Flojito para lo que nos tiene acostumbrado en la gran saga de Drizzt

The Artemis and Jarlaxle journey makes for great stories. Yet the best part about this book is the fact that you learn about Artemis, so he isn't just another character in the serious but one that makes you understand him.

After avoiding this series like the plague for so many years, I finally picked it up a few months ago to start reading and have recently finished it in its entirety.

I admit it was better than I expected. I had avoided it for so long because I had no interest in Artemis Entreri, although I did have a fondess for Jarlaxle. I only picked it up because I needed the background info to read Ghost King.

I loved the interaction between the characters throughout the series. We learn more of the backstory of both characters which was the highlight of the series for me as you figure out what really made them tick. Although I admit I am skeptical about the development of Entreri.

Artemis Entreri is supposed to be this heartless, cold, calculating, ruthless assasin, yet throughout the trilogy we see this softening and Artemis developing a heart and a concious. Granted this is mostly due to the malnipulations of Jarlaxle and a magic flute, and not something he willingly undertook.

While I was glad he was becoming more humane, (his inhumanity is what turned me off him to begin with) I wonder if doing something close to a 360 character alteration was best.

I admit the ending was a little flat for me. I mean, Jarlaxle and Artemis have all these adventure, form this dysfunctional yet working friendship, and after everything they go through, Artemis walks away. And instead of following him, Jarlaxle shrugs his shoulders and takes on a new companion to toy with, a dwarf named Athrogate.

While not one of my favorite series, I was still pleasently surprised by it. Great characters, thrilling adventures, and laugh out loud moments, I am ultimately very happy I finally picked up the Sellswords and completed my Salvatore collection.

Well...at least until Ghost King comes out in paperback...

8

Ok, Bob! Way to nerf perhaps the coolest character you've ever created. The first half of the book was good. The second kinda ticked me off due to inconsistencies in the abilities and behavior of Artemis Entreri. I understand the effects of his internal strife but he nearly gets killed fighting common street thugs. What?!

On a positive note, Grandmaster Kane was really cool!

Part one of this book has Artemis and Jarlaxle in the Bloodstone lands, a region of Faerun that Salvatore wrote a sourcebook for back in 1989. The book introduces a dozen characters, though I learned later that these are just the same characters from the sourcebook, later in life. Anyway they get involved with local issues and a castle summoned by a dark force. Part two has Jarlaxle trying to take advantage of the situation, as expected. This leads to Artemis battling his internal demons, leaving us wondering if our evil anti-heroes could do some good. In the end though, the story suddenly abandons Bloodstone lands, leaving many questions about its future unanswered. Then in part three Artemis returns to the place where he grew up and Jarlaxle bonds with an evil dwarf named Athrogate. It's an interesting story but a bit disappointing in places; previously, Artemis was nearly undefeatable, but in this book he's struggling in every fight he gets in.

Definitivamente Artemis es uno de mis antihéroes favoritos, fue interesante ver su lado "más humano" por su parte, Jarlaxle es una caja de sorpresas y Atrhogate siempre saca una carcajada.

I be honest, it did have some flaws and questionable motives but it was the best fun Salvatore has come up with for quite some time. I loved the 1st 9 books and the companions which was the only exception to his late entries. The rest were pretty lackluster in my opinion especially the neverwinter saga. This book was a breath of fresh air and had it all that you would expect from a good Jarlaxle read. Probably one of his best. Can't really say I liked Artemis much thou, the whole time is like someone stuck a fork in his arse. Gareth's friends were interesting and formidable even more so then the companions of the hall. Overall, very good read it kept me turning pages and that's all it matters for me to give it a good rating.

Road of the Patriarch by R.A. Salvatore is the final book in the Sellswords Trilogy. It continues where Promise of the Witch King ended, detailing the further adventures of the assassin Artemis Entreri and the drow Jarlaxle. Many of the characters who survived the last book also make appearances, as well as the movers and shakers of the country of Damara in the Forgotten Realms. The later group was the most fun to read about for me, since they are the pre-generated characters from the Bloodstone Lands high level adventure from 1st edition D&D. It was nice to read about them in their post adventure days ruling a kingdom, and they also made good foils for Artemis and Jarlaxle, since as a group they were clearly more powerful. The loose plot focuses on the duo's entanglement with the Citadel of Assassins and how they untangle themselves. However, the more important theme of the book is the character growth of Artemis, who finishes his transition from a cold hearted, ruthless, evil man to a not quite as cold hearted, still ruthless, not-evil man.

It was clear that Salvatore was trying to stretch his writing beyond mere swashbuckling adventure, and getting much more involved with character development. Unfortunately, watching the journey of a pretty unsympathetic character go from as evil as possible to somewhat less evil (and maybe not evil at all, but certainly not good) wasn't that exciting of a read. In addition, the plot of the story that was the backdrop on his character development wasn't very interesting. Jarlaxle still pulled strings from the shadows, setting up situations to his benefit, but in the end, the reader was left wondering what was going to happen next, and not in a good way. The supporting character of Athrogate the dwarf was still amusing, and Salvatore once again did an excellent job of weaving in Dungeons and Dragons lore and artifacts better than almost any other game fiction writer.

Unfortunately, this is likely the last Salvatore book I'll read. I've enjoyed that vast majority of his Dungeons and Dragons books, but the newer ones are firmly shifting to support the new 4th edition game, and even more importantly, the 4th edition version of the Forgotten Realms, which is even worse. I know lots of people like the new version of the game (and in theory, there are some who even like the new version of the campaign setting), but I'm not one of them. Combine that with not having enjoyed Salvatore's more recent works, and I've decided that this will be the last of them I read. Some of his non-D&D based fiction has been good, but others weren't as interesting. I'll still keep an eye on what he writes, especially non-game related, but at this point, he'll need to come up with something that really catches my interest, since there's so much on my list of books that I want to read that I'm more interested in now.

The plot of this one is all over the place.

Jarlaxle is playing 4d chess in a book that is clearly written for checkers.
Meanwhile, Artemis goes all emo and throws temper tantrums into Jarlaxle's plans.
Then we get a lengthy transition to the next status quo/setup for the next book, as well as some social commentary that comes off as preachy.

Some things Salvatore does well. There are a couple good action scenes and most of the side characters feel far more interesting than the main duo (who were interesting as antagonists themselves).

Really wanted to like this book, but it just didn't click for me. I liked the idea of Entreri doing something soul-searching but the lead-up to the end and the epilogue itself were pretty weak; it's like: Entreri, why didn't you do it sooner? Oh, right, you somehow just knew that you're going to need them just for a little while longer so you finish off whatever plot line and story wrap-up that you need to do. Just weak.

And speaking of weak, the plot line is pretty weak too. It's slow and meandering. There was hardly any climax, so it's more just exposition from Entreri's point of view and Jarlaxle's point of view. Having Athrogate along also felt more convenient than believable. And Calihye? I'd say that was a real waste of plot line.

But as usual, the writing is still top-notch. If you liked the style of those Drizzt's book, you'll find bits to like here, especially if you're a fan of Jarlaxle or Artemis.

By far the worst of the series. The plot is pointless, and feels like an appendix to the previous book. Well written and with good characters though.