Castles, kings, magicians, mages, four orbs, giant bats and prophecy caves hills

Question

I believe it starts out in a tavern and someone is going to be an apprentice to someone... that part is blurry... but I do remember castles and an evil king and his magicians were failing him... there were 3 I think.

I believe someone was rescued from the castle, not entirely sure. And there were these giant stone monsters that the rescuers had to bypass to get to the castle. One of them climbed the tower and went in through the window. Anyway, there were 4 orbs that needed to be obtained to awaken a sleeping king who I believe was going to bring peace back to the land. And there were giant bats and evil parties also trying to obtain the orbs.

It was not written by a female. And it was written before 2012 because that was when I read it, possibly a year sooner. I think it may have been part of a series.

Does anyone know what this is?

Answer 1

Could this be The Sleeping King by Cindy Dees?

This review mentions many of the trope items you've indicated above.

In this adventure fantasy story we have a world – Urth – that has varying lands and inhabitants. Magic is aplenty but so is the tyranny. We start the book with events that happened years ago, a controlling emperor who can bend anyones thoughts and will to his own, his power hungry overlords who rule regions of Urth in any manner they choose as long as they line the Emperor’s pockets and some good people who a forced to make sacrifices for the greater good…… but there is also a prophecy…. One that portends the downfall of the Emperor and his regime! The emperor will do everything in his power to stop this from happening but can you change fate?

Fast forward a few years and we meet Will, a young lad on the brink of adulthood wanting to prove to his parents that he should be allowed to train & fight for his little village. Little does he know that his village will need fighting for very soon and everything he thought he knew – is not all there is to know. He is sent on an errand to a nearby city to report to one person alone and to warn them that the enemy is moving and they need to prepare – but will he be taken seriously when the Governor of the city is corrupt as they come?

Elsewhere Raina is on the verge of becoming a woman, 16 and on the cusp of life – that is until she has a family tradition thrust upon her that will change everything and leave her all but caged. Headstrong Raina will refuse her family tradition, she will not accept what is laid out for her and she will flee her home in a desperate escape from a life that she doesn’t want. With help from a mysterious Elf she will search for a way to relieve her family from its duty so that no other daughter will be forced to accept a fate like that which is waiting for her.

Both Will and Raina believe the answer to their problems is in the prophecy of the ‘Sleeping King’ who will conquer all and bring the world back into balance. They head out with some friends in the hopes they will find the Kings resting place so they can awaken him…..but many enemies await and they journey will be full of danger – will they set a prophecy in motion? Will they wake the Sleeping King?