Salvatore is a good author for his first novel. The Crystal Shard is a very good and easy read with lots of intrigue and politics. I love the way that the novel begins telling so many tales all in one, like a tapestry or a hair braid. It also feels real and the Dale breathes life. What I like about this book is that Salvatore shines with talent but also his work does not seem to be "bound" by DND.

Also since I played IWD so many times I like being able to read about the real IWD and relate it to the game.

I really like the way that this book is about the Crystal Shard Crenshinibon and not about Drizzt. He is still a great character in this book (I feel that he is a little bit hollow in Drizzt books that came out later) but the protagonist is the Shard. It reminds me of how Peter Jackson made the One Ring into the protagonist (antagonist?) in his film of the Lord of the Rings.

It may be possible that Salvatore lost his glossy shine as he made more and more books, but this one is good. (I still get annoyed at the Americanisms, but I don't speak English, I speak Ocker ;) )

I really think that it is a great book and if you haven't read it yet, then go do so. 9 out of 10. (On the Tolkien scale).

Check it out on SP!

I recently bought this book, but haven't had the time to read it yet. I bought it because of all the positive reviews and comments from everyone who read it. Unfortunatly, the gift box, with three seperate books was not avaliable, so I bought the collector's edition (the very thick paperback). I'll probably start reading it in the next few weeks.

Silverblade..... well worth the effort. You'll enjoy it immensely.

I've read the book in one day literally and i do believe it is a very good book (8 out of 10) i do recommend it to anyone who loves a good fantasy book.
I personally liked more the streams of silver maybe because i'm a fanatic of Drizzt :cool:

I read all of Salvatore's Drizzt books and I can say that Icewind Dale Trilogy is not raelly good when compared to Homeland, The Thousand Orcs, or Servant of the Shard.

I have only read the icewind dale trilogy but i have heard other people say the same thing taht khelben says, so i'm definetely going to buy the other books :)

I liked The Crystal Shard and Streams of Silver but I felt the series went downhill with The Halfling's Gem, and later Drizzt books weren't as interesting because they lacked the depths of Salvatore's earlier works. Drizzt was a more interesting character when less was known about him: a dozen books later and he's pretty much lost all his sense of mystery and is your basic run-of-the-mill-character-in-a-fantasy-setting-who's-really-good-at-fighting.

But I'd recommend The Crystal Shard definitely.

dshadow -- I tend to agree with you somewhat -- at least for me, his character was so foreign to anything I had read -- he was mysterious, quiet, introspective -- I was completely enthralled. Then, as the character aged, the mysteries were explained away and not replaced with anything else. But, I'm still not finished with the line....about to start the Paths of Darkness books. So we'll see.....

On the Tolkien scale it gets about a 3 out of 10. Good by Salvatore standards...

It certainly is an enjoyable book. Apeman's comment in previous topicson it being like reading a comic book is the best description.