I’m a big R.A Salvatore fan, but the poem at the beginning of the book had me cringing. If that’s the extent of his poetic ability, he should definitely stick to novels.

The sheer quality of the rest of his writing would indicate that the poem was quite deliberately appalling. The initial combat sequence at the beginning of the prelude was a touch confusing, but once I grasped what was going on it was very exciting.

Salvatore has an excellent talent for creating cinematic fights using only his words. I believe that’s a difficult talent to aquire. He also does an excellent job of balancing fighting sequences with intrigue and character development. No matter how many books he writes with the same characters they are always changing and developing.

Similarly, the reader can never be quite sure of all of the characters’ schemes and it keeps the characters intriguing and interesting. I particularly liked the ambiguity over the true motivations and moral alignment of both Entreri and Jarlaxle. I felt the book ended in a very interesting place, leaving me eager for the next book.

All in all, the story kept me fascinated. I would love to write like this.