The Spine of the World (Forgotten Realms Series)

Rating:
Summary: Greatest ending of any Salvatore book! (NO SPOILERS!!)
Review: At first, I believed this book to be a little dull (especially because Drizzt wasn't in it!! :) ), but I was very intrigued nonetheless, as Salvatore incorporated a dramatic love story into the book--a story that seemed totally separate from Wulfgar's struggle of his past. It seemed as if Salvatore were telling two completely different stories within the same book. Although I do not care much for books on romance, I was still interested to see where Salvatore was going with the telling of the peasent Meralda and Lord Feringal's love story and how it could possibly tie in with the self-loathing, alcoholic Wulfgar.

Needless to say, Salvatore brilliantly combined the two seemingly different stories into one, making the whole love story essential to Wulfgar's redemption. The ending was without a doubt the happiest (and probably the best) ending I have ever read (giving me the biggest smile I've ever had on my face after completing a book, too! :) ) And although he didn't have to, since the ending was already wonderful as it was, Salvatore ends off the book with obvious evidence that there will be a badass sequel to follow in the future!

I highly recommend this book if you are a Salvatore fan, despite the fact that it does not contain Drizzt. There is still plenty of action in it as well to keep any Salvatore fan satisfied. :)

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful book, another page-turner!
Review: First off, if you just want another action-packed scimtar-twirling Drizzt novel, you won't find it here. I'm sure there are plenty of one-dimensional superhero-like characters in other fantasy novels that you can read about (Drizzt is not one of those characters, by the way).

However, if you like Salvatore for the way he can weave together several seemingly unrelated stories and the way he can always keep you guessing at what will happen next, this is one you definitely will want to pick up. A book all about Wulfgar's rise back out of the gutter is great. Wulfgar has always been pretty one-dimensional to me, and I thought it was about time that we got to learn a little more about him. Turns out that he's not just big muscles and a warhammer. Who knew? And what a great ending!

Another good one, Salvatore.

Rating:
Summary: Completely different style for RAS
Review: I agree it starts out QUITE slow with seperate stories running. Its very difficult to see how they will combine. The combination is not predictable. Lots of time spent on character development in this book so that everything the characters do is consistent and believeable.

This book is basically about Wulfgar's torment. Its the first RAS book I shed a tear over. Not everyone is a ultra hero or ultra villian. Characters are flawed, and they are shown suffering from their flaws.

I have to be honest and call it a "romantic" book. I got sucked into it because of the characters, and had this been writen by someone else I would have never read it. But since its about my buddy Wulfgar, I thouroughly enjoyed it.

You should ONLY read this book if you have grown to care about the characters it contains, namely Wulfgar. If not, find another book to read because I think you will not enjoy it, or you will get the wrong impression of RAS books.

In the end this turns out to be one of RAS best books, and probably his most successful character book. He accomplished in this one book for Wulfgar what he did in The Dark Elf Trilogy for Drizzt.

Rating:
Summary: Skip this tripe
Review: I love Salvatore's story telling, but this book is a real low. I kept wishing that Wulfgar would just die (again). And half the book is about a love triangle between 2 peasants and a petty lord. What a waste of time. Unlike Salvatore's other magnificent novels I couldn't wait for this one to be over.

Rating:
Summary: Boring beginning, but great ending
Review: I was very excited about the prospect of a book about Wulfgar and his tormented spirits, but the first half was extremely boring. Wulfgar just predictably dropped lower and lower until he hit bottom. It was interesting to see how he was a torn man, torn between the present and six years of torture. What made it so boring, however, was the whole love story about Meralda and Lord Feringal. If I wanted to read stupid love stories, I'd pick up a smutty romance novel. Salvatore could have at least found some way to either cut down on that side story or make it more interesting. The only thing that kept me reading is the knowledge that I loved all of Salvatore's previous books and I kept wondering how he would tie the two stories together. That brings me to the ending. I don't want to spoil the ending, but I found it very satisfying. Morik turned out to be a great character and Wulfgar finally rebounds from his horrible slump. If you start to read the book and get bored, just keep going since the payoff is well worth it. I'm only wondering what will happen when Wulfgar meets up with Catti-Brie again...

Rating:
Summary: Holy sh**! What's this book for!
Review: Look how the mighty have fallen... R.A. Salvatore had great success with the original Crystal Shard trilogy, and after that, he decided to shamelessly exploit his characters for commercial gain. The first ones were still good, and amazingly, the couple of books that followed were not bad at all. However, the quality has been declining steadily, as Salvatore was running out of ideas, and just wrote on, and on, and on... just like a certain Edgar Rice Burroughs with his endless books about Tarzan.

This book is the weeakest of them all, and it shows that Salvatore should just give up writing, once and for all. There are two plotlines here: one is a sappy romance novel, so terrible in execution that any writer of housewife literature (fortunately, I can't name any) would be proud. The second one is written, I'm guessing, to keep the men interested, but fails at that as well. The pages that deal with second storyline are filled with detailed, disgusting descriptions of various tortures. Salvatore seems to be enjoying churning out pages after pages of different tortures inflicted on Wulfgar and everybody else, and it's not entertaining in the least - it's just disgusting.

If you enjoyed the certain movie called 'Gigli', which attempted the same - to appeal to both males and females, and also failed, then this book is for you. If, however, you are a sane person, then run away from this crap!

Rating:
Summary: Not good enough!!
Review: This book starts out slow, with not enough depth to Wulfgar. Too much gore, excessive violent tortures, (enough with the demon already)and not enough solutions to Wulfgar's problems. I was reminded of Caramon from the Dragonlance books, and that ruined it for me...(love Dragonlance)
I found the way that Delly follows Wulfgar around condescending and annoying,since he treated her disrespectfully.
I hated the way that Wulfgar's memory of his tortures turned him into a thief, drunk and useless person.
I lost my respect for Wulfgar,and did not think the ending was realistic. Wulfgar seems to turn on the heroism like a switch.
The love story woven within the book was quaint and a little bland.I don't think that Salvatore took enough time to really tell Wulfgar's emotional plight.
Too much wallowing in despair,and not enough getting over it...It got tiring towards the end, I had to make myself finish.
THE ONLY THING I LIKED ABOUT THIS BOOK WAS MORIK, WHO WAS INTERESTING IN A THIEVING SORT OF WAY.
Morik's story held my interest since he had to come up with ways to get Wulfgar out of the trouble he found himself.
I would not recommend this book for anyother purpose other than it is part of the series.
I would recommend it if you need to agree with my review...ALSO THE GIANT'S fight scence was too fantastic...Come on..Especially with his limited weapon situation..

Rating:
Summary: Skip this tripe
Review: This installment of the series takes a new direction. Moving away from the constant combat and adventure, Salvatore tells the story of a small town girl and the lord of the castle hopelessly in love with her. While initially slow, I enjoyed the character development and really appreciated the introductory thoughts of Drizzt beginning each chapter. Even though Drizzt isn't in the story, we can see his development as a thoughtful and introspective character. At first skeptical, I ended up enjoying the book.

Rating:
Summary: Not up to par, but still a good novel....
Review: Though I was a bit disappointed with this novel, well okay, more than a bit disappointed, it is still a book worth reading. Exploring Wulgar's character instead of Drizzt's is extremely interesting and shows Mr. Salvatore's desire to branch out instead of always sticking to Drizzt's life. Don't get me wrong, I love Drizzt and I love every single book with him in it, but after oh-so-many books about the stoic elf, exploring the persona and tribulations of another character is an excellent idea.

However, the novel had many downfalls. The story never seemed to move anywhere. The psychology of Wulfgar's plight could have been explored more and in a more interesting manner because ultimately that is what the book is about; Wulfgar's mental and spiritual strife. The other harlequin novel type half was really distracting from the main story and should not have been emphasized as much.

Thhough I severly miss the action packed chapters of his previous works, Mr. Salvatore shows he is not restricted to a stereotype of just writing about battle and action. He shows that he can write about love, loss, and the trials of friendship.

All in all, I'm happy Mr. Salvatore's attempting to explore the diversities of the character's, but this book just seemed dry and didn't seem to go anywhere.

I am looking forward to the next novel in the search of Aegis-Fang.

Rating:
Summary: A good change of pace in the series
Review: You know, if you read the entire legacy of Drizzt straight through (which you may be doing with the new book coming out soon), it is actually quite relaxing to read about a character other than Drizzt. Wulfgar, by no means, is a boring character. Despite what others say, I think this book was actually quite entertaining, and unlike other reviewers, I could care less if Salvatore uses some of the same phrases over sometimes. It really didn't annoy me. These books are meant for entertainment, and to maybe teach us a thing or two along the way, who cares about the occasional grammar slip? Besides, the story was not all that weak, and the action scenes were not all that fantastical (considering there weren't nearly as many of them as usual), and it actually makes some sense in a way that it will likely set up the rest of the series.