Publishers Weekly described it as a "rousing tale of derring-do and harrowing escapes", although in doing so they acknowledged that it was a "light-hearted sword and sorcery novel" which gained some depth through Drizzt's philosophical ponderings about human frailties.

[3] Similarly, Paul Brink, writing for the School Library Journal, acknowledged the author's use of Drizzt to "reflect on issues of racial prejudice".

He praised the well-written combat sequences (a point that was also acknowledged by Jackie Cassada when she commented on the first novel in the series)[6] but he did not enjoy the repetitious writing about the character Drizzt brooding over the death of a moon elf.

They singled out two characters for praise: Innovindel, an elf who talks "pensively" of her long life in contrast to the short lived humans, and Obould the orc king.

[14] Patrick Bergeron II from fantasybookspot.com found The Two Swords predictable and expected key sequences such as the character Drizzt "finding out that his friends had not fallen at Shallows".

[16] It reached the top of the Wall Street Journal's hardcover bestseller list after only two weeks, a record for its publisher Wizards of the Coast.

[citation needed] James Voelpel from mania.com commented on The Thousand Orcs, calling it: "'a welcome return to the beginnings of Salvatore's fantasy writing, though it seems to be lacking in some respects.