant. The idea that a fighter wins with his whole body, not just his hands shows actual thought, not just an assumtion that Dantrag's bracers would improve Drizzt's skill. Jarlaxle is fantastic as usual. He is Salvatore's 3rd best character (behind Cadderly and Drizzt) with all his mysteriousness and the intrigue and power surrounding him making me wish i could have been part of Bregan D'aerthe. I would love to see more of him, maybe a short story in one of the "Realms of..." books. Errtu's anti-magic stone didn't dispell his summoning though in Passage to Dawn as it did to his minion in Seige...Odd. Must be the Best Salvatore Ever, in my mind.

After 5 books, RA Salvatore can still give us a fresh angle into the complex world of the drow. I loved the idea of telling the Time of Troubles(a period when the gods were cast down from the heavens and magic went awry) from the drow perspective-- since they are creatures weaned on magic it made the situation all the more difficult for them(and interesting for the reader). We also got our first close-up look at the drow goddess Lloth, and she was as every bit as cunning as I hoped she would be. Salvatore handled the intrigue swirling around the Time of Troubles really well. The epic battle scenes of the second half of the book weren't quite as interesting, but still vividly rendered. I would rank Siege of Darkness as my second-favorite Salvatore novel behind Homeland. --Teri Tada