The older editions you have there could not have been the ones you bought and read in the late '80s. The first two have blurbs on the front mentioning that it's the author of The Legacy, which was not published until 1992. The TSR logo on the first book did not come into use until 1994. The Forgotten Realms logo on the third book first appears in 2000. And the third book blurbs the Sea of Swords, which was not published until 2001. Maybe your friend in college surreptitiously returned newer editions to you, perhaps after destroying or misplacing the originals.
This series was instrumental in my love of the fantasy genre. I met Salvatore at a Barnes and Noble event here in North Carolina over a decade ago, and he was the most humble and down to earth guy, I can't speak highly enough of him.
I was smiling so wide throughout this whole video! You have no idea how happy I am you are reading these. You're my favorite reviewer and these are my favorite books, so this is amazing. I think by the time you've read this trilogy (Icewind Dale) and the "prequel" trilogy (Dark Elf) you are going to absolutely love the books and all of the characters. It's just so much fun. Excited for a Streams of Silver review!
I haven't read the entire, ongoing series, but I have read about 8 or 9 of the books with Drizzt as the main character. I enjoyed reading those. Also, concerning Catti-brie, Bruenor saved her life and later adopted her as his daughter. And in turn, not having memories of her parents, Catti-brie regarded Bruenor as her father.
I’ve seen a lot of R.A Salvatore books at the 2nd and Charles by me but never thought to pick up any because his name sounded badly generic to me. I’ve actually just finished the 1st chapter of The Forgetting Moon this morning and really digging it. It’s my first time reading a big fantasy series so my reading time has plummeted due to looking at the map so much lol.
I picked up a copy of Crystal Shard from a book stand in Fort William when I was on holiday in Scotland the year it came out and was captivated by the cover art. Not being a player of D&D, but a fan of Eddings and Brooks and Ray Feist i Later read it by Loch Leven with a flask of coffee and was hooked. I've since read all the Dark Elf series and believe Salvatore to be one of the most underrated authors in Fantasy fiction
Thanks for this review. I read this book from a library around 1990, but I never read “Streams of Silver” nor “the Halfling’s Gem”. I’ve been considering reading those 2 books and wondering whether or not to reread “the Crystal Shard” first. Hearing of your enjoyment, I reckon I will probably reread “the Crystal Shard”. 😀
Of the six I read (prequels and Icewind) Silver and Halfling's gem were much better than crystal. I think Halfling's was my favorite of the six and Crystal my least favorite because it was slow to get going. But great in the second half. In contrast 'Homeland' book 1 of the prequel is straight into the action from the first few pages! Great series.
Another plus to the newer edition of books in the series is that they have added Drizzt monologs between chapters, which expand the character and his philosophies more than the original books did. I'm not usually a fan of changed editions of books, but the additions here are some nice extra flavor text for the world and for Drizzt's overall view on it and its people.
All the best elements of classic fantasy (Conan the barbarian, LOTR), fun 80's action movies, and even classic fiction (Example: parts of the prequels have a Frankenstein or Gulliver's travel feel to them) are blended well to formulate a fun, fast story that helps young people easily see the struggle of establishing one's own identity in the face of society, expectations, and prejudice (i.e Drizzt forging his own way from the evil Dark elf society he was born into). I was also sad I did not read these when I was young.
There are a total of 37 now including his latest "Generations" trilogy. The artwork and spines will not match, but they are all three Drizzt books. I have the entire set - glad to hear you are going to be getting them. :)
For me The Crystal Shard was my first DnD book and is still one of my favorite fantasy novels and series, it's so great. I have the original paperbacks but also all of the omnibus editions they did for the first 4 Drizzt story lines and I've read all of them multiple times
Douglas Niles Moonshae books were also very good in my opinion. Thibbledorf Pwent is one of my favorite characters. He appears a few books down the road, as well as Atemis. There are omnibus editions if many of the early books if you are so inclined.
It’s awesome so many people love his writing the way I do but your only getting half the experience no lie Victor Bevine brings everything alive, I don’t comment ever literally first time so I hope I can get at least one person to start at homeland book 4 but really book 1 every single book ties in perfect to the next all the way through and he voices out EVERY character perfect. It really is the only way to fully experience this series..
Seeing the Streams of Silver book the first time on an exchange trip to england (me german). As a D&D player i read the dragonlance stuff numerous times. Then about half a year later, i got sick and send my brother to the ´fantasy store´ at my hometown to get me ´the crystal shard´and ´streams of silver´ (i knew they had them, because this shop had all new TSR books). I never implemented any of teh main heroes in my D&D campaigns but numerous times the best villain ever written appeared, ... Artemis Entreri. This is a very well written villain and i am a dwarf fan. I died for these novels.
I read the original six books as a kid in high school. These were fantastic and one of the first all my friends read so it was great to be able to talk about our favorite parts.
I got to sit down and talk to Larry Elmore at a SciFi show around 1990 and he was very nice. We had growing up in KY in common. And are about the same age, I think. His determination to get work doing fantasy art was inspiring. He had a military job and every night would paint for hours. It sure paid off when the Dungeon and Dragons game creators hired him.
There's something special about still owning your first purchased copies of a book. But I guess the books don't have any nostalgia value, so it's cool to give them away and start afresh. It's like owning a retro video game, nice to say you still have the one you bought all those years ago. There's almost a personal story in when, why, how, who and where, to do with the purchase.
The old TSR choose your own adventure books were the awesome. It was my only safe haven in the 80s when my grandma took me with her to get her hair done... them was some hard times.
Glad you didn’t throw those originals away! Only thing worse than cracked spines, dog eared pages, and torn covers is throwing away ANY book that isn’t either completely destroyed past readability or radioactive.
Book review: “I read the Crystal Shard more than 30 years ago and I don’t remember anything about it…” Oh, well that was a short review. “…So I read it again…” Thank goodness! On with the show! 😄
Every night Drizzt hugs his cat and whispers "It's just you and me baby." To me they are a power couple. My 4 favorite books: - The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck - Homeland by R A Salvatore - Icon by Frank Frazetta - Great Fighter Jets of the Galaxy 1 by Tim Gibson
This exact thing happened to me when I pulled my copy of rendezvous with rama I've had since 1990. I decided to reread it, it looked mint on the outside but when i cracked it open: bam, cracked spine. I read it on my kobo and ordered the folio society edition.
Sounds like you should have saved the cracked spine for the spine of the world review which is the second book in the paths of of darkness and the 12th overall book in the drizzt series 😂
I just finished this one. It was pretty good, the Dark Elf Trilogy is better in my opinion. I read them years back. But never read The Ice Windale Trilogy. Going to finish up the 2nd and 3rd after I finish my current book (The Girl With All The Gifts).
Oh man, I love Forgotten Realms but I have an odd relationship with Salvatore, he’s just so hit or miss. My favorites have been Kemp’s and then the duo of Grubb and Novak.
I thought it was overrated book and trilogy. I remember buying Dragons of Autumn Twilight at Borders Books back on 1997 with my allowance and the clerk telling me that I should get The Crystal Shard instead, much better book... I do not regret my decision to this day.
Higher chance of pages ripping or coming unglued and causing missing pages if not careful I have an old library copy of a book where someone put the book down with the pages open and cuz I was reading it Distorted well I was turning a page I ripped the page right from the spine thank god I was inside and sitting down reading
This review is so bogus. There isn't one in-depth point about it. Everything said sound like you googled it 5 minutes before you made the video. How do you not know the relationship between Breunor and Catti-brie if you've just read the book, worse to think Breunor has a crush on her?
😅 worst review on the most highly sought-after character review I am highly disappointed as he said even that he can't remember a thing about what the crystal shard is about how can you not remember that epic book one of the most epic of all time hero characters. Hands down. 😂😂😂😂 Epic epic fail
My opinion right off the hop: The Crystal Shard was a real big mess. Streams of Silver possibly his best ever. This coming from someone who has hung in for this series for 20+ years.
I'm going to tell you right now: The first 12 books or so were written in the 2nd edition D&D style. Because of shared-world politics the books began to suffer, unfortunately. But R.A. will always be a hero! He did his best with what they threw at him.
Skip to 7:00 to bypass the shameless self-promotion and then him showing off his book collection that most have seen 100000 times now. He doesn't even TALK about the actual books until almost 8 minutes in. Jesus
@@B.LEE.DbrianleedurfeeREVIEWS I left a comment on an older video apologizing because I've been an ass to you a few times. I have no right to say how or what you do on your channel. Also having read your book allowed me into how you work a bit better if that makes any sense to you. You just want to share cool books and even cooler stories. Again I apologize Brian. Just bought your second book. The scope of that series is insane in a great way
I never take offense. In fact I take quite a bit of pleasure in the negative comments. I never react in anger cuz they don't make me angry. Sometimes I will react with a joke to make the whole thing sillier.
Cracked spine? YOU ANIMAL!!! :) Don't throw the books in the trash, donate then to your LPL!!! Jeez, ya damaged the Crystal Shard new cover (what is up with the bottom right of the book? Depressed... :)
The older editions you have there could not have been the ones you bought and read in the late '80s. The first two have blurbs on the front mentioning that it's the author of The Legacy, which was not published until 1992. The TSR logo on the first book did not come into use until 1994. The Forgotten Realms logo on the third book first appears in 2000. And the third book blurbs the Sea of Swords, which was not published until 2001. Maybe your friend in college surreptitiously returned newer editions to you, perhaps after destroying or misplacing the originals.
i think you solved the case!!! that is some good detective work and i didn't even think of that. It was around 97 when i lent the books out.
More lies Durfee.
@@bmoneybby its all part of my grand scheme
I feel like I'm in an Agatha Christie novel. I don't know what to believe anymore. Aghhhh
I am 51 and i remember buying these and reading them quickly in the 1980's . Loved them all .
This series was instrumental in my love of the fantasy genre. I met Salvatore at a Barnes and Noble event here in North Carolina over a decade ago, and he was the most humble and down to earth guy, I can't speak highly enough of him.
I was smiling so wide throughout this whole video! You have no idea how happy I am you are reading these. You're my favorite reviewer and these are my favorite books, so this is amazing. I think by the time you've read this trilogy (Icewind Dale) and the "prequel" trilogy (Dark Elf) you are going to absolutely love the books and all of the characters. It's just so much fun. Excited for a Streams of Silver review!
I haven't read the entire, ongoing series, but I have read about 8 or 9 of the books with Drizzt as the main character. I enjoyed reading those. Also, concerning Catti-brie, Bruenor saved her life and later adopted her as his daughter. And in turn, not having memories of her parents, Catti-brie regarded Bruenor as her father.
I’ve seen a lot of R.A Salvatore books at the 2nd and Charles by me but never thought to pick up any because his name sounded badly generic to me. I’ve actually just finished the 1st chapter of The Forgetting Moon this morning and really digging it. It’s my first time reading a big fantasy series so my reading time has plummeted due to looking at the map so much lol.
I picked up a copy of Crystal Shard from a book stand in Fort William when I was on holiday in Scotland the year it came out and was captivated by the cover art. Not being a player of D&D, but a fan of Eddings and Brooks and Ray Feist i Later read it by Loch Leven with a flask of coffee and was hooked. I've since read all the Dark Elf series and believe Salvatore to be one of the most underrated authors in Fantasy fiction
I've been to Fort William Scotland. In 2014
Thanks for this review. I read this book from a library around 1990, but I never read “Streams of Silver” nor “the Halfling’s Gem”. I’ve been considering reading those 2 books and wondering whether or not to reread “the Crystal Shard” first.
Hearing of your enjoyment, I reckon I will probably reread “the Crystal Shard”. 😀
Of the six I read (prequels and Icewind) Silver and Halfling's gem were much better than crystal. I think Halfling's was my favorite of the six and Crystal my least favorite because it was slow to get going. But great in the second half. In contrast 'Homeland' book 1 of the prequel is straight into the action from the first few pages! Great series.
Another plus to the newer edition of books in the series is that they have added Drizzt monologs between chapters, which expand the character and his philosophies more than the original books did.
I'm not usually a fan of changed editions of books, but the additions here are some nice extra flavor text for the world and for Drizzt's overall view on it and its people.
It's a great book and a great series, one I own and have read numerous times and probably will read numerous times yet before I croak.
All the best elements of classic fantasy (Conan the barbarian, LOTR), fun 80's action movies, and even classic fiction (Example: parts of the prequels have a Frankenstein or Gulliver's travel feel to them) are blended well to formulate a fun, fast story that helps young people easily see the struggle of establishing one's own identity in the face of society, expectations, and prejudice (i.e Drizzt forging his own way from the evil Dark elf society he was born into). I was also sad I did not read these when I was young.
Starting these in a couple weeks. Beginning with Homeland.
I always find it funny when you say you'll edit something out, but you never do.
I enjoy the free flowing conversation format of the reviews.
There are a total of 37 now including his latest "Generations" trilogy. The artwork and spines will not match, but they are all three Drizzt books. I have the entire set - glad to hear you are going to be getting them. :)
Comment still relevant as drizzt is pushing over 40 books now
Have you read Fafad and the Grey mouser? I think it was source code for much of later fantasy.
For me The Crystal Shard was my first DnD book and is still one of my favorite fantasy novels and series, it's so great. I have the original paperbacks but also all of the omnibus editions they did for the first 4 Drizzt story lines and I've read all of them multiple times
Douglas Niles Moonshae books were also very good in my opinion. Thibbledorf Pwent is one of my favorite characters. He appears a few books down the road, as well as Atemis. There are omnibus editions if many of the early books if you are so inclined.
It’s awesome so many people love his writing the way I do but your only getting half the experience no lie Victor Bevine brings everything alive, I don’t comment ever literally first time so I hope I can get at least one person to start at homeland book 4 but really book 1 every single book ties in perfect to the next all the way through and he voices out EVERY character perfect. It really is the only way to fully experience this series..
Homeland needs be in there shows Drizzt from the beginning…
Great book. Great characters and the plot twists back and forth. They get to be real heroes unlike some of the other books. Readers can jump right in
Seeing the Streams of Silver book the first time on an exchange trip to england (me german). As a D&D player i read the dragonlance stuff numerous times. Then about half a year later, i got sick and send my brother to the ´fantasy store´ at my hometown to get me ´the crystal shard´and ´streams of silver´ (i knew they had them, because this shop had all new TSR books).
I never implemented any of teh main heroes in my D&D campaigns but numerous times the best villain ever written appeared, ... Artemis Entreri.
This is a very well written villain and i am a dwarf fan. I died for these novels.
I read the original six books as a kid in high school. These were fantastic and one of the first all my friends read so it was great to be able to talk about our favorite parts.
I got to sit down and talk to Larry Elmore at a SciFi show around 1990 and he was very nice. We had growing up in KY in common. And are about the same age, I think. His determination to get work doing fantasy art was inspiring. He had a military job and every night would paint for hours. It sure paid off when the Dungeon and Dragons game creators hired him.
Great video of a great book. I look forward to your reviews of the series, I’m currently on book 31 in the series but hoping to finish this year
There's something special about still owning your first purchased copies of a book. But I guess the books don't have any nostalgia value, so it's cool to give them away and start afresh.
It's like owning a retro video game, nice to say you still have the one you bought all those years ago. There's almost a personal story in when, why, how, who and where, to do with the purchase.
The old TSR choose your own adventure books were the awesome. It was my only safe haven in the 80s when my grandma took me with her to get her hair done... them was some hard times.
Glad you didn’t throw those originals away! Only thing worse than cracked spines, dog eared pages, and torn covers is throwing away ANY book that isn’t either completely destroyed past readability or radioactive.
I haven't read forgotten realms in years. I really should check them out again.
Brian, I got a notification from Kindle that the Lonesome Crown is out! Woohoo!
Book review: “I read the Crystal Shard more than 30 years ago and I don’t remember anything about it…”
Oh, well that was a short review.
“…So I read it again…”
Thank goodness! On with the show! 😄
I would totally buy those old books!they would be worth gold to me!
We should have a video in which Durfee reviews the books written by Brian Lee Durfee and unveils the cover of Lonesome Crown!!
Oh hell yes! So excited to see your review I’m commenting before I watch. I’m on book 25 in this series!
Every night Drizzt hugs his cat and whispers "It's just you and me baby." To me they are a power couple.
My 4 favorite books:
- The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
- Homeland by R A Salvatore
- Icon by Frank Frazetta
- Great Fighter Jets of the Galaxy 1 by Tim Gibson
This is very nitpicky...but I always remember hating the font they used in those Icewind Dale novels. It looked odd and wasn't the easiest to scan...
I'd like you to review works by Riley Sager, Ania Ahlborn, Adam Nevill, Kristen Lepionka, Gillian Flynn.
Review for R. Scott Bakker's "The Darkness That Comes Before" would be very nice!
most fav author! the legend R A Salvatore! Drizzt Do'urden fav fantasy character!
This exact thing happened to me when I pulled my copy of rendezvous with rama I've had since 1990. I decided to reread it, it looked mint on the outside but when i cracked it open: bam, cracked spine. I read it on my kobo and ordered the folio society edition.
Sounds like you should have saved the cracked spine for the spine of the world review which is the second book in the paths of of darkness and the 12th overall book in the drizzt series 😂
But I want to hear more about the poster misspelling.
Personal question. Where are you now, with your art - illustrations, etc.
I retired my paintbrushes
I just finished this one. It was pretty good, the Dark Elf Trilogy is better in my opinion. I read them years back. But never read The Ice Windale Trilogy. Going to finish up the 2nd and 3rd after I finish my current book (The Girl With All The Gifts).
Oh man, I love Forgotten Realms but I have an odd relationship with Salvatore, he’s just so hit or miss. My favorites have been Kemp’s and then the duo of Grubb and Novak.
There's authors who write alot, then there's RA Salvatore.
Question : how do you read a mass market paperback without cracking it??
Don’t crank on them I learned that the hard way
I thought it was overrated book and trilogy.
I remember buying Dragons of Autumn Twilight at Borders Books back on 1997 with my allowance and the clerk telling me that I should get The Crystal Shard instead, much better book...
I do not regret my decision to this day.
Hey Durfeee is Drizzt similar to Elric?
Nice Library.
Can't read a book with a broken spine?!? What's it do? Make the words crooked?
Higher chance of pages ripping or coming unglued and causing missing pages if not careful I have an old library copy of a book where someone put the book down with the pages open and cuz I was reading it Distorted well I was turning a page I ripped the page right from the spine thank god I was inside and sitting down reading
This review is so bogus. There isn't one in-depth point about it. Everything said sound like you googled it 5 minutes before you made the video. How do you not know the relationship between Breunor and Catti-brie if you've just read the book, worse to think Breunor has a crush on her?
😅 worst review on the most highly sought-after character review I am highly disappointed as he said even that he can't remember a thing about what the crystal shard is about how can you not remember that epic book one of the most epic of all time hero characters. Hands down. 😂😂😂😂 Epic epic fail
Hey, if you don't want the original cover art books because they have cracked spines man have I got a deal for you! You can give them to me!!!!! ;)
I'd rather my own spine be cracked than the spine on my books.
How in the world you came to the conclusion that Bruenor has a crush on Cattie-Brie??? EEWWW
She is like a daughter to him
Larry Elmore or any of the older three are far better than Lockwood’s digital soup.
I will take those cracked spines books off your hands…..
My opinion right off the hop: The Crystal Shard was a real big mess. Streams of Silver possibly his best ever. This coming from someone who has hung in for this series for 20+ years.
I'm going to tell you right now: The first 12 books or so were written in the 2nd edition D&D style. Because of shared-world politics the books began to suffer, unfortunately. But R.A. will always be a hero! He did his best with what they threw at him.
Just CANNOT get into that writer. Tried and tried and tried again through the years - and personally find them sorta juvenile.
Skip to 7:00 to bypass the shameless self-promotion and then him showing off his book collection that most have seen 100000 times now. He doesn't even TALK about the actual books until almost 8 minutes in. Jesus
Good advice
@@B.LEE.DbrianleedurfeeREVIEWS I left a comment on an older video apologizing because I've been an ass to you a few times. I have no right to say how or what you do on your channel. Also having read your book allowed me into how you work a bit better if that makes any sense to you. You just want to share cool books and even cooler stories. Again I apologize Brian. Just bought your second book. The scope of that series is insane in a great way
I never take offense. In fact I take quite a bit of pleasure in the negative comments. I never react in anger cuz they don't make me angry. Sometimes I will react with a joke to make the whole thing sillier.
Cracked spine? YOU ANIMAL!!! :) Don't throw the books in the trash, donate then to your LPL!!! Jeez, ya damaged the Crystal Shard new cover (what is up with the bottom right of the book? Depressed... :)
You lost me complaining about the condition of the book for five minutes. Terrible way to start a book review.
Hey. Its my channel. I often just say what comes to mind at the moment.