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R. A. Salvatore

Author of Homeland

378+ Works 77,675 Members 644 Reviews 178 Favorited

About the Author

R. A. Salvatore was born in Leominster, Massachusetts on January 20, 1959. He received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Communications and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English from Fitchburg State College in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. He began writing seriously in 1982 and became a full-time writer show more in 1990. His first novel, The Crystal Shard, was published in 1988. His other works include The Halfling's Gem; Sojourn; The Legacy; Starless Night; Vector Prime; and The Two Swords. He is also the author of numerous series including The Dark Elf Trilogy; Paths of Darkness; The Hunter's Blades Trilogy; The Cleric Quintet; Saga of the First King; Neverwinter Saga and TheSundering. He made The New York Times Best Seller List with his title's Charon's Claw, Night of the Hunter: Companions Codex, 1, Rise of the King and Vengeance of the Iron Dwarf. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Picture originally uploaded by Shortride on Jun 25, 2009.

Series

Works by R. A. Salvatore

Homeland (1990) 3,580 copies
The Crystal Shard (1988) 2,967 copies
Sojourn (1991) 2,864 copies
Exile (1990) 2,745 copies
Streams of Silver (1989) 2,586 copies
The Halfling's Gem (1990) 2,484 copies
The Dark Elf Trilogy (1998) 2,237 copies
The Legacy (1993) 2,157 copies
The Thousand Orcs (2002) 1,975 copies
Starless Night (1993) 1,957 copies
Siege of Darkness (1995) 1,860 copies
Vector Prime (1999) 1,821 copies
The Lone Drow (2003) 1,791 copies
The Silent Blade (1999) 1,786 copies
Passage to Dawn (1997) 1,689 copies
Servant of the Shard (2000) 1,683 copies
The Spine of the World (1999) 1,628 copies
The Two Swords (2004) 1,620 copies
The Icewind Dale Trilogy (1999) 1,611 copies
Sea of Swords (2001) 1,560 copies
The Orc King (2007) 1,230 copies
Legacy of the Drow (2001) 1,187 copies
Canticle (1991) 1,155 copies
Promise of the Witch-King (2005) 1,138 copies
The Demon Awakens (1997) 1,007 copies
In Sylvan Shadows (1992) 996 copies
The Fallen Fortress (1993) 980 copies
Night Masks (1992) 959 copies
Road of the Patriarch (2006) 941 copies
The Pirate King (2008) 914 copies
The Chaos Curse (1994) 890 copies
Homeland (graphic novel) (2005) 842 copies
Gauntlgrym (2010) 812 copies
The Ghost King (2009) 762 copies
The Demon Spirit (1998) 704 copies
The Highwayman (2004) 677 copies
The Demon Apostle (1999) 623 copies
Paths of Darkness (1900) 606 copies
The Sword of Bedwyr (1994) 577 copies
Neverwinter (2011) 547 copies
Mortalis (2000) 503 copies
The Ancient (2008) 488 copies
Charon's Claw (2012) 481 copies
Luthien's Gamble (1996) 479 copies
The Companions (2013) 479 copies
The Dragon King (1996) 436 copies
Ascendance (2001) 418 copies
The Woods Out Back (1993) 411 copies
The Last Threshold (2013) 379 copies
Transcendence (2002) 344 copies
Night of the Hunter (2014) 331 copies
Immortalis (2003) 308 copies
Timeless (2018) 299 copies
The Dragon's Dagger (1994) 299 copies
The Witch's Daughter (1991) 287 copies
Archmage (2015) 282 copies
Dragonslayer's Return (1995) 281 copies
Child of a Mad God (2018) 277 copies
Rise of the King (2014) 273 copies
The Dame (2009) 258 copies
Star Wars: The Prequel Trilogy (2006) — Author — 238 copies
Vengeance of the Iron Dwarf (2015) 236 copies
Maestro (2016) 233 copies
The Crimson Shadow (2006) 225 copies
The Stowaway (2008) 219 copies
Hero (2016) 219 copies
Bastion of Darkness (2000) 201 copies
Sojourn (graphic novel) (2006) 182 copies
The Best of the Realms (2003) 177 copies
Exile (graphic novel) (2006) 172 copies
The Color of Dragons (2021) 159 copies
Boundless (2019) 157 copies
The Bear (2010) 153 copies
Relentless (2019) 141 copies
Reckoning of Fallen Gods (2019) 111 copies
Starlight Enclave (2021) 109 copies
The Sellswords Trilogy (2008) 89 copies
Menzoberranzan : Boxed Set (1992) — Author — 85 copies
Dragons: Worlds Afire (2006) 78 copies
Song of the Risen God (2020) 71 copies
The Dao of Drizzt (2022) 64 copies
Sojourn (Chapters 1-15) (1992) 53 copies
The Bloodstone Lands (1989) 52 copies
The Legacy (graphic novel) (2008) 43 copies
Worlds of Their Own (2008) — Contributor — 43 copies
Tarzan: The Epic Adventures (1996) 33 copies
The Accursed Tower (1999) 30 copies
Dungeons & Dragons: Cutter (2013) 21 copies
Tales from Tethedril (1998) 20 copies
Transitions Gift Set (2011) 14 copies
Schattenelf. Das Turnier (2002) 11 copies
Fantasy: zwei ungekürzte Romane (1999) — Contributor — 7 copies
Dark Mirror (2014) 7 copies
The Demon Spirit vol.1 (1999) 6 copies
Comrades at Odds (2014) 6 copies
Verivihollinen (2003) 6 copies
Homeland 6 copies
Der Fluch der Dunkelelfen (2011) 5 copies
The Demon Awakens vol.1 (1998) 4 copies
El Elfo Oscuro. Relatos (2012) 4 copies
The Demon Awakens vol.2 (1998) 4 copies
The Demon Apostle vol.1 (2000) 4 copies
DemonWars: The First King (2014) 4 copies
Ascendance. Part 2 of 2 (2010) 4 copies
Ikikesä (2012) 3 copies
One-Eyed Jax 3 copies
Pentalogia Del Clerigo (2007) 3 copies
El Ataque De Los Clones (2009) 3 copies
The Demon Spirit vol.2 (2000) 3 copies
The Demon Apostle vol.2 (2001) 3 copies
The Stowaway 2 copies
Drowův odkaz. I, Odkaz (2008) 2 copies
RETOUR À GAUNTLGRYM T.01 (2016) 2 copies
Dwa Miecze (2006) 2 copies
Demon Wars Player's Guide (2003) 2 copies
Song for Sadye, A (2017) 1 copy
Cntico 1 copy
Salamatkustaja (2009) 1 copy
2007 1 copy
El rey orco (2008) 1 copy
DemonWars Reformation (2014) 1 copy
I compagni: 27 (2019) 1 copy
Los compañeros (2014) 1 copy
Grenzenlos: Roman (2022) 1 copy
A Sparkle for Homer (1991) 1 copy
Spooks - Vol.1 (2011) 1 copy

Associated Works

Monster Manual (5e) (2014) — Contributor — 1,340 copies
Dissolution (2002) — Foreword — 947 copies
Insurrection (2002) — Foreword — 764 copies
Condemnation (2003) — Foreword — 729 copies
Extinction (2004) — Foreword — 664 copies
Annihilation (2004) — Foreword — 633 copies
Resurrection (2005) — Foreword — 606 copies
Amber and Ashes (2004) — Introduction, some editions — 599 copies
Realms of Valor (1993) — Contributor — 467 copies
Unfettered: Tales by Masters of Fantasy (2013) — Contributor — 400 copies
Realms of Infamy (1994) — Contributor — 352 copies
Realms of Magic (1995) — Contributor — 329 copies
Realms of the Underdark (1996) — Contributor — 326 copies
Realms of the Elves (2006) — Contributor — 164 copies
Realms of the Dead (2010) — Contributor — 75 copies
OtherWere: Stories of Transformation (1996) — Contributor — 61 copies
R. A. Salvatore's War of the Spider Queen, Vol. 1 (2012) — Introduction — 59 copies
Halflings, Hobbits, Warrows & Weefolk (1991) — Contributor — 23 copies
Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 22 • March 2012 (2012) — Contributor — 11 copies
Pulp Idol: SFX Short Story Competition Collection 2008 (2008) — Contributor — 7 copies
Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 93 • February 2018 (2018) — Contributor — 5 copies
Amazing Stories Vol. 71, No. 2 [Summer 1999] (1999) — Contributor — 3 copies

Tagged

adventure (198) anthology (234) cleric quintet (192) D&D (1,588) Dark Elf (346) Dark Elf Trilogy (201) Drizzt (2,050) drow (426) ebook (525) elves (219) epic (166) epic fantasy (153) fantasy (12,239) fantasy fiction (158) fiction (3,832) Forgotten Realms (6,662) hardcover (432) high fantasy (368) Icewind Dale (253) Kindle (191) Legacy of the Drow (187) Legend of Drizzt (495) magic (266) novel (461) own (391) owned (171) paperback (320) Paths of Darkness (156) R.A. Salvatore (566) read (830) Salvatore (196) science fiction (832) Science Fiction/Fantasy (230) series (372) sff (225) Star Wars (697) sword and sorcery (179) to-read (2,891) unread (355) War of the Spider Queen (202)

Common Knowledge

Members

Reviews

R.A. Salvatore's "Legend of Drizzt: the Crystal Shard" was another, I would say, a pretty good read. This story is the continuation of what everyone's favorite dark Elf Drizzt did when he got to the surface world and moved up to the Icewind Dale.
This was in actuality author R.A. Salvatore's first book he wrote, and when compared to books one, two, and three of the series, you can tell. The story didn't seem to have the natural flow that the others did. The different situations that the characters found themselves in always were tense and full of drama (also plenty of humor) but seemed to be choppy, truncated, and seemed to be resolved nice and quickly. Drizzt too snuffers from his newness. This character may be more...aloof and maybe more "loose" with his personal ethics than what the Drizzt character is in the first three titles of the Legend of Drizzt series.
Drizzt, and his bestie cat Guenhwyvar, seem to able to survive and thrive even with many of the surface races downright hostile to them.
He has met new friends that are pretty great: Regis & Wulfgar, Bruenor & Catti-brie are back and as fun as ever. The reader discovers early on that the enemy is not a who (it is but it isn't) but a what. And boy does that what wreak havoc... There are wizards, and giants, there are demons and trolls and more Orcs than you can shake a stick at. All ready and willing to get after the Ten-Towns of the humans and raze it to the ground so they, more accurately the wizard Akar Kessell can then take over. We've even been introduced to a future enemy!
While Salvatore struggled a bit with the truncating of the story lines, that doesn't mean that this lacked in drama. How can they get out of these sticky situations? Who is going to step up next and be the hero...or the villain. How will this resolve itself, can some of these characters do these things that is needed, will they even do anything?! Read book four of the "Legend of Drizzt: the Crystal Shard" and find out for yourself!
… (more)
½
 
Flagged
Schneider | 40 other reviews | Mar 15, 2024 |
I’ve never been partial to the works of Mr. Salvatore, until now.

While the Attack of the Clones novelisation lacks the dramatic music and framing of the movie, it does a superior job at character writing and making sense of the plot. Extra dialogue and entire scenes are added, fleshing out the story. It’s a noteworthy improvement.

What stood out to me in particular is the chemistry between Anakin and Padma. Something infamously absent in the movie. I likewise appreciated the deeper look into Anakin’s character at this point in time, which the novelisation provides. It makes his inevitable fall more understandable, and more tragic as a result. I understand the Revenge of the Sith novelisation continues these trends. We’ll see once I reach that book; for now I’ll delve into the numerous stories contained in the original Clone Wars Multimedia Project.

Stories written between the release of episode II and III back in the day. Before The Clone Wars animated series muddied the Expanded Universe timeline.
… (more)
 
Flagged
Thulan | 22 other reviews | Mar 4, 2024 |
I blitzed through this book in a day because it was so very readable. Awesome groundwork for the Sundering series.

I took one star off because a) I would have liked to see the reincarnations as physically different people, not virtual clones*, and b) I love Salvatore, I really do, but if I had a dollar for every time he uses 'reasoned' or 'explained' instead of just 'said', I could probably pay him not to use either of those words again.



*My halfling character got reincarnated in a D&D game once and she came back as a wolverine. I'm not saying one of the Companions should have been a wolverine, but blue eyes and light skin and rolling someone in the mud for not being dark enough among dark-skinned people has hella uncomfortable race issues going on.… (more)
 
Flagged
LaurenThemself | 15 other reviews | Feb 20, 2024 |
"Homeland" is by a good margin the stronger novel of these three in my opinion, biased as I am towards intrigue and moral greys, but the other two are also quite good reads, albeit moving ever closer to what one might expect from a Dungeons & Dragons tie-in novel (never quite gets to the trope-feeling area, though, so that's very good). Salvatore is a very good storyteller, and the more awkward game-like feeling aspects of the universe (for instance the inborn spells of the drow species, or odd divisions like if something is an animal or a monster, or inherently a good species of inherently an evil one) are generally handled deftly enough not to take me too much out of the otherwise impressive sense of realism he brings to the world. Despite there being an ungodly number of them, I'll admit to being tempted to reading more Drizzt Do'Urden novels now. This certainly did whet the appetite for following him and his life further.… (more)
½
 
Flagged
Lucky-Loki | 24 other reviews | Feb 18, 2024 |

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Associated Authors

James Lowder Editor, Contributor
Ed Greenwood Author, Contributor
Fritz Leiber Contributor
Todd Lockwood Cover artist
Lisa Smedman Contributor
Paul S. Kemp Contributor
Daniel Wallace Illustrator
Jeff Easley Cover artist
Johann Dettweiler Script Adaptor, Adapter, additional original music, cast member, & digital effects designer, Adapter, additional original music, cast member, dialogue editor, & digital effects designer
Bob Supan Director
Valerie Valusek Illustrator
Wil Wheaton Narrator
Ice-T Narrator
Al Yankovic Narrator
Felicia Day Narrator
Gary Gygax Contributor
William King Contributor
Greg Stafford Contributor
J. Robert King Contributor
Richard Dansky Contributor
Monte Cook Contributor
Jeff Grubb Contributor
Elaine Cunningham Contributor
Greg Stolze Contributor
Will McDermott Contributor
Steven Savile Contributor
Danny Pudi Narrator
Tom Felton Narrator
Dan Harmon Narrator
Greg Grunberg Narrator
Melissa Rauch Narrator
Victor Bevine Narrator
Mika Renvall Translator
Sziklai István, Translator
Geoff Taylor Cover artist
Romas Kukalis Cover artist
Clyde Caldwell Cover artist
Jeff Easely Cover artist
Sergio Bianco Translator
Lily Beacon Cast member
Colleen Delany Cast member
Duane Beeman Producer
Joe Brack Cast member
Anji Cornette Executive producer
Steven Carpenter Cast member
Michael John Casey Cast member
David Coyne Cast member
Mort Shelby Cast member
Andy Clemence Cast member
Nanette Savard Cast member
Michael Glenn Cast member
Ken Jackson Cast member
MB Van Dorn Cast member
Jahbulani Ori Original artwork
Eric Messner Cast member
Terence Aselford Cast member
Dylan Lynch Cast member
Richard Rohan Producer and cast member, Producer & cast member
James Konicek Cast member
Elizabeth Jernigan Cast member
Tim Getman Cast member
Dan Smith Additional original music
The Dead Giveaways Additional red tunics
Chris Barbieri Illustrator
Cliff Nielsen Cover artist
Anthony Heald Narrator
Sébastien Baert Translator
Matthew Stawicki Cover artist
Stefano Massaron Translator
Matt Stawicki Cover artist
Aleksi Briclot Cover artist
Andrew Daab Scriptor
Marita Böhm Übersetzer
Corrie James Cast member
Jonathan Watkins Cast member
Rose Supan Director
Lilly David Cast member
Marita Böhm Übersetzer
Richard Aquan Cover designer
Christiane Schott-Hagedorn Übersetzer, Translator
Larry Rostant Cover artist
Bettina Zeller Translator
Frank Böhmert Translator
Frank Böhmert Translator
Sean Astin Narrator

Statistics

Works
378
Also by
24
Members
77,675
Popularity
#159
Rating
3.8
Reviews
644
ISBNs
1,449
Languages
20
Favorited
178

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