the Jester
Legend
No, I have stridently reviled him for decades.
Bob Salvatore on the various editions of D&D
No, I have stridently reviled him for decades.
Also, I imagine there are a good number who don't hate Drizzt in his context as a character in the books, but instead hate the impact he has had on the game and on the countless Drizzt clones that have been inspired by him.
lordxaviar
Explorer
quote didnt take, musta missed that... comment is on the utube vid....
(and I think he does live in a cave...lol - really does look like elminster)
watched most of that, had me going with the red box but then added Tiefling? im lost..
(and I think he does live in a cave...lol - really does look like elminster)
watched most of that, had me going with the red box but then added Tiefling? im lost..
Windjammer
Adventurer
I find Homeland and The Crystal Shard head and shoulders above the rest of Salvatore's novels.
Homeland put many a thing on the map of the Realms, and D&D, quite literally, that wasn't there before. It also holds in a kernel what is so appealing about the Realms as a campaign world. I absolutely believe Ed Greenwood when he says he re-reads that novel every year.
And yet it's painstakingly obvious that the cast of characters in Homeland is a lot more varied, their interactions a lot less predictable, the psychology more subtle and mature, than most of what Salvatore produced afterwards.
The Crystal Shard is to me the paradigmatic D&D novel. I give copies to new players at my table. It is that good. Small bits, like Bruenor's battle tricks, which help to bring scenes alive, but more importantly, the whole sequence with Icingdeath - that, to me, stands at the level of a true epos.
And yet, again, it is painstakingly obvious that Salvatore excelled in that novel where his later ones fail. And they fail, for me, for the obvious reason that the amount of plot rolled into that novel is a hundred times over what Salvatore would deign to include in one of his later ones. Try to summarize the plot of a later novel - it'd have barely made a quick scene in the early work.
For these reasons, I hold Salvatore in the highest regard as a writer who has enriched the world of D&D, but I also hold that regard with respect to rather few of his works.
Homeland put many a thing on the map of the Realms, and D&D, quite literally, that wasn't there before. It also holds in a kernel what is so appealing about the Realms as a campaign world. I absolutely believe Ed Greenwood when he says he re-reads that novel every year.
And yet it's painstakingly obvious that the cast of characters in Homeland is a lot more varied, their interactions a lot less predictable, the psychology more subtle and mature, than most of what Salvatore produced afterwards.
The Crystal Shard is to me the paradigmatic D&D novel. I give copies to new players at my table. It is that good. Small bits, like Bruenor's battle tricks, which help to bring scenes alive, but more importantly, the whole sequence with Icingdeath - that, to me, stands at the level of a true epos.
And yet, again, it is painstakingly obvious that Salvatore excelled in that novel where his later ones fail. And they fail, for me, for the obvious reason that the amount of plot rolled into that novel is a hundred times over what Salvatore would deign to include in one of his later ones. Try to summarize the plot of a later novel - it'd have barely made a quick scene in the early work.
For these reasons, I hold Salvatore in the highest regard as a writer who has enriched the world of D&D, but I also hold that regard with respect to rather few of his works.
jonesy
A Wicked Kendragon
Which is quite unfair, when you consider that he's not the one who elevated Drizzt to a main character, the fans and then the marketing people who believed the fans were.
TarionzCousin
Second Most Angelic Devil Ever
He's Canadian. The men all look like that ... or like Michael J. Fox. There is no in-between.
P.S. I keed. I KEED!
There's one thing to keep in mind, though, which is while many of us despise Driz'zt (personally I find him whiny, annoying, and well within the realm of the Mary Sue/Marty Stu meme), we like the novels as a whole well enough to buy them, and that can account for the "disliked but successful" phenomenon too.
Tyler Do'Urden
Soap Maker
Bob Salvatore is not a great writer, but he is a good writer. As a professional editor and writer (though in the field of business publications, not fiction), I can tell you firsthand that most people who think they can write well enough to be publishable, can't. Salvatore is one of the great "workmanlike" hacks of the world, in a class with the likes of Steven King, Dan Brown, Dean Koontz, etc. We don't teach these guys in our literature classes, and we're often embarrassed that we like them- yet we have reasons for liking them, namely that they're good at banging out an enjoyable story. I'd say Salvatore's greatest strength as a writer is that he can make battle scenes and action scenes come alive in a way that stymies many better writers. There are many writers I'd put in a higher class- like Neal Stephenson, or China Mieville- who can't write a fight like Bob.
Oh, and to the guy who called Drizzt a "whiny elf", you've obviously never read the books. I can't think of an adjective less descriptive of Drizzt than whiny. He's actually a very- VERY- stoic character. Either you're getting him confused with Elric of Melnibone (a common enough mistake), or just associating him with his fans (an equally common mistake).
Oh, and to the guy who called Drizzt a "whiny elf", you've obviously never read the books. I can't think of an adjective less descriptive of Drizzt than whiny. He's actually a very- VERY- stoic character. Either you're getting him confused with Elric of Melnibone (a common enough mistake), or just associating him with his fans (an equally common mistake).
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