The Orc King

Transitions, Book I

By: R. A. Salvatore

Narrated by: Mark Bramhall

Length: 15 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

Drizzt is back, and facing a world changed forever!

An uneasy peace between the dwarves of Mithral Hall and the orcs of the newly established Kingdom of Many-Arrows can't last long. The orc tribes united under Obould begin to fight each other, and Bruenor is determined to finish the war that nearly killed him and almost destroyed everything he's worked to build.

But it will take more than swords and axes to bring a lasting peace to the Spine of the World. Powerful individuals on both sides may have to change the way they see each other. They may have to start to talk. And it won't be easy.

This book wasn't just the next installment in the long-running saga of the famous dark elf, but the beginning of a bold new trilogy that will help change the face of the Forgotten Realms world forever.

TM & ©2023 Wizards of the Coast LLC

Don't forget to listen to more adventures of the Forgotten Realms.

©2008 R. A. Salvatore (P)2009 Random House

Narrator Sucks

If you can't understand that Pikels name is pronounced pickle you should be allowed to narrate this story ever.

Every Diamond has its occlusions.

The Drizzt series isn’t one that I grew up with but one that I have enjoyed immensely since I began listening to the audiobooks. They have provided me over 100 hours of suspenseful and exciting Dungeons and Dragons goodness and that does not change with this trilogy.

What DOES change, and what is such a jarring change, is that the wonderful narration of the skillful and talented Victor Bevine does not make a return. While I have no desire to personally attack Mark Bramhall, Victor Bevine is the only man who can do these audiobooks justice. The powerful emotional lines Victor Bevine narrates have become stilted and dry in the hands of Mark Bramhall. He is far less experienced in the accents, his pronunciation (though even Victor Bevine didn’t get it right all the time) is passable at its best and grating at its worst.

This book, as well as the remainder of this trilogy, are as good as you expect from the talented R.A. Salvatore, but the change of narration makes them borderline intolerable and in my opinion impossible to finish.

If you’re reading this and deciding whether or not use a credit on this book or the others, I implore you, read the books of this trilogy instead and go back to listening when Victor returns.

I will be returning this book.

please do not let this man read another book

I love this story but oh my god, this is the worst narration I've ever heard. I saw other reviews when I purchased this and I thought well it can't possibly be as bad as they're saying, but no, they're all correct. Going from Victor Bevine to this guy is like going from $500 wine to the cheapest beer you can get at a gas station. I'm seriously debating actually READING this trilogy of the series just to avoid hearing this narration. I'm still in the prologue and he's already mispronounced the MAIN CHARACTER'S (Drizzt's) name. it's killing me man please never record without victor bevine.

not a fan of the narration,

The story was very good. There narrator want great, but I got kinda used to it after a while.

Why do they keep switching narrators!?

Save yourself the disappointment. Go get the book. The narrator Mark sucks or I’m a bearded gnome.

enjoyable

i enjoyed this book and look forward to the next to this book seemed a short story

mark is different, but not bad in the slightest

I was very skeptical when Bramhall took over the series for narration. It was very different than the previous narrator, but I bit the bullet to continue my favorite series. Mark's enthusiastic narration had me on the edge on my seat all book long. I can't wait to see what lies in store in the next two!

love these books, Salvatore is amazing.

I have read the entire dark elf series read the first 6 books in two months. love Salvatore he has great imagination, and amazing character development. great books.

Same Great Author, Surprising New Narrator

If you're 20 books into the Legend of Drizzt, you know and love Salvatore's style, storytelling, and characters. This book doesn't upset that.

When I first heard Bramhall I struggled...A LOT. The first few chapters are so broken it's like listening to a child learning to read. The next few chapters I made peace with his style and figured I could live with it. Halfway through the book Bramhall found his stride, I believe, and found who these characters were to him. By the final acts of the book I found myself deeply appreciating the gravity he brought to several key moments, and very much enjoying his latter-book rendition of the dwarves.

Stick it out if you find the first chapter as jarring as I did. It's an excellent story, and by the end a very good pairing of author and narrator.

A good book/narrator

The story of Drizzt is a favorite of mine and this is a good first book in the Transitions series. A different narrator is a little hard for the first few chapters, but I didn’t really notice after that. I only wish there was an easier way to tell when the book would switch to another character. Can’t wait to read The Pirate King.