The Two Swords [RA Salvatore]

[slicer15]

I hate to bring up the old debate, but I was wondering on people's takes on Salvatore's most recent installment of the Drizzt series.

I personally have read through every Drizzt book, and like many others have seen the quality of writing deteriorate over time. (Though I started with the Dark Elf Trilogy, since I didn't know about Salvatore until a few years ago). I personally enjoyed everything up to the Silent Blade. That's when, for me, his writing got worse, and it rock-bottomed at Spine of the World. It was such an effort to get into that book and I'm surprised I finished it...I won't be reading it again.

However, that said, once I did get into it, I got some enjoyment out of it, though not nearly as much as from the Dark Elf Trilogy books or the Icewind Dale Trilogy. I think The Thousand Orcs and The Lone Drow was a slight improvement, and now I've finished The Two Swords, the last in The Hunter's Trilogy.

Well...I think it's the best he's written in a long time (since Legacy of The Drow, imo), but it still isn't anywhere near as good as his original works. However, I'm hoping (if he adds more to the Drizzt series...which I don't doubt he will) continued improvement.

Of course, this is all my opinion. I realise there are people who simply can't stand his writing, and I accept that. For me, he's still my favourite fantasy author and Drizzt is one of my favourite fantasy characters.

What do other people think?

[Variol (Farseer) Elmwood]

I'm a fan too. The only one I didn't finish was the one with mostly Artemis and Jarlaxle in it. It was a bit too much like a spy novel for me. The ending sounds good though; I think Catterly shows up. So I should give it another go. What was the name on of that one again?
And is The Two Swords the newest in the series?! If so I gotta go to da library again... well the website anyway.

[slicer15]

The one focused on Artemis and Jarlaxle is The Servant of The Shard, I believe. The Silent Blade also has some Entreri focus.

And yes, The Two Swords is the most recent book published...it concludes The Hunter's Blades Trilogy. And it's a good book, imo. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Variol (Farseer) Elmwood]

Uuuoohh! I gotta gat me that!
...jumping over to the library website!

[Ziroc]

I read the two swords IN TWO DAMN DAYS! Ugh! [img]smile.gif[/img] I hate that! What is it anyway with WotC? It's like they force their Authors to a 340-ish page count limit. I WANT 900 pages!

Okay... (whew). Anyway, it was a pretty good read, but the title was totally wrong, and Drizzt wasn't the main feature in this novel (again). Which is O-K.. but it should have been called "Mithral Hall's Last Stand" or something. Drizzt and his friend Elf maiden go up into the mountains through blizzards just to get back a silly pegasus. I did like the Frost giants fort. Cool areas. Funny parts too. [img]smile.gif[/img]

The ENDING was; One, Kind of a let down, and Two, shocking. This ending changes the Silver Marches (MH, Silverymoon, ect--Spine of the World) region in a MAJOR way, and will impact future novels!

[slicer15]

Yeah, I didn't get the reason for the title either...

The ending was...I'm not sure, now that I think back on it, maybe it was a little rushed. It just happened a little too fast, imho.

And yeah, this work does alter a lot of the Forgotten Realms around that area...but whether other authors stick to that remains to be seen.

Oh, and I've found it odd that there's an orc in Neverwinter Nights called Obould Many-Arrows, who is nowhere near as smart or powerful as the Obould in this book. Maybe a cameo?

[Calagari]

I think you are talking about the book The Legacy of the Drow. There are several stories within that book dealing with Jaraxle and Artemis. I did find reading that one a bit more difficult that some of the others. It was mainly about the politics and secret workings of the Drow hierarchy. Still I like Salvatores books.

Originally posted by Variol (Farseer) Elmwood: I'm a fan too. The only one I didn't finish was the one with mostly Artemis and Jarlaxle in it. It was a bit too much like a spy novel for me. The ending sounds good though; I think Catterly shows up. So I should give it another go. What was the name on of that one again? And is The Two Swords the newest in the series?! If so I gotta go to da library again... well the website anyway.

[Variol (Farseer) Elmwood]

Yeah, it was either Servant or Legacy. But like I said I'll have give it another try 'cos Catterly is in the end of it.

[Ivelliis]

IIRC The Halflings Gem has Artemis in a lot, not 100% sure though.

[Aerich]

As stated above, Servant of the Shard is the one that focuses on Entreri and Jarlaxle. I kinda liked it.

I too, have read all the Drizzt books, although I haven't gotten to The Two Swords yet. To me, Salvatore has pushed himself farther into the childish/munchkin aspects of the Forgotten Realms. The Dark Elf trilogy is the best thing he's written, IMO, in terms of story, atmosphere, and general coolness (ok, maybe not Sojourn). The Icewind Dale trilogy was also a darn good read. I was willing to overlook Salvatore's writing limitations up to Siege of Darkness. After that, his progress as a writer seems to have stopped dead. I still read the books as they come out because he tells a good story, but I've stopped expecting much in the way of character development from him. I thought he made a decent stab at it with the focus on Entreri, but the best assassin in the world lost too much mystique in the process. And I agree, Salavatore bottomed out in Spine of the World. A very poor book by his standards.

I am by no means a literary snob, but even his best fans have to admit that he's not a giant of literature; his later stuff just doesn't stand up under the scrutiny of anyone that doesn't have an emotional attachment to D&D, to Drizzt, or both.

However, he's good at what he does (although he used to be better); telling a good story for those of us willing to suspend disbelief for a while. He has flashes of great work to even out the awkward patches.