I finished this book last night and wow it blew me away...
This book is set in the "Forgotten Realms" universe (a personal favorite) which is a part of the Dungeons and Dragons universe. These three books center around one of fantasy's most popular characters, Drizzt Do'Urden and basically explains his whole upbringing and how he becomes the legend that he is. The first book "Homeland" tells you about the land of the drow Menzoberranzan and how their choatic society functions, and strives for power through evil. Drizzt is born into all this and through his father finds that this life is not for him, after beyraying his mother and the Spider Queen Lolth he flees Menzobarrenzan in search for a new home and a new way of life.
The story picks up outside of the Underdark in "Exiled" where Drizzt is hunted by the re-animated body of his father sent to kill him by his mother, he defeats the monster and finds new friends on his way that reinforce his beliefs in good and decides his only way to get away from the drow and the Spider Queen by leaving the Underdark.
When he surfaces with his panther Guenhwyvar "Sojourn" the final book begins and tells the story of Drizzt coming to accept the surface world and his encounters with the other races. He meets a ranger named Mooshie and adopts a new deity and the ways of the ranger, even with these new principles and abilities he still needs a home. His travels lead him to Icewind Dale and he encounters Catti-bre a small girl raised by the dwarven king Bruenor, after a
series of events Catti-brie shows Bruenor that this drow is as good as any good person and can be trusted. Bruenor accepts the drow and welcomes him to stay in Icewind Dale giving Drizzt a message he waited all his life to hear, "Welcome Home".
I can not wait to begin "The Icewind Dale Trilogy" which I think picks up right after.
1 comment:
Pretty good post. I highly enjoyed this book as well, although it's been a little longer since I read it. I believe it's been three years.
Drizzt is a fantastic character with a lot of great qualities, but if you get down to the heart of it, he's just a dual-wielding Dark Elf barbarian, right? An interesting character conception, maybe, but not enough to merit the huge following Salvatore has gained with him.
However, despite the fact that the base definition draws people in, it's the characterization and back story that Salvatore gave him that really sold people. Sure, he has two swords, cool, but it's how Salvatore has him use his skills and how Do'Urden adapts to situations that make him memorable. When Salvatore is allowed to write something that he has passion for, you can really tell.
The Cleric Quintet is another great series by Salvatore using un-related characters. The main character is, of course, a cleric, but his girlfriend steals the show. Salvatore confesses that WotC requested he write a book about a cleric, when the author really wanted to make it about a monk. What he ended up with is a decently-developed cleric protagonist with a monk girlfriend.
Anyway...don't mind me, just checking out your blog. I really enjoyed this series as well, so I thought I'd comment. I'm looking at community members from SG for a new SGCC podcast. I might stick with Gamer Academia but for personal reasons I'd like to try out something else. You seem intelligent, which is refreshing on SG. If it sounds like something you'd be interested in trying, let me know.
oldmarriedgamer@gmail.com
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