I don't know if it matters if you read this series out-of-order, but I hate doing that--so I can't give a personal review on this one, as I don't want to read it until I've finished book 2. But I have to give it some stars or the site bleeps at me. I felt several previous books by Salvatore were 4 stars, so that's what I'll mark DRAGON KING.
From back cover: There is no peace for King Brind'Amour's newly liberated Eriador, as Avon's evil King Greensparrow breaks the truce with border massacres and demon sorcery. War is inevitable, but would be suicidal: even when allied with Dun-Darrow dwarfs, Fairborn elves, and the Riders of Eradoch, Luthien Bedwyr and his friends are hopelessly outmatched by Avon's Cyclopian legions. Meanwhile, Brind'Amour's magic must face the fiends of Avon's sorcerous dukes...
Battle will now be joined on mountain, plain, and swamp; on land, sea, and in the air---in a war of courage and dire wizardries. Yet in the end, all the valour and might of Eriador, all the daring of Luthien's magical alter ego, the Crimson Shadow, may not be enough to vanquish Greensparrow's ultimate weapon. For Greensparrow isn't merely allied with the hell-monster he plans to unleash; Greensparrow IS that vast and terrible being.
From back cover: There is no peace for King Brind'Amour's newly liberated Eriador, as Avon's evil King Greensparrow breaks the truce with border massacres and demon sorcery. War is inevitable, but would be suicidal: even when allied with Dun-Darrow dwarfs, Fairborn elves, and the Riders of Eradoch, Luthien Bedwyr and his friends are hopelessly outmatched by Avon's Cyclopian legions. Meanwhile, Brind'Amour's magic must face the fiends of Avon's sorcerous dukes...
Battle will now be joined on mountain, plain, and swamp; on land, sea, and in the air---in a war of courage and dire wizardries. Yet in the end, all the valour and might of Eriador, all the daring of Luthien's magical alter ego, the Crimson Shadow, may not be enough to vanquish Greensparrow's ultimate weapon. For Greensparrow isn't merely allied with the hell-monster he plans to unleash; Greensparrow IS that vast and terrible being.
