Homeland by R.A. Salvatore The Legend of Drizzt Book 1

Genre: High Fantasy, Magic, Sci-fi

Release Date: November 1, 2005

Publisher: Wizards of the Coast

Format: Hardcover                    Pages: 343

Series: The Legend of Drizzt #1

Sources: Public Library

Goodreads synopsis:

In exotic Menzoberranzan, the vast city of the drow is home to Icewind Dale prince Drizzt Do'Urden, who grows to maturity in the vile world of his dark elf kin. Possessing honor beyond the scope of his unprincipled society, can he live in world that rejects integrity?

My Thoughts:

To be honest, I would not have even picked up Homeland, Book 1 of the Legend of Drizzt series, if it wasn’t for my husband’s persistence. He has been faithfully reading these books for about 2 years now, first from the library, then on his Kobo. So, on our last trip to the library, my husband grabbed it for me, placed it in my hands and said, “Read. You will love it.” And guess what? He was right; I did.

Homeland was actually written as a back story to several books that had been published previously and tells of Drizzt’s childhood, growing up in drow society, a female dominated civilization, where men are considered inferior and stupid. But right from a very young age, Drizzt was different. He was strong, both physically and in character, surprising and frustrating his matron mother and teachers, men and women alike.

Our hero was my favorite character. I felt sad at the terrible things Drizzt had to endure both as a child and as a young adult. I had as much trouble understanding Drizzt’s ‘station’, or position in life, as he did. Yet through it all, he remained true to his ideals, and did what he had to do, finding comfort in friendship with Guenhwyvar, a magical panther and Zaknafein, whom he believed was only the Do’urden house weapons master.

I hated Matron Malice’s character. She seemed to care only for power, sacrificing anything and anyone to obtain it. Her cruelty at times was more that I could handle, but according to drow society rules, she would most likely die a horrible death as someone else kills her to gain power. It didn’t help that her deity was the Spider Queen and well, spiders are yucky!!

The storyline and plot flowed very well, designed to help the reader understand Drizzt. I very much enjoyed reading about Drizzt as a child and how he became friends with Guenhwyvar. Mr. Salvatore gave amazingly detailed descriptions of huge, dark caverns, deep underground, where not only the drow lived, but also the cave fishers, scrags, and various other vicious monsters. I also found the drow’s special heat vision that allowed them to see in the dark fascinating.

Homeland was in my opinion, an extremely well-written, high fantasy tale, that captured my interest right from page one. R. A. Salvatore shares an amazing adventure story that will appeal to fans of the genre, but also be a great introduction to people like myself who are unfamiliar with this category.