When RA Salvatore came out with his Icewind Dale trilogy, one character captured the hearts of readers more than the others. The name of Drizzt Do'Urden, the dark elf, the drow from the underground city of Menzoberranzan, flew through Dungeons & Dragons enthusiasts like wind waves a wheat field. Responding to that enthusiasm to a character that was not even the lead, Salvatore went back and wrote the Dark Elf trilogy. In these prequels, we get to see how Drizzt grew up, how he realized the evil ways of his kind, and how he found the courage to go to the surface and face the sun. I recommend buying this trilogy as it is here--bound in one book, because it flows so well from one to the next that it seems only natural to only have to flip a page to go into the next leg of the tale.

I originally bought these novels to study fight scenes. They came highly recommended as a source for such. The fight scenes are excellent without being flamboyant. Perfect for the kind of thing I wanted to read. But I'll have to read the trilogy again, because I got so caught up in Drizzt's tale, I forgot to "study."

Well, the character. The writing style isn't beautiful or moving. The stories aren't spectacular and even the specific way Salvatore depicts Drizzt isn't the best, but there's something in Drizzt that makes all of that seem so much better. There's so much to get out of following this dark elf's journey, even if I was less than pleased with---oh wait; there's a section for that coming up next.

Salvatore skipped the part of the story I had looked forward to since the beginning. It could be argued that I'm wrong, but I'm talking about a very specific span of five years that got passed over from one chapter to the next toward the end of the third book. I still enjoyed the journey and I'll still read it again. But I know to stop just before that happens this time. Because Salvatore lost the spark of Drizzt after that point.

This is part of my Reading Resolution:

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Created Apr 19, 2007 at 3:36pm • Submit your own review...