The Crystal Shard review

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Posted by Jim on Jun 25, 2008 28 views

Book IV of the Forgotten Realms epic adventure by R.A. Salvatore in The Legend of Drizzt, Book IV brings us to the Spine of the World and Icewind Dale. In The Crystal Shard: The Icewind Dale Trilogy, Part 1, the dark elf Drizzt continues to hold us into his adventures, encounters and companians.

When the wizards’ caravan from the Hosttower of the Arcane saw the snow-capped peak of Kelvin’s Cairn rising from the flat horizon, they were more than a little relieved. From here, it was easily another 100 pages down before I put the book down to take a break. The adventure continues to just hold you onto every chapter and turn of the page. As characters, towns and politics develop, we move in a continual stream of events between different groups and individuals. I enjoyed this style in the George R.R. Martin books, and have enjoyed it here. It just makes the story more exciting to read then the book style of J.R.R. Tolkein.

The dwarven valley is home to a market for knucklehead trout, crafter into skrimshaw and transported to the lands to the west and south. To make that treck, caravans must risk the roaming goblin tribes. And now, those tribes are called by an ancient, sentient being, the, crystal shard, that lures in a weak mage, Akar Kessell, a mighty demon, the balor Errtu, and hoards of barbarians, frost giants and goblinkind.

The barbarians begin to become a major storyline from their meeting in the mead hall, to their decision by the barbarian king to start a war for scare resources in the frozen north.

And in the Hosttower, we have wizards fighting for rank. This is not just a passing event. It shows up in all of the future books to a minor or major extent. In grand epic style, events of the past are always brought forward days, tendays, years or much later by R.A. Salvatore

Drizzt Do’Urden tries to live in Icewind Dale surrounded by humans, dwarves, giants and much more. Every chapter keeps you reading on.