David - proud Gleeman in Branwen's adventuring party's Reviews > Homeland

The first R. A. Salvatore book I read was “Sword of Bedwyr”, and I would liken it to an action-packed summer blockbuster movie. It was filled with exciting fight scenes, and the characters got off a lot of funny one-liners, but the plot itself was pretty basic and generic. I went into “Homeland” expecting something similar, but as it turns out, if “Sword of Bedwyr” was a breezy popcorn movie, then “Homeland” is an Academy-Award winning epic!

While “Homeland” does feature some of Salvatore’s signature detailed action sequences and humor, the focus this time is the story and character development. Salvatore creates a world and mythology for the dark elves that is incredibly deep and compelling. It truly is an amazing journey watching the young Drizzt Do’Urden become more and more aware of the evils of his homeland and his refusal to be a part of it. Drizzt’s moral dilemma would have been interesting enough to carry the book, but Salvatore also gives us many other captivating characters in Drizzt’s family as well, from middle sister Vierna, who is not totally infected by the evil of her homeland but lacks the backbone to fight it, to mother Matron Malice and oldest sister Briza, who are all too eager to embrace the malevolence and cruelty that permeates Menzoberranzen.

The only problem I had with this book was, since it was my first time reading about Drizzt (or any book from the Forgotten Realms universe), I did have a little trouble keeping up with everything at first. However, it didn’t take me long at all to become completely immersed in the world of the dark elves. If anyone starts reading this book and finds it a little hard to get into at first, I would definitely recommend you stick with it, as you will be greatly rewarded.

If this had been simply a good book, it would have just made me want to read more of the legend of Drizzt. But this book is so incredible, it actually made me want to read more about the entire Forgotten Realms universe!