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Not as good as the first book by any means, but not a bad read. The main characters end up making a circle for a really stupid reason, and Drizzt's stubbornly Lawful Goody Two Shoes nature would've end up with worse consequences in another author's hands. But, Drizzt is Salvatore's baby, and most of the time, Drizzt's only punishment is that he has more to angst about. Drizzt can be irritating because he's so Good, but he can also be very interesting. At times, he struggles with trying to be Good in the face of evil and darkness. The inner monologue of the "hunter" side of him that would rather kill than negotiate, vs his adherence to morals and goodness, plays out many, many times in the novel. Drizzt can be naive at many times in this book, and it almost costs his friends dearly at many times. The novel literally does take Drizzt/the reader in a huge circle, taking almost every page of the book for him to decide in the last fifteen or so to do what I thought he was going to do on page 1.
I would say that this book suffers from Middle Book Syndrome, but the third book is more boring than this one.
So why bother with this one? Salvatore's world building and fight scenes. His dialogue and Man Pain Angst can be tedious, but R.A. Salvatore is very good at painting pictures of scenery with words. He's talented at describing fantastical fights, absurd monsters, and the otherwordly vistas of the alien Underdark. Salvatore is good at crafting characters all over the spectrum, from unbelievably noble to comic book villain evil, and all walks in between.
I don't read the Drizzt books expecting them to be masterworks like Lord of the Rings, I read them because they're like a fantasy book equivalent of jellybeans- easy to digest, fun, and there's lots of them.
I would say that this book suffers from Middle Book Syndrome, but the third book is more boring than this one.
So why bother with this one? Salvatore's world building and fight scenes. His dialogue and Man Pain Angst can be tedious, but R.A. Salvatore is very good at painting pictures of scenery with words. He's talented at describing fantastical fights, absurd monsters, and the otherwordly vistas of the alien Underdark. Salvatore is good at crafting characters all over the spectrum, from unbelievably noble to comic book villain evil, and all walks in between.
I don't read the Drizzt books expecting them to be masterworks like Lord of the Rings, I read them because they're like a fantasy book equivalent of jellybeans- easy to digest, fun, and there's lots of them.