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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. |
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The Icewind Dale trilogy continues the story of Drizzt Do'Urden or rather it introduces it. This trilogy was Salvatore's first series in the Forgotten Realms universe after which he wrote the popular origin story for Drizzt in the dark elf trilogy. It is interesting to read Salvatore's prelude in this collection as he talks about how Drizzt was a last minute addition to his story after which he decided to turn into the main focus. There is a continuity gap between this story and the dark elf, which has lead to many edits in the Icewind Dale trilogy itself. I personally didn't enjoy this work as much as the Dark Elf trilogy. Salvatore doesn't give his characters nearly as much depth throughout these novels besides the one they're introduced with. However if you're a typical Salvatore fan, you're probably more interested in the fight choreography which this series definately has alot of. The problem with this series in my opinion was that it was pretty much a tale of the heroes going from point a to point b fighting some battles along the way with the exception of the first novel. The first novel by the way is the only novel that actually takes place in Icewind Dale. It seems like Salvatore didn't really have a direction for his trilogy and instead wrote each additional installment as another adventure packed on directly after the previous one ended. There is no long plot line throughout the three novels. In the character department, I think Salvatore's best work was in Artemis Entreri the evil human assassin who later becomes Drizzt's archrival. This dark character adds alot to a pretty much routine adventure and his personal desires to fight with Drizzt hints at deeper personal issues. In conclusion I would recommend this book to anyone who's already a fan of the Forgotten Realms series. However if they're a beginner to the Forgotten Realms world, I would recommend the Dark Elf trilogy as that was a whole level above this series in terms of quality. With the new omnibus collection which retails at 19.99 and can be easily found for 13 dollars or less, I see this as an easy buy for most fantasy readers.
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