Project Realms Reads discussion

We're wrapping up 2021 with the third book in the Icewind Dale trilogy. Here's our reading schedule:

Spoiler schedule and suggested reading dates:
December 1st to the 9th: chapters 1 - 6 + Epilogue.
December 10th to the 18th: chapters 7 - 15 + Epilogue.
December 19th to the 27th: chapters 16- end.

I haven’t participated in any of these reads 😬 but I will say I read this one a few years ago and it’s still one of my favorites of the Drizzt books I’ve read.

Liam wrote: "I haven’t participated in any of these reads 😬 but I will say I read this one a few years ago and it’s still one of my favorites of the Drizzt books I’ve read."

I'm honestly surprised by how much I've enjoyed the Drizzt novels so far. The series has a bit of a reputation for being something made for teenage boys so I was fully prepared to not like it at all, but it's my favorite series out of all the Forgotten Realms books so far.

I finished this book earlier in the month and I have to say it feels like the weakest in the Icewind Dale trilogy. Like the book before it, it doesn't even take place in Icewind Dale--but it's also a 300-page chase scene that jumps to different characters each chapter.

I felt like the story really fizzled out at the end and I hated all the hypocrisy we see in a lot of characters. For example, Bruenor thinks about how in his old kingdom they would cut off the hands of thieves... but then suggests/is happy with the idea of Regis becoming the new head of the thieves guild?

The romance between Catti-Brie and Drizzt felt shoehorned in and a really weird choice when she was already clearly with Wulfgar. And the unconscious kiss Drizzt took while CB was literally knocked out? And he SAW Wulfgar like 20 minutes before and told him to hang back to keep the portal open? Really grossed me out.

I know the next time we visit Drizzt it should be his origin story, and I sincerely hope the writing and plot have improved.