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The Icewind Dale Trilogy Collector's Edition (A Forgotten Realms(r) Omnibus)

The Icewind Dale Trilogy Collector's Edition (A Forgotten Realms(r) Omnibus)

List Price: $19.95
Your Price: $13.57
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A good introduction to the dark elf Drizzt
Review: These were the first books that R. A. Salvatore had written about his most famous character, Drizzt Do'Urden, the drow ranger. Drizzt is truly a noble character; he certainly holds stoicly to any situation he comes upon. As for the individual novels themselves, The Crystal Shard was pretty much the best in my opinion because it was the one to introduce these wonderful characters: Drizzt, Wulfgar, Bruenor, Regis, Catti-brie, and all the rest. Streams of Silver was actually a boring read overall for me, and I guess it's due in part to how it's paced. But I guess it was good for introducing Artemis Entreri, the assassin and and equal in fighting to Drizzt, though his exact opposite in looks and especially in personality.
The Halfling's Gem. Well, the third book is a good read, particularly when Drizzt meets Entreri for the second time, and they battle it out. R. A. Salvatore makes some very good battle scenes, that is for sure!

I gave this book 4 stars primarily because of the typos and errors, grammatical and punctuational, that the reader will find all over the place. The publisher should do a better job of catching them.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Perfection, minus a few (LOT OF) typos
Review: Salvatore is brilliant. There's no doubt about that. Heck, if I could make as much money off of one of my characters as Bob's made off of Drizzt, I could die a happy man. The Icewind Dale Trilogy is a work of art, beautifully written and wonderfully played out. Within this book, you will find some of the best characters in ANY novel, fantasy or otherwise. The only problem is the typos. There's probably 1 typo every 3-4 pages. y's become v's, l's become I's, etc. It seems they scanned Salvatore's hand-written work through a text analyser and didn't thoroughly proof-read it. It doesn't destroy the book, not by any means, but it does become a bit irritating. This is one of the best stories I have ever read, and would LOUDLY suggest it to anyone who can read the English language -- or any language this book has been translated into. But, if typos really bother you alot, buy the seperate paperbacks instead of the hardcover, because there's definitely a healthy amount of em.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Best Trilog y I ever read
Review: I read this last week. The pages kept me glued to it. I do not think I read a better book in my life. If this were on a scale 1-5 I give it a 6

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An Absolutely Amazing Story
Review: As the title would suggest, I was absolutely amazed by the story in this book. It has a lot of action, which I'm not used to, but it is described so well and fluid (and not as gory as Terry Goodkind's action scenes) that it makes up for the lack of elements in other departments ten-fold.

I do a lot of roleplaying, and I was never much interested in Dark Elves until I read this book. Though I have never played in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting (save the game Icewind Dale), I felt like I had known about it all my life. Salvatore grabs you from the get-go, and immerses you in a wonderful story the entire way.

The best part of the books are the journal entries. These are probably the most thought-provacative pieces I have ever seen written. I think these books should become required reading in schools, and at the very least the journal entries, though the characters wouldn't make much sense then. The only bad part about them is that it makes Drizzt look like a better writer than Salvatore. :)

This is also the only book I've ever bought where I bought the next one immediately. I finished this book yesterday, and then I thought, "Oh no! I have nothing good to read!" while I was still 400 or so pages into A Game of Thrones and 70 pages into the sci-fi book First and Only. So tonight I went out and bought the Dark Elf Trilogy. I haven't had time to start it yet, though, save the introduction thingy (before the prelude).

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Hooo boy
Review: Well, first off I have never read any of Salvatore's books before and normally only read the classics like "C.S. Lewis' Narnia Chronicles", "J.R.R Tolkien's" books and the "Dune" books. I thought I would venture out and check out something new, or at least NEW to me. I read through most of the crystal shard and found Drizzt to be an interesting character with not much else all that appealing and ended up speed reading through the rest not enjoying the book , the story is based upon LOTS of "Lord of the Rings" type stuff, a Hafling? Dwarves, and Mithral Hall? Man, so cliched that even Quentin Tarantion couldnt save this wreck of novels....the first book is too bogged down by endless troll battles that was midly interesting but fell flat the rest of the book was very lackluster. Next is "the silver streams" which was quite interesting half way through then IT fell flat.....the finale is "the Hafling's gem", while just a part two of book two......nothing to write home about, now I wasn't comparing these stories to Tolkien or Herbert, Lewis etc but found these books that are well written have NO imagination really that hasn't been done before. If you are a speed reader and enjoy HEAVY cliche ridden books based upon Other great books this is for you, otherwise try Terry Goodkind or a few other newer writers. I have heard that the "dark elf" trilogy is good but for MY sake I hope so, I am a completist and bought the whole set of books by Salvatore before I read these.....don't follow in my footsteps, check this out at the library and judge for yourself, if you buy before you read It's then on your OWN head if you dislike it as much as I did.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Fantasy Literature at its Best
Review: Set in the Forgotten Realms Dungeons & Dragons campaign world, The Icewind Dale Trilogy is the first novel by R.A. Salvatore and introduces the most famous D&D character - Drizzt Do'Urden. The funny part is, only the first book takes place in Icewind Dale.

This is often compared to J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings," but it really shouldn't be in the way that it is. The only thing I noticed, really, was in the first book it mentions how Bruenor's clan, Battlehammer, had "delved too greedily and too deep," almost an exact line from the books. However, when they do reach the mine, you will find it is wholly unlike Moria (the mine from Tolkien's work). Also, these are, for the most part, three seperate stories which are strung together by the assassin Artemis Entreri who quickly becomes Drizzt's rival, the conflict finally coming to a head in the final novel.

You will be brought in by these books in a way Tolkien could never bring me in (it took me a year to read his series; I read this in four days), you will believe these characters are real, you will believe these fights actually happened and Salvatore just happened to video tape them so he could write down what happened later. His descriptions are very good (though they do not tend to drone on like Tolkien's), and his fight scenes are very detailed. Wulfgar, the mighty Barbarian King, does not merely swing his warhammer; he arcs it down upon his enemies side, sending him flying backwards and into another.

The characters are very vividly described, and they are extremely believable. Drizzt has a very hard time trying to fit into the surface world, as he is a Drow; a dark elf. The dark elven society lives deep underground, in the Underdark, and are quite evil. Everyone fears the drow elves, and not only is he often refused to enter towns, he is quite frequently attacked by the guards. This causes great inner tormoil, as all he does is try to do good, but he cannot live down the reputation of his people. Bruenor Battlehammher is a surly old dwarf, who has trouble expressing himself to his friends, but they know he cares just the same. His adopted human daughter, Cattie-brie, keeps everyone sane (and alive) with her blatant logic and intelligence. And then of course there is the assassin, Artemis Entreri. The polar opposite of Drizzt, he abandoned his emotions long ago, but still matches Drizzt's skill in battle, and they both strive to prove that the path they chose in life was right The other characters you will simply have to meet for yourself.

There is of course a reason I gave it four stars. The manuscript was quite obviously scanned, and never read over. M's turn into two r's, y's into v's, stuff like that. It is still quite readable, and only happens every few pages, not every few sentences. If it would really bother you, just buy the seperate books.

If you liked Tolkien, you will like this. If you like fantasy novels, you will like this. If you can read, you will like this.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Best Trilogy I have ever Read
Review: Alright, maybe J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings Trilogy exceeded this a little, but not much. R.A. Salvatore is a master of description, and he doesn't fail here. The images of the characters are painted in your mind, and his characters are unforgettable. The drow elf Drizzt is an outcast from a society of evil elves, Regis is a lazy theiving halfling, Wulfgar is a zealous, arrogant barbarian, Bruenor is a grumpy dwarf, and the beautiful Catti-Brie is a human who keeps them together. These are the heroes, especially Drizzt, and you come to appreciate them as if they were family.

Even if you are not a fan of Fantasy like me, this book is still perfect in many other ways. I'm not gonna give anything away, but in the other books with Drizzt and his friends Salvatore develops the characters even more, so its worth it to read all the books.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Hooo boy
Review: I found this set of books mildy interesting, it was full of cliched characters etc but The saving character is Drizzt. He is interesting and yearns for his own series, which he gets in "the dark elf trilogy"! I find that Salvatore is a decent writer and this is his first trilogy. Most of the story felt slightly "empty" for me except for the parts about drizzt. He is a dark elf with a dark past. He makes you want to know more about him! I would recomend picking up the "Dark Elf" trilogy. This set is ok but nothing to write home about.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Ugh
Review: Utterly cliche. Mithral Hall? And why do all dwarfs have to speak gruffly and have a last name like Battlehammer? *Sigh* Tolkien ring a bell? F. U. Salvatore. Burn in the abyss of the netherworld, where acid-hot mucus will encase your shriveled corpse at the feet of SATAN!!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: OVERALL SCORE: (A)
Review: Enjoyable, this is a well written story that feels comfortable, the characters are likable, the plot is fun, the bad guys are interesting, and the story unfolds at a pleasant pace. It is well worth the money! Better than the usual Forgotten Realms stories of late!

OVERALL SCORE: (A)
READABILITY: (A-), PLOT: (B+), CHARATERS: (A), DIALOGUE: (B+), SETTING: (B+), ACTION/COMBAT: (A), MONSTERS/ANTAGONISTS: (A-), ROMANCE: (C), SEX: (n/a), AGE LEVEL: (PG)


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