Customer Reviews
A great read! 
2008-04-15
I really like RA Salvatore's books. Sometimes the fighting can become repetetive but thats just because it is hard to imagine Drizzt's erratic fighting style. Nonetheless, the characters are deeper than the mines of Mithral Hall, and the plot while sometimes predictable takes twists in directions you've never imagined. If you read the earlier books of this series you need to read these ones, and if you haven't you need to pick it up (just bear in mind that the second one isn't so good).
Awwww, good times... mostly 
2008-04-02
The legend continues, as does the legacy. The next books in the series live up to the expectations laid by the others as the series of Drizzt continues. The only reason I gave this book four stars was for the numerous grammatical errors. Misspellings and such. They drive me batty. Otherwise, it's wonderful.
Kids love it! 2008-04-01
This wasn't even processed for the library shelves when it attracted my high school students' attention. It seems that everyone loves Drizzt! I would recommend it heartily based on my students' feedback.
Great Salvatore/Drizzt book series... 2007-10-30
The Legacy of the Drow is a great series and fantastic addition to the Drizzt legend (may it never end!). You may consider this review sided - I have loved all of the Salvatore-Drizzt books leading up to this - but this series is one of the best. Great surprises, great new characters, introduction of old characters you thought you might never see again, and overall superb storytelling and character development. I recommend reading the books leading up to this series (Homeland, Exile, Sojourn, The Crystal Shard, Streams of Silver, and The Halfling's Gem) so you can understand what's going on with all the characters, story-arcs, etc., but Salvatore does a nice job of explaining reintroduced characters and concepts enough that new readers would understand what's going on.
wonderful story 2007-10-01
this is a continuation of the icewind dale trilogy. it is an amazingly written story. salvatore makes you care for the characters and you want to know what happens next. great book
Great Book 2007-08-27
A collection of four New York Times bestselling novels by R. A. Salvatore.
The Legacy of the Drow Collector's Edition brings together four bestselling novels: The Legacy, Starless Night, Siege of Darkness, and Passage to Dawn. The adventure begins in seeming serenity as we find Drizzt Do'Urden enjoying a rare state of peace. But he did not arrive at this station without leaving powerful enemies in his wake. Lolth, the dreaded Spider Queen deity of the evil Dark Elves, counts herself among these enemies and has vowed to end the drow's idyllic days. Thus begins a severe and lasting chain of events that make these collected Forgotten Realms novels unforgettable reads.
Great continuation of the Drizzt story 2007-08-06
After reading icewind Dale, I immediately went to amazon.com and ordered Legacy of the Drow. I loved this book. Not only is Artemis Entreri back, but Jarlaxle is introduced. I tend to favor bad guys in any story, usually the complicated ones who are not quite all evil. Entreri is pretty much evil, but I just love the conflict between him and Drizzt and how so similar he is to Drizzt yet so different. Jarlaxle is a type of character I love. He seems evil at first, but its a bit more complicated. Don't want to spoil anything, but he has become my favorite character in this series. You see how Salvatore has improved himself. great books
A great volume don't miss it 2007-07-13
This was the first R.A Salvatore novel I read and I was impressed. While the writing wasn't perfect, the story was entertaining and I loved the character(especially Drizzt of course). Full of action this is a great book, but you might want to start with the Icewind Dale series, which would give you a better sense of whats going on. Still this is a fine book to start with, as it is much better than the Icewind Dale series, and is one of the better books I have read.
The Legacy 2006-10-11
The Legacy
By RA Salvator
"It was no goblin piosed under the rock to spring the trap,however, but another two headed giant , an ettin."Read more in the "Legacy" By RA Salavatore.Renagade Drizzt Do'Urden has angered the great spider queen Lolth and caused her to send her greatest Dark elves chasing after drizzt.Will he survive can he defeat the great Queen Lolth and her evil minions then go read this book! In a stunning tale of sly attacks,murder ,cunning sword craft,and unbelievable magic the Legacy is a great read.
"The fearsome dwarves called their war toy "the juicer",and the puddle of goblin fluid that came out the back side of the crushing wheel showed it was a fitting title." I enjoyed this scene because it had a lot of action and stupid little goblins! This part was very cool because there was all this crazy battle confusion between the goblins and the disgiused juicer.
RA Salvatore described everything with great detail and care. This book held me on it's edge the entire time. I enjoyed how the words flowed when I read aloud, mostly when Drizzt was fighting his enemy's.Ialso liked when there were big battle scenes.Drizzt was a very interesting charecter
Forced Legacy 2006-08-09
3.5 stars.
As always, getting all 4 volumes in one book is a nice price savings. My individual reviews below.
The Legacy
4 Stars
The Drow Strike Back
Following up on the heels of the Dark Elf trilogy(published order) or The Crystal Shard Trilogy(chronological order) we have a return to what made the first two books of the Dark Elf Trilogy a success. The Underdark and the drow society. We also finally have a terminal change in the status of one of the formerly untouchable compadres.
What makes the book is the delightful convoluted intrigues of the drow society as Matron Baenre and a surviving daughter of Drizz't's house engage in an offensive against the dwarves of Mithril Hall. On top of that treachery add in the new character of Jarlaxle, a conniving drow mercenary owing no allegiance to any but himself and his band of merry men.
There are some weaknesses, character wise many of the drow suffer from inexplicable monomania which blinds them fatally to other goings on. The battle-rager Pwent, probably meant for comic relief proved to be only annoying, not funny.
The battle scenes as always are superb, and after the weak Sojourn it is a welcome return to the Underdark and some solid light entertainment. Unforunately, tragedy isn't necessarily permanent in epic fantasy which reduces the emotional impact as the reader wonders "Really?".
Starless Night
3 stars
The Unlikely Emancipation of Cattie-Brie
3.5 stars I round down.
To start the book our main viewpoint characters are all mopy and depressed over the death of Wulfgar. Bruenor is now in need of some therapy as he has allowed himself to become listless and unengaged to the point he is not leading his people. Cattie-Brie is depressed but no more so than you would expect and the noble Drizz't is so depressed he decides to go on what is more or less a suicide walkabout to say goodbye to his underdark friends and sacrifice himself in the hope this will keep his friends safe. Or at least the text strongly points to that subconscious belief.
So Drizz't sneaks off to the underdark which of course sets Cattie Brie in motion to follow him and causes much mayhem amongst the drow when he encounters them. We also have the return of Artemis Entreri and Jarlaxle to heighten the tension and the treachery of the plot as Cattie and Artemis work together to save Drizz't. Jarlaxle as always waits and plays each side for his own gain.
At this point we have some wonderful fight scenes and it is a lot of fun, however we have the not unbelievable, but certainly hurried, metamorphosis of Cattie-Brie from strong but minor supporting character to major hero as she blasts legions of drow away with her heat-seeking bow of infinite ammunition. To be honest, her real courage was in facing Bruenor and following Drizz't.
We also have the incredibly intelligent drow acting like stormtroopers from Star Wars. Despite their massive numbers they can't stop the recently tortured to near death Drizz't, Cattie-Brie, Artemis and that poor cat Guenhyvar, summoned to take damage while they escape.
However despite those glaring problems, the book really actually is a fun read. Lightweight, but fun, and the battle scenes are engaging while you read them. Our heroes are just way too overpowered with trinkets now. Still though, the underdark and its evil machinations always provide for an enjoyable visit.
Siege of Darkness
4 stars
Siege Mentality
There are really two sections to this book, one is the sub-par inclusion of the TSR mandated, and ill-conceived in my opinion, Time of Troubles where the avatars of the gods walk the earth and magic stops functioning. This really does nothing but include the effects of the Time of Troubles from the Avatar series in this series and set up the unfortunate happenings in the next book.
The other part of the story is the siege of Mithril Hall. Though uncomfortably similar to Helm's Deep it is very well written. Salvatore does do battles well and here he writes a non-stop battle focusing on small squad tactics of several different groups on several parts of the battlefield.
He even manages to make the Harpell's, and Pwent the battle-rager, previously annoying comic relief, become less annoying and almost useful characters that contribute to the plot, the readers emotions and the battle.
Though having the siege basically undone by the internecine drow politics causing several houses to retreat may be unsatisfying, it is at least logically consistent with their culture, and not without real historical precedent. I believe on of the Khans turned his army back on the eve of victory in order to take care of problems back at home.
No real development of anyone here, but the long battle scenes make for an exciting bit of mind-candy storytelling.
Passage to Dawn
3 stars
The Untouchables
Despite some nice touches, such as some more pirate chasing fun with Captain Duedermont it is really average, and the good parts negated by the ridiculous return from the dead plot.
Not only is it disturbing for death to be impermanent, as I feel this violates a compact with the readers, in this case it is poorly done. Drizz't is quite intelligent and would have figured out quite quickly that there was no way the one being held captive was who he was led to believe.
It has become clear through this quartet that the companions are untouchable, over-powered and not to be threatened and any harm is only transient.
Due to this invulnerability the reader's interest is considerably lessened if not removed. Also, those who have not read the cleric quintet, as I had not are going to be a little confused by Cadderly and his wife and the dim-witted dwarves.
This gets 3 stars because of the pirate battles, which I like, and because the last battle does get the pulse pounding. Without those inclusions the book would have been 2 stars at best. It does have the feel of a book that the author did not have his heart in. Having a character return from the dead, particularly such a boring character, was unnecessary and frankly stupid.
If indeed TSR mandated it, I feel bad for Salvatore.
