Why would that be any better?Zom-B said:
If you don't like the later novels (as I don't) then just ignore them. It doesn't make the earlier ones any worse.
Most Valuable Dark Elf
- Thread starter Greg Tito
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If you don't like the later novels (as I don't) then just ignore them. It doesn't make the earlier ones any worse.
I like Drizzt's stories, they're rarely a dissapointing read. However for dark elves, in terms of how interesting they are and how much I like them, I'd put jarlaxle above drizzt, kimmuriel above jarlaxle, gromph above kimmuriel, and Valas Hune above them all.
I haven't even seen much with Valas, just the war of the spider queen and the ghost king if I remember right, but he's my fav dark elf no doubt.
Although for Salvatore as a whole, my favorite series of his don't directly involve the drizzt gang/storyline. My favs are demonwars, cleric quintet, and the saga of the first king.
I haven't even seen much with Valas, just the war of the spider queen and the ghost king if I remember right, but he's my fav dark elf no doubt.
Although for Salvatore as a whole, my favorite series of his don't directly involve the drizzt gang/storyline. My favs are demonwars, cleric quintet, and the saga of the first king.
It's true, it doesn't. However, from an artistic integrity standpoint, sometimes it's better to go out on top, rather than holding on to something that is past it's prime. TV shows like the Simpsons prove that point. It speaks more to Salvatore's motivations than it does to the character he writes. Is he still writing the character to keep it falling into someone else's hands? Is he doing it to make money? Is he that attached to the character?flamingjimmy said:
The cynic in me makes it hard to believe that he wasn't somewhat swayed by the cheques Hasbro writes him and the royalties he brings in for selling books.
Personally I think that any artist or writer that hangs on to a character or franchise or anything that long is probably out of ideas and taking the easy way out. Terry Pratchett is another guy. How many Discworld novels are there now? 30? It's great he found something that resonates so strongly with people, but when you keep going back to the well time after time after time...
Whatever. I guess they're appeasing die hard fans and who am I to argue with that?
Oh yeah, I loved Jarlaxle, as I mentioned above, he just seemed so awesome. He rejected the drow norms, but instead of out right leaving and becoming a soldier of good, he carved his path to fortune by taking advantage of any situation he could.Jodah said:
He's chaotic-aligned, of course he's a traitor.viranimus said:
But then, our entire pantheon is chaotic. Where do you think that leaves me? I'm neither chaotic nor evil, I spit in the faces of everyone! How did that attention whore get so much focus?
Honestly, I do agree that none of the later books that I've read measured up to the Icewind Dale trilogy...and even that wasn't nearly as good as the prequels, which are still three of my favorite fantasy books.
Still, the Hunter's Blades trilogy did pick up after the awful Paths of Darkness, so I just recently started reading the books after that. I do like Drizzt's character, after all, and I'm glad to hear Salvatore still does, too. Gives me hope, you see.
I'm willing to admit that Jarlaxle blows both out of the water for sheer entertainment value, though.
Still, the Hunter's Blades trilogy did pick up after the awful Paths of Darkness, so I just recently started reading the books after that. I do like Drizzt's character, after all, and I'm glad to hear Salvatore still does, too. Gives me hope, you see.
Entreri is all right, though I was more impressed with him in Servant of the Shard than the other two Sellswords books, and I still like Drizzt more.Buchholz101 said:
I'm willing to admit that Jarlaxle blows both out of the water for sheer entertainment value, though.
Buchholz101 said:
I'm with both of you. I was really glad when I found the Sellsword trilogy, because I thought that he was finally leaving Drizzt and starting with two 'new' characters to explore: A man who is watching himself deteriorate and slide from his pinnacle, and a smart, politically savvy mercenary who doesn't seems to plan so much as spin everything that happens so that he comes out on top. But then he returned to the old elf (although it appears that Hasbro has him over a barrel there).Jodah said:
I like Drizzt as a character, and I think Salvatore is probably one of the best writers of fight scenes; I just wish that he would have told Hasbro to suck it so he could embark on new adventures.
Artemis is a dull boring character, they have his background in one of the anthologies that are out there, Realms of Infamy I think. He could not carry a story on his own he is just not that interesting. However as a straight man for Jarlaxle he's perfect. A humorless character who, more often the not, is the butt of one of Jalaxle's joke/pranks/schemes.Buchholz101 said:
Additionally, Jarlaxle wouldn't be as funny without a straight man, be it Artemis or Drizzt or some drow priestess.
SPOILERS FROM THE NEVERWINTER SAGA! Don't read if you are afraid of them!Thunderous Cacophony said:
I do like that he managed to keep Artemis and Jarlaxle alive even though he had to kill off everyone else in the Neverwinter saga. Granted the Artemis part was kinda...weird.
The main thing I hate about Drizzt is that every moron tries to emulate him.
But make him Chaotic-Evil or Chaotic-Neutral.
So they like Drizzt's appearance, but wanna be a tool that wrecks the game for the rest of the players and forces the DM to employ the oft spoken of and rightly feared 'strategically placed boulder' DM countermove.
But make him Chaotic-Evil or Chaotic-Neutral.
So they like Drizzt's appearance, but wanna be a tool that wrecks the game for the rest of the players and forces the DM to employ the oft spoken of and rightly feared 'strategically placed boulder' DM countermove.
I loved the Icewind Dale books, and the Homelands books, but you are right that the series after that goes kind of "Meh!". I just hated what happened to Cattie-Brie and how supposedly she and Regis were supposed to never see Drizzt or Bruenor again. It was sad, and I hated it, and I hated what happened to Cadderly and the Edificant Library, too. In short, 4th edition sort of crapped all over the Realms I loved, and had loved since 2e. 
And I haven't been a fan of the new books that much, either. I know Drizzt is an elf, and has to move on from loving and losing Cattie-Brie, but that female killer elf just annoys the stuffing out of me. Heck, I know that part of it is that 4e annoys the stuffing out of me, too, but I just find myself caring less and less. And sadly, this is happening with the 4e Elminster books, too. The last books I really enjoyed were the ones set earlier in the Realms, starring the Knights of Myth Drannor.
And yeah, I fell into the whole "Dark Elf Character" thing, but mine were female and worshipped Elistraee. (Drow Goddess of Combat and Dance). And I have had fighters who did the double-wield Scimitars, but they were female and human, and now I like to play Archers who double-wield scimitars in hand to hand.
And I haven't been a fan of the new books that much, either. I know Drizzt is an elf, and has to move on from loving and losing Cattie-Brie, but that female killer elf just annoys the stuffing out of me. Heck, I know that part of it is that 4e annoys the stuffing out of me, too, but I just find myself caring less and less. And sadly, this is happening with the 4e Elminster books, too. The last books I really enjoyed were the ones set earlier in the Realms, starring the Knights of Myth Drannor.
And yeah, I fell into the whole "Dark Elf Character" thing, but mine were female and worshipped Elistraee. (Drow Goddess of Combat and Dance). And I have had fighters who did the double-wield Scimitars, but they were female and human, and now I like to play Archers who double-wield scimitars in hand to hand.
I'm surprised that people are surprised. Have a look at the best selling books, series and authors of all time. Among the best selling series, with hundreds of millions of copies sold, are such greats as Sweet Valley High, The Babysitters Club and, of course, Twilight. The 9th best selling novel of all time (so not including religious and political stuff like the Bible and Mein Kampf) - The Da Vinci Code. The 3rd best selling author of all time - Barbara Cartland with her "romance" books. Sorry, "books". OK, "book". Changing the title and the characters' names doesn't make it a new book. Coming in close after her is Danielle Steel, essentially just the US version of Cartland. She's actually the best-selling living author.PPB said:
So yeah. It is literally impossible to write anything so bad that people won't buy it. As proven by those last two examples, you don't even need to write something new and terrible. Just write something that makes a drunk gorilla mashing a keyboard look like Shakespeare, copy it out 700 times, and people will still buy it every single time. Salvatore may not be the best author ever, but next to this kind of crap he really doesn't look all that bad.
I think you may have rather missed the point there. Dark elves are supposed to be Drizzt, only evil. By playing an evil Drizzt, people are playing exactly how dark elves are supposed to be according to the lore. It's Salvatore that has done the switch by making Drizzt a dark elf, but good. Complaining about people who want to play a dark elf as an actual dark elf is like complaining about people wanting to play a good paladin, because obviously they're just trying to copy a blackguard but make him good.uzo said:
Yes, read them. Much better than Icewind Dale, fully Drizzt-oriented, fantastic setting, and I believe it was the second trilogy he wrote (meaning that these books were early).UnderGlass said:
I personally read almost everything Salvatore wrote, but some of it is clearly better than others, and some are spectacularly bad.
"Zom-B" post="6.342414.13795951"]I'll echo the sentiments about anyone reading Salvatore's books. When I was a kid of course I thought they were great, but as I read more and more books in both the fantasy genre and others, and gained a greater appreciation for quality writing it became more and more apparent that Salvatore was simply an average author who had the good fortune to stumble upon a character that people fell in love with.
The fact that he's written 20 books on Drizzt is a testament to his shameless milking of the character. I haven't read any of his non-Drizzt books, but I bet you could plug him in to the storyline in place of a similar character without ever knowing that the books wasn't meant to be a Drizzt book to begin with. The guy has definitely got the formula nailed down, which is probably the biggest detriment to his books. They're probably formulaic, predictable and riddled with tropes and cliches.[/quote]
The Highwayman books were godawful but the DemonWars Saga was great.
I'm surprised that there's so much dislike for Salvatore and his character. I first saw Drizzt in a cameo in Baldur's Gate when it first came out all those years ago. I've recently started reading my way through the series of books. I'm up to Starless Night and I've enjoyed all of them.
As was stated above, it's the other characters in the books like Bruenor and Cattie-Brie that I enjoy reading about the most. Jarlaxle is quickly becoming one of my favourite anti-heroes.
As was stated above, it's the other characters in the books like Bruenor and Cattie-Brie that I enjoy reading about the most. Jarlaxle is quickly becoming one of my favourite anti-heroes.