Paths of Darkness

Paths of Darkness is the New York Times best-selling series of novels chronicling adventures of the renegade drow elf character Drizzt Do'Urden written by R. A. Salvatore. It is the follow-up series to Legacy of the Drow and is followed up by The Hunter's Blades Trilogy, and also followed on from the Servant of the Shard in The Sellswords trilogy.

Todd Lockwood painted the covers for Silent Blade and Spine of the World.^[1]

Works included

1. The Silent Blade (1998)
2. The Spine of the World (1999)
3. Servant of the Shard (2000)*
4. Sea of Swords (2001)

*Servant of the Shard (2000) is also the first book of The Sellswords series, which follows Jarlaxle and Artemis Entreri.

Literary significance and reception

The Silent Blade debuted on the New York Times bestseller list at No. 32.^[2]

The Spine of the World debuted on the New York Times bestseller list at No. 25.^[3]

Servant of the Shard debuted on the New York Times bestseller list at No. 25.^[4]

Sea of Swords debuted on the New York Times bestseller list at No. 14.^[5] It was positively reviewed in Publishers Weekly, where it debuted at No. 10 on the hardcover bestsellers list.^[6] The reviewers described the novel as a "fast–moving fantasy adventure", although they acknowledged that the book, as the last in a sequence of four, was not for the uninitiated.^[7]

Matt Drake of RPGnet gave the series a 4 (out of 5) for style, stating that "Salvatore's chrome is starting to tarnish in a few spots, but he is still a great fantasy novelist." He gave it a 3 (out of 5) for substance, stating "With the exception of Spine of the World, these stories are a little predictable and trite."^[8]

References

1. Kenson, Stephen (April 1999). "Profiles: Todd Lockwood". Dragon. Renton, Washington: Wizards of the Coast (#258): 96.
2. "BEST SELLERS: November 15, 1998". NYTimes.com. Retrieved 2008-05-16.
3. "BEST SELLERS: October 10, 1999". NYTimes.com. Retrieved 2008-05-16.
4. "BEST SELLERS: December 3, 2000". NYTimes.com. Retrieved 2008-05-16.
5. "BEST SELLERS: November 18, 2001". NYTimes.com. November 18, 2001. Retrieved 2008-05-16.
6. "Inside the Best Sellers", Chicago Sun-Times, November 18, 2001, retrieved June 18, 2013 – via HighBeam Research (subscription required)
7. Zaleski, Jeff; Cannon, Peter (2001). "Sea of Swords (Book)". Publishers Weekly. 248 (42): 52.
8. "REVIEW OF PATHS OF DARKNESS: May 3, 2006". rpg.net. Retrieved 2008-05-16.

External links

• Paths of Darkness series listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database