⇒ Libro Gratis The Crystal Shard Forgotten Realms The Icewind Dale Trilogy Book 1 R A Salvatore 9780880385350 Books

The Crystal Shard Forgotten Realms The Icewind Dale Trilogy Book 1 R A Salvatore 9780880385350 Books

Download As PDF : The Crystal Shard Forgotten Realms The Icewind Dale Trilogy Book 1 R A Salvatore 9780880385350 Books

The Crystal Shard Forgotten Realms The Icewind Dale Trilogy Book 1 R A Salvatore 9780880385350 Books

While nowadays labeled as Book 4 in the "Legend of Drizzt" series under the many-authored shared universe of the Forgotten Realms (itself one of a number of campaign settings for the Dungeons & Dragons tabletop roleplaying game, and a popular choice for videogames of a few genres), this particular entry, The Crystal Shard, was originally released in 1988 as R.A. Salvatore's first published work, and the first volume in the "Icewind Dale Trilogy," a slightly misleading series name since this is the only book of the three set in the region of Icewind Dale. It's worth noting that while this book provides a lot of world-building for that part of the Forgotten Realms, there's also no direct story connection between the Icewind Dale Trilogy and the PC roleplaying games released under the name Icewind Dale--they simply take place in the same area within of the campaign setting.

The Crystal Shard, set against the many Forgotten Realms novels that exist nowadays, is easy to consider inferior to many of its brother and sister works. Before picking this one up, it's worth knowing that at the time of its publication, the Forgotten Realms setting itself was very new as a D&D product line, the first game products being released in '87, the year before. Together with Douglas Niles's "Darkwalker on Moonshae," this book is a pure example of an entry point. Together with the following two works in the trilogy, "Streams of Silver" and "The Halfling's Gem," this book thus focuses on three elements:

- An endearing and eccentric cast of heroes to familiarize the reader into with the archetypal Dungeons & Dungeons adventurer's ensemble
- Establishing the region of the Forgotten Realms in which the story takes place, to be give both readers and D&D players a feel for the universe this and other stories would take place in
- Setting the norms by which the Forgotten Realms label would be judged, in other words, the standards of its brand of fantasy adventure.

As such, The Crystal Shard is characterized by its adherence to the basics. The principle characters are an elf, a dwarf, and a man. The villain is a vain, bumbling wizard who stumbles upon an ageless, evil artifact of great power and sentience (the eponymous Crystal Shard). The chief threat to the safety of the region arrives in the form of a legion of goblins, orcs, lesser giants, and trolls which serve this evil wizard. Throughout the adventure, the action-packed tempo is kept moving from beginning to end, starting with the first act's preliminary war with the unified barbarian tribes of Icewind Dale, a shorter peril which runs parallel to the slower introduction and development of Akar Kessell, the wizard who finds the Shard. And over the course of the story, both a demon and a dragon stand as adversaries for the story's two chief protagonists. Magical trinkets and weapons are forged and found, and though the story splits off to follow several characters on their different paths through the adventure--much as J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" did on a larger scale--the story never deviates from the tried and tested basics of what makes a fantasy adventure feel magical. In that sense The Crystal Shard is simply an example of good, old-school fantasy fun.

The major story hook of this novel that sets it apart from other novels of its type released around the same time is its main character, who at this point requires no introduction. Drizzt Do'Urden, a heroic ranger of the "dark elf" sub-race which at the time was considered universally evil in D&D, does not dominate the adventure as an almighty invincible swordsman as he would come to in some later novels, nor does he weigh the story down with undue focus on his own troubled life as a drow who has forsaken his heritage. It is in this novel that Drizzt, not identified by his author or his publisher as the quintessential D&D cash cow, made his debut, and it is partly this even-handed use of the character that made him so interesting at the time. Over the course of The Crystal Shard, and the following books in the Icewind Dale Trilogy, Drizzt stands out as a fantastic protagonist without being hyper-competent or stealing the spotlight from either the setting itself or the rest of the cast, feeling as much like another player at the D&D table as the main character of a novel. Start-of-act journal-like essays (added to later editions of the Icewind Dale Trilogy, I think) provide additional insight into Drizzt's character and outlook and speak directly on the story's themes without intruding on the plot or bogging the overall product down with preachiness. The pacing of Drizzt's portrayal in this book, which I can't help but feel tapered off somewhere after the later novel Starless Night, is very well-done here, and in re-experiencing this book again after so many years, I find myself remembering quite fondly why I loved the character so much in his heyday.

The rest of the cast is likewise entertaining, although coming at this book after the rest of the series is a little awkward in several aspects. For one thing, the first three books listed under the Legend of Drizzt title, the Dark Elf Trilogy, are Drizzt's origin story but were written later, so reading the books in chronological order does for the writing what watching the Hobbit Trilogy before the Lord of the Rings movies does for the action and special effects: it's pretty obvious that Salvatore had improved by the time Homeland, Exile, and Sojourn were written, so without knowledge of the series history, The Crystal Shard can appear to be an inexplicable dip in quality and complexity. Furthermore, the inherently "basic" nature of this Dungeons & Dragons story, while serving well as an entry point, can feel underwhelming compared to the more inventive and complex stories later released under the Forgotten Realms brand, a theme that continues to a lesser extent throughout the two books immediately following, with The Halfling's Gem being the least by-the-numbers adventure of the three.

There are only two parts of his story in particular that feel unwieldy to me, however. The first is the character of Catti-brie, who in later books is written as both a more prominent character and speaking with a dwarf-like accent which she inexplicably does not have in her appearances here (despite having it at the end of Sojourn, Book III in the Drizzt line, and in Streams of Silver, immediately after this one). She does absolutely nothing worthwhile but the narrative insists that she is strong, fiery, and independent, which kind of feels like the book wanted to make her the token female warrior but gave up halfway through and settled for having her say some mildly interesting lines of dialogue here and there while taking great pains to describe how much her eyes sparkled. Drizzt mentally refers to her as his most trusted friend and companion, but we are given no context for this connection within the book itself, resulting in Catti-brie's inclusion here feeling forced and awkward. This is doubly stark if the reader happens to be a long-time fan of Drizzt and his companions prior to reading The Crystal Shard, as Catti-brie is one of the most interesting and frequently-utilized members of the "Company of the Hall" in later stories. Seeing her so minimalized is, in retrospect, kind of insulting to the character.

The second unwieldy portion of the book is the dragon that happens to be involved in the barbarian Wulfgar's portion of the plot. While the scenes involving this dragon are well-done on many levels, this particular part of the story feels awkwardly tangential when it occurs, because all of the other plot threads involved in The Crystal Shard--from the barbarians to the political conflicts of Ten-Towns to the dwarves to the demon who ends up being summoned by coincidence to the world during the story's events, right up to the primary conflict with Akar Kessel's army--the dragon is the only part of the story that receives no build-up and only a very small token bit of foreshadowing before it happens. When it does happen, it happens with style, but it feels almost like a one-chapter sidestory than a real part of the novel. The inclusion of a dragon feels forced, as if it were an item on the checklist of Fantasy Adventure Staples the author needed to include, and compared to other dragon encounters in fantasy fiction, such as Tolkien's Smaug, or even Shimmergloom the shadow dragon in the book immediately after this one, this one falls flat and leaves a lasting legacy not so much in the imagination of the reader as on Drizzt Do'Urden's own weapon belt.

Apart from those stumbling points, though, The Crystal Shard is a great time from beginning to end. If ever there were an example of reading a Lord of the Rings *movie* in book form, it would be this. While there are certainly better fantasy novels out there, and far more interesting ones to choose from within the Forgotten Realms line itself, The Crystal Shard is one I'd recommend that every fan of the genre read at least once, either to re-acquaint themselves with the basics of these kinds of stories, or to see one of the earliest examples of what made both the Forgotten Realms and Drizzt himself so popular amongst fantasy RPG and novel fans.

A note about the audiobook:
Victor Bevine's narration is quite good, giving the characters suitable voices and adjusting the drama level suitably for most scenes, however, I feel that some of the subtleties of tone are lost in the narration and there were definitely a few places where the narrator mis-spoke or mis-read a word. The audiobook also contains the prologue, opening Drizzt essay, and first chapter of Streams of Silver as a teaser at the very end, after the credits.


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The Crystal Shard Forgotten Realms The Icewind Dale Trilogy Book 1 R A Salvatore 9780880385350 Books Reviews

R.A. Salvatore and his Legend of Drizzt series has been one of my favorite series for at least the past 15 years. Salvatore consistently tells not only a great and well-written story, but one with some of the best sword-fighting (and other) scenes in print. On top of that you get a heartfelt story of a character seeking to do the right thing in the face of insurmountable odds. All of which is told with Fantasy tropes and an expansive D&D world.

This may be book 4 but is always the place I recommend new readers of Drizzt start. It was the first book published and an accessibly entry point into this wonderful tale.
I came to the series late enough that to me this is the fourth book of the series and said of the first. With Drizzt origin story becoming the pre Trilogy and the first three books I did not get a chance to experience the sorry as the author originally intended. Nonetheless the fantasy world that he wrote in of DnD pulled me right in. This is the second read through and I found myself laughing and cheering as if it was my first.I
For the observant reader or binge reader will catch a few inconsistencies in the drows backstory particularly concerning how we got the awesome Panther. Outside of that there are few mistakes to be caught and very little to pull the reader outside of the story.
This was one of my favorite series growing up. I've recently had the desire to re-read them and have just finished Homeland, Exile, and Sojourn. These comprise the Dark Elf Trilogy and kind of do the Star Wars thing of being prequels made after the original three of the Icewind Dale Trilogy, of which this book is the first.

You can tell that the author is still finding their voice in this book. The author refers to Guenhwyvar as a male when he indicates a gender at all, often just calling it 'the panther' or 'the cat'. As far as I know, in the rest of the series it's female. Drizzt's personality also isn't as refined as it is in the prequel or the rest of the series. He doesn't have the depth of character that he does in the prequels. They author says all the right things that get refined in the prequels, but it doesn't make the same impact.

***Next paragraph vaguely mentions sections of the book. I don't consider anything beyond this point a spoiler, though.***

There are also a couple of other things that could potentially be explained away, but bothered me a little. For instance there is a section of the book that deals with some of the enemy taking up residence in a cave. They say they set up living areas and even a small kitchen. Later, when some of the good guys enter the layer, there are many chambers, fireplaces, multiple tables, hidden doors, and doors of wood and steel. These are things that these particular enemies wouldn't have brought with them, and wouldn't have had time to make, even if the noise and debris of making them wouldn't have alerted anyone to their presence. A much more likely scenario would be that they set up in an old dwarven living area, however, would the dwarves have been inclined to make the dimensions so large? I wouldn't think so, so I'm going to label this a mistake. I think the author was trying to add details that made the story more interesting, but didn't give sufficient justification as to why they had this elaborate setup.

***End of book details***

I still think this was a really good book and I think that after this original trilogy the books get much better. I think the author starts putting out much better writing. I remember really enjoying most of the books, though there was some slogging I had to get through. I'll see if they hold up as I continue reading. This book isn't a bad book by any stretch of the imagination and it's critical in introducing characters that will be with us for a long time to come, so you should read it, no doubt.
While nowadays labeled as Book 4 in the "Legend of Drizzt" series under the many-authored shared universe of the Forgotten Realms (itself one of a number of campaign settings for the Dungeons & Dragons tabletop roleplaying game, and a popular choice for videogames of a few genres), this particular entry, The Crystal Shard, was originally released in 1988 as R.A. Salvatore's first published work, and the first volume in the "Icewind Dale Trilogy," a slightly misleading series name since this is the only book of the three set in the region of Icewind Dale. It's worth noting that while this book provides a lot of world-building for that part of the Forgotten Realms, there's also no direct story connection between the Icewind Dale Trilogy and the PC roleplaying games released under the name Icewind Dale--they simply take place in the same area within of the campaign setting.

The Crystal Shard, set against the many Forgotten Realms novels that exist nowadays, is easy to consider inferior to many of its brother and sister works. Before picking this one up, it's worth knowing that at the time of its publication, the Forgotten Realms setting itself was very new as a D&D product line, the first game products being released in '87, the year before. Together with Douglas Niles's "Darkwalker on Moonshae," this book is a pure example of an entry point. Together with the following two works in the trilogy, "Streams of Silver" and "The Halfling's Gem," this book thus focuses on three elements

- An endearing and eccentric cast of heroes to familiarize the reader into with the archetypal Dungeons & Dungeons adventurer's ensemble
- Establishing the region of the Forgotten Realms in which the story takes place, to be give both readers and D&D players a feel for the universe this and other stories would take place in
- Setting the norms by which the Forgotten Realms label would be judged, in other words, the standards of its brand of fantasy adventure.

As such, The Crystal Shard is characterized by its adherence to the basics. The principle characters are an elf, a dwarf, and a man. The villain is a vain, bumbling wizard who stumbles upon an ageless, evil artifact of great power and sentience (the eponymous Crystal Shard). The chief threat to the safety of the region arrives in the form of a legion of goblins, orcs, lesser giants, and trolls which serve this evil wizard. Throughout the adventure, the action-packed tempo is kept moving from beginning to end, starting with the first act's preliminary war with the unified barbarian tribes of Icewind Dale, a shorter peril which runs parallel to the slower introduction and development of Akar Kessell, the wizard who finds the Shard. And over the course of the story, both a demon and a dragon stand as adversaries for the story's two chief protagonists. Magical trinkets and weapons are forged and found, and though the story splits off to follow several characters on their different paths through the adventure--much as J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" did on a larger scale--the story never deviates from the tried and tested basics of what makes a fantasy adventure feel magical. In that sense The Crystal Shard is simply an example of good, old-school fantasy fun.

The major story hook of this novel that sets it apart from other novels of its type released around the same time is its main character, who at this point requires no introduction. Drizzt Do'Urden, a heroic ranger of the "dark elf" sub-race which at the time was considered universally evil in D&D, does not dominate the adventure as an almighty invincible swordsman as he would come to in some later novels, nor does he weigh the story down with undue focus on his own troubled life as a drow who has forsaken his heritage. It is in this novel that Drizzt, not identified by his author or his publisher as the quintessential D&D cash cow, made his debut, and it is partly this even-handed use of the character that made him so interesting at the time. Over the course of The Crystal Shard, and the following books in the Icewind Dale Trilogy, Drizzt stands out as a fantastic protagonist without being hyper-competent or stealing the spotlight from either the setting itself or the rest of the cast, feeling as much like another player at the D&D table as the main character of a novel. Start-of-act journal-like essays (added to later editions of the Icewind Dale Trilogy, I think) provide additional insight into Drizzt's character and outlook and speak directly on the story's themes without intruding on the plot or bogging the overall product down with preachiness. The pacing of Drizzt's portrayal in this book, which I can't help but feel tapered off somewhere after the later novel Starless Night, is very well-done here, and in re-experiencing this book again after so many years, I find myself remembering quite fondly why I loved the character so much in his heyday.

The rest of the cast is likewise entertaining, although coming at this book after the rest of the series is a little awkward in several aspects. For one thing, the first three books listed under the Legend of Drizzt title, the Dark Elf Trilogy, are Drizzt's origin story but were written later, so reading the books in chronological order does for the writing what watching the Hobbit Trilogy before the Lord of the Rings movies does for the action and special effects it's pretty obvious that Salvatore had improved by the time Homeland, Exile, and Sojourn were written, so without knowledge of the series history, The Crystal Shard can appear to be an inexplicable dip in quality and complexity. Furthermore, the inherently "basic" nature of this Dungeons & Dragons story, while serving well as an entry point, can feel underwhelming compared to the more inventive and complex stories later released under the Forgotten Realms brand, a theme that continues to a lesser extent throughout the two books immediately following, with The Halfling's Gem being the least by-the-numbers adventure of the three.

There are only two parts of his story in particular that feel unwieldy to me, however. The first is the character of Catti-brie, who in later books is written as both a more prominent character and speaking with a dwarf-like accent which she inexplicably does not have in her appearances here (despite having it at the end of Sojourn, Book III in the Drizzt line, and in Streams of Silver, immediately after this one). She does absolutely nothing worthwhile but the narrative insists that she is strong, fiery, and independent, which kind of feels like the book wanted to make her the token female warrior but gave up halfway through and settled for having her say some mildly interesting lines of dialogue here and there while taking great pains to describe how much her eyes sparkled. Drizzt mentally refers to her as his most trusted friend and companion, but we are given no context for this connection within the book itself, resulting in Catti-brie's inclusion here feeling forced and awkward. This is doubly stark if the reader happens to be a long-time fan of Drizzt and his companions prior to reading The Crystal Shard, as Catti-brie is one of the most interesting and frequently-utilized members of the "Company of the Hall" in later stories. Seeing her so minimalized is, in retrospect, kind of insulting to the character.

The second unwieldy portion of the book is the dragon that happens to be involved in the barbarian Wulfgar's portion of the plot. While the scenes involving this dragon are well-done on many levels, this particular part of the story feels awkwardly tangential when it occurs, because all of the other plot threads involved in The Crystal Shard--from the barbarians to the political conflicts of Ten-Towns to the dwarves to the demon who ends up being summoned by coincidence to the world during the story's events, right up to the primary conflict with Akar Kessel's army--the dragon is the only part of the story that receives no build-up and only a very small token bit of foreshadowing before it happens. When it does happen, it happens with style, but it feels almost like a one-chapter sidestory than a real part of the novel. The inclusion of a dragon feels forced, as if it were an item on the checklist of Fantasy Adventure Staples the author needed to include, and compared to other dragon encounters in fantasy fiction, such as Tolkien's Smaug, or even Shimmergloom the shadow dragon in the book immediately after this one, this one falls flat and leaves a lasting legacy not so much in the imagination of the reader as on Drizzt Do'Urden's own weapon belt.

Apart from those stumbling points, though, The Crystal Shard is a great time from beginning to end. If ever there were an example of reading a Lord of the Rings *movie* in book form, it would be this. While there are certainly better fantasy novels out there, and far more interesting ones to choose from within the Forgotten Realms line itself, The Crystal Shard is one I'd recommend that every fan of the genre read at least once, either to re-acquaint themselves with the basics of these kinds of stories, or to see one of the earliest examples of what made both the Forgotten Realms and Drizzt himself so popular amongst fantasy RPG and novel fans.

A note about the audiobook
Victor Bevine's narration is quite good, giving the characters suitable voices and adjusting the drama level suitably for most scenes, however, I feel that some of the subtleties of tone are lost in the narration and there were definitely a few places where the narrator mis-spoke or mis-read a word. The audiobook also contains the prologue, opening Drizzt essay, and first chapter of Streams of Silver as a teaser at the very end, after the credits.