Book Review - Gauntlgrym by R.A. Salvatore

Welcome to Day 4 of Book Week here on Dave's Buttoned-Up Mind!

We've moving into the home stretch, and today's entry is the last SF entry of the bunch. So my friends and readers who are not SF fans can pay more attention tomorrow.

Today's book is Gauntlgrym by R.A. Salvatore, another in the author's ongoing Drizzt Do'Urden series about the dark elf warrior. It takes place in the Forgotten Realms universe of the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) game.

I've always kind of liked Salvatore's writing, though it's never wowed me. Unlike yesterday's book, Salvatore's main strength is his action writing. You can almost see the choreography of his fight scenes as you're reading. The characters aren't necessarily bad, but they can be kind of wooden sometimes. That doesn't necessarily apply to Drizzt, who has been through many adventures (though I haven't read them all). But some of Salvatore's incidental characters would have to work hard to gain a second dimension, much less a third.

Gauntlgrym is the first book in the "Neverwinter" series, so it looks like even more major changes are in the works in the life of Drizzt.

From the review:

"Decades have passed since two of Drizzt’s longtime companions (one of whom was also his wife) crossed into Death’s realm, and both he and the Dwarf King Bruenor Battlehammer are growing restless. Bruenor has decided to give up the throne and go on a quest to find the fabled Dwarven kingdom of Gauntlgrym with his old friend Drizzt by his side. Elves and Dwarves being very long-lived, they no longer feel the lust for life that marked their younger years, the passage of old friends taking a great toll on them. But other forces are at work, also looking for Gauntlgrym and the natural force that inhabits it. Will Bruenor and Drizzt find it before the evil is unleashed? And will Drizzt continue to lose himself in battle lust, no longer caring what happens to him after the long, lonely years he’s spent?"

Salvatore's books are always a fun read, but they're not always that gripping. That's even more so this time, as decades pass just within this book itself.

This book is pretty much for D&D fans as well as Salvatore fans.

I'm not sure the writing quality is up to attracting any readers who aren't interested in that genre.

And that's not necessarily a bad thing.