Icewind Dale novels.........where have i been?

[Xmann]

After my final earlier this week i headed to the public library on the way home to grab some reading to relax with during the holidays.  I was unsure of what to pick up..........until i came upon RA Salvadore's Icewind Dale Trilogy.
Wow this is great reading!  I've been a fan of fantasy and the ID games, but man i wish i had pick these up years ago.  I find myself staying up to finish "just another page".  And before you know it it's 3 in the morning.
I should have Book I done this weekend and i'll start II next.  Who else is a fan of the series?  What else should i look to pick up next?

[Kevin Grey]

I haven't read more than a chapter or two of 'Crystal Shard' but you should pick up the Dark Elf trilogy next which is generally considered to be the best Drizzt series.  I enjoyed it a fair amount though evidently not as much as most people.

I want to try to get back to Icewind Dale someday though since I do like that environment a lot more than the Underdark.

[warning]

Yeah read the Icewind Dale trilogy.  It is excellent.

Read the Dark Elf trilogy.  It's also excellent.

Then stop.  Seriously stop after that.  He went on to write 40,000 books after those with recycled plots and characters.  But those two trilogies are wonderful.

[Dreamshadow]

Yeah read the Icewind Dale trilogy.  It is excellent.

Read the Dark Elf trilogy.  It's also excellent.

Then stop.  Seriously stop after that.  He went on to write 40,000 books after those with recycled plots and characters.  But those two trilogies are wonderful.

Agreed.  Read those six books and then walk away.  The story goes downhill from there...mostly due to the fact that the characters are so powerful, he has to dredge up gods for them to fight on a regular basis. *sigh*

[Daehawk]

Ive read that trilogy and a few others. I lack his latest called The Hunters Blade Trilogy and one of  the elf trilogies..forget which. I loved them all. RA is the only fantasy Ill read. I really love the way he writes out fights. And I really enjoy any story with Artemis Entreri in it.

[Soulchilde]

I can recommend the Hunter's Blade Trilogy.  Really High adventure in that series.

My understanding is that RA is taking a extended break from Drizzt and crew.  I think he is writing a book on Artemis Enteri and another character

[Xmann]

Good, glad to know i feel the same way about them as most others do.  I did notice, like everyone has mentioned a go 30 or 40 books available......even at my public library.  There were so many books that were parts of a series it was mind blowing.  I've read about Drizzt and didnt want to start a series unless i could start from the beginning.
I'll be on the lookout for those other books around the summer when i'll have some more free time.

[Soulchilde]

He did write that book and it came out this summer.  Don't know how I missed it: Servant of the Shard (Forgotten Realms: The Sellswords)

Servant of the Shard: The Sellswords Book 1  
 
FROM THE PUBLISHER
This book brings two familiar characters into the limelight for the first time! Jarlaxle, a dark elf assassin, and Artemis Entreri, a human assassin, work together and against each other in Calimport. Their conflict is intensified by the influence of the Crystal Shard, a malevolent artifact that has been raousing trouble in the Forgotten Realms world since its introduction in The Crystal Shard

Picking it up tonight

[Semaj]

Ironically a friend of mine just picked up the Drizzt series.

I dunno, I was more a fan of the original one, because well, It involved less fanboydome for Drizzt's cajones.

Still good books though

[Jolor]

I can read novels of any of these characters anytime.  Yeah, he's cranked them out but I can pick up a book and am immediately transported.

[Farscry]

He did write that book and it came out this summer.  Don't know how I missed it: Servant of the Shard (Forgotten Realms: The Sellswords)

Servant of the Shard: The Sellswords Book 1  
 
FROM THE PUBLISHER
This book brings two familiar characters into the limelight for the first time! Jarlaxle, a dark elf assassin, and Artemis Entreri, a human assassin, work together and against each other in Calimport. Their conflict is intensified by the influence of the Crystal Shard, a malevolent artifact that has been raousing trouble in the Forgotten Realms world since its introduction in The Crystal Shard

Picking it up tonight

Actually, this is an older book that was republished to drum up interest in the new one that came out this fall, which is a sequel to "Servant of the Shard", but I don't recall the name of the new one at the moment.

[stiffler]

Promise of the Witch King is the newest in the Sellswords series.  It's out in hardback now.

I've only read the first six but I enjoyed them.  The Dark Elf trilogy is a very fine read.

Here's a handy list of all of them:

The Dark Elf trilogy
Homeland
Exile
Sojourn

The Icewind Dale trilogy
The Crystal Shard
Streams of Silver
The Halfling's Gem

Legacy of the Drow
The Legacy
Starless Night
Siege of Darkness
Passage to Dawn

Paths of Darkness
The Silver Blade
The Spine of the World
Servant of the Shard (book one of The Sellswords)
Sea of Swords

The Hunter's Blade trilogy
The Thousand Orcs
The Lone Drow
The Two Swords

The Sellswords (spinoff series)
Servant of the Shard
Promise of the Witch King
Road of the Patriarch

His other Forgotten Realms series, The Cleric Quintet, is not bad.  I think he uses some of the characters in later Drizzt books.  I found his earlier non-FR books (Crimson Shadow) to be awful.  Not sure about his newer non-FR series.

[Daehawk]

Read all these.....

The Icewind Dale trilogy
The Crystal Shard
Streams of Silver
The Halfling's Gem

Legacy of the Drow
The Legacy
Starless Night
Siege of Darkness
Passage to Dawn

Paths of Darkness
The Silver Blade
The Spine of the World
Servant of the Shard (book one of The Sellswords)
Sea of Swords


Theres another set that I want to read because everything Ive heard about says its great. It follows a character from the other books named Cadderly of The Spirit Soaring cathedral. Its called The Cleric Quintet.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0786926902/qid=1134884163/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-7231051-7408668?n=507846&s=books&v=glance

[stiffler]

Theres another set that I want to read because everything Ive heard about says its great. It follows a character from the other books named Cadderly of The Spirit Soaring cathedral. Its called The Cleric Quintet.

One warning, that omnibus is a BEAST.  I found it so difficult to actually hold and read that I just bought the individual books.  I like the idea of having them all in one volume but it's rather unwieldy.  It would probably be a lot easier to handle in hardback, but as a giant paperback you're gonna have pages flopping all over the place!

Oh, and I can't believe you have read all those and NOT the Dark Elf trilogy.  You should read that.  Seriously, my mind reels at the idea that you've read all of that and not the Dark Elf trilogy!

[WorkingMike]

All good books, although some shine more than others. Incidentally, Bob is a really nice guy...I worked for Waldenbooks right out of high-school, and he came in once every 8 months or so for a signing. Used to send us really neat stuff he got from his publisher as well, cool posters and advance copies and whatnot

[lokiju]

Yeah read the Icewind Dale trilogy.  It is excellent.

Read the Dark Elf trilogy.  It's also excellent.

Then stop.  Seriously stop after that.  He went on to write 40,000 books after those with recycled plots and characters.  But those two trilogies are wonderful.

Agreed.  Read those six books and then walk away.  The story goes downhill from there...mostly due to the fact that the characters are so powerful, he has to dredge up gods for them to fight on a regular basis. *sigh*

I couldn't agree less.  Most of the later books were also wonderful (a couple not so admittedly).  I just can't fathom people thinking the newer novels are so bad that they'd skip out on half of these interesting characters' lives?

If you are like me, and thought the assassin Artemis Entreri was a neat character, then don't miss his novels (someone mentioned the Promise of the WitchKing being out now).  I think I've become more interested in him than Drizzt, and that's saying a lot.

Outside of Forgotten Realms, his Demon Wars books, and the world he creates there, are not to be missed IMHO.  Also, I also loved the Cleric Quintet (And I actually handled the omnibus!) series.  I own, but didn't read yet, the Spearwielder series.

Salvatore has some of the most amazing fight sequences I've ever had the pleasure of reading.