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fieldofhats's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I read this book while I was in early high school, and wanted to come back to it for a while now. The thing that stopped me was that, until recently, I didn’t care much for battle sequences in books, and although I like Salvatore’s battles scenes more than others, I always preferred his character work more. That’s what made me fall in love with The Legend of Drizzt. But recently I realized, by reading Hrolf Kraki’s Saga by Poul Anderson, that I do actually enjoy fight scenes if they’re written well and I’m in the mood for them. But they’re best read physically, not via audio (which is the medium I read Drizzt in the first place). I wanted to read another Poul Anderson book to get my fantasy action fix, but his work is hit or miss for me, it seems (three DNFs in a row — yikes). So I decided to pick up my physical copy of Exile (which I remember liking more and having a better story than the dark political plot of Homeland) and did a hybrid physical-audio read. And it was just as fantastic as I remember.
The very beginning of the story is perfect. The prelude introduces Drizzt’s new way of life with a carnal battle scene, and then introduces the main theme of the book as he speaks to Guenhwyvar. This establishes right off the bat that this will be an action-packed story about the importance of companionship. And the diary entry of Part One further cements the established theme with some beautiful prose.
The fight scenes are phenomenal, for so many reasons. Firstly, they all have a purpose. The first few fights highlight his struggle with “the hunter”; the basilisk fight introduced us to to “the hunter”; the fight with his siblings showed how much Drizzt relied on the hunter, and how dangerous it can be; and the fight with the corbies showed the balancing the act of controlling it while also letting it guide his instincts in battle. Secondly, they’re so dynamic while being surprisingly easy to follow. In a fight involving multiple people, the focus stays on one person at a time for a short period before switching, and when two or more characters interact in a battle it feels seamless. Thirdly, they’re intense. When Drizzt nearly dropped Guenhwyvar’s figurine during the corby fight, I was scared even though I knew it was going to be okay.
There are so many amazing themes in this book, from escaping “the hunter” and finding oneself, to finding a place to call home, etc. But ultimately, this is a story about love and companionship. Salvatore’s view of “good” seems to be about teamwork and compassion, and his view of “evil” is about selfishness and disdain. And throughout the story, good (almost) always wins out. Drizzt escapes his alter-ego of “the hunter” by the companionship of Belwar, and the love between Drizzt and Zaknafein win out against Matron Malice.
The most tragic character in the story is Clacker, who slowly loses his compassion. Not only is an evil deed forced upon him, but he ruins his only chance at becoming whole again upon killing the human wizard. (As a side note, I remember there being more time in between meeting Clacker and him killing the wizard — it seemed slightly abrupt, but made sense. And because he plays a big role later on in the novel, I’m glad he didn’t focus too much on it.) Despite this, though, he fights back against evil and manages to save Drizzt’s life. And in so doing, he becomes more a pech than he ever had been before. He dies by Zaknafein’s hand, but he still fought against the hook horror until the end.
Overall, this was such an incredible book. I have a lot of nostalgia for it, but it really holds up without the nostalgia factor. If you want an action-packed fantasy full of beautiful characters and themes, read this series.
I do want to mention the race thing because it is an element in this book, as with all the Drizzt books. I want to do this only once so I don’t have to talk about it in my other reviews. Taken from an individual standpoint, Drizzt’s tale is one of perseverance against racism. But from a larger perspective, people are only racist toward him because his race is canonically evil… Which isn’t great. However, Salvatore’s intent was not a racist one. There are so many themes of anti-racism (especially in later books) that I truly believe he wanted to send a positive message. The backdrop for that message in the Forgotten Realms is extremely unfortunate and not something that should be understated, though. But they are making strides to retcon the “all drow are evil” stance if the past, which is good. And I haven’t read the recent Drizzt novels, so I’m not sure how Salvatore handles it there.
The very beginning of the story is perfect. The prelude introduces Drizzt’s new way of life with a carnal battle scene, and then introduces the main theme of the book as he speaks to Guenhwyvar. This establishes right off the bat that this will be an action-packed story about the importance of companionship. And the diary entry of Part One further cements the established theme with some beautiful prose.
The fight scenes are phenomenal, for so many reasons. Firstly, they all have a purpose. The first few fights highlight his struggle with “the hunter”; the basilisk fight introduced us to to “the hunter”; the fight with his siblings showed how much Drizzt relied on the hunter, and how dangerous it can be; and the fight with the corbies showed the balancing the act of controlling it while also letting it guide his instincts in battle. Secondly, they’re so dynamic while being surprisingly easy to follow. In a fight involving multiple people, the focus stays on one person at a time for a short period before switching, and when two or more characters interact in a battle it feels seamless. Thirdly, they’re intense. When Drizzt nearly dropped Guenhwyvar’s figurine during the corby fight, I was scared even though I knew it was going to be okay.
There are so many amazing themes in this book, from escaping “the hunter” and finding oneself, to finding a place to call home, etc. But ultimately, this is a story about love and companionship. Salvatore’s view of “good” seems to be about teamwork and compassion, and his view of “evil” is about selfishness and disdain. And throughout the story, good (almost) always wins out. Drizzt escapes his alter-ego of “the hunter” by the companionship of Belwar, and the love between Drizzt and Zaknafein win out against Matron Malice.
The most tragic character in the story is Clacker, who slowly loses his compassion. Not only is an evil deed forced upon him, but he ruins his only chance at becoming whole again upon killing the human wizard. (As a side note, I remember there being more time in between meeting Clacker and him killing the wizard — it seemed slightly abrupt, but made sense. And because he plays a big role later on in the novel, I’m glad he didn’t focus too much on it.) Despite this, though, he fights back against evil and manages to save Drizzt’s life. And in so doing, he becomes more a pech than he ever had been before. He dies by Zaknafein’s hand, but he still fought against the hook horror until the end.
Overall, this was such an incredible book. I have a lot of nostalgia for it, but it really holds up without the nostalgia factor. If you want an action-packed fantasy full of beautiful characters and themes, read this series.
I do want to mention the race thing because it is an element in this book, as with all the Drizzt books. I want to do this only once so I don’t have to talk about it in my other reviews. Taken from an individual standpoint, Drizzt’s tale is one of perseverance against racism. But from a larger perspective, people are only racist toward him because his race is canonically evil… Which isn’t great. However, Salvatore’s intent was not a racist one. There are so many themes of anti-racism (especially in later books) that I truly believe he wanted to send a positive message. The backdrop for that message in the Forgotten Realms is extremely unfortunate and not something that should be understated, though. But they are making strides to retcon the “all drow are evil” stance if the past, which is good. And I haven’t read the recent Drizzt novels, so I’m not sure how Salvatore handles it there.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and Death
Moderate: Slavery and Injury/Injury detail
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