Artemis Entreri is way cooler than Drizzt

An integral second part to "Promise of the Witch King", "Road.." concludes what Jarlaxle has begun with Entreri. We get to understand more of Jarlaxle's life in Menzoberranzan, though not much (do I perhaps see another series looming in the future much like our beloved Drizzt?), a bit of what makes Athrogate Athrogate, and Artemis gets to deal with the ghosts of his past.

I got to see a Paladin King struggle with evil, evil's intent, and evil's potential redemption. Witness the love of a son (or like) and that loss tear a man apart, witness betrayal and violation create a cold-blooded killer, experience the outlook of the life of a drow verses the lifestyle of a human, of all humanity.

Once a drow told Drizzt that he doesn't know how to be an elf. Living with Jarlaxle for these three books helps to understand just what that means.

Idalia's flute, a curse and a blessing, as are all great gifts, eh? Since I don't want to spoil it for you, let it be know that Salvatore does not disappoint us with his writing skills. He describes the conflicts within Artemis resulting from the sensation of Caring. He takes us through the growth, the backslide, and the horror of confronting a wretched past, discovering the truth, and redemption.

Salvatore's skill in describing the swordfights among skilled adversaries of many talents is unmatched. How his imagination can encompass all the detail is beyond my comprehension. It's almost as though I could learn these moves by simply reading.

And the enigma that is Jarlaxle. A drow that experiences guilt?

Struggled with this one at first as I'm listening to this series on audiobook and this is the first one I've come across that wasn't narrated by Victor Bevine, who does a phenomenal job. There were some subtle differences in pronunciations, and overall the audio quality wasn't as crisp as the others I've listened to. But David Colacci's narration grew on me, though I stubbornly found myself correcting some of the pronunciations, and I vastly prefer the demeanor in which Victor Bevine performs dialogue for Jarlaxle and Entreri, the former being much more suave and charismatic and latter being much more cold and commanding. It almost feels like their deliveries are switched here due to the way Colacci narrates.

Overall, this is a fantastic finale to the trilogy starring Jarlaxle and Entreri. Providing the reader (listener) with some much earned closure on this journey into the psyche and character of Artemis Entreri, and what makes him who he is. It's been nice to deviate from Drizzt and his companions, but I'm looking forward to joining back up with them, though I hope his, Entreri's, and Jarlaxle's roads all cross again.

Entretenido a secas. La historia principal es bastante floja, al igual que la mayoría de los personajes secundarios. Vas pasando páginas dejándote llevar sin que te sorprendas lo más mínimo. Claro, hasta que la dupla protagonista Jarlaxle-Artemis Entreri entra en acción. Es una delicia leer las escenas en las que el carisma y la manipulación del elfo oscuro empiezan a hacer de las suyas. Y aunque siempre salgan bien parados en todas sus aventuras, el autor lo hace de tal manera que no se ve comprometida la suspensión de la incredulidad. Lo que tiene mérito tratándose de fantasía, pues no hay deus ex machina cogidos con pinzas.

Otra de las cosas que más me gustaron fue conocer los orígenes de Entreri. Salvatore explora cómo llegó a convertirse el asesino en el monstruo frío y despiadado que es. Esto le da un punto de humanidad al personaje que, si bien no llega a redimirlo, sí que te permite cogerle aún más cariño a Artemis al empatizar con la dureza de las experiencias que vivió siendo apenas un niño.

Y entre todo eso, las toneladas de acción típicas que nos regala el autor en cada uno de sus libros. Una gozada entretenerse con los combates que se desarrollan a lo largo de la trama. Salvatore los describe de una manera tan visual que casi parece que estás viendo una película.

Si te enganchó la saga de Drizzt Do' Urden tanto como a mí y buscas un entretenimiento ligero con el que desconectar la mente de las preocupaciones del día a día puede que este sea tu tipo de libro. Si buscas alta fantasía llena de intrigas políticas al estilo de Juego de Tronos, desde luego no lo vas a encontrar aquí.

I really like that this trilogy delved deeper into Jarlaxle an Artemis Entreri. These were two interesting character and I feel like they got a lot of development and depth. Artemis does so in this book especially. We get to see a lot of his origin story, while he gets to be his usual deadly self.

I really enjoyed the Artemis and Jarlaxle spinoff books. This book has some classic D&D elements that I loved to see. A major part of the book takes place in a real old school D&D style dungeon crawl. It was so cool to see what a level 20 adventuring party looks like in King Gareth and his crew. Dragonbane's army marching into Vaasa is such a cool cinematic scene. Artemis' fight with Olwen Forestfriend is one of the best fight scenes in the whole series (which is saying something considering most of these books are like 60% sword fighting scenes).

Great Book

I really love how the story of Artemis was developed. Really intriguing. He has so much character in him that could be developed even further.

This was a book without a premise. The first two books in the series had a well thought out plot line, and this one had about three, and none of which had any kind of gravity for the overall story. The book was written well, and we get to see a bit more into Artemis Entreri's backstory, but it just wasn't enough to close out a trilogy that has been this strong. I wish there were more books in the series because I would love to see more of these characters.

good moments but a weird book

Was a bit slow to get started. Had a decent climax around 65% of the book. Then a new secondary plot started and finished in about 35% of the book. I actually enjoyed the smaller plot more which is why i rated it 3 stars. Overall, an episode that is more about character development than anything else.

This was my favorite of the trilogy! I'm very curious where they will go from here and hope to see more of them in future books. I feel like they both have some good in them even though they don't always act much like it. Their banter, when together, is fun. It was sad that Artemis got his heart broken. I hope he's going back to Tigerwillies (I'm sure I've spelled that wrong). I also wonder what Jarlaxle has in store for Calihye.

I have a few things to say now that you are reading the review of the last book. Consider this, Why exactly is Jarlaxl so intrigued by Artemis? I realize the obvious, but really Jarlaxl may seem lovable but he is a ruthless drow killer. It seems almost suspicious to have such a big heart. Also, I think that being able to see so much of Jarlaxl sort of shatters some sort of well-maintained illusion of complete control. I don't know, either the book was unable to have Jarlaxl live up to my lofty standards, (because, you know, I love him) OR Salvatore is SO brilliant he was actually able to write an entire trilogy and leave the man more shrouded in mystery than ever before.

I like to think that, but lets fact it. Jarlaxl only gets more vulnerable and soft-hearted.
I suppose I should commend him for that.

But on a more serious note: These books are about changes. Really, if there are any consistant themes in Salvatore's work, I would argue that it is changes. Jarlaxl begins to change into the person he left his family to be, a person who is willing to let go of power to persue personal goals. Artemis also begins to thaw his heart, falling in love with a woman and getting over his grudge. These are two trajic charactures who find something beautiful in a world that has forced them to be so ugly. It is a good tale.

Some how I had never read this one so long ago... thanks the fates for 2nd hand book stores!