Whatever it’s literary merits The Ghost-King is a sellout to WotC which has bastardized and destroyed everything that was good about the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying gaming system and Mr. Salvatore should just have said no when it came to writing it. The whole concept of the “Spellplague” is ridiculous. Unless I have missed something it has yet to be explained how a deity, a divine, immortal being gets “murdered”. Maybe someone can explain this to me.

Salvatore should have just refused to promote the abomination that is the 4th ed. He has gone to the well one too many times. Perhaps too literally the tale is too “deus ex machina” and that is a departure from everything that Salvatore has written thus far in the Legend of Drizz’t. Sadly art has taken a backseat to the inevitable press of the almighty dollar. Transitions fails despite Mr. Salvatore’s talents as a writer.

1.This pocket plane of existence seems to be some kind of “personal heaven” set up by Mielikki. Regis, in this case, gets to fish and carve scrimshaw, two things he loved in life. He also gets to EAT? Why would a spirit need to eat? But the bigger question is Catti-brie’s version of heaven. She never sang or danced in real life. So why the hell would she want to spend an eternity doing those two things? That makes not one ounce of sense to me that these two disparate characters would be placed in the same “heaven” and be given conflicting versions of that “heaven”.

2.Why would Mielikki even place those two in the same setting? Apart from the points from above, there is also other considerations. If I were Regis and I was allowed to eat in that place, well then considering it was just myself and the beautiful Catti-brie there I could think of some other things to do with her than just sit around fishing. Halfling to have the need to procreate after all (even if it would just be for the fun of it in this setting). From Catti-Brie’s point of view, she would want to spend eternal bliss with Drizzt, not Regis. And the final line is “for guests that never came” which implies to me it’s supposed to be just those two forever.

I apologize to anybody who may find the second point a little “base” but if Entreri can go to Calimport to be with Dwhavel then I can’t see why those two couldn’t enter into a physical relationship since they’re “stuck” with just each other for eternity. For all of Mr. Salvatore’s incredible genius and his ability to paint wonderful stories with his words, I too feel that this ending was rushed. That’s my two cents.

First of all, since second edition (AD&D), Monks have been able to climb and slow their descent from great heights. High level monks, like Danica, have been known to fall off the backs of flying dragons and survive–its part of being a Monk. Having a wall there to slow her descent is actually not even required in 4th edition as it was required in earlier editions. In 4th, monks can actually fly for short periods of time using their psionic powers (See Monk Utility, level 22, Wind Walker).

As for the scene with the “huge monster” with the “shotgun” like effect, if you read closely, you will see that the first log pinned him into place (as was the plan) and the second forces the log through him further. It’s still in the same location because the beast has a tree sticking him into the wall.

Overall, I enjoyed the novel, but I do agree with the rushed feeling. The loss of characters we have loved for over 20 years simply didn’t have the conclusions that I would have wanted… the Companions of the Hall didn’t even all get to say their goodbyes. I look forward to what the future brings, but with trepidation. I definitely DON’T want to see another Weis and Hickman tragedy where you just throw their children in as their replacements.

Two questions:
Did anyone else feel kind of robbed with the utter lack of dialouge for our two beloved characters? I almost felt cheated that they had absolutely no dialogue until the devastating end.

Is it me or is this whole Spellplague thing confusing to the reader? I found it’s use to be jarring in a way where Catti and Regis were concerned and I still have no idea how Cadderly became The Ghost King. I thought the dragon was called that because he posessed the shard.

Salvatore continues his tradition of making enemies seem like no real threat at all. Caderly’s kids smite down hundreds of zombies with no apparent effort, despite having never been in combat before that day. Sure, Salvatore makes an effort to say that the sheer numbers make the situation hopeless. But it doesn’t feel hopeless.

The same can be said about the battles with the Ghost King himself. All Salvatore talks about is how the heroes are tearing into him and how he fails to hit any of them with any real effect. And yet their struggle is hopeless. I have to hand it to Salvatore. It takes real talent to make a dracolich seem like no real threat.

I’m disapointed that Obould, who like someone said earlier is the best new character in the series, recieved only a mention. I’m disapointed that Bruenor and Athrogate’s dialogue was confined to “eh?” “whaddya know, elf?” and “Bhwahaha!” respectively.

And Cadderly. Dear god. How many times did he have to exlaim, both internally and externally, what a “strange journey” it had been through age? He got old really fast building the church and started getting younger afterwards. That is it. Granted, that isn’t exactly normal. But it did not require four or five repeating dialogues saying how strange it was with virtualy know variation.

The ending seemed fairly rushed getting them to that little field. And it generally didn’t make a whole lot of sense. Drizzt’s goddess rewards him by sending his wife and his best friend to what might as well be a living hell with pleasent decorations?

It wasn’t a terrible book. I’ve read much worse. But it was not great. And I didn’t cry.

It was a real treat to watch Athrogate and Pwent teaming up to “murder ‘em to death”. And what a team Jaraxle and Dritzz make! Very cool!. In fact I would love to see an adventure with the above four plus Artemis. That would be a doozy.

Bob, if you read this, I just want you to know I feel for you man! This must have been a hard book to write. I almost sensed that you were pressured to write the spell plague into your novels, and were not real happy about it. But you did a fabulous job anyway. And as hard as it was for me to have to watch beloved characters die, I need my emotional fix again! I’m going to re-read the entire Demon War again.

Thank you Bob, you are a true gift to the world.