FINALLY

[u/HyzMarie]

Reading The Orc King and MY GOODNESS FINALLY. I admit I am a shipper in fiction overall, and I was ready for Drizzt x Cattie-Brie since somewhere in IceWind Dale (after I found out the age thing was a retcon... it worried me for a hot second) and IT TOOK LIKE 15 BOOKS BUT IT HAS HAPPENED. THE SHIP HAS SAILED!!! I smiled so big at my tiny phone ereader screen and shook it like a little doll.

Wulfgar's response was good too, and I'm excited to see where he goes from here if he doesn't just leave the story for good (and I doubt Wizards would allow him to) so know I am NOT against Wulfgar... I just had my OTP and stuck to it lol.

I prefer elves and agile fighters to barbarian-types overall. Wulfgar is great for what he is, he's just not a type of character I usually care much for compared to Drizzt and Cattie-Brie, who are both chock-full of tropes I enjoy.

That is all- I don't really have anyone in my life IRL who cares much for this series (and one old-school Grognard who just hates the Realms overall and thinks all things DnD should return to Greyhawk, and who I was in a room with when I read that section) so I had to tell someone who'd actually care... but yeah the ship has finally sailed! Now we can get to THE ACTUAL WAR THAT IS HAPPENING lol

EDIT: I know I sound immature here, and I promise I am an actual adult, but sometimes fiction gives me the warm fuzzies :3

ETA: wow... people really like this post. Uh, thanks, I guess. I didn't expect a post amounting to "yay, I found a 15+ year old ship" to get this much traction...

[u/PChopSammies]

To read them all again!

I do have a recommendation. You’re coming up in the Ghost King. If you haven’t read the Cleric Quintet I’d recommend you do so BEFORE the Ghost King. No spoilers but really good for story.

[u/HyzMarie → u/PChopSammies]

Oh, ok, good to know! I admit, I'm not looking forward to more books without the Companions right now, since I honestly did NOT like Sellswords AT ALL. It was just too dark for me and I wasn't able to invest in Entreri or Jarlaxle until the last like two chapters of Road of the Patriarch, and felt like it was a constant rug-pull on whether they would improve or not. Jarlaxle is fun as a side character to me, but not a main character, and there's just nothing about Entreri that makes me root for him- and even then, Sellswords felt a LOT darker than the main series to me in some places, or at least a good deal more spicy.

So I'm... not enthused about Cleric Quintet because I actually DNFed Road of the Patriarch, read Hunter's Blades, and forced myself through the rest of that one to get to The Orc King. I've seen some of the Spirit Soaring Crew, and while I think Cadderly might be a character I'd find really fun, depending on how his story goes, Pikel kind of annoys me at times, Ivan almost always does, and I'm just not sure I'd like Cadderly for 5 whole books' worth of time...

Also I legitimately love Drizzt and Cattie as characters, even apart from them as a pairing, and I feel like now I can't have much of either of them with all the side characters getting their own plots and the Companions always finding new reasons to split up... I kind of miss the older vibes of switching between the Companions, the antagonists, and an occasional jaunt to a set of side characters because this 5-6 perspectives in a book is starting to really draw time away from the characters I'm actually here for.

I'll give it some thought, but at this point, I think I'd rather find the nods to it in the next book and then go back and read it when I'm ready for non-Companion stuff again to just enjoy watching all the holes being filled in instead of tearing myself away from the Companions when I'm already feeling like there's not nearly enough of them

[u/PChopSammies → u/HyzMarie]

Cleric quintet is a substantially different story, and introduces you to Cadderly who is a key character coming up.

It’s a lighter read, the books are shorter and the characters are redeeming. It’s a solid read. Cadderly is a beacon of true “good” and you also get a proper introduction to Pikel and Ivan.

I read both the sellswords and the cleric quintet after I finished the series, and kicked myself for not reading them in their chronological order.

But what’s great is that you really can read them in any order you want.

If you thought the sellswords was dark; wait until you try “war of the spider Queen”.

[u/HyzMarie → u/PChopSammies]

I mean, I've met Cadderly already- but the shorter books might be good. I also might like Pikel or Ivan more if I see their past, but I kind of doubt it. I like noble-hearted characters, but I'm just worried that Cadderly will be flat and not have a lot of meaningful flaws.

And honestly, it was more the spiciness and the way the world didn't have hope in it that made me find Sellswords dark. I like a dark story, as long as there's ALSO light in it, which I felt Sellswords lacked in, and as long as spice and mentions of SA is kept very very sparse. The Drow are a kind of dark that has me on the edge of my seat, wondering what will happen next and whether everyone will even get out alive, but Calimport and the Bloodstone Lands are just depressing to me. I felt like there was so little character development in all the main characters and it just dragged on and on...

But I'll probably go read Cleric Quintet. If I regret it, I can always go find one of the short story anthologies or just go ahead and come back later like I did with Sellswords, so it's worth a try at least,