What is it about Salvatore and Drizzt....

[Saltheart Foamfollower]

That has everyone talking about him. I loved the Drizzt series, but after 6 books it was getting worn out. I am really glad that Salvatore is branching out to his other Forgotten Realms characters is the latest volumns.

Salvatore has written other series that I find just as engrossing. Crimson Spear (i believe the series is called. The Sword of Bedawyn series is also god. And of course the Demon War saga is excellent.

If anyone is interested in books written in the intense combat style of Salvatore, I recommend anything by David Gemmel. His Druss books are incredible. The waylander series is very well written and intense. His latest series about the Rigatante is simply amazing. This author is very combat and plot detailed, but the books are a very easy read....

[WOLFGIR]

Agreee with you on Gemmel, not read that much about him but very good combat scenes!

However I have to disagree with you on the Demon war saga. I found it very well "booring" might not be the right word for it but the lack of interest for the characters were a bit annoying. I "felt" nothing for them though iit was a nice mixteure of fewer enemy types and so and a pretty nifty try for a new fantasy setting, I found it to be not as gripping as I had hoped for. I will try the clerical quintet now. Haven´t read much about it so I hope it is good. Anyone read it yet??

[Cerek the Barbaric]

You may find the Clerical Quintet very similar to the Demon Wars.

I read them as they first came out. The hardest part was having to wait 3 years for the last one to be published after reading the first one.

However, each individual book has it's villain and sub-plot that are wrapped up at the end (like Icewind Dale Trilogy). It also has one primary villain that develops throughout the books.

The series is interesting, because Salvatore is using unusual race and class combinations. The main character is - of course - a cleric. His g/f is a monk and there are 2 dwarfs that travel with them....one of which wants to become a druid.

Cadderly develops some "unusual" weapons (to say the least) that I found to be a bit of a stretch. Still, it IS Salvatore and the combats are plentiful and exciting. There is GREAT character development and - all in all - a pretty entertaining series.

DEFINITELY read the first one. That should let you know if you want to read the other 4.

[WOLFGIR]

Thanks Cerek!
Hmm, well the book is on nice price all four in one here so I think I will add it to the top of my shelf! A place where I have books not yet read, and it´s getting thin. Only five books eft there and I noticed the other day that even though I don´t read that much right now, I´m already halfway through the great books of Amber.. :S

Well, thanks again!

[Saltheart Foamfollower]

Wolfgir, I must disagree with you about the Demon Wars Saga as booring. It may not be as combat/action orientated as the first Drizzt series, but I was immersed into the world and situations that make up the series. Salvatore's continuation of the Drizzt/Wulfgar saga is actually getting pretty booring, as compared to the earlier books in the series.

The Demon Wars saga actually got me choked up reading them. The way Salvatore writes, I actually felt the emotional distress that his characters go thru. If you were not aware of it, the last book where NightBird was killed, and the next two books in the series were written during a time of Salvatore's life where he was going thru a roller coaster of emotions. It shows in these books, and the last two books of the Ice Wind Dale saga.

[jabidas]

Well this will draw flack but I thought all Salvatore's work was infantile, lazy, underdeveloped and just downright stupid.

People go on about how Drizzt is such a balanced and brilliant character but Im sorry are we talking about too noble to shit boy? Drizzt is the same in every book only perhaps becoming more and more whining. He is some kind of twisted mixture of Captain Kirk and an angst ridden thirteen year old. On and on he whines and moralizes sanctimoniously. He isn't a character he is caricature. Drizzt is not even two dimensional, he is only good and it makes a dull unrealistic character.

Every other character in the books is a cliché, lets see a dwarf that likes a good fight, drinks copious amounts of ale and is oddly sentimental no matter how gruff. Did I mention bruenor has red hair and a Scottish accent? next Cattie Brie another non person, the perfect match for drizzt she is just as vacant of originality but who cares she is only there for the drooling kids anyway. Regis, now who the hell is he, i see him referred to as funny but no not really, he never even had a personality, I think he is supposed to be a tasselhoff burrfoot rip off but when you start plagiarizing Dragonlance you know you are in trouble. Wulfgar is an angry barbarian with long blond hair who likes to shout, CONAN, ahem, sorry here we go again, TEMPUS. And last Artreimis the Assassin fighter, how droll. Is he interesting, nah he is quiet and deadly, sigh. What else des he do, ah yes looks good in black, I wonder does he chuckle villainously in mirrors sometimes.

What a complete bunch of airheads. Now lets go to Lazy. Salvatore is god awfully lazy, he never describes scenery, or at least not well, he concentrates on things like the Panthers onyx statue. Why because these are constantly repeatable and he will do so at the slightest provocation, when in doubt do something you have done before, for kicks make it glow, preferably a pale deadly villainous glow. With extra cheese on the side.

The inevitable brilliant fight scenes people come back to. I admit that at first I was in intrigued. i read the dark elf trilogy first and despite Zaks off putting entry into primitive angst which later drizzt regurgitates like stale vomit ad infinitum\nauseum it had an interesting fight scene. It was long and fast paced and it made me want to read more. It was then that I discovered Salvatore's books are fight scenes with a little chat between scenes. They go on forever and there are so many of them. Its not that I object to violence its just when it becomes pointless because of its repetitiveness i get annoyed. For real violence in fantasy go to George R.R Martins a Song of Fire and Ice. Salvatore patented ''whirling scimitars'' are not worth it because there are no real consequences or implications to what is done. Its like watching films just waiting for the next explosion.

I think I gave a reasonably good argument for being anti salvatore so i think if you respond it should be more that Salvatore ROX you Sux. If Salvatore was not so popular I would have been so bored by him I would not have written this but he irritates me now.

[ 03-24-2002, 06:40 PM: Message edited by: jabidas ]

[Encard]

*grin* Can't say I agree with you, although I can understand why see the books this way... hope you don't mind me saying that I found the way you described it very funny... [img]smile.gif[/img] *tip*

[khazadman]

you won't get that much of a hard time from me jabidas.while i don't feel as strongly about salvatore as you, i do find his stuff kind of dull.and his latest stuff is getting too "chicky".

[Sneeki Two]

The Drizzt books where sorta the first "fantasy" novels I had read and I really enjoyed them back then. I have since read many other authors in the genre and now realize that his books are a bit on the basic side. I still read them (because I'm attached to the characters), but they are far from my favorites now. Jabidas is correct in that his characters are a bit flat when compared to say, the Song of Fire and Ice series by Martin (my personal fav at the momment).

I actually liked the story with Artemis Entreri as the main character. It showed Artemis as not just plain evil. It sorta rounded the character out some. To me, he is a more interesting character than Drizzt (who is a bit boring now).

Just my 2.

[selena]

I only read the Drizzt books about a month ago (the first three that is, when he leaves the Underdark) cuz my husband told me to after I found Drizzt in BG.

So I read the first one, and skipped most of the fight bits admittedly, being a woman and all, it doesnt interest me too much unless it's really well written, and to be frank it's not.

Second book, I laboured through, it was OK, there was a deep gnome I liked, and I warmed to Drizzt - I'm a woman, it's my maternal nurturing side [img]tongue.gif[/img]

The third book gave me readers block (if there is such thing). Yet, again, I persevered and got to the end. Hurrah, there was a dwarf that I couldn't like, and a girl I couldn't have cared less about.

Now my hub won't tell me what happens to Drizzt, telling me to read the next books to see what happens, but I can't bring myself to even start on them. IDon't get me wrong, I don't *hate* the books, I just don't find they captivate me the way a book should - which is unfortunate cuz I really began to feel motherly towards Drizzt and wanted to know w hat happened to him, and hope and pray he steers clear of Catti-'whatsapersonality'-Brie (and why is she named after feline cheese?)

But I'll no doubt never find out, because I don't have the time to look it up on various webpages, and I just can't bring myself to read the books [img]tongue.gif[/img]