runk's junk : geeky goodness

As I stated in an earlier post, I’ve have decided to reread/finish what has become know as The Legend of Drizzt series by R. A. Salvatore. And while I became side tracked by Vay on my iPhone, I’m going to start reviewing them. I’ve decided to review them in their published order as opposed to their chronological order, and to review them not as individual books, but by their original series grouping.

It is not my intention to give a detailed synopsis of these books, but to briefly summarize them and express my thoughts on the series as a whole. I will try not to give spoilers, but may bring up details to help me illustrate points in my review.

The first series in the Drizzt saga is The Icewind Dale Trilogy which consists of the books: The Crystal Shard, Streams of Silver and The Halfling’s Gem.

The Crystal Shard: Originally published in 1988, The Crystal Shard centers around the struggles of the dark elf Drizzt Do’Urden; exiled dwarven king, Bruenor Battlehammer; an orphaned barbarian youth, Wulfgar; and the sticky-fingered halfling Regis as they attempt to protect Ten-Towns, their home, from marauding barbarian tribes and an wizard held in thrall by an ancient crystal artifact.

The Streams of Silver: Published in 1989, The Streams of Silver chronicle Drizzt, Bruenor, Wulgar and Regis’s quest to reclaim Bruenor’s lost mountain kingdom, Mithril Hall, a source of untold riches and untold dangers. At the same time, Artemis Entreri, a hired assassin, is looking for Regis and has taken Bruenor’s adopted human daughter, Catti-brie, hostage.

The Halfling’s Gem: In the The Halfling’s Gem, the companions race to the desert city, Calimport to rescue Regis, who after being captured by Artemis Entreri, is being held prisoner by Pasha Pook. Along the way they battle pirates, brave the deserts of Calimshan, and fight monsters from other planes. The Halfling’s Gem was published in 1990.

Review: The Crystal Shard was R. A. Salvatore’s first novel and one of TSR’s, the original publishers, first novels to take place in their newly created Dungeons & Dragons’ role-playing setting: The Forgotten Realms. It was originally written as a stand-alone novel, but was later tuned into a trilogy. This contributes to a disjointed read; this isn’t one story told over three books, but three separate stories roughly sewn together to make a trilogy.

When reading a novel, and especially a fantasy novel, the author must ask the reader to suspend their sense of disbelief. That sense of disbelief is suspended by degrees depending on the setting of the story. This is where Salvatore shows his inexperience. Quite often his characters would be more at home in say, the Marvel or DC universe, as opposed to a fantasy setting. His characters are disproportionally too powerful compared to the rest of the world. Wulgar is prime example of this: Wulgar is a human teen raised by Bruenor, and has spent a half dozen years working in the smithy, as such, he is exceptionally strong. But at his core, Wulgar is still human, and needs to be governed by the laws of nature like everyone else. When Salvatore has Wulfgar lift and toss a camel at desert bandits, or slay a dozen giants nearly single handed, my suspension of disbelief is stretched too thin. While these exploits can contribute to a fun read, more often than not, they have the unintended effect of pulling the reader out of the story.

Another contributing factor to the roughness of these stories is the newness of the setting. The Forgotten Realms is now twenty years old, and dozens of authors and editors have contributed to making it a fully realized world that can be drawn upon for novels. But in 1988 Salvatore was making it up as he went, and this leads to continuity issues. The most grievous being the use of our calendar months within The Forgotten Realms world. It’s a small slip, but it completely threw me out of the story. A better alternative would have been better to refer to the time of the year as “late winter” or “early spring”.

I don’t want to nitpick on these books too much. They aren’t high art, but the don’t pretend to be. They are a fun, escapist read, that will appeal particularly to readers with a history of fantasy role-playing.

The Icewind Dale Trilogy can be purchased from Amazon as individual books or in omnibus form by clicking on the links above or the images below.