The Icewind Dale Trilogy

The Icewind Dale Trilogy is a trilogy of epic fantasy novels by the American writer R.A. Salvatore. The books are "The Crystal Shard", "Streams of Silver" and "The Halfling's Gem". They tell the tale of ranger Drizzt Do'Urden the drow (or dark elf), Wulfgar the barbarian warrior, Regis the halfling, dwarf king Bruenor, and Bruenor's adopted human daughter Catti-brie. It is the first of Salvatore's "Forgotten Realms" novels, describing the events that created some of the best-known characters in that world. The final book of this series, "The Halfling's Gem", appeared in "The New York Times" Best Seller list.
A prequel trilogy, "The Dark Elf Trilogy", followed, as did several subsequent sequel series such as "Legacy of the Drow" and "Paths of Darkness".
Works included.
In later years, these and other books featuring the character Drizzt Do'Urden have been rebranded as installments of "The Legend of Drizzt", and such publications of the "Icewind Dale Trilogy" are identified on their covers as books IV, V and VI of that series.
Comic adaptation.
Crystal Shard.
Following from the comic adaption of "The Dark Elf Trilogy", Devil's Due Publishing continued with the adaptation of "Crystal Shard". The second issue (October 2006) reaching 20 and the third issue (December 2006) reaching 18 in the top 100 Independent comic for their respective months.
Streams of Silver.
Devil's Due Publishing announced the individual issues for this series would be collected into a trade paperback with Tyler Walpole serving as the cover artist. The series was adapted by Andrew Dabb and pencilled by Val Semeiks. The trade paperback for "Streams of Silver" was ranked 34 in the top 100 Graphic Novels for August 2007 with an estimated pre-order sale quantity of 2,524.
Halfling's Gem.
The final issue of "Halfling's Gem" was announced on 18 September 2007 and was shipped in December 2007. The final issue #3 completes the adaptation of "Dark Elf Trilogy" and "Icewind Dale Trilogy".
Reception.
The entire trilogy was ranked 9th in Banophernalia's top 10 books for 2000. In the same site, the series was given 3 stars for "Crystal Shard" and 3.5 stars for "Streams of Silver" and "The Halfling's Gem". It was considered standard enjoyable fantasy fare although clichéd.
Ian Strelec, staff reviewer for "d20zines.com" awarded "Streams of Silver" a B+ rating. Vivid descriptions and good characterisations were praised in the novel; however, he was critical of unrealistic situations as well an overemphasis on combat scenarios.
The last volume of the trilogy, "The Halfling's Gem", was ranked 14th in the "New York Times" paperback best sellers' list on 11 March 1990.
Paul Hughes, in an editorial review of the trilogy on Amazon's website, wrote that while the book is not Tolkien it has "brought legions of enthusiastic fans to the genre". The reviewer also stated that it is essential for any "Drizzt true believer".