This book review was part of a podcast discussion.
Listen to the episode here.
The Crystal Shard is a minor classic of fantasy literature, the first novel by R.A. Salvatore of Drizzt Do’Urden fame. It takes place in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting for Dungeons & Dragons, owned at the time by TSR and now by Wizards of the Coast, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hasbro.
It’s an entertaining book, if a product of its time. Salvatore knows how to tell an adventure story and write a fight scene without letting it drag. The book’s primary flaw is racial essentialism, not a surprise given its D&D origin. The book labels the native northerners as barbarians without apparent self-consciousness. Goblins, orcs, and giants all obey their apparent genetic imperatives to be violent, selfish, and cruel. The book reinforces rather than subverts racial stereotyping with the character of Drizzt Do’Urden, the sole exception (or perhaps one of two) to the otherwise universally-evil dark elves.
That these inherently-evil people are dark-skinned is even more problematic. For this, at least, the blame falls not on Salvatore but on Gygax, original creator of the Dungeons & Dragons dark elves. Perhaps we can even excuse Salvatore the goblins, orcs, and giants, given the constraints of writing in an established game world, but that pardons the author, not the work. As long as you take it with a grain of cynicism and self-awareness, The Crystal Shard is an enjoyable adventure yarn.
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Sometimes, Peter Schaefer conceals a puzzle in his bio. Little do lovers of the cryptic know that Peter is an encryption system given life, a cipher grown so complex it attained consciousness, along with a love of games, books, and improv. Everyone who believes they meet Peter only meet its proxy, a husk employed only for its wit. Has anyone seen beyond www.paschaefer.com or www.shoelesspetegames.com in spite of his esoteric calculi? Sadly no. Not a single person, and not any group of people.
