Icewind Dale Trilogy
The Icewind Dale Trilogy: Collector's Edition (A Forgotten Realms Omnibus) by R.A. Salvatore and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at AbeBooks.com. Drizzt 2: Icewind Dale Trilogy Series. Found in Epic Fantasy. The Crystal Shard by R.A. Streams Of Silver by R.A. The Halfling's Gem.
Amazon.com ReviewWe all owe a debt to Akar Kessel, that treacherous chump of a wizard's apprentice, briefly known as the (short-lived) Tyrant of Icewind Dale. Akar started it all when he stumbled across the ancient and malevolent Crenshinibon, the Crystal Shard, thereby kicking off one of fantasy's best and best-loved series-and at its heart, one of the genre's most beloved heroes, the noble dark-elf ranger Drizzt Do'Urden.While surely no Tolkien (who is, really?), Bob Salvatore can take pride in the fact that he's brought legions of enthusiastic fans to the genre-and for anyone who's caught themselves in an embarrassed yawn on page 412 of The Silmarillion, that's not a distinction to be taken lightly. You'd have to be a pretty cold fish for your pulse not to quicken a bit as Drizzt and company lay into yet another ravenous horde of trolls (or giants, or wererats). As an affectionate Terry Brooks says in his introduction to this collector's edition, you could do worse than to have your tombstone say you were a solid, workmanlike writer.
Icewind Dale. Windswept passes and forbidding glaciers stand at the top of the world. Below them, in the cold valleys, an evil force broods: the magic of Crenshinibon, the crystal shard.Now dwarf, barbarian, and drow elf join to battle this evil. Tempered in the furnace of struggle, they form an unbreakable friendship.A legend is born.For the first time in one volume, here is New York Times bestselling author R.A. Salvatore's adventure that introduced Drizzt Do'Urden, the heroic dark elf, one of the most beloved characters in fantasy literature. I know well that this review is just another in a long string. I know that it will likely not be read by anyone.
However, this series though certainly not a timeless classic is a lot of fun to read. I take personal offense the the reviewers who decide to attack my maturity and intelligence level for enjoying these books. Is the writing top notch in these? But it is a wole heck of a lot of fun. I agree that George R.R. Martin is top tier fantasy literature at the moment.
But I unlike other reviewers am able to get my mind shifted into all types of other gears. Salavatore's books are like reading the fight scene's from the LOTR movies. These books are action packed and a ton of fun. They are not trying to fool you into believeing anything else.
Salavatore never attempts to come across as the next coming of Tolkein. It's worth mentioning that this is his first series if you read the entire Drizzt series through you can mark a steady increase in his ability to craft a story.Read these books if sometimes you like your fantasy to be basic, in your face and fun escapism. Drizzt is a cool character. But apparently because I like him I'm stupid.
Can he and all his friends escape situations that are overwhelming and unlikely? I don't know.
I'm sorry I have no frame of reference for how well a Dark Elf, Mountain Dwarf, Halfling, Barbarian and Human archer wielding a magic bow would fare against a horde of Trolls and Goblins. I'm not so riduculous and egotistic as to think that I can apply real world standards to totaly imaginary situations.In short your brain is a big place. It has numerous facets and and levels. Give it a try.
Not every book has to impact you deep in your soul. Basically Drizzt and the gang are like a non-stop summertime blockbuster movie. After reading the Icewind Dale Trilogy I have again been immersed into the rich plots of the Fantasy genre. I read this book due to a recommendation of a friend and I was overjoyed when I found that Salvatore's writing kept me hooked.
His plot development through all of his Forgotten Realms novels are excellent and the Icewind Dale Trilogy is just the beginning. I find that it is hard to stray from superlatives when describing the Icewind Dale Trilogy and Slavatore's writing in general.The real low-down on these books is the character development. Drizzt Do'Urden (the main hero of most of Salvatore's Forgotten Realms novels) is expertly developed. Drizzt is a dark-elf that must overcome the nightmares of his own heritage, and most importantly, gain acceptance among the highly paranoid and unwelcoming surface dwellers.
Throughout his travels in the frigid wastelands north of the Spine of the World, Drizzt finds many good friends and fights against unspeakable terrors. Yet, he upholds his own personal code of ethics and virtues like that of a noble paladin. The reader can't help but feel empathetic to him and the entries of his personal memoirs gives an insight into the very essence of Drizzt.Upon finishing the Icewind Dale saga, I have become an avid reader of Salvatore and I would highly recommend all of the novels in his series. If you are a Tokien fan, this is a must buy.
I've debated whether Icewind Dale or the Dark Elf Trilogy would be the best place to start in this series, but I've determined that Icewind Dale is your best bet. On top of everything, this collector's edition (while containing some typos) is well bound in a very attractive package. Make yourself a good cup of coffee and get comfortable, because you've got an excellent read ahead of you. Just remember to allocate plenty of time because I gurantee you won't be able to put this one down.
This is the trilogy that launched the career of one of the greatest fantasy characters ever in existence, the Dark Elf, Drizzt Do'Urden. Such a wonderful character!
(It didn't do too much harm for Salvatore's career either!) This trilogy is heavy on the action and fighting sequences but they are balanced with thoughtful character-driven insight and development. And I can't forget to mention one of the best villain's ever to grace the written page, Artemis Entreri. You will rarely see a better written bad guy.
If you have stayed away from Forgotten Realms books or others based on games, don't pass this one. And don't miss the Dark Elf Trilogy either, for a wonderful taste of the early life of Drizzt and the world of the Underdark. Escape from monkey island.
Both volumes have a very special place on my crowded book shelves. Good reading! Set in the Forgotten Realms Dungeons & Dragons campaign world, The Icewind Dale Trilogy is the first novel by R.A. Salvatore and introduces the most famous D&D character - Drizzt Do'Urden.
The funny part is, only the first book takes place in Icewind Dale.This is often compared to J.R.R. Tolkien's 'The Lord of the Rings,' but it really shouldn't be in the way that it is.
The only thing I noticed, really, was in the first book it mentions how Bruenor's clan, Battlehammer, had 'delved too greedily and too deep,' almost an exact line from the books. However, when they do reach the mine, you will find it is wholly unlike Moria (the mine from Tolkien's work).
Also, these are, for the most part, three seperate stories which are strung together by the assassin Artemis Entreri who quickly becomes Drizzt's rival, the conflict finally coming to a head in the final novel.You will be brought in by these books in a way Tolkien could never bring me in (it took me a year to read his series; I read this in four days), you will believe these characters are real, you will believe these fights actually happened and Salvatore just happened to video tape them so he could write down what happened later. His descriptions are very good (though they do not tend to drone on like Tolkien's), and his fight scenes are very detailed. Wulfgar, the mighty Barbarian King, does not merely swing his warhammer; he arcs it down upon his enemies side, sending him flying backwards and into another.The characters are very vividly described, and they are extremely believable.
Drizzt has a very hard time trying to fit into the surface world, as he is a Drow; a dark elf. The dark elven society lives deep underground, in the Underdark, and are quite evil. Everyone fears the drow elves, and not only is he often refused to enter towns, he is quite frequently attacked by the guards. This causes great inner tormoil, as all he does is try to do good, but he cannot live down the reputation of his people.
Bruenor Battlehammher is a surly old dwarf, who has trouble expressing himself to his friends, but they know he cares just the same. His adopted human daughter, Cattie-brie, keeps everyone sane (and alive) with her blatant logic and intelligence.
And then of course there is the assassin, Artemis Entreri. The polar opposite of Drizzt, he abandoned his emotions long ago, but still matches Drizzt's skill in battle, and they both strive to prove that the path they chose in life was right The other characters you will simply have to meet for yourself.There is of course a reason I gave it four stars. The manuscript was quite obviously scanned, and never read over. M's turn into two r's, y's into v's, stuff like that. It is still quite readable, and only happens every few pages, not every few sentences.
If it would really bother you, just buy the seperate books.If you liked Tolkien, you will like this. If you like fantasy novels, you will like this. If you can read, you will like this. The story is wonderful. Salvatore is a magnificent author, who thouroughly develops his characters, and keeps you glued to the storyline. However, the book is utterly littered with typos.
(No kidding, I'd say on average a typo every 2-3 pages.) This interupts the continuity of the book greatly, as you are forced time and time again to stop and figure out what he meant to say. Lack of quotes, misplaced letters.and exactly who is Brenor (page 775)? It's almost like they scanned in the origional documents into a text recognition program, where random y's turn to v's, u's to 's, and punctuation is disregarded. Very dissapointing. I love the books, but don't buy the hardback. Get them individually in soft cover. Salvatore is brilliant.
There's no doubt about that. Heck, if I could make as much money off of one of my characters as Bob's made off of Drizzt, I could die a happy man. The Icewind Dale Trilogy is a work of art, beautifully written and wonderfully played out.
Within this book, you will find some of the best characters in ANY novel, fantasy or otherwise. The only problem is the typos. There's probably 1 typo every 3-4 pages.
Y's become v's, l's become I's, etc. It seems they scanned Salvatore's hand-written work through a text analyser and didn't thoroughly proof-read it. It doesn't destroy the book, not by any means, but it does become a bit irritating. This is one of the best stories I have ever read, and would LOUDLY suggest it to anyone who can read the English language - or any language this book has been translated into. But, if typos really bother you alot, buy the seperate paperbacks instead of the hardcover, because there's definitely a healthy amount of em.
First of all, let me say I was not much of a fantasy fan. I am a die-hard horror fan, so I passed all the opportunities to read any fantasy novel.That ended when I started playing D&D and decided to buy the Icewind Dale Trilogy. Let me just say this, Salvatore's characters-the drow elf Drizzt, the HUGE barbarian Wulfgar, the battle hardened dwarf Bruenor, the lovable young lass Cattie-Brie, the mischievous but kind-hearted halfling Regis.even Gwenhwyvar, Drizzt's other-planar panther familiar-are greatly fleshed out, and the adventures they participate in are nothing sort of spectacular.Why didn't I give this book five stars?
Well, because of the annoying typos. And let me say that there are a lot of typos throughout this version. I've read below that the separate paperbacks are free of these typos, but the complete version is riddled with them.
But anyway, this was no obstacle to enjoy this masterpiece.So, is this book worth buying? Surely, if it made a hardcore horror fan like myself be interested in the fantasy genre, I bet any fantasy fan will love this book. This is an example of how important all elements of the book production proccess are. R.A Salvatore, in his first crack at being a writer, has come up with some of the most real fantasy characters ever. The stories are great. 5 stars to him.But this isn't the book to get - go for the paperback, or the individual books of the trilogy.Other reviewers have hinted at the typos, and they are everywhere.
This is a hardback, a 'Collecter's Edition', even, and a book-loving customer should be able to expect a certain amount of quality for the price. Nice pages, fine printing, a good heft, etc.Having some experience with scanning and optical character recognition, I can confidently say, from the kinds of mistakes, that this book is a scanned-in version of the originals. How in the abyss that happened I'll never guess, but it did. A 'u' was mistaken for 'ij' - many 'y's are 'v's. A BRACKET showed up in place of an l. Even a tilde ', the symbol that basically means 'Hey, user, I can't figure out what this letter is supposed to be' is in there. Some pages have two or even three errors.It is almost as if the first draft out of the OCR program got sent to the printers.
For the price of a few copies of this 'Collecter's Edition', a high-schooler could have spent an afternoon catching 90% of the mistakes.It's fair to say I expected more. Shame on Wizards of the Coast.
I have to admit I was not a very big fan of the D&D world. But after reading Salvatores Icewind Dale Trilogy, I am hooked. He has a way to make almost anything seem interesting, and takes enough time to vividly describe whats goin' down.I had no problem understanding what most of the monsters looked like, or the characters for that matter.If you are a D&D veterain or just a newb wanting to get into the D&D universe, I highly recomend getting any of Salvatores books. I did, and I love them all.I do however recomend this series order below. For all of his books with Dizzt in it.1) Icewind Dale Trilogy2) The Dark Elf Trilogy - This is a prequal to Icewind Dale but you should read Icewind Dale before reading this.3) Legacy of the Drow - four book series4) Paths of Darkness - four book series5) The Hunter's Blades Trilogy.
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While not a huge fan of huge fantasy collections such as Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms, R.A. Salvatore has made me reconsider my position. This series is simply fantastic! It is full of non-stop action by characters I quickly learned to love for their deep, well-crafted personalities. I guess I first read the series years and years and YEARS ago shortly after it first came out, but it had been so long I remembered almost none of it.
The Icewind Dale Trilogy brought me back to my younger days of hard-core fantasy reading. Only one bad thing to say - reading this particular edition is an absolute horror as to typos. Definitely read the series, but buy the paperbacks separately. It will save you money and vastly improve your enjoyment, plus get the cover art for all three!
The first edition of The Crystal Shard will always hold a near and dear place in my heart. But it was a paperback, and my copy has grown fragile with age. With this omnibus collector's edition, The Crystal Shard (as well as Streams of Silver and The Halfling's Gem) finally got the hardcover treatment that they really deserved. All three novels can be carted around under one durable cover this way, without fear of damaging my precious first edition. This is the only way I ever want to buy a Salvatore novel, ever again.This edition also saw the addition of Drizzt Diaries to those first three novels. Salvatore actually introduced the Drizzt Diaries feature in the volumes of 'The Dark Elf Trilogy', but he went back and inserted new journal entries into these books, in this edition.
They are some of my favorite, out of all the Drizzt Diaries, ever.The division of chapters and books (or 'parts', here) was flubbed in the first edition, particularly between the end of Book II and the beginning of a subsequent book. It is definitively fixed, here. These books put me in mind of the old Batman TV-show, where the sound effects were animated on to the screen, to give that comic book feel. Most of salvatores fight scenes (and there are quite a few) give the same impression: slightly over the top, but with a drive and a wry smile that keeps you turning the pages.This volume collcets the three first novels about Drizzt and his friends, but take place after the events in the Dark Elf Trilogy. I think it makes sense to still read this first, as it leaves you wanting more - and wondering how a dark elf turned good.' While surely no Tolkien', as the Amazon editorial review states - he is still a great writer.
Tom Clancy is no Will the Bard, but he still sells books by the truckload (and keeps you locked for hours unless the real world manages to interupt). Same for Salvatore - he takes the general D&D / Forgotten Realms lore and setting and makes great 'action' novels. Suitable also for teens, no strange words or blatant sex.Great reads, but painted in broad strokes (Me hero, me good - you evil, you die) Get them, and enjoy the start of a nice 'friendship' with Drizzt and the Forgotten Realms! I don't know.I really like the Drizz't series although I have only read these 3 as well as the Dark Elf Trilogy (awesome). It's just that it seems like no matter what happens, 84 wererats or 144 trolls or 1000 duergar dwarves or freaking dragons or falling unconscious in an abyss with thousands of bloodsucking demodands around doesn't actually cause anyones demise. I'm not saying this needs to be like Martin's stuff with every page a question of who lives or dies but damn I wrote off some of the characters so many times that I realize now they are (gulp) invincible! Well, it doesn't matter, if your ready for a good yarn and likeable (for the most part) characters and a nice smooth read then get this series.
You will like it. Caution: You must have a tolerance for typos.WOW, there was a lot of them.Haffling.really? It does kind of jar you right out of the moment.Anyways, good stuff. A very well written and enjoyable trilogy.
I'm a fan of the games but this was the first Forgotten Realms book I've read. I had heard a lot of good things about Salvatore and he lived up to the reputation. I find his writing to have a good mix of description, dialogue, and emotion. I've already started on two others; The Dark Elf Trilogy and The Cleric's Quintet. So far both are good and should provide many hours of enjoyment. I had just finished reading all of Steven Brust's Dragaera series and I was a little disappointed in the lack of humor in the Salvatore books, probably because Brust gets you used to his 'flavoring' with the sharp-tongued wit of Taltos and his Jhereg companion. If you get the chance you should try one out.
Anyway, overall I rated this trilogy a 4/5 and that's only because it's not the best I've read but still very good.
We all owe a debt to Akar Kessel, that treacherous chump of a wizard's apprentice, briefly known as the (short-lived) Tyrant of Icewind Dale. Akar started it all when he stumbled across the ancient and malevolent Crenshinibon, the Crystal Shard, thereby kicking off one of fantasy's best and best-loved series--and at its heart, one of the genre's most beloved heroes, the noble dark-elf ranger Drizzt Do'Urden.
While surely no Tolkien (who is, really?), Bob Salvatore can take pride in the fact that he's brought legions of enthusiastic fans to the genre--and for anyone who's caught themselves in an embarrassed yawn on page 412 of The Silmarillion, that's not a distinction to be taken lightly. You'd have to be a pretty cold fish for your pulse not to quicken a bit as Drizzt and company lay into yet another ravenous horde of trolls (or giants, or wererats). As an affectionate Terry Brooks says in his introduction to this collector's edition, you could do worse than to have your tombstone say you were a solid, workmanlike writer. And Salvatore, through his superior characterizations and knack for just telling a believable, engaging, and lovable story, transcends even that worthy praise.
For fans, this collection unfolds like a treasured scrapbook: The Crystal Shard, where we first meet the band and explore the Dale (with so many unforgettable scenes: Drizzt taking down Errtu, Wulfgar crushing King Heafstaag's head with his bare hands, Bruenor tearing up as he gives Wulfgar the freshly forged Aegis-fang); Streams of Silver, with the heroes fighting their way to Mithril Hall and facing Artemis Entreri for the first time; and The Halfling's Gem, in which old Rumblebelly has been carted back to Calimport (who can forget the flying-chariot pirate fight, or when Drizzt--finally!--sneaks a quick smooch from Catti-brie?). A must-have on the shelf of any Drizzt true believer, or the perfect gift for some young, would-be fantasy fan. --Paul Hughes
Now dwarf, barbarian, and drow elf join to battle this evil. Tempered in the furnace of struggle, they form an unbreakable friendship.
A legend is born.
For the first time in one volume, here is New York Times bestselling author R.A. Salvatore's adventure that introduced Drizzt Do'Urden, the heroic dark elf, one of the most beloved characters in fantasy literature.