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A review by zeph1337
The Crystal Shard by R.A. Salvatore
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
I liked this starting point of The Icewind Dale Trilogy less then all of The Dark Elf Trilogy. What stands out on the positive side are some really cool action sequences which is probably the strongest part of Salvatores writing and some fun, although pretty sterotypical, characters.
On the side of plot it felt overall more boring than not and the whole thing kind of just felt like setup for a DnD type adventuring story (which I suppose the rest of the Trilogy will be). I think there is a lot of room for improvement though with the adventuring troupe now being formed and we already got some glimpses into fun possible character interactions within the party.
This books villain gets kind of a cool introduction but overall stays pretty bland, has some questionable, if not to say dumb, decision making and in general just doesn't really feel threatening at all. I think lack of tension overall is kind of an issue here. The characters just feel really powerful and that makes it very hard for any real danger / tension to arise.
We can't forget that this is R.A. Salvatores first published book ever. So we've got to give him so leeway for that. But overall I can't go higher than a 'meh' / average --> 3 stars
edit: after some thinking I adjusted it down to 2.5
On the side of plot it felt overall more boring than not and the whole thing kind of just felt like setup for a DnD type adventuring story (which I suppose the rest of the Trilogy will be). I think there is a lot of room for improvement though with the adventuring troupe now being formed and we already got some glimpses into fun possible character interactions within the party.
This books villain gets kind of a cool introduction but overall stays pretty bland, has some questionable, if not to say dumb, decision making and in general just doesn't really feel threatening at all. I think lack of tension overall is kind of an issue here. The characters just feel really powerful and that makes it very hard for any real danger / tension to arise.
We can't forget that this is R.A. Salvatores first published book ever. So we've got to give him so leeway for that. But overall I can't go higher than a 'meh' / average --> 3 stars
edit: after some thinking I adjusted it down to 2.5