Amor Conquista TodoSome of my faithful Christian friends would find this fantasy book quite objectionable, emphasizing as it does a pagan evil, perhaps, some would say, demonic things. They would be mistaken.Drizzt is a dark elf, a Drow. In the extreme minority of his people, he has a conscience, a deeply rooted sense of right and wrong, and a love for the right. His family, indeed, his whole underground society is caught up in the religion of Lolth, the Spider Queen. In this matriarchy of cruelty and opportunism, murder is unacceptable only if the perpetrator gets caught. Unthinking hatred is the norm.But Drizzt is different, out of step with his surroundings, constantly caught up in an inner turmoil. How can he survive in such an evil place? His own father seems to have cultivated within him a tendency to doubt the sanity of it all. He suffers from doubts about Zaknefein, but in the end learns that they are of kindred spirit.The mistake my friends would be making is not seeing past the word "evil". Drizzt is written as a sharp relief to his surroundings. He is good in an evil world, and this is where the heavy focus on the darker elements of the book are misleading.If you are a Christian, all the elements of the faith you love are to be found here. The triumph of good over evil, light over darkness, love over hatred. There is the struggle of a person of conscience living in bad surroundings and struggling with his identity. There is even substitutionary atonement. I'm not sure why these things are in this book, Salvatore may be a Mormon, but if he is, I've found only indirect evidence. It seems like I've heard that he is. Perhaps it doesn't matter too much. However, for this reason as much as any, I have decided never to buy one of his books new. I will not make that money for him.Before I get out of hand though, let me say, this book, on its own, is quite shallow. A good writer does not tell you in every other paragraph that the setting and the characters are evil. He lets them act and talk and reveal to the reader in that way what they are. The reader makes the determination. In the same way, no credible protagonist in centuries has been so "good." That is, Drizzt is presented as a paragon of goodness and his only flaw is his self-doubt until he overcomes it. Such a black and white world makes for a clearer picture of good, excellent for nursery rhymes, but bad novels. For that reason, in spite of the religious overtones of the story, it's just not a very good book, average at best.But I read it for a few reasons: Drizzt was featured in NPR's list of the top 100 SF & F books and it caught my attention in that way. I recently read Of Dice and Men and have had a resurgence of interest in D & D as a concept, thus drawing my attention to Forgotten Realms. Finally B & N gave the book away one time as a free Nook Book, so I had it sitting on my e-reader, easy pickins. However, as much as I like authentic series books, trilogies and extended trilogies, I have always found the spinoff series phenomenon a little annoying. When looking at the SF section in a bookstore there is always this dominating section of spinoff stuff, a number of shelves making money for Star Wars, Star Trek, War Hammer, and in this case Wizards of the Coast. I look at these as the Harlequin SF section: Sad, obsessive, hackneyed and a product of the marketing machine, making more money for the already rich holders of the trademark, and bringing a few, perhaps otherwise decent writers, into the cultic fold. Somehow Drizzt, from this morass of dreck, carved out a place for himself in a devoted followership. It is enough to make a person curious.
Maybe it's the deliberate hack-and-slash approach. Maybe it's that this book is intended for teenagers. Or maybe it's that George R. R. Martin's A Dance With Dragons hits stores in two days and I can't think of anything else. But after ignoring the pleas of online fans and personal friends for years upon years, my eventual reading of Homeland was one of utter disappointment. This is as hollow a book as you're bound to find.I feel for R.A. Salvatore. I really do. I truly believe that behind the obligatory fight scenes and overabundance of magic there is a good writer somewhere in him. Between the obvious evil and hit-you-on-the-head darkness of Homeland there are some genuinely well-written passages. But when he's in Forgotten Realms mode Salvatore knows his audience (and kudos to him for that ... he's been very successful with it), meaning he forces himself to move inside the tight constrictions of the genre — the often generic, bland, straightforward campaign setting of a role-playing game. This is a world of very clear dichotomies, where on one side you have the good and on the other the bad. There are more shades of grey on Drizzt's armor than there are in all of Menzoberranzan. This results in a world that presents very few surprises, where victories are assured from the very beginning, and the choice between good and evil couldn't be less interesting.Homeland was released in 1990, right at the tail edge of the Dungeons and Dragons boom. At the time these books were a revelation in genre circles, but since, they've become antiquated and anachronistic. For a certain readership — one looking for the literary equivalent of a Michael Bay movie — Salvatore will give you exactly what you're looking for. Have at it. They're just not for me. Not anymore. I wish ... I just wish he would have went for it, you know? There are the makings of a terrific story here, of a boy who escapes the trappings of a society bent on indoctrination and lawlessness to become a beacon of hope for a world wholly different than himself. There's power in this story, there's meaning here. But, due to the nature of the genre, Salvatore never had a chance. Homeland won't challenge you, or provide you with amusement. But, ultimately it succeeds in its purpose: to entertain in a harmless, mindless fashion for a few hundred pages. But if you're tired of escapist, simplistic worlds where the only sell-points are sword-wielding and magic-dueling, move on. And if you were thinking of exploring the rest of The Forgotten Realms, well, Salvatore's the best you've got. So shudder at that thought.
What do You think about Homeland (2005)?
A buddy read with Kristen, Gavin, and Kaora. Please let me know if I missed somebody. For those unfamiliar with Forgotten Realms and the whole Dungeons and Dragons thingy I have just one question: what rock have you been living under? Anyway welcome to Menzoberranzan (I will award my very special bonus points to anybody who was able to pronounce the city's name correctly on the first try). The underground city is the home of dark elves who call themselves drow. They are not nice by any stretch of imagination and make Darth Vader look like a kindergarten bully wannabe. To put it simply, drows who are less evil than Sauron, Shai'tan, and Wicked Witch of the East rolled in one simply do not survive for long. An unusual child is born in one of the families; I am using word "family" in very loose sense here. He was supposed to be sacrificed to the local deity The Spider Queen, but was saved from this by some very fortunate - or unfortunate depending on point of view - timing. His name is Drizzt and he will grow up to become a legend:This book is about his youth and constant struggles for survival. This was actually the main point of attraction of the novel for me. I was very curious to see what happened to Drizzt to make him grow up a normal human (sorry elf) being. He did not become Mary Sue - not yet at least, but compared to the rest of the drows he is Mary Sue. The (under)world is great. I am not sure how much of it came from the author and how much from already existing standard Forgotten Realms settings, so I will not attribute all of it to Salvatore's creative writing. Let me just say that if you are looking for a completely bleak and hopeless world, look no further. Other than the world itself I found the intrigues and constant backstabbing of the drow society fascinating. Usually in any literature the best written characters are the ones written in different shades of gray (sorry no pun intended). In this book the vast majority of the characters are written in different shades of black with an exception of Drizzt and possibly his mentor Zak. I would not call them very well developed - again with the exception of Drizzt himself, but there were some interesting two-dimensional ones who actually serve their purpose in the story nicely. I began reading this story not expecting to find an example of high literature but hoping to be entertained. This is exactly what I got in the end. I look forward to read the next book as this one while not ending in a cliffhanger still leaves things in fairly unsettled state and I am curious to see the further development. My rating is 3.5 stars rounded down.
—Evgeny
I'll admit it.I went into this expecting a book like Dragons of Autumn Twilight. An interesting world, flat characters and cheesy dialogue.I was not expecting how dark it was.The drow are the survivors, and this is the Under-dark, the valley of death - the land of nameless nightmares.In Menzoberranzan anything goes as long as you aren't caught. Into this society, Drizzt Do'Urden is born, a drow with rare violet eyes and a conscience. He must struggle to come to terms with a society that will do anything to appease a violent and bloodthirsty Spider Queen, and hopefully keep his integrity.I think the thing that I enjoyed the most was the world building. Salvatore paints a bleak picture but a lot of the settings were painted much better than was done in Dragons. I also did enjoy getting to know Zak and Drizzt two of my favorite characters.Some of the dialogue was a bit cheesy, but I think the world building more than made up for that.I am definitely a fan.
—Kaora
I read this years ago, maybe ten, and wondered how it would measure up to my memory. Not bad.Salvatore is good at delivering what he promises. These are just fun action packed fantasy reads. With interesting places, memorable characters, exotic creatures and exciting battles. Although there are moments when he takes himself too seriously. When reading Forgotten Realms I'm not looking for philosophy you know?This is my favorite trilogy of the Drizzt books (a quick aside I enjoy Salvatore's writing but some of his names are just terrible). I like how each book has a theme and represents the journey of his youth. In Homeland we read about the drow and their homeworld. The family, religion, academic, and political aspects of their race. And although in this book they come across a little one dimensional (they get better) it's an interestingly different read. One of my favorite things about the character of Drizzt (and why I'm disappointed in later books) is his inherent goodness. He's not a flawed anti hero. He doesn't struggle with doing the right thing. He doesn't do the right thing because it's "right" (and actually in his world it's the wrong thing) but because it's instinct. But he also isn't a saint, savior, or paragon. My favorite sections in this one are those between Drizzt and his father Zaknafein (these names are like bad scramble hands-thanks mst3k) Zak like his son is cursed with morals in an immoral society. He is stuck in a life he hates. Lashing out the only way he can. In many ways reading this today ten years, or so, older I found his plight more interesting than young Drizzt's.So yes, I still loved it. It won't stack up well against your Martin, Erikson, Abercrombie, Kay...but they aren't meant to.I recommend to any open minded fan of fantasy who wants a fun quick book.
—Traci
