Review for The Halfling's Gem

Tolkien rip off or not, the Icewind Dale (Or Forgotten Realms) trilogy is spectacular. It has everything a fantasy fan wants in a novel; Elves, Dwarves, Creatures, magic, wizards, and adventure.

The main characters of the story, as in Lord of the Rings, are a fellowship. They protect each other, learn from each other, and would risk their lives at a moments notice. Although it has a lot of likeness to Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, there are a lot of differences. One in particular that I enjoyed, is the story of Bruenor Battlehammer. This dwarf, the heir to the throne of the long lost Mithral Hall, is the mentor of the Barbarian Wulfgar, and the father figure to an adopted human female named Catti-brie. And the relationship he shares with both of these characters is well developed and has a lot of depth. In particular, the story of how Bruenor met Wulfgar is so cool.

Wulfgar is from a Barbarian tribe who live on the harsh, cold plains of Icewind Dale. During a battle between Wulfgar's Barbarian's tribe and the dwarf, Bruenor comes across an injured Wulfgar who is helpless to defend himself. Instead of taking the expected course of action, which would be to slay Wulfgar where he lay, Bruenor instead decides that he will take this kid (although Wulfgar is a barbarian and huge in size, he is still very young) and teach him the way of the dwarves, elves, humans, and other people of the Forgotten Realms. His intentions is to rid Wulfgar of his narrow-mindedness and prejudices. After years of training and serving under Bruenor, the two become close friends and Wulfgar contiously learns valuable lessons througout the trilogy.

The main character, the beloved Drizzt Do'Urden, really shines in this book. His battle prowress, elven powers, and drow abilities make him an unlikely hero, but one who is easy to empathize with and admire. His mind is fixed on tracking down the assassin Artemis Entreri, the one who kidnapped the half-ling Regis in Mithral Hall. Drizzt fought Entreri briefly in the catwalks and chambers of the caverns of Mithral Hall, but did not come to victory. Drizzt, so surprised to see a human who was able to match his agility, skill with a sword, and ability to move quicly unnerves him and he goes on a long journey to not only rescue Regis, but to have a final confrontation with Entrerir. The reader does find out later in the book ***spoiler*** that Drizzt's fight is more with himself than with Entreri. He cannot understand why Entreri choose the life of an assassin and shows no remorse, cruelty, and no mercy. Drizzt on the other hand, coming from a land where most of the drow elves were like Entreri, has found compassion, understanding, patience, and love. So, to Drizzt, he sees in Entreri what he might have turned out like.

This book is a great conclusion to a fantastic trilogy. I'm looking forward to reading the first three books which tells the story of Drizzt in Menzoberranzan and how he came to the surface. Until then, pick up this trilogy, I see on Amazon a new collector's edition is coming out with illustrations, full color paintings ( I saw one of Guenwyhvar and it's awesome), and a foreward by R.A. Salvatore.