REVIEW: The Silent Blade by R. A. Salvatore
REVIEW SUMMARY:
MY RATING: 
BRIEF SYNOPSIS: The story continues the adventures of Drizzt Do’Urden and his companions (Cattie-Brie, Wulfgar, Regis, and Bruenor Battlehammer) and the other characters that R. A. Salvatore has created in his Forgotten Realms books. In this novel, our heroes work to destroy an object of extreme evil, and Wulfgar continues to battle inner demons.
MY REVIEW:
PROS: This book reads like a well done action movie with the right amount of detail for this type of story, and I continue the story of characters I already feel I know from the earlier books.
CONS: Drizzt always seems too perfect at times, and Salvatore gets a bit preachy doing the transition sections.
BOTTOM LINE: I am enjoying this series and feel an attachment to the characters and how they progress from the Icewind Dale series til now. I will continue the series and someday I will eventually catch up to the latest set of books.
This story is the start of another four book arc that includes The Spine of the World, Servant of the Shard and Sea of Swords that pick up the adventures of the companions (Drizzt, Wulfgar, Cattie-Brie, Regis and Bruenor) after the end of The Legacy of the Drow Series (which in turn followed after the Icewind Dale Series.) In this book, the shard Creshinibon is to be delivered to a trusted ally for destruction, Artemis Entreri rises to power in Calimport via assistance of the dark elves and Wulfgar still suffers from his time being held prisoner by the demon of the Abyss.
The story plays like the first part of an act (and given this is the first book – this should not come as a surprise.) Most of the main characters are pretty well established entities as they have been given life in 7 previous books, but we really see Wulfgar sliding into his own personal hell as he attempts to overcome his trials of torture when he was held prisoner. Some new characters are added to help flesh out the world.
I really enjoy Salvatore’s style with these books and his characters and thier interactions. They really feel alive when you read about them, but he still has a tendency to get a bit preachy about friendship and the definition of home when writing from Drizzt’s perspective between the book sections. I will be reading the rest of this series and see how it turns out before moving to the Hunter’s Blades series which is the most recent set of books.
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Regis Philbin? ewwwww…
It’s be nice if Salvatore had half a brain, an editor, and a decent command of the English language. Don’t get me wrong; I’m enjoying the novels (which I’m reading one right after the other for the first time), but such painful word choices such as “evil weal” (nonsensical, see the definition of “weal” from Webster.com, are just the tip of the semi-literate iceberg. How do people like this get to write novels?
“It’s be nice” ? Ironic how you comment on his intellectual capacity in a negative way when you yourself cannot properly use it.
R.A. Salvatore’s books featuring Drizzt Do’Urden are the best books I have read, I do notic some spelling mistakes in his “The Legacy of Drizzt” book collection but I find in the later books and series the spelling mistakes and word play gets better and better. I am still reading the last series and as of yet,have not found any errors. R.A. Salvator development of his characters really makes me feel as if i know them and it makes me remember everythign i have read about them, any where from drizzt’s test that would let him train with his father, to the time Wulfgar set oyut to claim leadership of his tribe.
burn on you David Howarth!