The Bear

By R.A. Salvatore
Tor, $27.99, 416 pages

The Bear is the last of the four Saga of the First King books set in the early days of Salvatore’s Corona world. Bransen Garibond, the Highwayman, is deeply depressed and disillusioned with the ongoing Honce war. He has rejected the objectives of both sides and wants only to return to his family. Inevitably, it is impossible for him to avoid the warring factions and he finds himself strangely drawn to the side of an old enemy, the Bear of Honce.

Salvatore’s signature style of detailed action and expansive battle scenes is on full display in this book. Unfortunately this habit of minute description is a drawback outside of the action. The information-filled dialogue rendered the conversations awkward and the relentless explanations of motives and emotions made the characters more difficult to sympathize with rather than less. This was especially problematic for Bransen’s character as it turned his legitimate disgust with the war into tedious and self-indulgent moodiness. Fans of the series or the Corona world may enjoy The Bear but new readers might do better to skip this one.

Reviewed by Rachel Wallace