Overall, this is better than The Orc King, and this book is among my favorite Drizzt books.Four years have passed since The Orc King, and the uneasy treaty has held. The real action starts when Drizzt and Regis leave Mithril Hall to check up on Wulfgar in Icewind Dale.In the meantime, Deudermont mounts a "pirate cleansing" campaign. But he doesn't know how complex the alliances run, or who he is really up against.The action starts quick and runs through most of the book. The cool thing is that Salvatore is mastering weaving intrigue with his battles, giving them much more of a deeper meaning and making the plot that much more dark and interesting. The flavor of The Pirate King is similar to Book one of the Hunter's Blades Trilogy.Of course there are moral questions posed, another thing Salvatore is mastering, making each book better than the last. Here, Deudermont and Drizzt are wrestling with unintended consequences and how far to go in the name of right.If you liked the Hunter's Blades Trilogy, you'll love this book. Salvatore did a great job weaving intrigue and action while foreshadowing plot twists. In addition, the heroes are in quite a lot of peril, and find themselves in difficult predicaments...An awesome book. Looking forward to the third installment, even though the first two of this "trilogy" have seemed more or less standalone books, with a running background storyline/environment (which I'm fine with).Pick this up. You'll enjoy it.