The Orc King
core novel 2007 Forgotten Realms
Record
| First published | 2007 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.16 (15,751 ratings, collected 2026-09-12) |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780786943401 |
Synopsis
The Orc King, the first book of the Transitions trilogy, opens roughly a century after the events of The Two Swords, moving between past and present to trace how the fragile truce between dwarves and orcs established at the end of the Hunter's Blades Trilogy has fared. Drizzt Do'Urden investigates an ambush that has killed his friend and ally Innovindil, even as a band of bandits called the Cutting Blades hunts orcs within the Kingdom of Many-Arrows, and unseen forces, including a scheming gnomish wizard, work to stir up chaos between rival orc clans and undermine the peace. Meanwhile Bruenor Battlehammer, together with Catti-brie, Regis, and the elf Hralien, ventures toward a lost and legendary dwarven city, uncovering older history between dwarves and orcs that bears directly on whether King Obould's uneasy kingdom, and its peace with Mithral Hall, can hold.
Where it sits
- Universe: Forgotten Realms
- Series: The Legend of Drizzt (author line) core; position 20 of 40 in the series' recorded order
- Author: R.A. Salvatore
Notes
- Transitions #1
- From the series record (The Legend of Drizzt (author line)): R.A. Salvatore's 40-novel line (1988-2025), incl. The Sellswords; sub-series recorded per book. Continues with Drizzt's daughter (2025-).
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series The Legend of Drizzt (author line): position 20 of 40: previous Road of the Patriarch (2006) · next The Pirate King (2008)
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Drizzt
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Orc_King
- Wikipedia: The Legend of Drizzt
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