Rating: 
Summary: Truly a masterpiece
Review: This is the best Salvatore work I've read in years. He brilliantly combines covert politicking among all the main players---both new and old---with the stunning action we've come to expect from him. This book also sees the end of the Artemis Entreri we've come to know and love, Pikel Bouldershoulder expanding his vocabularly, and a shocking revelation about Jarlaxle that will no doubt be addressed in subsequent novels. I highly recommend this book to any fan of fantasy, and particularly to anyone that has followed the exploits of the Companions of the Hall.
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining but Forgettable
Review: The concept of a novel based primarily on Artemis Entreri the assassin, Drizzt Do'Urden's hated rival, and Jarlaxle the mercenary leader of Menzoberranzan was very appealing to me in concept, but on paper it is a disappointment. It has its fair share of redeeming qualities, but thus far I cannot understand the rave reviews it has garnered here at Amazon.As I said, the premise is very promising, but Salvatore's pacing is toilsome at first and too rapid near the end. He can't seem to find a happy medium, and the text suffers as a direct result of it. Salvatore also repeats himself far too often, so much so, in fact, that if you smell a repetative paragraph (or page!) coming on, you can often skim ahead a little and be none the worse for wear. Until about 200 pages into the book so little happens that it's hard to keep focused (espesially when you're reading A Game of Thrones on the side, which I don't recommend doing because it is a far superior read). However, if you come to this point it will bring a smile to your face. Just imagine Jarlaxle, Entreri, Cadderly, Danica, Pikel, and Ivan uniting to do battle against a giant red dragon, a handful of drow, and an illithid while trying to rid themselves of the menacing Crystal Shard. It gets good, but it goes way too fast, and it could have taken up a much larger portion of the book instead of the repetition that fills most of it instead. This also brings up another issue, for much of the backstory of the Cleric Quintet is revealed to those Salvatore fans who may not have found their way into the series as yet. If the books had been directly connected this would be fair, of course, but such is not the case, unfortunately. If you can take a healthy dose of bad with the good, this may be for you - and you certainly should read it if you're a fan of the "Drizzt books." Unless, of course, you don't like Jarlaxle or Entreri, because that's what all this is about! It's entertaining enough, but it doesn't stand out in the series.
Rating: 
Summary: Another excellent Salvatore book.
Review: RA Salvatore's Forgotten Realms books have been evolving considerably for quite some time now. His main characters have always been strong and they've carried the novels well. However, the focus on characters became much stronger with his recent series of books (The Silent Blade, The Spine of the World). Yes, they had the vivid battle scenes that had made RA Salvatore the best battle choreographer (for lack of a better title) in fantasy literature, but they deviated from the combat heavy approach and began to examine the characters more deeply. In The Silent Blade, the inner turmoil of Wulfgar overshadowed the tired conflict between Entreri and Drizzt. In The Spine of the World, Wulfgar was fleshed out more, and it was his road to redemption that elicited tension, not the battles. The Servant of the Shard, Salvatore continues to flesh out his characters, this time exposing new sides of Jarlaxle and Entreri. The focus here is certainly Entreri, and Salvatore expands this villain...something that was desperately needed. Entreri was always an interesting antagonist, mainly because he was such an excellent opponent for Drizzt. While Entreri is always portrayed in an interesting way, but his typical solitary manner and egotistical attitude causes the word "archetype" to come to many readers' minds. And it's true, Entreri is an archetype. And sure, we loved when he fought Drizzt (those battles made for some of the most intense physical confrontations in any books I've ever read). But many readers, myself included, felt it hard to stretch ourselves to believe that the drawn-out contest with Drizzt was believable. Entreri's foundation in the story was basically based on his need to best Drizzt in combat. Since that was pretty much it, was such a character really fleshed-out enough to drive an entire story? The answer is yes and no. In Servant of the Shard, Entreri does transcend his staple character status and become character that is more real and believable. However, I found many of Entreri's developments a little too abrupt. It felt that, for some cases, Salvatore didn't develop certain ideas fully. Most work well, but some don't. Since this book is largely focused on Entreri, this hurts the overall story. The plot here focuses on Bregan D'aerthe (damn, how do you spell that?) expanding its control in Calimport. They are headed by Jarlaxle, now in possession of the Crystal Shard. The artifact's influence feeds the mercenary leader with reckless ambitions that cause Bregan D'aerthe to turn against him. Entreri saves Jarlaxle from his usurpers and they seek Cadderly's help in destroying the relic. The ending is slightly anti-climactic (it's exciting, but nowhere near finales like his Legacy of the Drow novels). One of the problems is that the means to destroy the Crystal Shard is so simple! It's enough to create a good ending, but I was expecting something is little more grandiose (this is an artifact, afterall). It may sound like I'm ragging on this book, but I don't want that to be the case. The story line is good, but the real star is Entreri. He's where my interest was fixed. As you near the end of the book, you begin to learn new things about him, but it's clear that Salvatore was holding back on all the details...which means there will probably be yet another addition to Entreri's story. Finally, in 2001 guess what will be released? "Sea of Swords", Salvatore's next FR book. And who's looking for something on the Sea of Swords...huh, huh? Wulfgar! Any Drizzt/Salvatore fan should be tantalized by that little bit of info...I certainly was.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Read!
Review: Fair maidens, heroic heroes, brave knights - er wait , this is a book about the BAD GUYS! I admit, I've never been that much of an Entreri fan, but Entreri and Jarlaxle together are a riot! This story is full of evil dark elves, high adventure, intrigue, unsurmountable odds, and cool magic toys to boot! Do yourself a favor and pick it up for some good reading.
Rating:
Summary: Servant of the Shard
Review: If you want Drizzt, Wulfgar, Regis, or any of the others from the series do not buy this book. I was hoping and expecting Drizzt would appear in this book for more than just notes at the beginning of chapters, but alas he did not. This book however is an excellent read. Once you get passed the initial anger of another Dark Elf book without Drizzt. The story is well written with many swerves in its pages. We get more of the background players to the forefront in this story. Artemis and Jarlaxle are interesting characters that could carry their own series of books easily. Salvatore expands on their relationship and the making of the Shard extensively, and introduces us to another side of the assassin. Read it, it's well worth the time. One can only hope we get the original lineup back in the next book! Dr. B
Rating:
Summary: Artemis Entreri & Jarlaxle fans rejoice!
Review: Salvatore has performed a hat trick (bonus points for me for a hockey reference) in what is now known as the Paths of Darkness series of novels which are The Silent Blade, The Spine of the World, Servant of the Shard, and the forthcoming Sea of Swords. Some fans grumbled about the novel Passage to Dawn, complaining that Salvatore appeared to have lost his magic and that the story itself was redundant and mediocre. Critics! Can't live with 'em, can't deport 'em! Salvatore has come back to the Forgotten Realms with a vengeance with this latest series of novels and should have put to rest any doubters out there that he has lost his style. Silent Blade and Spine of the World were fantastic and Servant of the Shard might have even surpassed those two in my opinion. People were skeptical about Spine of the World since it focused on Wulfgar, and Drizzt wasn't making an appearance, but it definately earned its place on my book shelf. I loved it. If we need a break from Drizzt every once in a while, why not take a closer look at the other characters for a change? Now Salvatore has done it again with Servant of the Shard. Now we get a wonderful adventure that explores the current exploits of Jarlaxle, the flamboyant Drow mercenary band leader, and Artemis Entreri, master assassin. With sword fights, psionics, drow, illithids, powerful sentient weapons and artifacts, conspiracy & intrigue, demons, the Bouldershoulder brothers, and more, it's a very enjoyable novel even without Drizzt. I definately recommend this volume for Drizzt and Forgotten Realms fans out there and look forward to the 4th volume next year.
Rating:
Summary: Who needs Drizzt?
Review: Not only is this Salvatore at his best, this is FANTASY at its best. I've heard a lot of complaining about Drizzt not being around for the last couple of books, and on some level I understand that criticism. But in my opinion, NOT having Drizzt around has made the series fresher, and will make things all the more exciting when Drizzt IS finally reintroduced. Look, I'm a huge Salvatore fan, and all that really matters to me is that he continues to pump out good storylines, and Servant of the Shard is his best work in this series in quite some time. This book is thick with intrigue, double-dealings, and stabs in the back, and is all the better for it. The layers get so thick at some points in the novel that it really takes some thinking to unravel who is against who. And my oh my, thank the good lord Salvatore has finally discovered the art of character development. In Spine of the World, we found out that there is much more to Wulfgar than his hammer, and in Servant of the Shard we learn more about Jarlaxle and Artemis than in all the rest of the books in the series combined. But all of the great intrigue and character development doesn't get in the way of the action. There are plenty of classic Salvatore sequences in Servant of the Shard. In fact, the concluding 50 pages is a veritable feast of action that ends the novel in a true crescendo. But the biggest reason to love this book is the revelation that occurs on the last page, a revelation so shocking and brilliant that the series could soar to new heights in the next couple of volumes. Tell me, how can I possibly wait for the next installment? I know: I'll go back and read every book in the entire series. . .again.
Rating:
Summary: GET THIS BOOK
Review: What can I say? This is perhaps the best of Salvatore's work that I have ever had the pleasure of reading. It was so good, in fact, that I purchased it before the stores closed at Halloween night only to finish it the next afternoon-under 10 hours of reading. If you loved the Silent Blade, then I guarantee that you will enjoy this novel even better. Silent Blade set the stage up for the contents in THIS book. After finishing reading the latest of Terry Brooks' novels, Voyage of the Jerle Shannara, I thought I would go an entire year without reading some good fantasy, but I remembered that Salvatore's novel was coming up, and I immediately jumped to see when it was going to be released. I only had to wait a few weeks. In this book, we see sides of Entreri and Jarlaxle that none of us even thought was there. Entreri finally opens his eyes and beholds the true prize that has eluded him for way too long. Jarlaxle gets the wish he's asked for many years while he was trapped in the Underdark. Both of these two come out winning. But it isn't the prize, but the way they achieved it. You will all be struck as I was. If any of you had any questions as to the quality of the book, then cast them aside immediately. This novel will NOT disappoint you in the least bit. To those who are not yet into Salvatore's work, I strongly urge you to read the Icewind Dale Trilogy, following the Dark Elf saga, and straight on to Legacy. Work your way to read THIS story, because it's a great journey unto itself. Thank you, Mr. Salvatore. And please don't make us wait too long for the next installment.
Rating:
Summary: A great Drizzt book, even if Drizzt isn't in it.
Review: At first when I heard that Drizzt wasn't going to be in this book I was rather skeptical, but I came to realize that those doubts were misplaced. Right from the beginning of the book I was drawn in to the layers upon layers of deception, that only Artemis Entreri and Jarlaxle could perform. By the near end of the book I was so immersed into the webs woven that I couldn't put it down. I was equally impressed with how much of these characters are shown to the readers; a light is finally shown in the darkness that is Artemis Entreri and Jarlaxle's souls. The plot of this book is more than I excepted from Salvatore, considering his last few books, it is well thought out and planned. Truly I would recommend this book to anybody; many other fans and I can't wait to read the next in line to this great series.
Rating:
Summary: Salvatore is amazing
Review: I haven't read this yet, because I'm waiting for the paperback. However, I did want to say what a great writer Salvatore is. Not only can he weave an interesting story that avoids becoming stagnant, but he has the ability to make this amazing characters, both good and evil, and really develop them to the highest degree. I mean, really, how many authors can write books about the evil villian after the hero repeatedly wins?
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