The Halfling's Gem (1990)
The Halfling's Gem is a 1990 fantasy book written by R. A. Salvatore.
Regis the halfling has always run from his past. Now it has caught him. The assassin Artemis Entreri drags him south toward Calimport to settle an old debt with a crime lord, and Drizzt Do'Urden and Wulfgar give chase across sea and desert to reach him first. Salvatore turns the pursuit into a study of two opposites, the honorable drow and the pitiless killer who mirror each other blade for blade. Ships, sun-baked southern cities, and the magical panther Guenhwyvar fill out a chase that closes the Icewind Dale trilogy. Fast, loyal, and built on friendship.
Quick answers
What is The Halfling's Gem about?
Regis the halfling has always run from his past. Now it has caught him. The assassin Artemis Entreri drags him south toward Calimport to settle an old debt with a crime lord, and Drizzt Do'Urden and Wulfgar give chase across sea and desert to reach him first. Salvatore turns the pursuit into a study of two opposites, the honorable drow and the pitiless killer who mirror each other blade for blade. Ships, sun-baked southern cities, and the magical panther Guenhwyvar fill out a chase that closes the Icewind Dale trilogy. Fast, loyal, and built on friendship.
When was The Halfling's Gem published?
The Halfling's Gem was published in 1990.
Who made The Halfling's Gem?
The Halfling's Gem was written by R. A. Salvatore.
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The Halfling's Gem in our writing
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A few thoughts on The Halfling's Gem
The Entreri and Drizzt rivalry, two masters who understand each other too well, echoes the hunter-and-hunted tension of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, all exotic ports and narrow escapes. Assassin's Creed II offers the same pleasure of a lethal, agile protagonist moving through rich period cities.
Chase adventures across sun-baked cities and open seas
Regis's flight from Calimport plays like a straight chase adventure, ships and desert cities and one assassin who never stops closing the distance. Assassin's Creed II and Uncharted 2 run on that same pursuit-through-sunlit-cities energy, while Honor Among Thieves and The Legend of Vox Machina share the banter-first, friends-against-the-world tone Salvatore writes so well.
The rest of the Icewind Dale trilogy
The Halfling's Gem closes the trilogy The Crystal Shard and Streams of Silver carry Drizzt, Wulfgar, and Bruenor through, and Homeland, Exile, and Sojourn tell the dark elf's own exile that set the whole chase in motion. Read them together for the full shape of a ranger who guards a home that barely trusts him.
If you want to play Salvatore's Forgotten Realms
Salvatore's Forgotten Realms is the same map these games run on, drow cities, desert trade routes, and a ranger's black panther companion included. Baldur's Gate III, Icewind Dale, and Neverwinter Nights let you build your own party across that setting, while Planescape: Torment and Menzoberranzan take you into the Underdark Drizzt escaped.
Dragonlance's own continent-spanning saga
Salvatore and Weis and Hickman published in the same era for the same audience, and the Dragonlance Chronicles and Legends carry a comparable scale, a whole world at stake and companions who pay for every victory. Champions of Krynn and Pool of Radiance run on the same tabletop ruleset underneath the chase across Calimport.