SPINE OF THE WORLD (HC)

The Spine of the World is the second book in the Paths of Darkness series by R.A. Salvatore. It was later reissued as book twelve of the Legend of Drizzt series.
This book does not include Drizzt and instead it focuses on heroes that have appeared before, but have not been as well developed, specifically Wulfgar and Morik the Rogue. Wulfgar struggles with the demon of his past: his time spent in the Abyss. As the book progresses, Wulfgar slowly climbs out of his despair, finally setting out to find the life he thought lost to the darkness. Featured is a city with a brand new cast of characters in the Spine of the World, pocketed in the mountains, a city called Auckney. It is ruled by Feringal Auck, a rash acting young man. He falls in love with the young peasant Meralda Ganderlay, who sets up a plan to make him think that she has not been sleeping with other men, or one man in particular, Jaka Sculi. She is only doing this so the king will get her sick mother well. Jaka almost ruins everything by appearing at the day of their wedding and jumping off of a cliff. Her plan to avoid detection involves accusing Wulfgar of molesting her. Wulfgar is set free by her, and saves her child from being thrown out of a window. He takes the child, Colson, as his own and asks Delly Curtie to help raise her.