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Niki Hawkes - The Obsessive Bookseller's Reviews > Homeland
Homeland (Forgotten Realms: The Dark Elf Trilogy, #1; Legend of Drizzt, #1)
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Via Book Reviews by Niki Hawkes at www.nikihawkes.com
“Homeland’ is not just the first of an amazing trilogy, but is also the beginning of the brilliant “Legend of Drizzt” saga. A well-rounded prequel, it takes you deep into the kingdom of Menzoberranzan where dark elves rule with unabashed cruelty. Among them dwells Drizzt, an anomaly with honor and compassion who yearns for a different life. A tad slow to start, the story soon launches to become one of the most epic fantasy adventures in the genre.
There are a lot of positives to this series: Highly, and I mean HIGHLY memorable characters – I swear they’re practically a religion at this point, some of the most stylized and intricate sword-fighting scenes you’ll ever read, epic world-building, and a unique, mold-shattering storyline – I’ve never read such a fantastic tribute to the dark elf culture.
As good as the characterization is, I find it somewhat lacking in one regard: While there are a plethora of beautiful women, there is a distinct lack of relatable feminine characters, as most of them express male personalities and tendencies. While that works for some women (I realize we’re all wonderfully different creatures), it should not be the standard for all. I believe women warriors can be both feminine and dangerous, just examine Kahlan in the Sword of Truth series, and you’ll know what I mean. In any case, I don’t think that distinction bothered many people, and despite my opinion on it, I still loved ALL the characters and Salvatore remains solidly in my top 10.
Overall, if you want a long-term sustaining series that will take you on epic adventures, involve you in fantastic fight-scenes, and make you fall in love with some of the most brilliant fantasy characters in the genre’s history, then these are the books for you! Still going strong, there are over 25 titles that continue the story, and each one is honestly as good as the last.
Recommendations: Although the “Icewind Dale” trilogy was written first, I strongly recommend you start with “Homeland” in the “Dark Elf” trilogy, as it is first chronologically. Not only will that give the story more of a solid flow, but is also a much stronger representation of Salvatore’s works as the series continues, so if you like it, you’ll probably like the entire saga.
by Niki Hawkes
Other books you might like:
“Dragons of Autumn Twilight” by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
“The Cleric Quintet” by R.A. Salvatore (a spinoff worth reading after book 10 or so)
“Magician: Apprentice” by Raymond E. Feist
“Wayfarer Redemption” by Sara Douglass
“Wizard’s First Rule” by Terry Goodkind
“Homeland’ is not just the first of an amazing trilogy, but is also the beginning of the brilliant “Legend of Drizzt” saga. A well-rounded prequel, it takes you deep into the kingdom of Menzoberranzan where dark elves rule with unabashed cruelty. Among them dwells Drizzt, an anomaly with honor and compassion who yearns for a different life. A tad slow to start, the story soon launches to become one of the most epic fantasy adventures in the genre.
There are a lot of positives to this series: Highly, and I mean HIGHLY memorable characters – I swear they’re practically a religion at this point, some of the most stylized and intricate sword-fighting scenes you’ll ever read, epic world-building, and a unique, mold-shattering storyline – I’ve never read such a fantastic tribute to the dark elf culture.
As good as the characterization is, I find it somewhat lacking in one regard: While there are a plethora of beautiful women, there is a distinct lack of relatable feminine characters, as most of them express male personalities and tendencies. While that works for some women (I realize we’re all wonderfully different creatures), it should not be the standard for all. I believe women warriors can be both feminine and dangerous, just examine Kahlan in the Sword of Truth series, and you’ll know what I mean. In any case, I don’t think that distinction bothered many people, and despite my opinion on it, I still loved ALL the characters and Salvatore remains solidly in my top 10.
Overall, if you want a long-term sustaining series that will take you on epic adventures, involve you in fantastic fight-scenes, and make you fall in love with some of the most brilliant fantasy characters in the genre’s history, then these are the books for you! Still going strong, there are over 25 titles that continue the story, and each one is honestly as good as the last.
Recommendations: Although the “Icewind Dale” trilogy was written first, I strongly recommend you start with “Homeland” in the “Dark Elf” trilogy, as it is first chronologically. Not only will that give the story more of a solid flow, but is also a much stronger representation of Salvatore’s works as the series continues, so if you like it, you’ll probably like the entire saga.
by Niki Hawkes
Other books you might like:
“Dragons of Autumn Twilight” by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
“The Cleric Quintet” by R.A. Salvatore (a spinoff worth reading after book 10 or so)
“Magician: Apprentice” by Raymond E. Feist
“Wayfarer Redemption” by Sara Douglass
“Wizard’s First Rule” by Terry Goodkind
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Reading Progress
Finished Reading
February 26, 2013
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Apr 30, 2021 10:36AM
Great review! I’m going to start this book right away! I was just gifted the first 13 volumes of this series. We’ll see how far I get!
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Jason wrote: "Great review! I’m going to start this book right away! I was just gifted the first 13 volumes of this series. We’ll see how far I get!"Oh sweet! I hope you like them! Dark Elf is where I would start for sure. You'll definitely see a small dip in quality when you pick up icewind dale next (because it was written first and he definitely improves as he goes), but it's still a fun set. Then it's just great quality from there. :)
Nice. Thanks for the tip! Do you have any other recommendations for this kind of fiction? I’ve read a lot of the more “literary” stuff like Leiber, Moorcock, and Le Guin. I’ve always wanted to read some Dungeons and Dragons stuff but there’s so much of it, it’s difficult to know where to start!
Jason wrote: "Nice. Thanks for the tip! Do you have any other recommendations for this kind of fiction? I’ve read a lot of the more “literary” stuff like Leiber, Moorcock, and Le Guin. I’ve always wanted to read..."The Dragonlance saga by Weis and Hickman (Dragons of Autumn Twilight) are always fun - your basic human/elf/dwarves/etc. combo with a easygoing story and great camaraderie (LOTR films comparable). For some reason I always think of this series when also considering Forgotten Realms. I haven't let myself down the D&D rabbit hole very far, only because, like you mentioned, there's soooo many books and I my completionist self hasn't wanted to commit the time. I do have a ton of recs that fall somewhere in between the literary and the serial fiction series. Here are some of my recent favorites:
The Waking Fire by Anthony Ryan
Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan
The Emperor's Blades by Brian Staveley
to name a few... they've a bit of substance but also don't forget the fun. :)
I’ll check out your recommendations. Thank you!
