Review: Neverwinter Tales – The Legend of Drizzt

Dungeons & Dragons Neverwinter Tales: The Legend of Drizzt

Writers: R.A. Salvatore, Geno Salvatore
Artist: Agustin Padilla
IDW Publishing
Street: 05.14

Look, I enjoy the Forgotten Realms as much as your average D&D enthusiast, but I’ve always found Drizzt Do’urden to be an exceptionally dull character. It should speak volumes that the most interesting character in this collection is, by far, a dwarf named Pwent, who is struggling to overcome a vampiric curse. It’s a short, relatively uncomplicated romp, but while it is action-packed and certainly exciting, The Legend of Drizzt lacks subtlety in its execution. Drizzt keeps up his usual, boring good-guy routine, and Dahlia seems like she was added in merely to expose embarrassing amounts of cleavage. I fail to see the wisdom in riding a horse bareback while wearing a black leather halter top and a glorified loincloth—it’s the kind of nonsensical objectification that only a furiously masturbating 13-year-old could enjoy. Nevertheless, the story plays out like a decent D&D adventure, even containing a short module that takes you through the various encounters in the story. If you’re looking for something that reads fast, rarely slows down and delivers on fantasy action, this is a decent paperback pick. If you’re looking for anything more, there’s plenty of better titles in this genre. –Henry Glasheen