Homeland - R.A. Salvatore

 

    1990; 315 pages.  New Author? : Yes.  Book 1 (out of 37, soon to be 38) in the Legend of Drizzt series.  Book 1 (out of 3) in the Dark Elf Trilogy series.  Genres: Epic Fantasy; Dungeons & Dragons; Sword & Sorcery.  Overall Rating: 8*/10.

    Some drow elves are born great.  Some achieve greatness.  Some have greatness thrust upon them.

 

    For the drow elf Drizzt Do’urden, the first isn’t true – he's the third son (“thirdboy”) of a minor House of Elves in the city of Menzoberranzan, and they normally are sacrificed immediately to the Spider Queen deity Lolth.

 

    It’s also doubtful that anyone will thrust greatness upon him.  More likely a dagger will be thrust between his ribs by one of his elder brothers as a preventative measure against Drizzt doing the same to them to climb up the House’s succession ladder.  Such things are natural occurrences in familial politics in Menzoberranzan.

 

   That leaves achieving greatness as the only option.  But only under a strictly-monitored upbringing: starting with being a house servant until age 15, then 5 years under the tutelage of a weapons master, followed by 10 more years at the Tier Breche Academy learning all about fighting, wizardry, and properly serving the merciless goddess Lolth.  Drizzt quickly becomes a stellar student there.

 

    Except for obeying the “properly serving” aspect.

 

What’s To Like...

    Homeland is the first book in R.A. Salvatore’s epic fantasy series “The Legend of Drizzt”.  There are now 38 books in this series, which are further divided into subsets consisting of 2-5 books apiece.  The setting ties in closely with Dungeons-&-Dragons’ (“D&D”) Forgotten Realms role-playing games.  This is epic fantasy at its finest, with lots of fantasy races (at least 20 of them here), artifacts, magic, Houses of Nobility, and schools of learning to keep the reader’s attention.

 

    Homeland serves as an introduction to the series.  The story commences with the Matron Malice, ruler of House Do’urden, pregnant, and eventually giving birth to Drizzt, whom we then follow through his three decades of training and first couple of combat operations on behalf of the goddess Lolth.  That might sound like a significant portion  of someone's existence, but the typical lifespan of an elf is a millennium or so.

 

    The world-building is superb.  The realm of the drow elves is entirely underground (“the Underdark”) and spending any time aboveground where the hated “surface elves” dwell (you and I would call them “faeries”) is a grueling experience, due to a big orange ball of fire in the sky.  The drow elf realms are matriarchal, which is a pleasant change of pace.  The ruling matron usually takes a (male) patron, mostly for offspring purposes, and can dump him for another at any time if he becomes boring.

 

    Daughters comprise the ruling succession line, with the non-eldest ones becoming prime candidates for the roles of high priestesses.  Females are generally much better at magic than males, and are also usually (but not always) more powerfully built as well.  High priestesses are clairvoyant, which means a male drow elf with a rebellious streak has to be careful of both what he says and what he thinks.  Drow elves are almost always paranoid – all other races are enemies to be slain, and all activity must be guided by the dictates of the Spider Goddess Lolth.

 

    The major characters here - the drow elves (including Drizzt’s family) and their scheming and competing Houses – are essentially “black hats”.  The main plotline is Drizzt coming to grips with that, the problems this realization causes him, and the difficult decisions he then has to make.  He crosses paths with a couple characters in the same quandary, which helps him try to resolve these difficulties.

 

    The ending is epic, exciting, D&D-ish, but without any plot twists to throw things askew.  That may sound like a criticism, but if you’ve ever participated in a D&D roleplaying game (I have), you’ll appreciate devising a well-thought-out plan of action that results in a well-deserved conclusion.  The book’s primary goal is attained – Drizzt is born, trained, introduced to the combat and intrigue of the Underdark, and is now ready for (at least) 37 more adventures.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.7/5 based on 3,964 ratings and 1,076 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.25/5 based on 81,356 ratings and 2,777 reviews

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Weal (n.) : well-being, prosperity, happiness.

 

Excerpts...

    He put his head down and charged the mirror.

    Perhaps it was a teleportation door to another section of the city, perhaps a simple door to a room beyond.  Or perhaps, Alton dared to imagine in those few desperate seconds, this was some interplanar gate that would bring him to a strange and unknown plane of existence!

    He felt the tingling excitement of adventure pulling him on as he neared the wondrous thing—then he felt only the impact, the shattering glass, and the unyielding stone wall behind it.

    Perhaps it was just a mirror.  (loc. 623)

 

    Only twenty-two of the original twenty-five in Drizzt’s class remained.  One had been dismissed—and subsequently executed—for a foiled assassination attempt on a high-ranking student, a second had been killed in the practice arena, and a third had died in his bunk of natural causes—for a dagger in the heart quite naturally ends one’s life.  (loc. 2370)

 

Kindle Details…

    Right now, Homeland sells for $7.99 at Amazon.  The other 37 books in The Legend of Drizzt series run anywhere from $7.99 to $14.99, with the newer books being the more expensive.  $14.99 is the pre-order price for Book 38, which is scheduled to be released this coming August.

 

“I do not wish to waste my time conversing with a magical mouth.”  (loc. 808)

    There’s not much to gripe about in Homeland.  The book was surprisingly clean: I counted only nine cusswords in the first 33% of the book, all of them eschatological (“hell” and “damn”).  There is some violence, naturally.  I don't recall any “adult situations”.

 

    Most of the “made-up words” (piwafwi, thoqqua, svirfnebli, illithid, yochlol, et al.) are clearly explained when they first appear, but it took me a while to figure out what a “dweomer” was.  It’s a magic spell or ward.  I suspect I neglected to highlight its meaning when it first cropped up.

 

    Thanks to the book's cover image, the fate of Guenhwyvar was pretty obvious to me.  I was surprised though that it is not a made-up name, being a variant of the girl’s name “Guinevere”.  Now I just need to figure out how to pronounce it.

 

    That’s about it for the nit-picking, and those are all pretty miniscule.  I’ve been meaning to read something by R.A. Salvatore for quite a while now, and this introduction to his signature work lived up to my expectations.  I have a feeling that the Drizzt books get even better now that the worldbuilding is done and the (initial) main characters have been introduced.

 

    8 Stars.  Homeland is a standalone novel in addition to being the start of a 38-book series, full of magical beings, dodging life-threatening monsters and nasty spells.  There's even a subtle strand of humor woven into the story, as the first excerpt above demonstrates.  I think I'm gonna like The Legend of Drizzt.