My Experience with The Crystal Shard by R. A. Salvatore
There are several classic fantasy novels I’ve missed over the years because of “reasons.” The Legend of Drizzt series’s debut effort, The Crystal Shard, is one of these. I suppose one might excuse me for missing a book that released the same year I was born, but after this novel was recommended to me for the 3rd time, I knew I had to put everything aside and try it.
In the fashion of every great epic, R. A. Salvatore’s debut begins at part IV—the first installment of The Icewind Dale Trilogy. Darkness approaches Ten-Towns as Akar Kessel happens upon Crenshinibon—the Crystal Shard—a magical relic with the power to amplify his magic. Akar uses the shard’s magic to mobilize the disparate tribes of orcs across the land so he might gain dominion over Ten-Towns. The story follows the adventures of Drizzt Do'Urden (a dark elf), Bruenor Battlehammer (a dwarf), Wulfgar (a barbarian), Regis (a halfling), and to some extent Bruenor’s adopted daughter, Catti-brie. The novel’s heroes fight to prevent the dark wizard from taking over their peaceful settlement.
Salvadore’s characterization is well done. While each of the races feels like the stereotypical personification (largely established by Tolkien), the story’s protagonists stand out from their counterparts enough to feel like individuals. I honestly expected less. Because this story takes place within D&D’s Forgotten Realms, Salvadore must play by the rules established by this world.
What I enjoyed most from this story were the action scenes. Cinematic in their conception and crafted with the perfect amount of narrative distance, every action sequence felt like a movie in my head. Salvador side-stepped the largest issue I encounter with battle scenes in novels: the temptation to skim until I hit a major story beat.
However, where this book excels in action scenes, it trips over itself in the backstory. While I appreciate that the world so realized, the narrative will often spend a few pages at a time telling me the history of this or that when I just want to get back to the story at hand. Often the backstory is relevant, but I can’t help but skim after several paragraphs of information.
Despite the momentum of the story being held back by info dumps, when the story finally gets going it’s a joy. I’ll continue reading the Icewind Dale Trilogy.
If you’re looking for a fantasy novel that feels more in line with the classics—a story that reads more like Peter Jackson’s adaptation of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy than the actual Lord of the Rings trilogy, I recommend The Crystal Shard.
