R. A. Salvatore - Forgotten Realms - Homeland

 

Guess what? I got myself all the Legend of Drizzt books in the audiobook version. That's like... Almost forty books. I've read the first few a long time ago in Czech as actual books. Back then, I had no clue about audiobooks and they were not really common yet anyway. But now, I'm watching D&D on youtube and getting back into some other things, and voila. I feel like reading some Drizzt. So I got myself the whole collection and here we go. I usually listen to audiobooks while I'm at work. When I'm alone in the office. 

Drizzt is a dark elf - a drow. And he doesn't fit in. He has an actual functioning moral compass. The only other drow that has similar views and beliefs is his biological father, Zaknafein Do'Urden. Unfortunately, he dies at the end of the first book. Bummer. He's my second most favorite character. So, Drizzt learns how to fight from him, then learns other things from the academy. 

All in all, the whole first book is just showing us how Drizzt doesn't fit in the typical Drow society and how evil they actually are. Their goddess, the spider queen Loth, is pure evil. Honestly, I've always liked these books. Though, as I first read them in Czech, I keep thinking back to what the translation of certain names was and honestly, I mostly can't remember. 

Whatever. The translation doesn't matter. What matters is the fact that I'm still pissed that Zak had to die. Just as I was the first time I've read Homeland. As I was listening to it, I kept thinking that Zak should just grow a pair, grab his son and flee the Drow city. Get them away from there. On the other hand, if there was no tragedy, we wouldn't have a series spanning almost forty books, so... 

At least the girl doesn't make an appearance until book three or four. I really don't like the main female character/romantic interest. Really don't. The level of dislike is on par with my dislike (hatred) of Ginny from Harry Potter. So that should tell you something. There are very few female characters that I actually like. The most notable of those being Ada Wong from the Resident Evil series. 

Back to the first book. It tells us a lot about how the Drow society works, what they value, and what they dislike. It also places emphasis on the fact that it is a matriarchal society. The different families (houses) of the city (don't ask me to spell the name please, I can pronounce it, but typing it out... When you listen to audiobooks, writing down complicated names of people and places becomes a bit of a problem...) are ranked and the top eight are on the ruling council. And well, Drizzt's family, led by matron Malice, is trying to get in on that. And by the end of the book, they are almost there. Almost. 

Drizzt is smart and he questions things. Which lands him with punishments and in the end, he leaves. After Zak is sacrificed by Malice and her daughters in order to please Loth and gain her favor in the fight against the current eighth-ranked house (Do'Urdens are ninth at this point). Only, there won't be any favor in this book. And even in the next one, it takes something huge for them to gain it. I'll get back to this when I have finished the second one. 

The books are very well written and frankly, I didn't think that the first one was written so long ago... Well, whatever. It's great and if you're a D&D fan or just a pure fantasy fan, you should read it. Go and give it a try. 

Like I said, I could do without the main female character/romantic interest, but other than that, I really enjoy these types of books. If they were BL, it would be even better, but that's probably too much to ask for. The worst part of this is that there's not really any fanfic with the pairing I want either... Some Zak!Lives fanfics... Gimme... With Zak/Drizzt fluff! Grrr. But I'm probably asking too much... Oh well... One can dream.

~AnnElfwind

Written on the 21st of February, 2021