The Halfling's Gem

if you look up “mixed bag” in the dictionary, you’ll find a picture of this book. wait, i’ve heard (and used) this analogy a lot, but i’m not sure i’ve ever seen pictures in a dictionary? whatever. maybe it’s a really weird dictionary. i mean, it has pictures in it that only seem to be there to help people make rhetorical points.

basically, a lot of this rules. i’m thinking specifically of all the sadism on display from entreri. i’m thinking of bruenor cutting his way through the duergar like a boss. i’m thinking of drizzt’s disguise slipping in front of the pirates and them being initially shocked & horrified, but then ending up just being the absolute best boys and timidly interrupting the captain’s meeting with show more drizzt to let him know that they have drizzt’s back, and hope blossoming in drizzt that maybe he can change the way the world sees him.

look, i know the depictions of race & racism have been an… issue in these books. these days, r.a. salvatore is fortunately among the first to say so. but, just… fuck. drizzt getting that moment of profound relief & hope really meant a lot to me. like, he’s very explicitly described as just bracing himself for the worst and then feeling like a weight has been lifted from him, and while i haven’t had that experience with race i’ve had it with several other aspects of my identity, and i just related to drizzt so intensely in that moment.

… speaking of this series’ fraught relationship with fantasy & real-world racism, though… yeah, it’s time to pivot from the good part of the mixed bag to the bad part. although it was also present & accounted for in this book, the weird handwringing about catti-brie’s killing of a fellow human when she was a self-confessed slayer of orcs/etc didn’t even last one book as the most racist shit i’d seen so far in this series, because holy shit the depiction of calimshan is just… i mean, wow.

oh also, i kind of super don’t care that much because the hints of romance that have shown up so far are definitely not among the best aspects of any of the books, but given that i can pretty much already tell where the whole wulfgar/drizzt/catti-brie stuff is going (despite limited time spent on it, it’s… not especially subtle), i just want to get ahead of this and mention that polyamory is totally a thing that exists. just for when catti-brie inevitably starts angsting about her terrible choice between human cock & drow cock for a book and a half or whatever.

(drow cock is objectively the correct choice, btw. i’ll take him if she won’t.)

honestly though i think the closest i come to shipping anyone is drizzt/bruenor. and i’m not even, like, into it? i just think out of the pairings there’s even been hints of, theirs would be pretty chill. if i were gonna write messy fanfic about any pairing, though, it would 100 percent be drizzt/entreri. raise your hand if you’re even slightly surprised. (and then smack yourself in your face with that hand for lying.)

the main things that tip the scales here in favor of the things about this book that are pretty good are basically drizzt’s sublime swordfight with entreri and drizzt’s more hopeful outlook towards the end of the book. first of all, i love when he reflects on the fact that entreri is probably never going to stop being obsessed with him, but he doesn’t actually have to give a shit about entreri. he can let their bloodfeud be entreri’s problem, and just defend himself & his friends as needed. added to that, the breakthrough where he decides that the world’s racism towards him is their problem, not his, meant so fucking much to me.

i just super want the best for drizzt, y’all. i don’t care how silly that probably sounds. so every little way he finds to make his life a little bit better is going to meet with my hearty approval. show less

Well, I'm continuing my way through breakthrough 1980s fantasy fiction. This one was more of a slog than the previous two in the trilogy. The gaming elements strained closer to the surface, and the continuous action of the closing seemed to stretch on. That said, it obviously had an enormous impact on the genre and TSR novels in general. The oddness of "choice" continues in this volume, and the gestures to Tolkien abound. I'm still not sure how to think about it in relation to 1908s identity politics, but that's obviously one of its most dominant concerns.

What the hell just happened...
That is what I asked myself after finishing Streams of Silver, book 5 in the Legend of Drizzt series and book 2 in the Icewind Dale Trilogy. Well, what a wild ride Mr. R.A. Salvatore took us on to figure out what the heck happened.
Drizzt and his companions are on a quest! Well, what companions that are left. Bruenor has fallen in Mithril Hall taking out the dragon, Cattie-Brie is rallying Bruenor' s brethren and supporters of his from the North to rescue and reclaim his rightful hall. Drizzt and Wulfgar are pounding the pavement chasing the elusive Artemis Entreri who has kidnapped Regis and is bringing him back to Calimport and to "justice" for his stealing of the gem from the head of the thieves guild, show more trying to save him and Guenhwyvar, whom Entreri had stolen off Drizzt's body.
Salvatore gives us a tour of the forgotten realms as it seems Drizzt and the companions cover the map and experience all sorts of adventures as they drive towards their destiny.
Some are lost, some are found, new friends are made and new enemies are discovered as The Halfling's Gem wraps up this trilogy of stories that is fast-paced, fun, adventurous and wild. So much so that you may just ask yourself what the hell just happened...
I fell that the Drizzt books should be made into a show of some type and this title just reinforces that as it would be a hoot to see it on a screen.
Love it and give it a big four stars. show less

The Halfling's Gem feels, to me, an anticlimactic coda to an otherwise decent fantasy trilogy. Never to be confused with brilliance, but briskly paced enough to avoid becoming bogged down by the limitations of the genre. After the first two books focus on the reclamation of the dwarven homeland, The Halfling's Gem tries to shift the heroes' focus to their protecting their "brotherhood." It has all the potential to be heartwarming, but the characters never rest control of the narrative away from the plodding plot.

The dark elf Drizzt has continued to develop as a character throughout the books of The Forgotten Realms that feature him and were written by R.A. Salvatore, which are the only Forgotten Realms books I have read. The other characters are rather one-dimensional and stereotypical. Some of the secondary characters (Captain Deudermont and the Harpells, for example) are more interesting than the main ones, in my opinion. Salvatore writes excellent fight scenes, the assorted duels and skirmishes Drizzt and his band (Wulfgar, Bruenor, Carrie-brie, Regis, and Guenhwyvar) manage to get into and out of with a combination of skill, magic, and luck. It’s a rollicking adventure, but don’t expect much more than that.

I loved getting more time with Artemis Entreri in this Drizzt installment! He's such an interesting character, and a great foil/mirror to Drizzt. As with some of the other books in this series the epilogue/ending wrap-up felt kind of rushed? There were things in it that I wished would have more time spent with them. Otherwise another fun addition to the series.

Much better balanced than the previous two. This is the conclusion to the first trilogy of the life of Drizzit, and whilst ok enough to be enjoyable I'm not enthused to rush out and read the remaining 20 odd.

The plot is still somewhat laughably thin though. The Halfling's previous crimes have finally caught up with him nad he's been dragged unceremoniously back to some city to face the Thief Guildmaster's punishments. Our heros aren't going to let that stop them though, and chase off behind the assassin who has him in tow. Apart from the dwarf who's still recouperating and needs to recapture his city that he fled in the last book. However when offered a magical flying chariot he realises he can catch up with his friends help rescue the show more halfling and still make it back in time for the big fight.

A bit more characterisation, and introspection from various people help bring this to life. The author's fascination with irritating dialects remains a constant pain however. There is no real danger of any of the characters dying, you know they'll all survive, the fun is in how they do it. This time round though the opposition is much more believable for mid-level RPG characters, and hence the difficulties are somewhat more reasonable. There is still a lot of words described to excatly what arc the scimiatrs are flowing thorugh and the power of a big warhammer. The promised big fight just fizzles away.

Enjoyable and best of the bunch, but nothing to write home about. show less