Review: "The Crystal Chard" by R.A. Salvatore

Title:  The Crystal Shard
Author:  R.A. Salvatore
Genre:  Fantasy
Publication Date: 1998
Publisher:  Wizards of the Coast
Pages:  340

Rating:  4 out of 5

Amazon Book Blurb: 

Drizzt Do’Urden has settled in the windswept towns of Icewind Dale. There, he encounters a young barbarian named Wulfgar, captured in a raid and made the ward of a grizzled dwarf name Bruenor. With Drizzt’s help, Wulfgar will grow from a feral child to a man with the heart of a dwarf, the instincts of a savage, and the soul of a hero. But it will take even more than that to defeat the demonic power of Crenshininbon, the fabled Crystal Shard.

Review:

The first entry in a very successful thirty-three book series, The Crystal Shard is also R.A. Salvatore's first published work.  He's since sold over fifteen million copies of his books, of which, twenty two have been New York Times best-sellers.  He's done well for himself, displaying a knack for fantasy and adventure, and it all started with The Crystal Shard.

Despite there being a few tell-tale signs of this being a book by a new author, these very minor distractions are swept away in the onslaught of unrelenting adventure and war.  I found myself enjoying the characters and setting so much that any flaws I noticed simply paled in comparison or simply went unnoticed.

The scope of the novel ranges from very personal adventures and struggles to sprawling wars and grand campaigns that engulf the entire region and its inhabitants.  There's politics, resource disputes, tensions and tenderness in interpersonal relations, and a cold, unforgiving setting that's as likely to kill its inhabitants as not.  Most new authors would crumble beneath the sheer scope of the narrative, but like Atlas, Mr. Salvatore carries his massive story line as if he's been doing it since the beginning.  As a result, there's plenty to do in The Crystal Shard's Icewind Dales.

Mr. Salvatore has a knack for describing close-combat, a talent he ascribes to his days as a bouncer.  The action is intense and the stakes are always high.  His story-telling chops don't stop there; he's also a maestro of conveying the ebb and flow of a large-scale battle in a way that still manages to convey the touching themes of tragedy, nobility, and sacrifice.

There's a little something for almost everyone in Icewind Dale.  Go visit sometime.