I Read What?!

So...does Streams of Silver pass the test of time?

Actually, that's a little complicated. Let's talk about it.

I'm not going to run this book through my usual sequel test, because, honestly, I don't have to. This is the second book of a trilogy and it feels like one. It's a direct continuation of the first, the characters are all very consistent (except Regis's sudden turn as a would-be rapist), and it fits, thematically.

And all of Salvatore's strengths and flaws as a writer remain in full force.

But hey, Catti-brie got to do something! Most of the time!

So let's discuss Plot.

In terms of plot, I think Streams of Silver is a lot stronger than the Crystal Shard was. It's got a much more coherent narrative, including sideplots which actually don't read like a direct transcription of someone's table-top campaign. Catti-brie, in particular, gets to go from pointless NPC to a true protagonist in her own right, which is a nice change from the first book.

So for most of the book, we have two main plot threads: Bruenor, Drizzt, Wulfgar and Regis on their quest for Mithril Hall, and Catti-brie's captivity by the villains. And unfortunately, the quality is a bit uneven.

Catti-brie's got the stronger plot, by far. I'm still annoyed by the fact that it's the female character that got stuck with the inexplicable fear plot, and who ended up the damsel in distress for most of the book, but I can't deny that it's also the part of the book that actually had real stakes and emotional commitment. It wasn't droning, predictable, or repetitive. There was a palpable sense of danger, and allowed the audience to see more sides and complexity to the villains as well.

On the other hand, well, Bruenor and company's side of things basically WAS the transcription of the Dungeons and Dragons campaign, up to and including the point where the players decide to run amok in the city and act in defiance of their own supposed alignments. (And really, Mr. Salvatore, I'd have left that bit out. Regis trying to use the pendant to rape a girl definitely sounded like the worst stereotype of male gamer: "Are there any girls here?! I want to do them!" And Bruenor and Drizzt basically robbing Whisper was not the behavior of even Chaotic Good people. She had every right to raise her prices when she found out what they were getting her into. And hell, she ended up murdered for it anyway!)

Luskan wasn't a good look for anyone but Wulfgar. But more on the character end of things in a bit.

The quest progression from Luskan, to (ugh) Longsaddle, to Nesme, to Silverymoon, to the Herald, to Mithril Hall mostly consisted of vignettes that didn't really tie together into a strong narrative whole. And don't get me started on the inconsistent portrayal of "racism" as experienced by Drizzt.

Actually, it's kind of interesting to realize how little "racism" Drizzt actually does experience on the quest. He actually didn't have a problem in Luskan at all. His race enabled Jierdan to recognize the group, but he welcomed them afterward (admittedly for his own reasons). He was a curiosity in Longsaddle, and while I can appreciate how annoying and dehumanizing that must have been, it doesn't really fit Drizzt's whole narrative of being hated for his skin color. And Silverymoon would have welcomed him, except for contrived reasons, which didn't stop Alustriel from giving them a shit ton of nifty gifts.

Unfortunately, there really wasn't much by way of character growth for anyone but Wulfgar in that main plot. And that's mostly because Wulfgar was stuck back in his arbitrary "distrusts magic" role so he could be appalled by Longsaddle, and I maintain that anyone with sense would be appalled by Longsaddle, so there you go.


The plot got much much stronger once they actually got to Mithril Hall though. Catti-brie fit into the group as though she was there from the beginning. There was a nice sense of dread as Sydney, Bok and Entreri closed in on them. And while I found Drizzt's not-death overdone and melodramatic, his interaction with Entreri was the high point of the book. I actually really enjoyed this part, and the story felt like it moved much faster.

My one complaint is that I feel like Shimmergloom could have been utilized better, terrible name aside. He gets mentioned in the prologue and then not even teased for three quarters of the book.

Now, let's talk about Crystal Shard's biggest failure for a moment. The big thing that immediately gave Crystal Shard a failing grade to me is that there was ONE female character who had speaking lines, period, and she wasn't even utilized for most of the novel. We didn't even see any female background characters: no mention of townsfolk, no women on the council, no women among the barbarians or the dwarves. None! Except for Catti-brie and a few of Akar Kessell's sex slaves.

Well, Streams of Silver is a considerable improvement on that score. We still don't have much by way of female background characters, which annoys me on general principle. (There should be women in your world, even when they don't play a significant role in your plot!) But we do get a number of major female appearances:

Catti-brie finally gets a story, yay!

Whisper is a walk on role, but to give Salvatore some measure of credit, there's no reason the informant HAD to be a woman, so I'm glad he made her one anyway. I could wish he'd done more with her besides having her brutalized by our heroes and then murdered by the villain, though.

Alustriel is another walk on role, but a more significant one. She's the one who points them in the right direction and facilitates the culmination of their quest. If anything, I could complain that she makes it too easy for them, but then as I mentioned, the plot after they get to Mithril Hall is much more interesting than what came before, so I don't mind.

Finally, Sydney. I liked Sydney a lot. She made for a formidable villain and is the one example of a wizard that isn't a complete and utter moron. I could wish she wasn't constantly subordinate to Artemis Entreri, but she got to be cool and competent. I enjoyed her amorality and the distrust yet respect/kindred spirit dynamic she had with Entreri. If anything, I'd have liked to see Salvatore play that up more: for all that Entreri has a lot of autonomy on his quest, he's got a master back home just as much as she does.

Sydney's another character who didn't have to be a woman, but I'm glad she was one.

Which leads us into Character:

Bruenor was Bruenor. He's driven by his quest. He's impatient, single focused, and not particularly likable at times. That said, the visions he'd had after imbibing the potion sounded effectively traumatic, and provided some much needed context for his quest.

I wish Salvatore had made more of an effort to get into Bruenor's head, to be honest. The Quest for Mithril Hall is meant to be his life long quest. He's trying to reclaim the home lost to him as a child, under circumstances that he barely remembers. His life afterward is haunted by this failure. The emotional weight of this quest is Bruenor's, and there's very little effort to explore the quest from this perspective. We're too busy appreciating Drizzt's wisdom and caution I guess.

Regis was...mostly...Regis: Elephant in the room, I did NOT appreciate you turning my favorite character into a rapist, Salvatore. Because that's what using a mind-influencing device to urge a woman to have sex with you is, RAPE.

But that scene aside, Regis spends most of the story as a complaining, whining load, with some sporadic moments of being useful, interspersed with genuine moments of courage and heroism that he never actually gets credit for. If my friends talked about me like Drizzt and Bruenor talk about Regis, I'd probably spend most of my time whining and being useless too.

Wulfgar: Wulfgar was by far the most likable and interesting member of the foursome. He shined on this journey, constantly showing warmth and kindness to every other member of the team. He carried them on his back, literally, at times, without complaint. He put up with them patronizing him and acting like he's an idiot for not knowing things that no one ever taught him. He's brave and loyal and deserves better than this series.

Drizzt: Ugh, Drizzt. I admit that the Drizzt in this book is closer to the one Salvatore thinks he's describing. He is at least as cautious and wise and contemplative as he's meant to be this time. Gone is the hothead who manipulates Wulfgar into fights. Unfortunately, he's also a sanctimonious, self-righteous, self-aggrandizing killjoy.

I would like Drizzt a lot more if he wasn't constantly shilled by the narrative. But unfortunately, Salvatore doesn't seem willing to allow the reader to make their own decisions about how they feel about him. And this is a problem that's going to continue for a long damn time.

The one issue I have though is that Drizzt is infinitely more interesting in Artemis Entreri's company than before, and that's not just because Entreri himself is so entertaining, but also because the "there but for the grace of god, go I" element is genuinely interesting. The problem is that it's not sustained anywhere else in the novel or before.

Drizzt sees Entreri as the man he could have become? When do we EVER see Drizzt doubt his own morals? When do we EVER see Drizzt engage in anything resembling cold, goal-oriented practicality?

The thing is, this could work. Drizzt's morality and his long-winded pompous sanctimony could be something that he obsessively focuses on because, without it, he fears that he'd fall back into the mindset of his people. And maybe that's even what Salvatore was aiming for. But I think if that is the goal with Drizzt, then it should be more overtly addressed. We shouldn't only be hearing about this trait a book and a half into the story. Subtlety is not Salvatore's strong suit, and those nuances have not come across yet.

Catti-brie: As mentioned, Catti-brie had the most compelling plot for 75% of the novel. She also had an actual character arc and challenges. She shined in those parts of the book, and it was fun to see her keep her head and try to manipulate the villains. I liked seeing her escape.

I also liked seeing her interact with the group, but unfortunately, Salvatore keeps pushing her to roles that the narrative actually hasn't established for her yet. Is she Wulfgar's love interest? If so, why do we see nothing to that effect prior to their reunion in Mithril Hall? We don't really even see it IN Mithril Hall?

I know that chemistry is subjective, and I often defend romances in which people decry a "lack of chemistry" (usually because they'd rather pair the hero with someone else), but we need interaction to have chemistry. Hell, they barely think about each other when they're separated! Catti-brie generally thinks of Wulfgar only in the context of her worry over the whole group, and Wulfgar thinks of Catti-brie even less than that (since he has no reason to think she's anywhere but safe in Icewind Dale).

And then there's the sudden thing about Catti-brie and Drizzt having a bond. Thing is, this WILL become true. The bond between Catti-brie and Drizzt is a major part of the third book in his origin story trilogy. But there's nothing to set that up in Icewind Dale so far. They've never actually spoken to each other! the first words that Catti-brie ever says to Drizzt is to ask him to take care of Wulfgar.

To Salvatore's credit, I do buy that they care about each other, even if they've had no interaction. Salvatore did give me a group dynamic where I buy that, even if I have to extrapolate. (...honestly, we've barely gotten to see Catti-brie and BRUENOR interact). But still, I need to see more before I buy this amazingly strong relationship.

So now, let's talk about the Villains:

So Crystal Shard's other major weakness, besides the lack of women, is how Akar Kessell utterly failed at being a believable or effective villain. I genuinely believe that, even if the heroes hadn't existed, Akar Kessell would have eventually managed to destroy himself soon enough. He was just that incompetent.

I remember complaining in my very early Crystal Shard review that it was a shame that Salvatore didn't use the OTHER wizards, the ones who tricked Kessell into tricking his master to begin with. Perhaps someone said the same thing, or Salvatore had the same thought, because we have Dendybar as the mastermind villain of this book.

Dendybar is smarter than Kessell admittedly, but he is still rather defined by his fuck ups more than his strengths. That's not entirely his fault though. We as an audience know that his quest for the shard is doomed to failure. Drizzt doesn't have it. It's buried under a mountain. This already removes a lot of suspense from the quest, because the worst the villains can do is try to kill our heroes.

I do think the book does enough to show him to be a powerful adversary. But I wish he'd been used more effectively.

I enjoyed the continuity of seeing Morkai again. Morkai was the master that Dendybar tricked Akar Kessell into killing and he was rather fun as a wild card character. I liked seeing him get his victory in the end.

Jierdan made for an effective hapless adversary in over his head sort, though I don't necessarily buy Salvatore's characterization of him as particularly honorable. He seemed happy enough to hit his prisoner unnecessarily.

Entreri of course is the strongest of the villains, and it's easy to see why Salvatore keeps bringing him back. There's a certain complexity in his role. He's evil, he's murderous, he's often unnecessarily cruel. But there are interesting points of restraint, especially later in the book, that give him some layers. Like when he decides not to kill an unconscious Sydney, even though he knows they're likely to be at cross swords later.

I'm more tolerant of Salvatore's flowery writing when it comes to Entreri because Entreri isn't presented to me as some sort of borderline saint. And also, let's be honest, the monologuing is pretty fucking hilarious.

So finally, let's talk about my biggest issue with this book and the Drizzt series as a whole: the clumsy racism metaphor.

Look, guys, the drow are not a good metaphor for racism. They're just not. You can't give us an always chaotic evil race that slaughters its way through every surface settlement in its past and then tell me that people are unreasonable for distrusting Drizzt.

It'd be one thing if I thought Salvatore was attempting to deconstruct the always chaotic evil trope here, because I think there are a lot of problems with the idea in general. I'm glad Wizards of the Coast is moving away from it. But the problem is, Drizzt isn't really a subversion of the idea.

Drizzt isn't presented to us from the perspective of "this is what a drow could be, under the right circumstances." Drizzt is presented to us as a fluke of nature. At least for now. Things will get a bit more complicated when we meet characters like Zaknafein, Jarlaxle, and when other authors introduce Lirial Baenre or the Eilistraee followers, but we're not there yet.

And really, even granting that the drow will eventually get a more complex portrayal, this doesn't extend to the OTHER "evil" races. What about the trolls? The orcs? The narrative is happy enough to show us our heroes cleaving their way through these races. Do we not wonder?

And okay, maybe it's just that the trolls and the orcs aren't subraces of a "good race" like the drow are. But what about the gray dwarves? The duergar are basically the drow equivalent subrace for dwarves instead. Do THEY have a Drizzt Do'Urden?

I'm not saying that I think the heroes shouldn't be able to defend themselves. I always get annoyed when people criticize Finn from Star Wars for killing other Stormtroopers, even though he'd been one once himself, because what the fuck is he supposed to do? It's not like they have time for a long discussion here. Is he supposed to allow them to murder him on the off chance that one of them might have regrets later? Bullshit!

But it is notable that Catti-brie can shoot an entire cavern full of duergar without a reaction, but then be horrified when she has to kill the human woman who abducted and mistreated her, and had been about to murder her friends. And it's not like the issue was that she stabbed her while she was helpless or something. The issue, we're told, is explicitly that Sydney is human. Catti-brie killed a human and she's not okay with it.

But killing duergar, that's perfectly fine. And the other characters agree with this.

So what, praytell, makes these characters better than the men of Nesme who didn't allow Drizzt into their home?

If you're going to give us a metaphor, you have to shit or get off the pot. If you're critiquing the idea of always evil races, then you have to commit to it.

Either way though, for all that Drizzt's situation legitimately does suck for him, and he has every right to be upset, sad, or angry about the way he's treated, it's not the same as real world racism, and the story is much stronger when it doesn't try to pretend that it is.
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So...so. After all that...do I think Streams of Silver passes the test of time?

To my surprise, I think the answer is yes.

I'm genuinely surprised to say this, because I spent the first two thirds of this book feeling like it's a total slog. I was bored and annoyed more than I was engaged.

But the last bit of the book, in Mithril Hall, and Catti-brie's plot in general, actually saved it for me. Right now, when I look back on this book, for all its many many many flaws, I'm actually remembering it fondly.

Streams of Silver actually gets a passing grade here. I'm as surprised as anyone else.

So we've made it to the penultimate chapter of Streams of Silver. After this there's just one more and an epilogue, which I'll probably tackle together.

Last time, Catti-brie proved herself to be a massive racist, utterly traumatized by her first time ever killing a human while surrounded by the corpses of Gully Dwarves all skewered by her arrows. I agree the violence was necessary, but the double standard in guilt/grief is not a good look lady.

( But we're not far from the end )

So last time, everyone thought Drizzt was dead and we saw some deep mourning, and some utter bullshit.

Catti-brie also got a cool bow, so it wasn't all bad.

( So what is Drizzt up to? )

So last time in Streams of Silver, our heroes found their way into Mithril Hall and Bruenor did a little bit of grave robbing before declaring himself King. Good on him.

( So now what? )

So last time, our heroes met a really old dude and discovered the best way to find a lost city is through Post Traumatic Stress flashbacks.

In the meantime, god knows what our villains are doing. I think that's a bit of a problem in this book. The villains aren't incompetent, like Akar Kessell, and there's theoretically a decently high stake...albeit we really haven't had the chance to get to know Catti-brie before this book. That's a failing of Crystal Shard. The problem is, the villain plot feels almost like an afterthought.

I feel like the least Salvatore could have done was let them spring their trap. Or heck, maybe instead of Alustriel arbitrarily keeping Drizzt out, we could have had Sydney and Entreri convince the people of Silverymoon that Drizzt, as a drow, is evil. Admittedly, that sort of duplicity isn't really Artemis Entreri's style, but this was his introduction, so it could have been. The trap could have been effective in one sense, as they're believed, but a failure in another, since Drizzt and company were driven off instead.

At least I'd have felt like the villains did something.

( It's possible I spoke too soon )

Okay, so last time R.A. Salvatore's Marty Stu met one of Ed Greenwood's Mary Sues and the sparks flew accordingly.

That's probably mean, but it was amusingly over the top.

( Imagine if they had children! )

Last time our intrepid heroes fought trolls and a giant worm. Good for them! Not the easiest thing to recap in a review though. But there's still more of the Trollmoors to go.

( at least if they're doing this, they're too busy to rob people or commit sexual assault )

So last time, Drizzt and company had some mishaps, some townsfolk were portrayed as racist for not wanting a drow elf in their town, and the bad guys found out where the heroes are going and intend to beat them there.

This could actually be interesting. We know that Drizzt is a good guy and Artemis Entreri is evil. But Drizzt is a dark elf, and I've said before, it's actually pretty reasonable that people fear him on sight because literally every other drow in the world (as established so far) is evil and has a genocidal hatred of surface dwellers. Artemis is human. It would be very easy for Artemis to convince people that Drizzt and his party are actually evil. Though, he also has Catti-brie with him. She knows the truth.

( I don't actually remember any of this bit, so this should be interesting )

Last time, we had fucking Harpells. This time, god willing, we'll have no fucking Harpells. That will already improve this chapter by a factor of ten.

( Back with the villains! )

So last time, our gang met some barbarians, and Wulfgar made a friend. A friend who ended up forcibly merged with a pegasus totem and sent to kill our guys. As tends to happen. Anyway Wulfgar is sad now, and I am sad for him.

( Now for something different! )