Using the magic of the shard, Kessell spends years building a crystal tower and amassing an army of goblins, orcs, giants, and barbarians. However, Kessell comes across an ancient, magical artifact which saves his life: the Crystal Shard. His deceptive comrades manipulate him and leave him for dead in the frozen tundra of the north. Elsewhere, a puny apprentice named Akar Kessell tries to impress a group of wizards in an effort to join their ranks. In the battle, Bruenor Battlehammer the dwarf takes one of the barbarians captive, though he cannot say why he spared the man’s life. A group of barbarians plan to attack the villages, but the city leaders learn of the plot and the citizens of Ten Towns thwart the massacre. They live within the community of Ten Towns, which is a group of (you guessed it) ten cities on the outskirts of the harsh, frozen tundra of the north. Storyline The Crystal Shard In this book, we are introduced to Regis the Halfling and Wulfgar the Barbarian while getting a closer look at three characters from the previous trilogy: Catti-Brie, Bruenor Battlehammer, and Drizzt Do’Urden. So many things happen in these books we won’t be able to cover everything in this review, but we can get a good summary. The Dark Elf Trilogy was made as a prequel to this highly-successful series, as an answer to fan request.

Though this is the second trilogy in the series, it was the first written. (You can read our review of that trilogy here: Review: Dark Elf Trilogy: The Legend of Drizzt ). Even so, the overtones are much less dark than the previous trilogy in this series, giving you a little breath of fresh air. The only thing that may make you flinch is the infrequent swear word or the mention of a bloody battle scene. As there is not much filler in these books, you won’t likely get impatient waiting for something important to happen. These books have a cast of lovable and memorable characters who are well developed, tons of great action scenes, and many other elements that fans of the fantasy genre will love.

Those who have read the series can certainly understand why. For the past couple of decades, this series has been revered as a classic by thousands people. Price: $7.99 each $19.95 collected edition The first book in this series, The Crystal Shard, is the first novel ever published by critically acclaimed author R.

Release date: 1988-1990 Second release: January-August 2007

Drizzt do urden the crystal shard