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Submitted by James 
(Jun 27, 2006)

A brilliant intoduction to a brilliant series of books. The Dale Trilogy was my introduction to the world of Salvatore and convinced me to continue reading it ever since. To summarize-Drizzt is a drow, a race of subterreanean, evil elves wit hblack skin. Drizzt has only found acceptance (and that grudging) in a community known as Ten-Towns, in the far North of the surface. Drizzt is a good Drow and ranger, serving the goddess Mielikki, Lady of the Forest.
The Crystal Shard is the tale of a young, pathetic sorceror who comes upon Crenshinibon, a xentient artifact on incredible power. Aided by this the izard calls forth an army and prepares to destroy Ten-Towns.
Streams of Silver is the tale of an adventure by Drizzt and his companions to reclaim to ancient dwarven mine of Mithral Hall, the birthplace of Bruenor Batttlehammer, Drizzt's great friend. Secrets from Regis's(another companion) past come back to haunt the company.
The Halfling's Gem tracks the heroes as they attempt to rescue Regis from his kidnappers.

This book was the best I have read out of R. A. Slavatore's books. Drizzt Do 'Urden is definetly the best character. The book goes through 3 amazing books, one right after the other.
I saw this book to be like the Lord of The Rings, kinda like it, but totaly different. Ok, now on to some of the characters. Drizzt Do 'Urden, simply the best fighter. Wulfgar, strong barbarian and student to Drizzt. Burenor, stubborn dwarven read bearded miner. Cattir' Brie, lovely female orphaned and raise by Bruenor and future wife of Wulfgar. Regis, troublesome little thief and a halfling. Well there is more but these are the most important characters in the whole Icewind Dale Triliogy.

Oh, this trilogy was great and so much more. Not being an avid reader to begin with, these books got me entirely hooked on the Fantasy genre. The fact I play Everquest and other fantasy games just boosts my love for this trilogy, as it completely engulfed me in the characters' feelings and the surroundings.

Never have I read a trilogy as descriptive, intricately detailed, or addictive as this was. The Dark Elf Trilogy is just as good, and is worth checking out prior to these books to get a generally deeper understanding and compassion for Drizzt.

This book... belongs on anyone's shelf.

I just finished reading the Streams of Silver out of the Icewind Dale trilogy and although I hardly ever read I found I couldn't put this book down.
It was full of excitement and comedy but the character of the dark elf and the assassin were well placed and really cool.
I plan on reading the full series of these books and hopefully put out my opinions of each book for all to know. Now I'll have to leave you with that and dive into the next book.

With an exciting plot, this series was a great success, but its superficiality dooms it to the level of mediocrity. The Dark Elf Trilogy was indeed more successful. Salvatore was masterful in bringing the companions to popularity, but he did not make them believable. Throughout the series, character development is almost non-existent. Characters are extremely one-sided with few, exaggerated traits. They are supposed to be 'good-hearted' people, but throughout the story, their weaknesses are so apparent that they appear nothing more than a bunch of hypocrites. They are depicted as honourable figures who would risk their lives to save others, but there are numerous occassions in which they fight unnecessary battles, slaughtering everyone in their paths without a second word (or thought). Only a couple of times does a character's conscience overrule his/her actions (very rare as conscience in this tale serves little more than philosophical blabbering), but besides that, they seem to have forgot everything and decide to go back on their killing spree. Overall, character development (or the lack thereof) is the major problem that makes this otherwise good series less enjoyable. I don't know about later editions, but the copy I own right now (relatively new, bought in late 2002) is full of editorial errors. There are a few dozens of errors throughout the book that I noticed, and those could easily be spotted if the editor had indeed done a good job. Blatant typos, confusing punctuation, and usage errors all made reading this book more frustrating.