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zreader's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
spamrisk's review against another edition
4.0
Wow, what a great day!
Sure hope nobody summons
any demon lords!
Sure hope nobody summons
any demon lords!
danny_phantom57's review against another edition
4.0
The first half was important set up, but it did feel like it took its time a bit too much. But man does Salvatore know how to write satisfying battles and finales. I'm still as hooked as when I started on this series 5 books ago. Let's keep going!
schwarmgiven's review against another edition
3.0
This book had some great moments, but the fight scenes--which are often such a strong suit for RAS--seemed a little overly epic and completely predictable. Maybe I have read too many of his books in a row, but I found very little of this one surprising.
I did love the Demons--they are described in a very creative and interesting way.
I am always interested in the workings of the Drow & this one did have some great intrigue stuff that I liked.
If you are FR Completest this a fine book, but the general state of Fantasy has improved such that this book does read a bit old fashioned.
I did love the Demons--they are described in a very creative and interesting way.
I am always interested in the workings of the Drow & this one did have some great intrigue stuff that I liked.
If you are FR Completest this a fine book, but the general state of Fantasy has improved such that this book does read a bit old fashioned.
arisia's review against another edition
3.0
Long stretches of not-a-lot-happening dull a book that otherwise presents some gripping developments, both on a personal level (for various characters) and for the entirety of Faerun.
While "Archmage" presents some interesting character development, it never delves as deeply as it could into these, preferring instead to return to battles, many of which are flashy but uninspired. There is an echo of the level of depth and interiority that was in The Companions--indeed, this is a stronger opening than the Companion Codex trilogy had--but it is not quite a return to it. The hook at the end is gripping, but I doubt I want to go through a slog like that again just yet. Too much drudgery between the good parts.
While "Archmage" presents some interesting character development, it never delves as deeply as it could into these, preferring instead to return to battles, many of which are flashy but uninspired. There is an echo of the level of depth and interiority that was in The Companions--indeed, this is a stronger opening than the Companion Codex trilogy had--but it is not quite a return to it. The hook at the end is gripping, but I doubt I want to go through a slog like that again just yet. Too much drudgery between the good parts.
pidgevorg's review against another edition
4.0
I gave this 4 stars for potential. This is not so much its own book as an elaborate setup for the Homecoming series as a whole.
Lolth's plans are carefully and extensively developed... and then left up in the air. Jarlaxle is uncharacteristically quiet throughout the novel, obviously planning something in the background. We get a glimpse of his plan at the end, but wait! cliffhanger. More to come in upcoming novels. We are briefly reminded of the Entreri and Dahlia storylines, just to make sure we don't lose interest, but nothing actually happens on that front. Gromph acts as an annoying, meddling, too-powerful deus-ex-machina type throughout, only to suddenly become an interesting character with challenges of his own at the very end. Which is awesome, but we'll have to wait until future books for the payout. And finally, Regis and Wulfgar go off on their own adventure. We never hear from them again in this book. I'm hoping they'll have a book of their own. After all, "homecoming" could refer to Regis coming back to his home city and to his fiancé, right?
Most interesting of all (at least to me) is the tension between the characters' moral views. It's hinted that Entreri and Jarlaxle are working together again--but are they reconciled? Has Entreri accepted Jarlaxle's particular brand of "friendly" meddling? Are they going to become friends again? Tiago's plan to fight Drizzt is thwarted once again by his fellow drow. Will he finally give up his stupid obsession, or will he get that epic fight he wants so much? Doum'wielle continues to struggle with her evil sword. Stuff happens to her, but there's no true resolution on that front either. And what about Catti-brie and Drizzt? As Drizzt so helpfully reminded us in one of his essays, Catti-brie thinks it's the will of her goddess to preemptively kill "evil" races, even their babies. This wasn't something that had to be mentioned again because of plot. This was something that Drizzt felt compelled to bring up all on his own. It's obviously still very much on his mind. And now he and Catti are discussing having children of their own, and he's supposedly completely on board? Aren't the drow mostly an "evil race"? What happens if Mieliki decides the kids didn't inherit Drizzt's "nice" genes? Will Catti receive a divine mandate to strangle them in the cradle? Shouldn't Drizzt at least straiten that out before he has kids with her (personally I think anyone who thinks their god is telling them to kill babies should not be allowed to have any, but that's just me). RAS keeps telling us how in-tune and together and wonderful their relationship is, but he keeps showing something slightly different. So what will it be? Of course, we'll have to wait until some future book to find out.
And of course Catti herself continues to be all over the place. She continues to receive poorly explained power-ups. She is apparently uniquely attuned both to the elemental powers of water AND fire, as well as some druidish forest magic, even though I would have thought that at least some of these would be mutually contradictory. She is a cleric, and a wizard, and a fighter besides. She's a straight-talker with a dwarfish accent when with dwarves, a silver-tongued diplomat with kings and their councilors, and a swotty intellectual when with wizards. Will she ever grow a personality of her own? Actually never mind, it's never happened in the past 5 or so books, I should pretty much give up waiting for that...
The only plotline resolved in this novel is the dwarf vs drow war over Gauntlgrym, but that's not all that interesting compared to all the other things going on. And even this resolution is left with some uncertainty at the end.
Lolth's plans are carefully and extensively developed... and then left up in the air. Jarlaxle is uncharacteristically quiet throughout the novel, obviously planning something in the background. We get a glimpse of his plan at the end, but wait! cliffhanger. More to come in upcoming novels. We are briefly reminded of the Entreri and Dahlia storylines, just to make sure we don't lose interest, but nothing actually happens on that front. Gromph acts as an annoying, meddling, too-powerful deus-ex-machina type throughout, only to suddenly become an interesting character with challenges of his own at the very end. Which is awesome, but we'll have to wait until future books for the payout. And finally, Regis and Wulfgar go off on their own adventure. We never hear from them again in this book. I'm hoping they'll have a book of their own. After all, "homecoming" could refer to Regis coming back to his home city and to his fiancé, right?
Most interesting of all (at least to me) is the tension between the characters' moral views. It's hinted that Entreri and Jarlaxle are working together again--but are they reconciled? Has Entreri accepted Jarlaxle's particular brand of "friendly" meddling? Are they going to become friends again? Tiago's plan to fight Drizzt is thwarted once again by his fellow drow. Will he finally give up his stupid obsession, or will he get that epic fight he wants so much? Doum'wielle continues to struggle with her evil sword. Stuff happens to her, but there's no true resolution on that front either. And what about Catti-brie and Drizzt? As Drizzt so helpfully reminded us in one of his essays, Catti-brie thinks it's the will of her goddess to preemptively kill "evil" races, even their babies. This wasn't something that had to be mentioned again because of plot. This was something that Drizzt felt compelled to bring up all on his own. It's obviously still very much on his mind. And now he and Catti are discussing having children of their own, and he's supposedly completely on board? Aren't the drow mostly an "evil race"? What happens if Mieliki decides the kids didn't inherit Drizzt's "nice" genes? Will Catti receive a divine mandate to strangle them in the cradle? Shouldn't Drizzt at least straiten that out before he has kids with her (personally I think anyone who thinks their god is telling them to kill babies should not be allowed to have any, but that's just me). RAS keeps telling us how in-tune and together and wonderful their relationship is, but he keeps showing something slightly different. So what will it be? Of course, we'll have to wait until some future book to find out.
And of course Catti herself continues to be all over the place. She continues to receive poorly explained power-ups. She is apparently uniquely attuned both to the elemental powers of water AND fire, as well as some druidish forest magic, even though I would have thought that at least some of these would be mutually contradictory. She is a cleric, and a wizard, and a fighter besides. She's a straight-talker with a dwarfish accent when with dwarves, a silver-tongued diplomat with kings and their councilors, and a swotty intellectual when with wizards. Will she ever grow a personality of her own? Actually never mind, it's never happened in the past 5 or so books, I should pretty much give up waiting for that...
The only plotline resolved in this novel is the dwarf vs drow war over Gauntlgrym, but that's not all that interesting compared to all the other things going on. And even this resolution is left with some uncertainty at the end.
kerush's review
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
crtsjffrsn's review against another edition
3.0
The story of the returned Companions of the Hall continues in the start of a new series. Having been victorious in the war with the orcs, Bruenor Battlehammer is prepared to lead the dwarves back go Gauntlgrym to reclaim it for their people. But Drizzt and company cannot let their guard down. Even when further victories are in sight, there are forces in the Underdark that are still moving against him...and their plans don't even seem anywhere close to finished.
I was totally pulled back into this storyline when I read the Companions story during The Sundering, and I have been continuing with the Drizzt books ever since. They are the type of high fantasy that got me reading the genre many years ago, and I enjoy being able to go back to my roots a bit with a fresh perspective.
This was a slow mover. Like really slow. Though that's been the trend with the past couple of stories here. In part, I think it stands out because it's in contrast to the books that came right before, which were full of action (interspersed with the various political maneuverings of the drow). But it's still clear this is moving toward something. And I'm looking forward to whatever epic scene is yet to come.
[Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
I was totally pulled back into this storyline when I read the Companions story during The Sundering, and I have been continuing with the Drizzt books ever since. They are the type of high fantasy that got me reading the genre many years ago, and I enjoy being able to go back to my roots a bit with a fresh perspective.
This was a slow mover. Like really slow. Though that's been the trend with the past couple of stories here. In part, I think it stands out because it's in contrast to the books that came right before, which were full of action (interspersed with the various political maneuverings of the drow). But it's still clear this is moving toward something. And I'm looking forward to whatever epic scene is yet to come.
[Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
ferrisscottr's review against another edition
4.0
Where are we without too many spoilers?...The orcs have been defeated, all of the dwarven cities are back and whole again, all the main characters are back alive so the only thing left to do is to send thousands of dwarves to Gauntlgrym and kick out the drow who took it over a few books ago.
For about 2/3 of this book it was a solid three star novel with great characters, politics, maneuvering, with some action. A lot of time spent in Menzoberranzan, with Lloth, with the Archmage.
Then the last 1/3 kicked it up and we got more of everything, bunch of really important deaths, demons invading the prime material plane, battles, potential escaping primordials, the Demogorgan, political shakeups in the underdark.
This was a really good addition into the legend of Drizzt (I think this is the 31st book of his if my math is correct).
For about 2/3 of this book it was a solid three star novel with great characters, politics, maneuvering, with some action. A lot of time spent in Menzoberranzan, with Lloth, with the Archmage.
Then the last 1/3 kicked it up and we got more of everything, bunch of really important deaths, demons invading the prime material plane, battles, potential escaping primordials, the Demogorgan, political shakeups in the underdark.
This was a really good addition into the legend of Drizzt (I think this is the 31st book of his if my math is correct).