datarez's review
3.0
Some of the stories are really good and some of the narration is really good. Just hit or miss a couple times.
dominish_books's review
2.0
It’s been a while since I read any Salvatore, but Drizzt has long been one of my favourite characters and I’ve really enjoyed following the adventures of the drow and his companions. When I saw this collection of short stories then, I was quite eager to jump back into Icewind Dale and its environs and reacquaint myself with Drizzt, Cattie-Brie, Wulfgar, Bruenor and Gwenhwyvar. Having now finished the book, I can’t help but feel I’ve been the victim of false advertising.
The collection is subtitled “The Legend of Drizzt Anthology” and obviously features the drow on the cover, attacking some beastie with Gwenhwyvar’s assistance as usual. Inside, there are twelve short stories, ranging from around 18 to 50 pages in length and each preceded by an author’s foreword. Only three of these twelve stories involve Drizzt however, and this is where my disappointment began. We start with a tale of Bruenor, followed by a Drizzt and Gwenhwyvar adventure, which all seems well. In order, we then have the origins of Artemis Entreri; the origins of Gwenhwyvar; Artemis and Jarlaxle; Artemis and Jarlaxle again; Drizzt, Cattie-Brie and Gwenhwyvar; Tos’un Armgo, Drizzt and Innovindil; Zhengyi the Witch King, dragons and knights (a bunch I’ve not come across in my reading, though I’ve not read Promise of the Witch King); Thibbledorf Pwent and an Orc; another bunch of randoms I’ve never come across, and rounding out the end of the collection, a Wulfgar story.
Although I haven’t read all of the Drizzt stories, I think it’s only the Witch King that I was really missing out on before reading one of these stories connected to it, and I therefore can’t say I felt confused by any of the events in the anthology. Even with this in mind, too much of the book felt like a chore to read my way through. I did enjoy a couple of the stories but, typically, I felt it was some of the longer ones that I didn’t much enjoy, making them a real slog to get through. Personal favourites were “The Dowery” which at least featured some of my favourite characters (this was the only one to properly involve Cattie-Brie); “To Legend He Goes” which fills in some gaps in the story of Wulfgar, and “Dark Mirror” which, although not the most thrilling story all told, did at least give us a Drizzt and Gwenhwyvar fight scene.
Too many of the other stories just lacked a bit of energy, even if they did include the trademark Salvatore action sequences. I don’t mind the characters of Artemis Entreri and Jarlaxle, but perhaps because I was under the impression I was reading a collection of stories about Drizzt, I found myself sighing tiredly when I turned the final page on a story involving this duo and then found the next story to be about them as well. In fact, when you consider that of the first six tales in this collection, half were about Entreri, I think it’s forgiveable to think you’re reading the collected stories of the human assassin, rather than that of his drow nemesis. Considering also that one of the hallmarks of a Drizzt story is the twirling of the drow’s blades, Twinkle and Icingdeath, it’s a shame that of Drizzt’s three stories here, one relies on another drow (Tos’un Armgo) to provide the action sequences.
Another thing I didn’t like so much about this anthology is perhaps a problem with the format, rather than the actual content itself. There’s twelve short stories, covering a variety of different characters in different situations and even different times, and it just feels a bit repetitive and unimaginative to me. It seems every other character has a magical weapon or two, or is a dragon who can take humanoid form, or is a wizard of some description. Other than the smaller side characters in the stories, it’s a rarity to find someone who’s just “normal” in this anthology. Of course, we’re talking a Dungeons & Dragons / Forgotten Realms book here, so perhaps this sort of thing is more prevalent because of the very nature of that world, but it seems like Salvatore’s just taking the easy way at every fork in the road. If a couple of those “duller” stories featured “duller” characters, perhaps it would have enriched my reading experience a little, odd as that perhaps sounds. I’m not really that familiar with the D&D world to be honest, but my impression of it just from reading this anthology is that every other blade in the world must be magical to some degree, with half of those being sentient. It just doesn’t work for me.
Overall it’s a nice enough anthology to round off a Drizzt collection, but personally I’d read the stories one at a time rather than read the book cover to cover in one go. The whole is not greater than the sum of its parts. For me, there’s too many minuses and not enough pluses here to outweigh them.
The collection is subtitled “The Legend of Drizzt Anthology” and obviously features the drow on the cover, attacking some beastie with Gwenhwyvar’s assistance as usual. Inside, there are twelve short stories, ranging from around 18 to 50 pages in length and each preceded by an author’s foreword. Only three of these twelve stories involve Drizzt however, and this is where my disappointment began. We start with a tale of Bruenor, followed by a Drizzt and Gwenhwyvar adventure, which all seems well. In order, we then have the origins of Artemis Entreri; the origins of Gwenhwyvar; Artemis and Jarlaxle; Artemis and Jarlaxle again; Drizzt, Cattie-Brie and Gwenhwyvar; Tos’un Armgo, Drizzt and Innovindil; Zhengyi the Witch King, dragons and knights (a bunch I’ve not come across in my reading, though I’ve not read Promise of the Witch King); Thibbledorf Pwent and an Orc; another bunch of randoms I’ve never come across, and rounding out the end of the collection, a Wulfgar story.
Although I haven’t read all of the Drizzt stories, I think it’s only the Witch King that I was really missing out on before reading one of these stories connected to it, and I therefore can’t say I felt confused by any of the events in the anthology. Even with this in mind, too much of the book felt like a chore to read my way through. I did enjoy a couple of the stories but, typically, I felt it was some of the longer ones that I didn’t much enjoy, making them a real slog to get through. Personal favourites were “The Dowery” which at least featured some of my favourite characters (this was the only one to properly involve Cattie-Brie); “To Legend He Goes” which fills in some gaps in the story of Wulfgar, and “Dark Mirror” which, although not the most thrilling story all told, did at least give us a Drizzt and Gwenhwyvar fight scene.
Too many of the other stories just lacked a bit of energy, even if they did include the trademark Salvatore action sequences. I don’t mind the characters of Artemis Entreri and Jarlaxle, but perhaps because I was under the impression I was reading a collection of stories about Drizzt, I found myself sighing tiredly when I turned the final page on a story involving this duo and then found the next story to be about them as well. In fact, when you consider that of the first six tales in this collection, half were about Entreri, I think it’s forgiveable to think you’re reading the collected stories of the human assassin, rather than that of his drow nemesis. Considering also that one of the hallmarks of a Drizzt story is the twirling of the drow’s blades, Twinkle and Icingdeath, it’s a shame that of Drizzt’s three stories here, one relies on another drow (Tos’un Armgo) to provide the action sequences.
Another thing I didn’t like so much about this anthology is perhaps a problem with the format, rather than the actual content itself. There’s twelve short stories, covering a variety of different characters in different situations and even different times, and it just feels a bit repetitive and unimaginative to me. It seems every other character has a magical weapon or two, or is a dragon who can take humanoid form, or is a wizard of some description. Other than the smaller side characters in the stories, it’s a rarity to find someone who’s just “normal” in this anthology. Of course, we’re talking a Dungeons & Dragons / Forgotten Realms book here, so perhaps this sort of thing is more prevalent because of the very nature of that world, but it seems like Salvatore’s just taking the easy way at every fork in the road. If a couple of those “duller” stories featured “duller” characters, perhaps it would have enriched my reading experience a little, odd as that perhaps sounds. I’m not really that familiar with the D&D world to be honest, but my impression of it just from reading this anthology is that every other blade in the world must be magical to some degree, with half of those being sentient. It just doesn’t work for me.
Overall it’s a nice enough anthology to round off a Drizzt collection, but personally I’d read the stories one at a time rather than read the book cover to cover in one go. The whole is not greater than the sum of its parts. For me, there’s too many minuses and not enough pluses here to outweigh them.
shannny2k's review
4.0
It was awesome to listen to these stories read by such excellent voices! I could tell these were collected stories. The writing in the begining was only ok while the writing for the later stories was excellent. I believe they averaged to a solid four stars.
seak's review
4.0
Wizards of the Coast outdid themselves on this one and brought in a cast that's actually hard to believe unless you start listening. It's a free download at the moment, so go at it while it's FREE.
Besides Ice-T, "[o]ther audiobook readers include Felicia Day (The Guild), Melissa Rauch (The Big Bang Theory), Wil Wheaton (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Sean Astin (The Lord of the Rings), David Duchovny (The X-Files), Michael Chiklis (The Shield), Tom Felton (Harry Potter), Greg Grunberg (Heroes) and Dan Harmon and Danny Pudi (both of Community)." (source)
I thought the stories were excellent and for the most part the readings were well done. Ice-T was decent, but extremely slow and kept pronouncing the "w" in "sword" and that word is used a ton in his story. It drove me nuts.
Weird Al did a good job, especially with the voices, but his voice is a little too ... bubbly ... silly ... there's got to be a better word ... for this type of serious story.
Usually Wil Wheaton does a good job, but I don't rate him super high as a narrator because he never does different voices for the characters, at least not well. This one he did an excellent job with the voices. He's another, however, that might have too much sarcasm in his voice for this type of story. Which is why he is the perfect narrator for anything from John Scalzi.
Last one and I'm done talking, biggest surprise was Michael Chiklis, who did an insanely good job with EVERYTHING. I hope he does tons more audiobooks and quits acting for the real money ... in audiobook narration! We all know Scott Brick is rollin' in it, amiright?
Overall, it's more than worth the price I paid and then some and pretty cool to have these celebrities reading names like Drizzt and Zaknafein and Menzoberranzan and I'm not even touching the dwarf names of the top of my head that us geeks love oh so much.
4 out of 5 stars (highly recommended)
Besides Ice-T, "[o]ther audiobook readers include Felicia Day (The Guild), Melissa Rauch (The Big Bang Theory), Wil Wheaton (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Sean Astin (The Lord of the Rings), David Duchovny (The X-Files), Michael Chiklis (The Shield), Tom Felton (Harry Potter), Greg Grunberg (Heroes) and Dan Harmon and Danny Pudi (both of Community)." (source)
I thought the stories were excellent and for the most part the readings were well done. Ice-T was decent, but extremely slow and kept pronouncing the "w" in "sword" and that word is used a ton in his story. It drove me nuts.
Weird Al did a good job, especially with the voices, but his voice is a little too ... bubbly ... silly ... there's got to be a better word ... for this type of serious story.
Usually Wil Wheaton does a good job, but I don't rate him super high as a narrator because he never does different voices for the characters, at least not well. This one he did an excellent job with the voices. He's another, however, that might have too much sarcasm in his voice for this type of story. Which is why he is the perfect narrator for anything from John Scalzi.
Last one and I'm done talking, biggest surprise was Michael Chiklis, who did an insanely good job with EVERYTHING. I hope he does tons more audiobooks and quits acting for the real money ... in audiobook narration! We all know Scott Brick is rollin' in it, amiright?
Overall, it's more than worth the price I paid and then some and pretty cool to have these celebrities reading names like Drizzt and Zaknafein and Menzoberranzan and I'm not even touching the dwarf names of the top of my head that us geeks love oh so much.
4 out of 5 stars (highly recommended)
lancegliser's review
2.0
I tried. I really did. Usually I enjoy fantasy, it's a main stay genre for me. Take individually, I might have enjoyed any of these stories. I did enjoy some of them. Had I been in the mood for short stories, each might rate 3-5.
But, this was presented as a collection, that assume should tell some of the highlights of a man's life. Not how it worked it. We instead are given a collection of only somewhat related stories, in perhaps not even chronological order. The stories don't even to seem to all have a direct, hell even indirect connection to our hero. I can't rate it highly. Sorely disappointed.
But, this was presented as a collection, that assume should tell some of the highlights of a man's life. Not how it worked it. We instead are given a collection of only somewhat related stories, in perhaps not even chronological order. The stories don't even to seem to all have a direct, hell even indirect connection to our hero. I can't rate it highly. Sorely disappointed.
jessicafa's review
3.0
one word: sWord. kind of distracting. but the final narration by Duchovny was great!
undeadwookieebooks's review
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
bobmanasco's review
4.0
It was fun revisiting this world in a series of short stories. Some of them were better than others, but all were engaging and enlightening. Not recommended unless you have already consumed many of the Drizzt novels, but if you are already familiar with and enjoy this series, then you are likely to enjoy these as well.
jvens's review
3.0
This was ok, but considering it was the Collected Stories of Drizzt, it contained a surprising lack of Drizzt Do'Urden. About half of the stories were Drizzt adjacent about characters how use to know Drizzt or in some cases had heard of Drizzt before. Some of the stories were better than others. None were amazing, none were complete duds, they all were between 2-4 stars averaging out to around a 3 star book. The narrators were all pretty good, but a couple were much better. Felicia Day reading The First Notch was my favorite; I loved they way she portrayed the goblin Sniglet referring to the "wicked dwarvses." I also really enjoyed If Ever They Happened Upon My Lair as an interesting story told from the perspective of the dragon being hunted by humanoids.
This collection did do a good job of exploring the ideas that one should is not evil solely by being a member of a race. It showed in many stories themes of goblins, orcs, and drow all fighting against the notion that they were evil just because of their race when in reality they were at least neutral if not good aligned.
This collection did do a good job of exploring the ideas that one should is not evil solely by being a member of a race. It showed in many stories themes of goblins, orcs, and drow all fighting against the notion that they were evil just because of their race when in reality they were at least neutral if not good aligned.