The Bear (Saga of the First King, Book No. 4) - Softcover

Salvatore, R. A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0765357461 ISBN 13: 9780765357465

Publisher: Tor Fantasy, 2011

Synopsis

The epic conclusion to New York Times bestselling author, R. A. Salvatore's sweeping series, The Saga of the First King.

The war of Honce drags on, and the roads and seas are littered with bodies. To everyone's stunned disbelief, Yeslnik the Fool has tipped the war's scales in his favor. The reign of the newly self-appointed King Yeslnik is already distinguished as the most bloody and merciless in Honce history.

Trapped, Dame Gwydre and Father Artolivan concoct a desperate plot to join forces with Laird Ethelbert, the lesser of two vicious evils. But Ethelbert's paid assassins slew Jameston Sequin and nearly did the same to Bransen.

Embittered by it all, Bransen seeks to extricate himself from the selfish goals of all of combatants. But in an odd twist of fate and crossed loyalties, Bransen sees in his old nemesis, Bannagran--the Bear of Honce and the man who slew his adoptive father - a darker image of his own heart. Allies and battle lines become tangled, motives indistinguishable as old friends become enemies and old enemies become allies.

The Saga of the First King
The Highwayman
The Ancient
The Dame
The Bear

About this title

About the Author:

R. A. Salvatore is one of fantasy's most popular authors, with his books frequently appearing on the New York Times bestseller list and more than 10 million copies of his books sold. He is the author of The Dame, The Ancient, and The Highwayman as well as Gauntlgrym, The Legend of Drizzt books, including the Dark Elf Trilogy―Homeland, Exile, and Sojourn― and the Demon Wars series, among many others. Salvatore was born in Massachusetts, and earned a B.S. in communications and a B.A. in English from Fitchburg State College. He lives in Massachusetts with his wife, Diane, and their three children.

From Publishers Weekly:

This final installment in the Saga of the First King series brings readers back to Honce, Salvatore's heroic fantasy locale. The war between wily old Laird Ethelbert and sadistic young King Yeslnik rages on with almost too many characters for comfort. Bransen the Highwayman, defeated by the mystic woman warrior Affwin Wi, feels his life is pointless and slopes home to his wife, while former monk Cormack struggles to broker a new alliance between old enemies. Salvatore piles interminable grisly action upon nefarious conniving, centering Honce's only hope on the Bear, Laird Bannagran, whose courage in battle and "some measure of honor" at last give Bransen a new sense of purpose and Honce, the decent rulers its suffering people deserve. This long fable of good and evil, spiked with blood-and-guts combat, closes the series with a hint at generational continuation--though readers may find new permutations of his faux medieval sex-and-violence hard to digest. (Aug.)
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About this edition

• Publisher: Tor Fantasy
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0765357461
• ISBN 13: 9780765357465
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 528